Political Science Commons^™

What Will It Take To Build A North American Community?, Gaspare Genna

Departmental Papers (PS)

No abstract provided.

Building Coalitions, Making Policy: The Politics Of The Clinton, Bush, And Obama Presidencies, By Martin A. Levin, Daniel Disalvo, And Martin M. Shapiro, Eds., José Villalobos

Departmental Papers (PS)

No abstract provided.

Shaking The Military Pillar Of Regime Support: A Closer Look At The Factors Influencing Military Defections During The Revolutions In Egypt, Libya, And Syria During The Arab Spring Movement, Sarah Kruger

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Using Egypt, Libya, and Syria as primary case studies, this project qualitatively analyzes the recent uprisings in each of these nations with focus on what factors influenced soldiers to defect. Paying specific attention to the role of the international community, the power of nonviolent tactics, the influence of ethnic and religious divisions, and examining what happens when the opposition forces turn violent, these decisions by military personnel are deconstructed by analyzing their triggers. While the topic of military defections is a fairly new focus in revolutionary studies, this research serves as a talking point and gives insight into where future …

The Rally Around The Flag Effect: A Look At Former President George W. Bush And Current President Barack Obama, Jocelyn E. Norman

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

The purpose of my research is to look at how the “rally-round-the-flat effect” affected both former President George W. Bush and current President Barrack Obama and uncover why Obama only benefited from the “rally-round-the-flag effect” once, even though he has dealt with numerous international crises. This research is valuable because it will illustrate how the rally effect affects different presidents and uncover the outside factors that caused Obama’s approval ratings to remain stagnant during time of international crisis. In addition, it will hopefully disprove the notion that crisis or war automatically increases the popularity of a President.

An Arms Race Or Bureaucratic Dogfight? Assessing The Underlying Causes Of India’S Nuclear Force Development, Drew Stommes

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

States have developed military capabilities throughout the history of the nation-state international system. Examples include the Anglo-German naval arms race at the beginning of the 21^st century and the United States-Soviet Union arms competition during the cold War. One contemporary example of an arms buildup can be seen with the expansion and enhancement of India’s nuclear arsenal. Drawing from two broad bodies of literature that focus on the role of external and internal causes of arms buildups, I argue that India’s nuclear buildup has been caused primarily by the external threat posed by Pakistan, and less so by China. …

Democracy, Market Solutions, And Educative Institutions: A Perspective On Neoliberalism, John Buschman

Library Publications

No abstract provided.

Historical Roots Of Faith (In The Market): Neoliberalism Before The “Neo”, John Buschman

Library Publications

No abstract provided.

Factors Influencing Voter Behavior In Two Inner-City Communities In Jamaica, Apollone S. Reid

2010-2016 Archived Posters

A phenomenological study explored the decision making process of voters in two inner-city communities in Jamaica, wherein results of three consecutive general elections showed homogenous voting in favor of incumbent candidates. Voting behavior examined through theoretical frameworks of reciprocal determinism and counter-control supported influences among environmental, cognitive, and behavioral factors.

Hegemony And Humanitarian Norms: The Us Legitimation Of Toxic Violence, Eric Bonds

History and American Studies Articles

Despite widespread beliefs that the United States has not used chemical weapons since the distant past of World War I, this study suggests a more complicated history by examining U.S. use of herbicides and incapacitating gases in the Vietnam War and its use of herbicides in the "War on Drugs." This article places such use of toxic violence within a context of U.S. hegemony, by which U.S. officials have used contested forms of violence to secure geopolitical goals, but have also been pressured to comply with humanitarian norms or-when there is a gap between norms and state policy-to do legitimating …

All Punishment Is Local: The Effects Of Jurisdictional Context On Sentence Length, Elsa Y. Chen

Political Science

Objectives
This article investigates the extent to which contextual and individual factors influence the length of prison sentences in California.

Methods
The analysis applies a hierarchical linear model to individual and county-level data.

Results
Some characteristics of the racial, organizational, and public safety environments are found to influence the length of prison terms.

Conclusions
The findings support the organizational maintenance perspective and the idea of minority incarceration as a response to a perceived crime threat. Political environment is not found to have a significant effect on sentence lengths, and the findings do not support the racial threat hypothesis. The effects …

Dutch Media: Pillarization, Multiculturalism, And Cross-Culturalism, Ayman H. Elsherbiny

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

‘Media and culture’ has been always a topic of interest and study, not only for scholars, but for policy makers and the general public as well. The topic is very broad. It includes defending cultural autonomy in face of the influences of globalized media, in addition to using media as a tool for preserving multiculturalism in societies and for integrating minorities. This paper explores the media system of the Netherlands (the Low Countries), also known as Holland, through the phenomenon of ‘pillarization’ in the media and its development towards ‘multiculturalism’ and ‘cross-culturalism’. Furthermore, it sheds light on the influence of …

Dancing In Davos: Combining Private Sector, Government, And Rising Nonstate Actors, Siyu Li

Exchange: The Journal of Public Diplomacy

Nonstate actors, nongovernmental organizations, and diaspora communities are forming connections across national borders. These actors insert themselves into a wide range of decision-making processes, but it is unclear how states and international institutions enable or constrain transnational participation. This paper analyzes the existing partnership among nonstate actors, sovereign states, and the private sector. It discusses the World Economic Forum (WEF) and its annual meetings in Davos, Switzerland, and examines its ability to serve as a platform to combine the three different international actors and deal with global issues. By combining the three forces— sovereign states, private sector and the transnational …

W(H)Ither Tocqueville's 'Seed Of Free Institutions'?: The Importance And Decline Of Localism In America, Jonathan W. Pidluzny

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Alexis de Tocqueville argues that local government is the "seed of free institutions." On his account, active participation by citizens at the local level helps guard against the three great dangers to modern democratic regimes: sum of selfish preferences majoritarianism, tyranny of die majority, and mild despotism. This paper traces the decline of localism in the United States--an inevitable consequence of trends Tocqueville himself foresaw--and comments on the consequences, both from the perspective of the political community and from the perspective of individuals pursuing a decent and happy life.

Institutional Change And The Presidential Mandate, Julia R. Azari

Political Science Faculty Research and Publications

Often treated as a unified concept with a single definition, the presidential mandate actually encompasses multiple definitions, each connected to distinct ideas about democracy and presidential leadership. This article looks at how and when modern presidents have used mandate rhetoric and seeks to explain changes in presidential mandate-claiming patterns. Using an original dataset of 1,467 presidential communications from 1933 through 2009, I find that after 1969 presidents became more likely to use election results to justify their actions. However, they also became less likely to emphasize the magnitude of the election result, focusing their mandate rhetoric instead on campaign promises …

The Federal Banking Regulators: Agency Capture, Regulatory Failure, And Industry Collapse During The 2008 Financial Crisis, Justin Rex

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation examines the process of agency capture at four federal bank regulatory agencies leading up to the 2008 financial crisis: the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve, The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and The Office of Thrift Supervision. Though public administration and policy scholars have moved away from capture theory toward a more pluralistic understanding of agency policymaking, recent events like the Gulf oil spill, coal mining disasters, and the 2008 financial crisis have renewed attention to the role lax regulation plays in disasters and crises. As such, I set out to explore whether banks …

Public Post-Secondary Experiential Internship: A Qualitative Evaluation Of Wildcat Interest Group’S Student Internship Program At The University Of Kentucky, And Its Benchmark Competitors, Nolan Jackson

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

This thesis will identify the early motivation for a program conceived by the Student Government Association at the University of Kentucky to penetrate civic apathy and enhance the politically engaged. This qualitative assessment of “Wildcats in Washington” of the Student Internship Program will detail the conception and implementation of the student-facilitated, student-sponsored experiential internship program reserved for the students of the University of Kentucky.

Additionally, this thesis will measure the uniqueness of the University Student Government’s governmental relations and internship initiative against similar efforts at institutions’ in three measurable populations.

Finally, this thesis will briefly address “Wildcats in Washington’s” current …

American Politics: A Very Short Introduction, Richard M. Valelly , '75

Political Science Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Averting Dyadic Conflict: The Role Of International Political Economy, Michael James Langlois

Wayne State University Dissertations

My dissertation explores the potential pacifying effect of dyadic economic interactions on international conflict. Research literature on the role of economic ties and conflict is complex and there are opposing findings. This study dives into this problem and brings new evidence to bear on this lasting debate. I argue that dyadic economic ties, introduced as dense economic integration (DEI) in this study, have a pacifying effect on the onset of militarized interstate disputes (MIDs) and the escalation of those disputes up to interstate war. To evaluate this argument, I examine the presence of conflict and the level of DEI from …

"Experimenting With An Embedded Librarian In An American Government Class", Shyam Sriram

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

No abstract provided.

"To Be A Rock And Not To Roll: Promoting Political Literacy Through Music And Mixtapes", Shyam Sriram

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

No abstract provided.

Land Restitution, Traditional Leadership And Belonging: Defining Barokologadi Identity, Robin L. Turner

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

How do government policies and practices affect struggles over collective identity and struggles over land? Examining the interconnections among collective identity struggles, land struggles and state policies and practices in post-apartheid South Africa, this paper argues that the government's contradictory policies and ambivalent practices have aggravated collective struggles over the boundaries of belonging. Specifically, the differing definitions of community set forth in traditional leadership, land tenure and land restitution policies exacerbate existing divisions among ‘communities’ concurrently subject to these policies and create practical policy dilemmas for decision-makers. This paper illustrates the interplay between public policies and collective identity struggles through …

Managing The Polarities Of Democracy: A Theoretical Framework For Positive Social Change, William J. Benet

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

People around the globe have embraced democracy to bring about positive social change to address our environmental, economic, and militaristic challenges. Yet, there is no agreement on a definition of democracy that can guide social change efforts. The Polarities of Democracy model is a unifying theory of democracy to guide healthy, sustainable, and just social change efforts. The Polarities of Democracy model consists of ten elements, organized as five polarity pairs: freedom & authority, justice & due process, diversity & equality, human-rights & communal-obligations, and participation & representation. In this model each element has positive aspects and negative aspects and …

Practicing What We Teach: The Politics Behind Creating A State Social Studies Curriculum, Jacquelyn Visger

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Societal importance of the social studies fields is the key to what makes the development of social studies curriculum political. State standardized curricula adopted in the 1990s gave freedom to individual states to create their own standards on what information they were requiring their students to learn. The standards we require students to know inherently molds their political philosophy throughout schooling. By focusing attention on two separate cases, Texas and Michigan, inherent differences in the creation process of these standards are highlighted to show how the differences in the creation process have an effect on the standards document. This thesis …

The Virtual Watercooler: Influences Of Political Comedy On Social Media Discussion, Andrew Abad

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

With the emergence of social media activity as a daily phenomenon for most Americans, online users are becoming greater consumers of political information, and are choosing to share that information through social media outlets. A virtual "watercooler effect" is created, in the form of online political debates and arguments. This study examines the connection between viewers of political comedy programmings (television shows like The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report) and political discussion on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Using a survey of EMU undergraduate students that measures political efficacy and media habits, …

Committee Jurisdiction, Congressional Behavior And Policy Outcomes, John M. De Figueiredo

Faculty Scholarship

The literature on congressional committees has largely overlooked the impact of jurisdictional fights on policy proposals and outcomes. This paper develops a theory of how legislators balance the benefits of expanded committee jurisdiction against preferred policy outcomes. It shows why a) senior members and young members in safe districts are most likely to challenge a committee’s jurisdiction; b) policy proposals may be initiated off the proposer’s ideal point in order to obtain jurisdiction; c) policy outcomes will generally be more moderate with jurisdictional fights than without these turf wars. We empirically investigate these results examining proposed Internet intellectual property protection …

Judicial Attention As A Scarce Resource: A Preliminary Defense Of How Judges Allocate Time Across Cases In The Federal Courts Of Appeals, Marin K. Levy

Faculty Scholarship

Federal appellate judges no longer have the time to hear argument and draft opinions in all of their cases. The average annual filing per active judgeship now stands at 330 filed cases per year — more than four times what it was sixty years ago. In response, judges have adopted case management strategies that effectively involve spending significantly less time on certain classes of cases than on others. Various scholars have decried this state of affairs, suggesting that the courts have created a “bifurcated” system of justice with “separate and unequal tracks.” These reformers propose altering the relevant constraints of …

Mapping A Post-Shelby County Contingency Strategy, Guy-Uriel Charles, Luis Fuentes-Rohwer

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay was written for the Yale Law Journal Online Symposium on the future of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act after Shelby County v. Holder. Professors Guy-Uriel E. Charles and Luis Fuentes-Rohwer argue that voting rights activists ought to be prepared for a future in which section 5 is not part of the landscape. If the Court strikes down section 5, an emerging ecosystem of private entities and organized interest groups of various stripes—what they call institutional intermediaries—may be willing and able to mimic the elements that made section 5 an effective regulatory device. As voting rights …

Dissent, Diversity, And Democracy: Heather Gerken And The Contingent Imperative Of Minority Rule, Guy-Uriel Charles

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Peacebuilding And Conflict Management In A Future American Grand Strategy: Time For An “Off Shore” Approach?, Charles J. Dunlap Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Gaming Direct Democracy: How Voters’ Views Of Job Performance Interact With Elite Endorsements Of Ballot Measures, Craig M. Burnett, Mathew D. Mccubbins

Faculty Scholarship

Voters are thought to rely on elite endorsements in helping them make decisions. Their ability to use these endorsements is especially important in direct democracy, since ballot measures are complex policy proposals that lack partisan cues printed on the ballot. Using an exit survey, we look at California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s endorsement of four Indian gaming measures on the ballot during the presidential primary election of 2008. We find that voters who had knowledge of the elite endorsement differed little from those who did not. We show, however, that Schwarzenegger’s endorsement was conditionally related to support for the measures, depending …