Political Science Commons^™

Unequal Democracy: The Political Position Of Croats In Bosnia And Herzegovina, Valentino Grbavac

Political Science Honors Projects

Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been marginalized during the last 15 years. Bosniaks have elected a Croat member of the Presidency and formed a federal government twice without legitimate Croat support, completely ignoring Croat electoral will. Bosnia and Herzegovina is at a crossroads today, choosing between the potential for a prosperous future in the EU and the status quo. Reforms of government structures are necessary in order to solve the Croat issue and allow Bosnia and Herzegovina to ascend to the EU. In this paper I map out the history of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the 1990s …

Courtroom To Classroom: Judicial Policymaking And Affirmative Action, Dylan Britton Saul

Political Science Honors Projects

The judicial branch, by exercising judicial review, can replace public policies with ones of their own creation. To test the hypothesis that judicial policymaking is desirable only when courts possess high capacity and necessity, I propose an original model incorporating six variables: generalism, bi-polarity, minimalism, legitimization, structural impediments, and public support. Applying the model to a comparative case study of court-sanctioned affirmative action policies in higher education and K-12 public schools, I find that a lack of structural impediments and bi-polarity limits the desirability of judicial race-based remedies in education. Courts must restrain themselves when engaging in such policymaking.

The Preschool Puzzle: Exploring Variations In Early Childhood Education Teacher Quality Across States, Alice Rockswold

Political Science Honors Projects

There is a growing consensus in the early childhood education community that it is necessary to raise the qualifications of preschool teachers. Yet, little is known about why rigorous degree and training standards have advanced further in some states than others. In this analysis, I explore various political and demographic factors that might account for the uneven support for such standards, with special attention to the role of Head Start as a driver of quality, given its presence and variation in strength across states. Using longitudinal data from the National Institute of Early Childhood Education, I find weak evidence that …

Interview With Reverend Dr. Larry Greenfield, Lauren Kostiuk

Chicago 1968

Length: 76 minutes

Interview with Larry Greenfield by Lauren Kostiuk

Rev. Greenfield begins by describing organizations he’s been involved with, devoted to religious ethics and social justice, protecting the rights of women, gender and sexual minorities, economic justice, and other related causes. He recounts his early years in Sioux Falls with his parents and how his religious involvement prompted questions about equality and social justice. He then recounts his time at the University of Chicago, where he began his involvement in political activism and civil rights. He recalls in detail his experiences at the Democratic National Convention, serving as a …

Interview With Reverend Dr. Stan Davis, Dawn Butler

Chicago 1968

Length: 116 minutes

Interview with Reverend Stan Davis by Dawn Butler

Rev. Davis begins by sharing details about himself, his family, and his early years in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, and his religious community, the Church of the Brethren. He talks about growing up during World War II and how he first became aware of prejudice, witnessing the internment of the Japanese-American community. He recalls his studies at Juniata College and his decision to attend Bethany Theological. He describes moving to North Lawndale, a diverse immigrant community that underwent drastic demographic changes as a result of unscrupulous lending practices designed to move …

What Comes From The Crypt, Erika Simpson

Political Science Publications

"What Comes from the Crypt?" by Erika Simpson examines the contentious plan by Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to store over 200,000 cubic meters of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste in underground caverns near Lake Huron. Despite a federal panel's endorsement, the proposal faces strong opposition from local municipalities, environmental advocates, and First Nations. Opponents raise concerns about the site's long-term safety, potential environmental hazards, and the integrity of the regulatory bodies involved. The plan has also sparked international apprehension, especially among American officials and municipalities worried about the Great Lakes' freshwater supply. Critics argue that nuclear waste management decisions require …

The Prevalence Of Candidate Brands In Media Campaign Coverage, Jonathan Cooper Polson

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Candidate branding in political campaigns acts to convey the ideal image of a candidate molded to represent the specific characteristics important to that candidate's constituency. Campaigns craft a brand around a variety of political and personal qualities and issues that define the candidate as the ideal representative, and simultaneously cast the opponent as the clear antithesis, of the constituency's interests. Conveying the candidate's brand through the media is an integral aspect to bringing the message to voters and driving turn out. However, in a media environment increasingly subservient to economic pressures to produce new, exciting, dramatic, and profitable coverage, a …

Escaping Thucydides' Trap: Change, Conflict, And The Future Of The American-Led Order, Elijah Wohl

Political Science Honors Projects

For centuries the discourse surrounding change in the international system has revolved around Thucydides’ thesis that change and conflict are synonymous as great powers rise and fall. This argument has regularly provided a historical model for major change in the international system. It remains pertinent today as the rise of new great powers – particularly Brazil, India, and China – have fundamentally altered the balance of power in the international system. This has resulted in an international order increasingly susceptible to pressures for change across economic, political, and structural spectrums. In this study I argue that as power shifts from …

The Effects Of Inter-State Conflicts On Foreign Investment Flows To The Developing World: Enduring Vs Ephemeral Risk Of Conflicts, Dongkyu Kim

Political Science Faculty Publications

How do inter-state conflicts affect foreign investment flows to developing countries? Conventional wisdom says conflicts disrupt economic interactions. This article develops and tests two competing causal mechanisms of the wisdom by focusing on foreign investment flows to developing countries. The first hypothesis states that conflicts carry enduring risk to foreign investors, making conflict-prone countries persistently less attractive. The second hypothesis says that the risk of conflict is ephemeral, allowing foreign investment to recover during peace-time. A monadic analysis of 95 developing countries from 1980 to 2000 provides strong evidence for the enduring risk hypothesis. However, the finding is limited by …

Can They Teach Each Other? : The Restructuring Of Higher Education And The Rise Of Undergraduate Student “Teachers” In Ontario, Jennifer Massey, Sean Field

Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs

Changes to public funding regimes, coupled with transformations in how universities are managed and measured have altered the methods for educating undergraduate students. The growing reliance on teaching fellows, teaching assistants, and increasingly undergraduate peer educators (administering Supplemental Instruction [SI] programs) is promoted as a means toachieve a greater “return on investment” in the delivery of postsecondary education. Neoliberal discourses legitimating this downloading of teaching labour suggest it offers a “win-win” solution to the “problem” of educating growing numbers of undergraduate students. It proposes universities can deliver the same curricula, and achieve the same “outcomes” (primarily measured through grades and …

Was Feinstein’S Response To Netanyahu’S Speech Too Blunt?, Debra Johanyak

The Actual

No abstract provided.

Information Games: Privacy Versus Security In The United States, Lauren Tilmont

Washington Semester Program

No abstract provided.

Russian Reclamation: The Kremlin's Geopolitical Ambitions And The Former Soviet Union, John Cicchitti

Washington Semester Program

No abstract provided.

Implications Of Interest Group Formation Theories On Coalition Building: The Formation Of The Americans For Transportation Mobility Coalition, Megan Mccarthy

Washington Semester Program

No abstract provided.

American Approaches To Human Rights, Joseph Murphy

Washington Semester Program

No abstract provided.

Celac: Puzzling Or Purposeful? Assessing New Regionalism In The Americas, Brian Beaton

Washington Semester Program

No abstract provided.

Analyzing Illegal, Unreported, And Unregulated Fishing, Chardwin Jean-Baptiste

Washington Semester Program

No abstract provided.

Tanked: The Transition Of Think Tanks From Academics To Advocacy; How Think Tanks Have Become Increasingly Politicized, And The Need For Increased Financial Transparency., Brooke Emily Larsen

Washington Semester Program

No abstract provided.

Finding Poetry's Value In American High Schools: A Comparative Analysis Of Poetry In The Massachusetts State Standards And The Common Core State Standards, Emily Dyer

Washington Semester Program

No abstract provided.

Proliferation Of Salafi-Jihadist Terrorist Groups In The Sahel And The Middle East: An Analysis Of The Implications Of U.S. Policy Towards Weapons Security And Military Intervention., Carmella O'Hanlon

Washington Semester Program

No abstract provided.

Interview With Jack Wuest, Grace Fanning

Chicago 1968

Length: 63 minutes

Interview with Jack Wuest by Grace Fanning

Mr. Wuest begins by outlining the details of his childhood, family, and early education. He describes his role in the draft resistance during the Vietnam War, and describes the process the young men were subjected to as part of the draft. He recalls his time working with the Juvenile Protective Association which is what first brought him into contact with the Democratic National Convention protests. He recalls witnessing the police violence perpetrated against protesters. He remembers his reactions to the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy. He …

The Cold War: Over, Renewed, Or Never Ended?, Matt Phipps

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The Cold War has been studied repeatedly since the war supposedly ended in 1991. However recent events are starting to cause some concern and make many question whether or not the Cold War actually ended, if it took a different shape or perhaps has just been on pause. I argue that the Cold War has been a conflict that has been going on since 1947 and although the conflict has looked differently in recent decades the conflict was never properly put to an end. The research analyzes US decision making with respect to Russian and Asian relations over the last …

The Shaikh’S Republic: The Kurdish Regional Government’S Incorporation Of Tribalism, Brian A. Kennedy

Politics Honors Papers

Iraqi Kurdistan in 2015 is polity quite unlike any other. Iraqi Kurdistan has come to be treated in policy making circles as a model for what is sometimes believed to be impossible: a highly tribal, multi-religious and multi ethnic society in the Middle East with sentiments of unity, a burgeoning economy, the makings of a democracy, increasing literacy and quality of life, and (perhaps most impressively) an effective internal security arrangement in the middle of a chaotic region. Yet recent events have cast doubts on the future of Kurdistan. The advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) …

The European Parliament And European Security Policy: Parliamentary Oversight And Community Foreign And Security Policy, Elizabeth Cohn

Washington Semester Program

No abstract provided.

Interview With James A. "Jim" Aull, Jeremiah Morales

Chicago 1968

Length: 120 minutes

Interview with James A. "Jim" Aull by Jeremiah Morales

Mr. Aull begins by describing his childhood in a rural community outside of Philadelphia, living with his parents, sister, and paternal grandmother. He describes his experiences in school, including the required church attendance and his first social service activities through the boarding school programs serving poor communities. While at Princeton, he says he became involved with the YCMA and Christian student organizations, leading to his involvement in civil rights. He recalls his travels through the Soviet Union and Turkey. He recalls his time at the Chicago Theological Seminary …

Mary Elise Sarotte, The Collapse: The Accidental Opening Of The Berlin Wall, Basic Books, 2014. Barry Rubin And Wolfgang G. Schwanitz, Nazis, Islamists, And The Making Of The Modern Middle East, Yale University Press, 2014., Laina Farhat–Holzman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Terrorist Black Holes: The Case Of Northern Ireland, Melissa Divens

Scholarly and Creative Works Conference (2015 - 2021)

What factors within a region contribute to the host of a terrorist group? Rem Korteweg and David Ehrhardt begin to answer that question with the publishing of what they call “a first step in research aimed at uncovering terrorist sanctuaries”. Terrorist Black Holes: A Study into Terrorist Sanctuaries and Governmental Weakness (2005), identifies the concept of a Terrorist Black Hole, which is an area within a region that houses a terrorist group. While Korteweg concentrates on regions outside of NATO territory, I challenge his assumption for the absence of Terrorist Black Holes in the West by asking: What are the …

Looted Antiquities: Economic Opportunity For Terrorists, Vanessa Hanson

Scholarly and Creative Works Conference (2015 - 2021)

In the post 9/11 world countering terrorism has become a top United States foreign policy priority as well as the subject of much scholarly research. To counter terrorism it is important to understand the inner-workings of such groups. How do terrorist groups fund their operations in order to be able to carry them out continuously? It is often assumed that the arms and drug trade on the black market are the main source of income for terrorists groups (Kaplan). Unbeknownst to many, there is an illegal trade in art and historical artifacts that funds terrorist activities. How do terrorists use …

Improving U.S. State Department Cultural Exchanges With The Middle East: A Case Study Comparison Of Iraq And Jordan, Irene K. Gibson

Political Science Honors Projects

The U.S. State Department conducts cultural exchanges with the purpose of encouraging participants to instigate changes in their home countries. Despite extensive efforts by programs to measure their impact on participants, these effects are only indirect correlates or background variables for the ultimate goal of direct action. This thesis explores the impact of State Department cultural exchanges with the Middle East by drawing on eight interviews with exchange administrators of numerous programs in Iraq and Jordan. The case studies of Iraq and Jordan allow more careful scrutiny of the types of factors, both internal and external to programs, that affect …

Interview With Father Dominic Grassi, Paul Brennan

Chicago 1968

Length: 105 minutes

Interview with Father Dominic Grassi by Paul Brennan

Fr. Dominic Grassi begins his interview by detailing his childhood, growing up the youngest of five to Italian immigrant parents on the North side of Chicago, He credits his high school work with the children at Cabrini Greens for introducing him to the community service aspect of religious life and recalls the significant role the priests played in his early years. He describes daily life at the college seminary and the formation of his religious vocation amidst “almost a tsunami” of worlds events: the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights …