Political Science Commons^™

Gun Control: Republican Views For Common Ground, Ruth Yazmin Molina

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractPublic and political opinion regarding gun regulation in the United States are sharply split across the political divide. The purpose of this research was to determine the common ground among the Republican Party supporters concerning gun control legislations in the United States. The frame for the study poised into determining in what ways does an affiliation to the Republican Party influence a supporters’ views on state and federal gun laws and if members of the Republican Party believe that a common ground may exist with Democrats for passable gun control legislation. Partisan motivated reasoning theory was used to frame the …

Neither “Post-War” Nor Post-Pregnancy Paranoia: How America’S War On Drugs Continues To Perpetuate Disparate Incarceration Outcomes For Pregnant, Substance-Involved Offenders, Becca S. Zimmerman

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the unique interactions between pregnancy, substance involvement, and race as they relate to the War on Drugs and the hyper-incarceration of women. Using ordinary least square regression analyses and data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates, I examine if (and how) pregnancy status, drug use, race, and their interactions influence two length of incarceration outcomes: sentence length and amount of time spent in jail between arrest and imprisonment. The results collectively indicate that pregnancy decreases length of incarceration outcomes for those offenders who are not substance-involved but not evenhandedly -- benefitting white …

America’S Presidential Crisis Of Legitimacy: How The Electoral College Became Obsolete And How We Can Fix It, Julia Rose Foodman

Scripps Senior Theses

The goal of this thesis is to critique the current American Presidential electoral system, the Electoral College, and to show what an alternative could potentially mean for the American people. This paper seeks to answer the following questions: What are the main arguments for the Electoral College, why are they troubling, and how can we mend American Presidential elections for the greater purposes of political equality, democracy, and freedom? To do so, core arguments made by conservative pundits in favor of the Electoral College are outlined in order to bring attention to their logical, political, and moral inconsistencies. The inequalities …

Building Urban Resilience In New York City, Eliseo Magsambol Cubol

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Existing research shows that cities around the world are now turning to urban resilience as a new approach to governing the urban climate challenges because of the increasing exposure of vulnerable populations and critical infrastructures in coastal cities and communities to extreme weather events. However, there is limited scholarly understanding about how cities and urban regions overcome challenges to the implementation of urban resilience. In particular, little research has focused on local stakeholder perspectives on urban resilience, which can offer valuable insights to help cities and urban regions address these challenges. To better understand stakeholder perspectives, this dissertation shares the …

Racial Capitalism And The African American Experience Entering The Cannabis Industry, Ayoka Medlock-Nurse

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The cannabis industry in the United States is a competitive 16.9-billion-dollar industry built on private ownership, access to resources, operation for profit, and racism. However, under current cannabis policies, African American entrepreneurs are not benefiting from ownership and employment within the cannabis industry. Though some policies claim that the current medicinal and adult recreation laws will rectify racial disparities in arrest and ownership regarding cannabis sales, thus far, there are no sufficient increases to ownership, employment, or effective equity programs in place that accurately address racial disparities and the public policy barriers that keep African Americans excluded from the cannabis …

Education Inequality In The United States: A Wicked Problem With A Wicked Solution, Lincoln Bernard

CMC Senior Theses

A problem wicked in its complexity and detriment; the United States has failed most of its students in its inability to address the unashamedly rampant inequality throughout its public education system. The inequality in American public schools appears evident and boundless, but the causes of that inequality, and especially its solutions, are not as obvious. It is easy to explain away the system’s failures as a product of the United States’ ultra-varied environment, but further investigation reveals much of the systems problems are self-caused, resulting from the United States’ uniquely local approach to supporting its schools. A misguided fear of …

‘It’S Like Baking A Cake’: An Analysis Of Conscience Voting In The New Zealand House Of Representatives Since The Introduction Of The Mixed-Member Proportional System In 1996, Harrison Hosking

CMC Senior Theses

Conscience voting in the New Zealand House of Representatives offers a unique opportunity to assess Sam Peltzman’s ‘Principal-Agent Theory’ as outlined in his 1984 paper, Constituent Interest and Congressional Voting.

This thesis begins with a brief assessment of the principal-agent model (and other literature regarding parliamentary representation) before looking at the New Zealand Parliamentary system and the phenomenon of private member’s bills and how they aid the legislative process. This is followed by an exploration of a constructed dataset of conscience votes that have occurred since the inception of the mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system in 1996. An analysis …

Asian American Voting During The 2020 Elections: A Rising, Divided Voting Group, Vi Nguyen

CMC Senior Theses

Asian Americans continue to be an untapped force within American politics. Despite their status as the fastest-growing racial or ethnic group in the United States they have had surprisingly low political participation rates.[1] But 2020 represented a watershed moment. Campaign outreach and voter participation increased, and Asian Americans assumed new prominence on the national stage. Nonetheless, the 2020 elections also demonstrate historical divides within the community and a lack of cohesion as a voting group.

This thesis investigates Asian American voter behavior during the 2020 election and links trends within this year's elections to assess Asian American panethnicity. It …

The United Nations' Responsibility To Protect (R2p): Policy, Preference, Or Politics, Carl Ruth

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is a three-pillar document that was unanimously approved and adopted at the 2005 World Summit Meeting by members of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to serve as a guideline for addressing mass atrocity crimes. The research problem concerned the successful implementation of the third pillar, a key fixture of R2P, which allows the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to use forceful measures, as a last resort to address mass atrocity crimes. However, a climate of division within the UNSC has led to inaction. Using the R2P doctrine as a theoretical framework, the purpose of …

China-Africa Relations: The Northern Nigerian Textile Industry, Afolabi Toye

International Studies (MA) Theses

This project takes a critical look into China’s policy in Africa. The work assesses the significance and challenges of China-Africa cooperation focusing on Nigeria. The paper argued that analyzing the nexus between Beijing and Africa should not center on China’s investments and financial aid. Instead, it should reflect on the competitive hedge China enjoys through these investments in terms of direct access to each market sector of the African economy, and it impacts on local businesses. The study examines the impacts of China’s approach on the textile industry in Kano and Kaduna states in northern Nigeria, to provide an insight …

Styles Of Policy Advice: A Typology For Comparing The Standard Operating Procedures For The Provision Of Policy Advice, David Aubin, Marleen Brans

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Policy scholars have long studied the phenomenon of policy advice, with the aim of understanding variations in the professional practice of policy analysts and other civil servants. The quest for theorizing the selection and use of advice and information in the policy process has triggered several attempts of typologizing the many facets of policy advice: the location and autonomy of the advisors, their roles, the content of advice, as well as the styles of policy advisors. The styles of policy advice bring attention to the standard operating procedures which influence the content and use of policy advice. This chapter develops …

Collaborative Governance In Public Education Through Democratic Management Of Polarities, Michele Greene

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In a democratic society the use of inter- and intraorganizational collaboration as a pragmatic approach to addressing social issues germane to sustaining that democracy is a challenge, especially in the realm of public education reform. The Common Core State Standards Initiative, an attempt at collaboration to reform public schools initially adopted by more than three fourths of U.S. states, created an ongoing response that included proponents and opposers. The opposition in Pennsylvania led to the State reneging on its original commitment to the Common Core State Standards created by the initiative. Research revealed a gap regarding the ability of the …

Nontransferability Of The Skills And Qualifications Among The Caribbean Diaspora In Toronto, Canada, Carla Lucia Ibanzo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

About 35% of the Canadian labor market is made up of highly skilled immigrants, yet they have the highest unemployment rates. This study filled a gap in knowledge related to reasons Caribbean credentials are not more widely recognized and accepted in Canada and why their skills and qualifications are nontransferable. The purpose of this qualitive research was to identify the barriers to the successful integration of Caribbean immigrants into the Canadian job market and to obtain strategies to remove them. The theoretical framework that underpinned this study was Rawls Social Justice theory. Data were collected through semi structured interviews with …

Perspectives Of Syrians In The Diaspora On The Foundational Factors Contributing To The Assad Regime Of State Repression (2000-2011), Ribhi I. Salhi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers from different social science backgrounds have studied the various practices of state repression but seldom acknowledge that state repression is a rival system between the government regimes and their dissidents. However, rival systems can lead to competing forces that will serve either the interest of the regime or their dissidents. Researchers also have not often used the perspectives of opposition groups in the diaspora to study state repression. Focusing on the rise and entrenchment of the Assad regime in Syria (from 2000-2011), this study aimed to discover and explore the various perspectives of Syrians in the United States about …

Effect Of Political Party Affiliation On Refugee Admissions To The United States, Alison E. Bell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The president determines the number of refugees to be admitted to the United States each year after consultation with Congress, but there is a gap in literature related to whether party affiliation affects refugee admissions. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the political party affiliation of the president on refugee admissions and any moderating effect of Congressional majority affiliations. The eight research questions centered on the effect of the president’s party on the refugee ceiling and admissions, regional allocations and admissions, and the extent to which Congressional majority parties moderate these effects. Total global and …

Juvenile Probation Officers’ Perspectives On The Success Factors Of Youth Diversion Programs, Kya Tanique Robertson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The goal of youth diversion programs includes reducing recidivism while granting opportunities for youth to refocus their paths. Although juvenile probation officers' role is vital to supervised probation in youth diversion programs, the problem is that there is a lack of literature that assesses the success of the factors of mentoring, education, and mental health treatment that directly connect youth with social services. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of juvenile probation officers on the success factors of youth diversion programs as they relate to mentoring, education, and mental health treatment. Becker's labeling theory …

Operation Enduring Freedom And Operation Iraqi Freedom Veterans In The Veterans Health Administration, Exekiel Montoya Aranez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Veterans’ Health Administration (VHA) has faced critical issues regarding the deaths of war veterans, the result of which stakeholders raised questions about the quality of health care given within the VHA. Through patient-centered care standards of health care, the VHA worked diligently to end such horrific events that more than 300,000 veterans may have died while waiting for health care service. This study examined five core concepts of the health care system and whether VHA has utilized its five core concepts of patient-centered care to deliver proper health care to war veterans. This study used qualitative research in the …

Putting Policy In Its Place: Policy Enactment And Engagement Through A Multiscalar Policy-Shed Framework, Barbara L. Maclennan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The objective of this research is to examine the spatial components integral to policy formation, implementation, and evaluation. The research uses solid waste as a case study to explore a multiscalar GIS policy-shed framework. To this end, the goal of this dissertation is to examine the spatial nature of public policy. The research applies spatial concepts and multiscalar methodological applications embedded within GIS and geovisualization to explore the complex spaces surrounding public policy implementation and evaluation.

Human Centeredness: The Foundation For Leadership-As-Practice In Complex Local/Regional Food Networks, Maryann Martinez

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Our local and regional food systems are predominately modeled on a failed capitalist market-based economy. In the absence of corporate accountability, and/or support on the federal policy level, local and regional leadership and self-organized networks are critical to the scaling across and evolution of a moral and equitable food system. Networked food systems leaders are developing the capacity to solve wicked problems, and spark change. Understanding the values and practices of local food systems leadership that initiate, influence, and support activities is essential to understanding how to foster conditions for local and regional food network growth. My dissertation research is …

Youth As A Leading Power Of Uzbekistan, Mukhtor Nazirov

The Light of Islam

The article examines the features of effective interaction between government agencies, NGOs, and other civil institutions on youth issues. State youth policy in Uzbekistan considers revealing the potential of young people and promoting their effective socialization. The article shows the importance of modern education and upbringing, social support of young people in Uzbekistan. The political activity of youth is an indicator of the processes taking place in modern society. The article considers youth policy, the UN international legal documents regulating the youth sphere. The urgency of the youth issue is growing in connection with the deepening of globalization. The solutions …

The Influence Of Information Power Upon The Great Game In Cyberspace: U.S. Wins Over Russian Meddling In The 2018 Elections, Joseph H. Schafer

Military Cyber Affairs

The 2018 U.S. pivot in information and cyberspace degraded Russian operations in the 2018 election. Following pervasive Russian information power operations during the U.S. 2016 elections, the United States progressed from a policy of preparations and defense in information and cyberspace to a policy of forward engagement. U.S recognition of renewed great power competition coupled with Russia’s inability to compete diplomatically, militarily (conventionally), or economically, inspires Russia to continues to concentrate on information power operations. This great game in cyberspace was virtually uncontested by the U.S. prior to 2017. Widespread awareness of Russian aggression in 2016 served as a catalyst …

16 Cents Per Hour: Corcraft And New York State’S Prison Labor System, Gus Fisher, Diana Kennedy

Capstones

If you’re a student or faculty member at CUNY, the desk you write at, chair you sit in, and shelves you use are likely being made by New York State prisoners, who are paid a starting salary of 16 cents per hour by the state-owned corporation known as Corcraft.

Link to Full Article: https://gus-fisher.medium.com/16-cents-per-hour-corcraft-and-new-york-states-prison-labor-system-2b687792a03d

Health Care And Education Access Of Transnational Children In Mexico, Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes, Laura Juarez

Mission Foods Texas-Mexico Center Research

Between 2001 and 2018, more than 5.5 million Mexican migrants were removed from the United States or returned to Mexico with their families as immigration enforcement escalated. Learning how this transition affected the access to health and education services of their children –also referred to as “the invisibles”– is a policy-relevant topic for both the United States and Mexico. Using representative data on 7.6 million Mexican and U.S.-born children from the 2015 Mexican Intercensal Survey, we provide evidence on the education and health care access gaps between these two groups and on the factors potentially responsible for the barriers encountered …

Internal And External Determinants Of The Adoption Levels Of Sustainable Development Policies In The Energy, Industry And Agricultural Sectors Of Turkey, The United States, The Russian Federation, And The People’S Republic Of China, Onur Kolcak

Graduate Liberal Studies Theses and Dissertations

Our planet's natural resources have helped humanity advance and build countless civilizations. We are a fossil fuel civilization and have evolved so that today's production and energy use has become the most crucial part of all modern economies. We cannot function without reliable, resilient, and secure energy sources that help us continuously produce. Human history is full of important events that have tremendously shaped our experience on this planet. These experiences have sometimes forced us to make quick decisions and change our ways, but some of these changes occurred gradually and gave us time to plan and adapt. Adaptability is …

Backlogged Or Logjammed? An Analysis Of The Patterns That Surround The Rape Kit Backlog Across Jurisdictions, Elizabeth Dowd

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Untested rape kits sit in crime labs, hospitals, evidence lockers, or storage facilities untouched. In the worst-case scenarios, rape kits have been thrown out of police storage before the statute of limitations had expired. A major public policy problem is developing as these kits stack up and create a backlog. The primary problem with the rape kit backlog is that all victims are not receiving justice. To solve the problem, the backlog of rape kits needs further exploration and analysis. If a pattern can be established about why the problem is occurring, then policies can be constructed and implemented to …

The Effects Of Implementing The National Guard Tuition Assistance Program On Accessing Higher Education Funds For Arkansas National Guardsmen At The University Of Arkansas, Erika Gamboa

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Arkansas National Guard Tuition Assistance (NGTA) program was created to recruit and retain Arkansas National Guardsmen by providing college funding regardless of Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test scores. The funding provided up to 100% of tuition costs at any Arkansas public college or university and was effective between Fall 2017 to Fall 2019. The approval process included collaboration between the Arkansas National Guard Education Office, the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, and the institution of higher education Guardsmen attended.

The study focused on the effects the NGTA had on Guardsmen who attended the University of Arkansas during …

Migration And Inequalities In The Face Of Covid-19: Economic, Political And Social Context In Mexico And The United States, Claudia Masferrer

Mission Foods Texas-Mexico Center Research

Our world changed drastically on February 11th 2020 when the World Health Organization announced the name of the new coronavirus disease as COVID-19, and the pandemic was later considered the greatest challenge we have faced since World War II. Although we have started to experience social life in various new ways, the impacts that it will bring are still unknown. In recent years, migration had already undergone different transformations globally, and more changes are expected. How will populations on the move and migrant populations live in the following years post-COVID, and how different actors will respond to these changes, is …

Turkey’S Map Of Emotions And Its Political Reflections, Gokben Hizli Sayar, Huseyin Unubol, Deniz Ulke Aribogan, Nevzat Tarhan

New England Journal of Public Policy

Political psychology is an interdisciplinary scientific field that that combines politics and psychology to explore the effect of emotions in politics. It examines the backgrounds of political decisions at the individual and community levels. This study analyzes the political decisions of voters in Turkey, focusing on positive and negative reactions, such as trust and fear. Using conclusions drawn from the Addiction Map of Turkey Study (TURBAHAR), which involved interviews with approximately twenty-five thousand participants during five months in 2018, this study analyzed the results of local elections held in thirty metropolitan districts and fifty-one provinces in Turkey on March 31, …

Understanding Myanmar’S Buddhist Extremists: Some Preliminary Musings, Kumar Ramakrishna

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article examines Buddhist extremism in Myanmar. It argues that Buddhist extremism—like other types of religious extremism—is an acute form of fundamentalism. The article begins with a survey of how extremism is usually understood in the theoretical literature, showing that its religious variant is best conceived of as an acute form of fundamentalism. It then fine tunes this understanding, arguing that religious extremism is a fundamentalist belief system that justifies structural violence against relevant out-groups. The article outlines seven core characteristics of the religious extremist culled from the various theoretical approaches to extremism. It employs these seven characteristics to examine …

Population Density Of Congressional Districts In The Mountain West, Eshaan Vakil, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Demography

This fact sheet reports the population density of congressional districts in the Mountain West states, and the party representation in the House of Representatives for both the 2016 and 2018 general elections. This fact sheet utilizes a model from Bloomberg CityLab, the Congressional Density Index (CDI), originally published November 20, 2018.