Political Science Commons^™

Why Does The United States Give Foreign Aid?, Abalo Awesso

Masters Theses

This thesis examined many controversies surrounding the distribution of U.S. foreign aid, most precisely the factors explaining the allocation of U.S. foreign aid, the congressional foreign policy behavior related to foreign aid decisions, and the impact of foreign lobbying. The findings suggest that the United States' security interests appear to be the central basis on which the United States distributes its Gross Bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA). Meanwhile, the congressional foreign policy behavior reveals that even though the Democrats are more likely to sponsor most foreign aid bills the Democratic Party's control in Congress does not guarantee that all or …

Paths To Citizenship: A Comparative Study Of Japan, Germany And Sweden, Marisha L. Lecea

Masters Theses

This paper examines citizenship policy in Japan, Germany and Sweden in an attempt to explain why some rich, democratic nations have high rates of naturalization and non-restrictive paths to citizenship, while others have negligible rates of naturalization and very restrictive policies. Japan has a very restrictive policy while Sweden has a very open policy. Germany is a mid-level case that has moved from more restrictive to less restrictive over the last several years. In this paper I look at the explanatory potential of internal, institutional, and external variables. I use data from the W orId Values Survey to compare domestic …

Evaluating The Vice Presidency Using The Effective Model: A Look At Gore And Cheney, Trisha Miller

Masters Theses

Historically, the office of the Vice President has been one of little importance. The Mondale vice presidency transformed the office into one of more prestige. Significant' changes have occurred with recent vice presidents, Al Gore and Dick Cheney. For this reason, a way to evaluate the vice presidents becomes imperative. Using the Hargrove model for presidential effectiveness, an applicatio:q can be made to the vice presidencies of Gore and Cheney. The research questions addressed are: vVere Albert Gore and Richard Cheney eventful or event-making vice presidents? Were they effective? The analysis found Gore to be effective while Cheney was not …

Coughlin And Cleveland, Karen G. Ketchaver

Masters Theses

Father Charles E. Coughlin was one of the most prominent, and most controversial, figures in the United States in the 1930s and in the early years of the 1940s. This Canadian-born cleric rose from the life of an ordinary parish priest to becoming one of the leading radio phenomena of his day, masterfully using the new medium to command a vast audience. Coughlin began his radio career addressing religious subjects, but he expanded into the realm of politics by the early 1930s. His views became more and more extreme, and, by the latter part of the decade, he became increasingly …

Why We Failed: The Rise Of Islamic Extremism And America’S Failure To Stop It 1979-2003, Brad Michael Negulescu

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the rise of Islamic terrorism from 1979-2003. It begins with how the Soviet-Afghan war during the 1980’s gave birth to a movement of young Islamic radicals that became known as al Qaeda. The paper then discusses how the organization, led by wealthy Saudi financier Osama bin Ladin, became a principle antagonist of the Clinton Administration throughout the 1990’s. Moreover, it goes on to talk about the numerous successful terrorist acts al Qaeda was able to plan and implement around the world during the 1990’s and how the administration attempted to deal them. It also discusses how the …

Coercion In U.S. Foreign Policy: Evaluating The Utility Of The Jentleson And Whytock Model, John D. Hamilton

Masters Theses

This thesis seeks to test the utility of the Jentleson and Whytock (2006) model, which stems from their study of U.S. foreign policy with Libya. Their study established a model of foreign policy coercion, which they maintain helps explain why Libyan foreign policy changed so radically during the presidency of George W. Bush. The model is applied to American policy, implemented from the Carter administration to that of George W. Bush, towards Iran, Burma (Myanmar) and North Korea. The coercive strategies used by each administration are compared against the prescription and projection purported by the model in order to determine …

Deconstructing Liberalism: Are The Criticisms Associated With Neoliberal Economic Policies Universal?, Jeremy Bowling

Masters Theses

Neoliberalism is a set of economic policies which emerged amongst states during the 1980s in order to create comparative advantages. This thesis explains what neoliberalism is, how it spread around the globe, and what the critiques of neoliberalism are. A background of the critique of Latin American neoliberalism is provided and followed immediately by a case study of three Latin American states. A quantitative analysis of neoliberalism and economic and social data is described and results are provided. The overall conclusion suggests that many of the criticisms of neoliberalism are not universally observed within all states, but some critiques are …

Military Voting From A Combat Zone, Robert E. Reichner

Masters Theses

This study involves analyzing the Rational Choice Theory presented by Anthony Downs (1957) regarding the cost of information when casting a ballot. The context of the study will be under the auspices of casting a ballot according to the Uniform and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). Of particular concern, the study will focus on uniformed members of the U.S. Armed Forces deployed overseas to Department of Defense combat zones. The policies put into place regarding political participation while serving as a military member will be addressed. Additionally, the study will employ a comparative case study of each individual service …

Economic Development And The Absence Of Democracy In China, Megan Whipp

Masters Theses

My research will look at the reasons for China's lack of democracy. China has become increasingly developed giving the Chinese people greater wealth, improved education, and better access to healthcare. Based on Seymour Lipset's 1963 study which finds economic development fosters democracy, China should have become democratic. But, China is not a democracy.

The methodology employed in this study is a case study. A case study ensures an in-depth analysis of the relevant factors which could affect China's prospects for democracy. This study advances the understanding of China's continued authoritarian rule finding two factors especially influential. The first factor is …

Deference Of Defiance? Principal-Agent Theory And The Us Courts Of Appeals During The Rehnquist And Burger Courts, Nathaniel R. Vanden Brook

Masters Theses

By examining cases from the Courts of Appeals in several issue areas between 1969 and 2002 (e.g., the Burger and Rehnquist Courts), this research examines both the fear of reversal from the high court (judicial impact theory) and whether this results in differences in response from these courts to Supreme Court precedent (principal-agent theory). The study finds that when the Supreme Court grants review to a decreasing number of lower court cases and thus gives a longer leash to these courts that instead of deferring to their principal, the appellate courts often defy the high court and seek to advance …

Reconciliation Or Reencounter In The Southern Cone Of South America: Amnesty, Forgetfulness, Forgiveness, Impunity, Memory, And The Power And Politics Of Theatricality, Lee Ann Johnson

Masters Theses

This thesis explores how scholars have defined reconciliation along with the difficulty of doing so. Focusing especially on the Chilean and Argentinean experiences, I argue for the necessity of attaining political or national reconciliation after periods of violent authoritarian rule. I consider truth and reconciliation commissions and detail the mandates under which some have operated. My premise is that although truth and reconciliation commissions are a wonderful tool for facilitating reconciliation, their legalistic and structured nature keeps them from being all that is needed to achieve reconciliation. I suggest that the creative nature of theatre makes it the perfect complement …

Fostering Democracy In Iraq, Tristam E. Niederer

Masters Theses

This thesis evaluates democracy in Iraq and determines if the current institutions are fostering democracy. When the institutions in place are not fostering democracy, I evaluate why they are not and how they could promote democracy. I employ a case study approach of Iraq by first looking at the region's history. I then analyze the works of leading experts of democracy in divided society theory to develop a democratic framework for Iraq. Finally, I focus on the Iraqi government's institutions and the Iraqi Constitution to evaluate their effectiveness.

The purpose of this thesis is two-fold. First, as a deeply divided …

Women Candidates And Television Advertising: An Examination Of The 2006 Mid-Term Elections, Sharlin Aldao

Masters Theses

Television campaign ads are considered by scholars as the primary resource which candidates for national office use to introduce themselves and their views to the public, regardless of whether they are male or female. The majority of research nonetheless has focused on advertising at the Presidential and Congressional level. It has also focused on the use of negativity in their ads. Women candidates as an aggregate have many obstacles in terms of television advertising. The long standing stereotype of women as the homemaker and mother would lead many to believe that they should and only focus on women's issues such …

Voting Rights For Felons: An Analysis Of Felon Voting Rights Restoration Laws In Illinois And New York And The Factors That Affect An Elections Official's Willingness Or Reluctance To Implement The Law, Barbara Dongu Smith

Masters Theses

This research examines the roles that race and political party affiliation play in an elections official's knowledge of voting rights restoration for felons in Illinois. Felon disenfranchisement as public policy traces a path from pre-modem society to present day and has become a viable issue as the numbers of those incarcerated and denied voting rights has increased. This research proposes to determine if felon disenfranchisement as public policy is prevalent in Illinois, a state that grants franchise to felons after release from Department of Corrections custody or if, as the academic and scholarly literature proposes, it is so entrenched in …

No Child Left Behind: The Process Behind The Policy, Amanda Patience Beedie

Masters Theses

My research will entail studying the political policy making process m reference to the education policy, No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The purpose of this Masters thesis is to take a more in-depth look of how the policy process functions, the steps used in the policy process, and if the steps are a valid process.

This study will look at the early. theories of the policy process. I am going to look at the classic works done by J. Leiper Freeman, Randall B. Ripley and Grace A. Franklin, and Theodore J. Lowi and their views on subgovemments. I will also …

Hiv/Aids Policies In The United States And The United Kingdom: Emerging At-Risk Groups And The Struggle For Limited Resources, Jennifer Lorren Willis

Masters Theses

This thesis compares the HIV/ AIDS policies in the United States of America and the United Kingdom since the emergence of the virus in 1981. Despite a privatized health care system in the U.S. and the universal system in the UK, which lie on opposite ends of the policy care spectrum, similar populations have recently emerged as those most in need of health care services, preventative programs, and financial assistance. This thesis employs several quantitative and qualitative data to highlight the emergence of women and minorities in both nations as those that are most in need of resources. Data has …

Ending Conflict: Raising The Costs Of Defection In African Failed States, Brian Crisher

Masters Theses

This paper views the civil conflicts in African failed states through the lens of game theory. From the numerous peace agreements and cease-fires that have been broken in these conflicts, it is clear that defecting from such agreements,is often more profitable than abiding by them. Why is this so? Furthermore, what can be done to raise the costs of defection and therefore promote cooperation amongst the fighting parties? This paper proposes that the international community has the ability to do just this through one-sided intervention.

The Independent Press In The Emerging Democracies: The Case Studies Of Poland, Ukraine And Russia, Lyudmyla Pustelnyk

Masters Theses

My research will entail the election coverage in the mainstream papers of Poland, Ukraine and Russia, these are the Gazeta Wyborcha, the Den, and the Izvestiya respectively. The diverse levels of media-freedom in the observed countries explain the difference between all three outlets in featuring political issues. The purpose of this Master's Thesis is to contrast and compare the state of the free press in Poland, Ukraine and Russia as well as the factors that determine the media-independence. In particular, these are the media-legislation, civil society and the economic performance.

This study revises the empirical claims made by …

Off The Welfare Rolls And Back Into Poverty: A Look At 11 Years Of Illinois Welfare Reform, Amber Williams

Masters Theses

In 1996, the Republican-lead 104th Congress passed into law the most sweeping welfare reforms the United States had experienced in 60 years. The legislation, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, ended the decades-old Aid to Families with Dependent Children welfare and instituted the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families system. The new system ended entitlements, cut benefits to legal immigrants, set a two-year time limit for people to receive welfare benefits without working, and a five-year lifetime limit. In Illinois, the time limits for receiving cash benefits cut thousands of people off of the welfare rolls in the years …

Which Islam-Ism? Diversity In Islamic Society And Its Implications For Democracy, Christopher M. Ebsch

Masters Theses

This study aims to refute claims of Islamic exceptionalism in the midst of recent waves of democratization, thereby disproving assumptions of any incompatibility between democracy and Islam. My research will show that such sweeping assumptions gloss over significant, developmental democratic movements within Muslim nations as well as several uniquely Islamic supports for democratic ideals and institutions.

I begin by examining recent political activities conducive to democracy in Muslim states, by distinguishing between divergent principles in the Qur' an, some of which have been used by moderate, democratically-oriented Islamists, and by realizing the historical, political antecedents leading to a rise in …

An Issue Of Extraordinary Circumstances: The House Of Representatives And The Riddle Of Drug Policy, Richard D. Caldwell

Masters Theses

In 1988, Congress introduced H.R. 4462 which proclaimed it a goal to make the U.S. drug-free by 1995 (Nadelmann, 1998:111). This goal of Congress to make the U.S. drug- free has proven to fail miserably in application, as evidenced by the fact that many in America continue to use and abuse drugs on a regular basis. Furthermore, the issue of medical marijuana has grown in popularity throughout the country within the last ten years, which has led many states through referendum, or the legislative process to proactively change drug policy, sometimes with retaliation by the Federal Government. This paper seeks …

Interest Groups Power And Politics In Decatur, Illinois, Melissa Trueblood

Masters Theses

The thesis investigates perceptions of local interest groups concerning policy-making in Decatur, Illinois. Local interest group studies focus on economic groups such as the Chamber of Commerce. Literature indicates that these groups are influential in policymaking because of their important political resources. The literature lacks studies of noneconomic group involvement in policy-making. Furthermore, the literature lacks studies of local interest group processes in medium-sized cities. The thesis looks at noneconomic interest group perceptions of policy-making in a medium-sized city. To investigate perceptions, three hypotheses are explored using nineteen semi-structured interviews with group officials and document analysis. The thesis hypothesizes that …

Unilateral Executive Power: Bush Push Or Congressional Cave? An Examination Of Executive-Legislative Relations During The First Term Of President George W. Bush, 2001-2004, Erika N. Cornelius

Masters Theses

The events of September 11th once again brought the unique power-sharing relationship between the executive and legislative branches into focus. The framers created the presidency to deal with direct threats to the national security of the United States and in situations such as September 11th, American citizens and Congress naturally rally-round the national leader, the president. This thesis examines the interaction between the Bush White House and 107th and 108th Congress, following the events of September 11th.

This study explores the political interplay between Congress and the president in the area of foreign policy, with special emphasis given to war …

Women Mayors: An Examination Of Leadership Style, Sherikia Lavette Humes

Masters Theses

Studies of women in politics traditionally focus on the state and federal levels. Scholarly literature suggests that women mayors have been largely ignored, even though there has been a significant increase in the number of women mayors. This thesis examines women mayors and their leadership styles through the models of transactional and transformational leadership. For this study, as a point of comparison, male mayors also were examined. This study was conducted through three research methods: elite interviewing and observational and document analysis. The findings of this study suggest that women mayors are more likely than men mayors to be transformational …

The People's Republic Of China's Corrupt Culture: Is The Prc's Arbitration Systems Exempt?, Mary Elizabeth Crawford

Masters Theses

The People's Republic of China (PRC) has struggled with corruption for decades. The PRC' s admission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) has brought some hope to curtail corruption, but this alone has not eliminated corruption within the PRC. One reason for the prevalence of corruption within the PRC is the intertwined relationship between the Chinese Communist Party and judicial and government officials. The purpose of this Masters thesis is to evaluate whether the relationship between Chinese governmental bodies and the PRC's arbitration systems makes Chinese arbitration systems susceptible to corruption.

This study examines the PRC's arbitration systems' close nexus …

Factors Affecting Individual Attitudes Toward Democratization Of South Korea, Gang-Hoon Kim

Masters Theses

In mid-March 2004, the impeachment of President Roh Moo-Hyun was one of the hottest issues in South Korea. He was the first president to have been impeached by the National Assembly since the South Korean government was established in July 1948. The impeachment reveals a deep political disruption. The purpose of this paper is to scientifically determine to what extent the impeachment of the president may have undermined or developed the democracy in South Korea.

To answer these questions, this study examined the relationship between democratization and factors such as level of education, region, individual income, religion, age, attitude toward …

Cultural And Individual Influences On Foreign Policy, Emine Sunduz Demir

Masters Theses

The principle aim of this thesis is to examine how strategic culture affects foreign policy decision-making, as contrasted to the particular decree of influence the individuals have on the foreign policy process in the concept of an immediate extended deterrence. This thesis is based on three case studies that are tested separately using both Cha's notion of strategic culture and Allison's Bureaucratic Politics Model in order to find which model (if any) best explains foreign policy decision making. Cases are: The SemiVietnamese War in 1979 and Deng Xiaoping, the Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996 and Jiang Zemin, and the Kosovo …

Ethnicity And Religion: An Inquiry Into The Origin And Nature Of Conflicts In Nigeria, Ugochukwu Chrys. Nwabueze

Masters Theses

The policy goal of a Pax Nigeriana in the African continent is hardly realizable without a focused confrontation by Nigeria of its own security deficits. A security and politically deficient Nigeria will have nothing to offer the African continent in terms of peace and political stability if it cannot by example overcome its own accidental and structural flaws.

With this in mind, the work sets out to address the origin, nature and resolution of conflict in Nigeria. Before adequate resolution therapy could be recommended for violent conflicts in Nigeria, any intending researcher must of necessity address the origin and nature …

Great Expectations: An Examination Of The Defense Spending And Military Modernization Of Poland, Hungary, And The Czech Republic Form 2002-2004, Kyle Raney

Masters Theses

In 1999 at the Madrid Summit, NATO officially opened its doors to three new states. Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic were the first states to enter NATO since the end of the Cold War. The idea of NATO expansion has been heavily contested and critics argue that these new members do not have the capabilities to be strong contributors to the alliance and are unable to produce modern defense systems. Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic have all taken unique paths on the way into the alliance and all three states since their induction have in some form attempted …

Don't Forget About The Me In Afscme: An Analysis Of Collective Bargaining In Municipalities, Michael L. Woods Jr.

Masters Theses

Collective bargaining in the public sector is inherently political. Public unions negotiate either directly or indirectly with elected public officials. This thesis explores the political bargaining strategies adopted by municipal public unions and the inherent factors that surround the collective bargaining process (e.g. trust, state of the economy, community interest groups, and media). The intentions of this study were to see if these variables influenced negotiated wage increases and the likelihood of experiencing bargaining impasses. The findings suggest that public union political bargaining strategies positively affect negotiated wage increases. Trust, however, seems to evolve as the most important variable. Building …