Political Science Commons^™

Admiration Without Worship: The Fallibilization Of The Hero And The Moral Logic Of Modernity, Mohsen Askari

Heroism Science

This article develops the concept of the fallibilization of the hero, defined as the cultural process through which admired figures become visible as flawed, historically situated, morally complex human beings. It argues that modernity does not abolish heroism but changes the conditions under which it can be believed. In hagiographic systems, heroes are protected from contradiction and presented as pure or destined; in modern‑critical systems, greatness can coexist with error, weakness, and compromise. The article situates fallibilization within debates on heroism science, hagiography, charismatic authority, collective memory, and modern biography, proposing a four‑part typology of heroic forms: hagiographic, developmental, fallibilized, …

Seeing Women Govern Encourages Support For Women In Politics – With No Apparent Backlash Among Men, Vladimir Chlouba

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Quotas designed to bring gender parity to parliaments have an overall positive impact on support for female political leadership – especially after women members of parliament take office. Furthermore, there is no evidence of a backlash among men.

That’s what I found in a study published in October 2025 looking at the impact of gender-parity quotas in Namibia, in sub-Saharan Africa.

Gender-Diverse State Legislative Candidates In The United States: Identity Used Strategically On Campaign Websites, Nicholas Mossman

Honors Theses

In this honors thesis, I evaluate how transgender, nonbinary, and other gender-diverse state legislative candidates in the United States use their campaign websites to communicate messages related to gender identity to voters, and the potential effects of communication on electoral success. I used a dataset of eighty-nine candidates between 2014 and 2024, and coded fifty-four candidate websites to measure how candidates describe their personal identity and communicate about issues related to gender identity, like LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination and gender-affirming care. While existing research evaluates how voters respond to LGBTQ+ candidates, this thesis examines how candidates potentially attract voters through their campaign …

“What Are The Security Issues Surrounding Cislunar Space And Lunar Resources? How Do Theories Of International Politics And Territory Apply To Those Issues?”, Ina Loka

Honors Theses

In the recent decades, cislunar space has attracted significant interest among the biggest spacefaring nations, Russia, China, and the United States. Cislunar space is no longer a distant subject solely associated with scientific studies. It has become a crucial domain in the conduct of military operations and its importance has been increasingly emphasised in these states’ military doctrines. In an environment where the intentions of other actors are hard to determine and where there is a high degree of uncertainty, these three states are ramping up their (counter)space capabilities in order to protect themselves from any adversarial attacks, and to …

Beyond Charisma: A Critical Theory Perspective On Populist Leadership In A Post-Covid Age Of Crisis, Samuel Fianko-Ofori, Stephen Apolima

Interdisciplinary Journal of Leadership Studies

This paper argues that the digital communication environment has qualitatively transformed the dynamics of populist leadership, moving it beyond a reliance on personal charisma. While the affective bonds between leaders and followers—explored by classical theorists like Weber, Freud, and Adorno—are not new, their operation within the platformed public sphere marks a distinct shift. We introduce the concept of Affective Populist Leadership (APL) to conceptualize this shift. APL is a mode of leadership sustained through the strategic cultivation and digital amplification of collective emotions. It operates through three mutually reinforcing mechanisms: (1) the perpetual theatrical framing of politics as crisis, (2) …

Welfare Federalism And Immigrant Inclusion: How State Ideology, Democracy, And Public Opinion Shape Social Policy, Emily Daniel

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the variation in immigrant access to state-level social welfare programs in the United States from 1997 to 2023, focusing on the influence of state ideology, democratic performance, and public opinion. In the wake of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), which curtailed federal welfare access for many immigrants and shifted authority to the states, significant disparities emerged in how states approached immigrant inclusion. This study examines eight states—four historic immigrant destinations and four “new growth” states—with varied political climates and demographic changes. Using a legislative output index, moral language analysis of state media …

Shame On Us: The Democratic Costs Of Public Shaming, Elijah Han

Honors Theses

This thesis argues that contemporary public shaming—amplified today by the Internet and universal social membership—is unjustifiable because existing theories ignore its distinctly democratic harms. Defining public shaming as an intentional, collective act that weaponizes social opprobrium, I critique existing consequentialist and deontological defenses, showing they overlook how shaming erodes the conditions for democratic citizenship. Public shaming breeds mistrust, skews who gets to set social norms, chills political participation, radicalizes targets, and obscures what norms actually govern us; these six systemic costs undermine democracy and outweigh any social, economic, or moral benefits except in rare cases where public shaming averts existential …

Left Turn? Progressive Caucus Characteristics & Influence In The 117th Congress, John C. Paschold

Honors Theses

In this thesis, I address three critical questions about the Congressional Progressive Caucus. First, which characteristics are associated with whether a House Democrat is more likely to be a member of the Progressive Caucus? Second, are Progressive Caucus members more effective as lawmakers than other House Democrats not part of the caucus? Third, how much influence does the Congressional Progressive Caucus exert influence over their party’s legislative agenda in Congress? The answers to these questions are important because this research helps provide a further understanding of characteristics and influence that party caucus members share in the contemporary Congress. My research …

Killjoy? Augustine On Pageantry, Peter Kaufman

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Augustine’s position on civic spectacles should be evaluated in connection with his fears about a resurgence of paganism in late Roman North Africa. Notwithstanding contemporary claims that those fears were cover for early fifth-century prelatical efforts to manage commercial and political culture, evidence suggests that paganism in North Africa survived and was seductive.

Why Do We Vote?: An Analytical And Data-Centered Approach To The Impact Of Infrastructure Quality On Voter Turnout In Virginia Counties, Alex F. Broening

Araneum: Richmond Journal of American & Global Affairs

Everyday political discourse centers around the direction of voting far more than the choice to vote itself, despite low turnout rates in the United States overall, and especially in local and non-presidential elections. No existing model provides a complete explanation of the reasons and influences that cause individuals to participate in politics by casting a ballot, and the literature is especially fractured with regards to issue-specific activation of voters. This work expands on previous issue-focused studies by performing turnout analyses for Virginia counties alongside geographic analysis of infrastructure quality and access. The findings suggest that the quality of infrastructure has …

Defending The Role Of A Principle Of Proportionality In Just Punishment, Emma Mecklenburg

Honors Theses

What makes a punishment just or unjust is a familiar topic that the public and scholars alike recognize as an important question. Many factors are involved in conversations surrounding the just length of sentences, but this paper will specifically investigate two central questions: First, what makes a punishment just, and second, what role does a principle of proportionality play in thinking about just punishment.

The Value Of Prison Education: Evaluating The Impact Of Education Through Desistance, Cheryl Chan

Honors Theses

The United States faces an epidemic of incarceration, draining resources, disrupting families, and hindering societal participation. Prison education emerges as a method to address this cycle, with vocational and academic programs being pivotal. While vocational programs are more common, their long-term efficacy remains uncertain. Academic education, exemplified by programs like the Bard Prison Initiative, provides incarcerated individuals with an opportunity to change. Typically, the success of these programs are measured using recidivism. However, recidivism has become too narrow of a measure to properly capture the nuances of an education. There has been an emerging body of scholarship studying desistance and …

Letter From The Editors

Araneum: Richmond Journal of American & Global Affairs

No abstract provided.

A General Model Of Good Executive Leadership In Policy Contexts, Thad Williamson

Interdisciplinary Journal of Leadership Studies

This commentary stipulates a general model of policy leadership, encompassing decision-making, implementation, and evaluation. The model stresses attaining clarity about the nature of the issue being addressed, the values at stake, and the possible outcomes of alternative courses of action. While focused on the context of elected executives in municipal government, the stipulated model has broader applicability to other contexts. The article contends that following the model may both improve the effectiveness of political leaders and help build consensus (or compromise) among distinct political actors.

State Consent And The Legitimacy Of International Law, David Lefkowitz

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Like all law, international law is a practice of reason-giving, one in which agents invoke legal norms to justify their conduct. Practitioners of inter- national law generally proceed on the assumption that those norms do, in fact, justify the conduct they sanction. Theorists, in contrast, tend to take a more critical stance towards the practice of international law, including the assumption that the law succeeds in providing a justification for its subjects’ conduct. Why treat the claim that international law prohibits Φ-ing as in itself a reason not to Φ? Or using the terminology I will employ in this chapter, …

Political Feasibility And A Global Climate Treaty, David Lefkowitz

Philosophy Faculty Publications

I contend that to be politically feasible a global climate treaty must satisfy the International Paretian principle (IP). I begin by defending IP as a principle of instrumental rationality that reflects the fact of extremely limited altruism vis-à-vis foreigners. I then address two objections to my thesis. One holds that an IP treaty is either economically infeasible or, contrary to its proponents’ claim, does not require side payments from poor states to rich ones. The other holds poor states will reject any climate treaty that requires such side payments because it ignores or exacerbates their unjust treatment by rich states.

Unmaking Egalitarianism: Comparing Sources Of Political Change In An Amazonian Society, Christopher Von Rueden

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Politically egalitarian societies were likely more common in pre-history than in recent millenia. Why did societies become more hierarchical? Answers to this question remain debated, based on evidence largely drawn from archaeological case studies or comparison of societies from the ethnographic record. I suggest that modern small-scale societies transitioning to market economies can provide complementary tests of the sources of political inequality. I first describe moderate variation in men's influence during community meetings (i.e. political inequality) across four relatively egalitarian Tsimane villages in the Bolivian Amazon, as well as within one of these villages over twelve years. I then assess …

How Propaganda Affects Public Opinion In China: Evidence From The First Phase Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Dan Chen

Political Science Faculty Publications

During a national crisis, can state propaganda shift public opinion, and if so, in what direction? Existing studies show that the effects of state propaganda on public opinion in China are mixed. Analysing data from an online survey experiment conducted during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, this article finds that the Chinese public responded positively to propaganda that promoted Xi Jinping’s leadership, when these messages included text as well as images that showed Xi being compassionate during his visit to Wuhan. However, when textual propaganda focused on familiar narratives, such as Xi’s leadership, international praise …

Mill's Harm Principle: A Study In The Application Of 'On Liberty', Sandra J. Peart

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

English philosopher and political economist John Stuart Mill argued that people learn by choosing: this is how they become creative and productive individuals. For this reason, and because he felt that individuals are typically the most capable people to make their own choices, Mill was highly skeptical of restrictions on choice placed by a third party, such as the state.

Mill famously separated actions into two categories: (1) self-regarding actions that do not affect others; and (2) other-regarding actions that do affect, and may harm, others. In the former category he placed thought and discussion, tastes and pursuits, and association, …

Policy Design And The Lived Experience Of The Poor: A Test Of Policy Feedback Effects And Efficacy, Ava Gural

Honors Theses

As American political actors have framed poverty as a choice made by the unambitious, it has become clear that our society has a pervasive misunderstanding of poverty. Policy Feedback Theorists assert that the design of our welfare policies contributes to this fallacy, raising the question of whether there is a relationship between policy design and the way citizens act and feel. This thesis uses quantitative data from the American Citizen Participation Study and qualitative data from two original interviews to test the existence of “policy feedback effects” on program participants’ feelings of efficacy. Quantitative evidence suggests limited evidence of policy …

Une Politique Laïque: L’Utilisation De La Laïcité Dans Les Discours Politiques Français, Zachary Holmes

Honors Theses

La politique française est fortement liée avec la laïcité, comme on peut voir avec son utilisation dans les discours des politiciens. Elle a la capacité d’unifier les gens sous un idéal commun, mais elle peut aussi faire des divisions dans la société. Donc, il faut considérer comment on veut traiter l’idée en France. Il est impossible de dire comment elle va faire partie du futur, mais il est clair que, pour le moment, elle est un outil important pour les politiciens qui veulent avancer leurs programmes différents. Il est probable qu’elle continuerait à être une idée puissante dans les prochaines …

Facing Famine: Justice And The Case Of Unilateral Intervention, Tanner R. Brooks

Honors Theses

Through the course of this year, 900 thousand people will have to struggle through conditions of famine, and a total of 345.2 million will experience food insecurity of some kind. These concerning figures represent an over twofold increase since 2020.1 This presents a serious problem, as access to food is so plainly vital to every aspect of an individual’s existence. It should therefore be uncontroversial to assert the grave nature of the occurrence of famine and other food emergencies faced by so many today. Food emergencies are not merely a result of insufficient food, but rather the institutional policies enacted …

Magic As Political Might: Harry Potter, Authoritarianism, And Youth Political Behavior, Alexis Cobbs

Honors Theses

This thesis examines how authoritarian structures found in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series affect the political thoughts and behaviors of its readers, particularly those who read them at young ages. By examining how Rowling depicts authoritarianism and its opposition in the books, I hypothesized that increased exposure would correlate to an increased impact on readers’ political opinions. To test this hypothesis, I created an original survey designed to measure levels of exposure and participation in the Harry Potter fandom as well as respondents’ political opinions. I asked respondents to provide different examples of authoritarianism and its opposition in the books …

Patriotism And Democratic Education, Richard Dagger

Political Science Faculty Publications

Whether patriotism has a valuable part to play in the educational system of a democratic society is now a highly contentious matter. This chapter argues that it does, principally because such a society is a kind of cooperative practice that requires its members to enact, enforce, and – in most cases – obey the laws that govern their self-governing polity. Democracies rely on rules, and especially the rule of law, to provide the reasonably clear expectations necessary to coordinate public activities and to overcome collective-action problems. By encouraging citizens to set aside personal advantage and play a cooperative part in …

Policy Stringency, Political Conditions, And Public Performances Of Pandemic Control: An International Comparison, Dan Chen, Yong Li, Jiebing Wu

Political Science Faculty Publications

What factors might explain the cross-country variations in COVID-19 public performances and what lessons can be drawn to be better-prepared for future pandemics? This study focuses on the effects of policy stringency on COVID-19 public health outcomes to gain insights into national-level state responses to COVID-19 and the conditions for their effectiveness. Using data from 136 countries comprising 91.4% of the global population, we find that more stringent policies lead to lower infection and death rates. More importantly, the negative effects of restrictive policies on infection and death rates are moderated by political trust and democracy levels, possibly through the …

Civil Liability For Civil Disobedience, David Lefkowitz

Philosophy Faculty Publications

In January 2023, climate activists trespassed on the site of the German energy firm RWE’s Garzweiler coal mine to protest against its plans to expand operations there. The police eventually removed the protestors (including Greta Thunberg), many of whom were charged with committing criminal offenses. A few weeks after the occupation, RWE announced plans to seek compensation from the protestors for the injuries they inflicted on the firm, which included damage to vehicles and other equipment.[1] Should the law permit it to do so? More generally, should a liberal-democratic State hold civil disobedients legally liable to compensate the private …

Chinese Celebrities’ Political Signaling On Weibo, Dan Chen, Gengsong Gao

Political Science Faculty Publications

In China, celebrities can dominate public discourse and shape popular culture, but they are under the state’s close gaze. Recent studies have revealed how the state disciplines and co-opts celebrities to promote patriotism, foster traditional values, and spread political propaganda. However, how do celebrities adapt to the changing political environment? Focusing on political signaling on Weibo, we analyze a novel dataset and find that the vast majority of top celebrities repost from official accounts of government agencies and state media outlets, though there are variations. Younger celebrities with more followers tend to repost from official accounts more. Celebrities from Taiwan …

[Preface To] Peace, Preference, And Property: Return Migration After Violent Conflict, Sandra F. Joireman

Bookshelf

Growing numbers of people are displaced by war and violent conflict. In Ukraine, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Syria, and elsewhere violence pushes civilian populations from their homes and sometimes from their countries, making them refugees. In previous decades, millions of refugees and displaced people returned to their place of origin after conflict or were resettled in countries in the Global North. Now displacements last longer, the number of people returning home is lower, and opportunities for resettlement are shrinking. More and more people spend decades in refugee camps or displaced within their own countries, raising their children away from their home …

Stereotypic Beliefs Contribute To Gender Disparities In The Field Of Economics, Stefanie Simon, Crystal L. Hoyt, Stephanie Fattorusso

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Why are women under-represented in the field of economics relative to men? We propose that stereotypes associated with economists contribute to women’s interest in the field. We test the predictions that economists are stereotypically associated with low levels of communion and high levels of agency and that this type of stereotype content is associated with women’s lower interest in the field. In Study 1 (N = 883), stereotypes associated with people in the field of economics were masculine, characterized with low levels of communion and high levels of agency. In Study 2 (N = 182), undergraduate women were …

Pro-Integration Policies And The Occupational Expectations Of Immigrant Youth, Volha Chykina

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Europe is experiencing heightened public attention toward anti-immigration policy reforms and restrictions. Despite the potential importance of these policy changes, we do not know whether these policies influence how immigrant children perceive their futures in their host countries. Employing secondary data analysis of the Program for International Student Assessment and the Migrant Integration Policy Index data, I show that a decrease in policy support for immigrant integration is associated with a decrease in how good of a job immigrant children expect to have when they are adults. Since students’ occupational expectations influence their eventual status attainment, this article shows that …