Political Science Commons^™

Globalization’S Effects On Mexico, Andrew Barry

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This research paper aims to investigate the effects of economic globalization on the Mexican economy. To contextualize the research presented, a brief historical summary is presented. Economic globalization is examined through trade and foreign investment in México, including Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and portfolio investment. The Mexican economy is measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). This research paper uses data from The World Bank to examine how economic globalization indicators affect the indicators chosen to measure the Mexican economy. The findings of this paper show that there is evidence that the Mexican economy has grown …

Right-Wing Extremism In The United States, Claire Debruin

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper explores the recent rise in radical right-wing extremist groups in the United States, specifically focusing on what has caused the recent rise in violence and if the rise in groups correlates directly with the rise in radical right-wing extremist attacks. Possible causes of the rise addressed in the following paper include the effect of the President of the United States, the fear of big government, the effects of economic hardships and social changes. All of these causes are discussed in conjunction with one another, demonstrating that all the causes work to create the recent rise in radical right.

Bad World: The Negativity Bias In International Politics, D. D. P. Johnson, Dominic Tierney

Political Science Faculty Works

A major puzzle in international relations is why states privilege negative over positive information. States tend to inflate threats, exhibit loss aversion, and learn more from failures than from successes. Rationalist accounts fail to explain this phenomenon, because systematically overweighting bad over good may in fact undermine state interests. New research in psychology, however, offers an explanation. The “negativity bias” has emerged as a fundamental principle of the human mind, in which people's response to positive and negative information is asymmetric. Negative factors have greater effects than positive factors across a wide range of psychological phenomena, including cognition, motivation, emotion, …

The Cemetery Of Traitors, Osman Balkan

Political Science Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Not In My Graveyard: Citizenship, Memory, And Identity In The Wake Of The Boston Marathon Bombing, Osman Balkan

Political Science Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

International Economic Sanctions Outcome: The Influence Of Political Agreement, Mehmet Onder

Wayne State University Dissertations

Economic sanctions have been dubbed mainly as ineffective foreign policy tools by political scientists. Despite this, countries continue to use economic sanctions given their less intrusive and offensive nature compared to wars. Therefore, policy-makers have a high stake in learning the critical factors behind effective economic sanctions. Overall, it is understood that an effective sanctions episode compels one state to change its attitude or behavior on an issue, the target state, in line with what another state, sender state, desires. This has given rise to literature known as the determinants of economic sanctions in international political economy. This dissertation contributes …

The Role Of Periodic Conventions In Generating And Undermining Constitutional Loyalty, Kevin Gerald Lorentz

Wayne State University Dissertations

In the U.S., popular support is widespread for both the federal and state constitutional charters, although the former enjoys greater support than the latter. Such support is necessary for maintaining a constitution’s legitimacy; popular support for the laws ensures continued obedience to them. However, critics note that blind support, or excessive veneration, may have negative consequences, including saddling a political community with suboptimal institutions. Support must be balanced with the necessity of “periodic repairs,” allowing each generation to review the prior’s work. In modern parlance, critics advocate for periodic constitutional conventions, permitting constitutional revisions irrespective of tradition or presumed legal …

Framing The Debate: The Role Of Gender, Beneficiaries, And Cost In Paid Parental Leave Policy Support, Kimberly Anne Saks Mcmanaway

Wayne State University Dissertations

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy’s Commission on the Status of Women found that the lack of income security during pregnancy and childbearing “one of the major remaining gaps in the protection of workers against losses of income,” (American Women 1963, p. 27). Despite popular support for such a policy, the United States remains one of only three countries that does not have a such a policy (OECD, 2017). Commentators have argued that the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 was successful due to the diverse coalition behind it which included feminist groups and conservative religious organizations alike. The …

Debating Ethnic Governance In China, Yan Sun

Publications and Research

Previous scholarship has identified an emerging consensus for ethnic policy reform in China, in the direction of strengthening national integration and a ‘melting pot.’ This article identifies three major contending schools in Chinese debates about the country’s ethnic governance: liberal autonomists, integrationists and socialist autonomists. It argues that the socialist autonomists, who oppose the ‘melting pot,’ have prevailed politically. Contention among the three schools, specifically, revolves around tradeoffs between autonomy and ethnic particularism. That is, compromised autonomy but preferential policies. The liberal autonomists reject the tradeoffs because of the cost to autonomy. The integrationists reject the tradeoffs because of the …

Shifting Power, Status Quo Dissatisfaction, And Power Parity: Their Effect On The Use Of Coercive Foreign Policy In International Relations, Nathan Alvin Andrew

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

How do shifts in the distribution of power effect the foreign policy decisions of states? In this dissertation, I argue that shifts in the distribution of power, status quo dissatisfaction, and power parity work together to significantly impact these decisions. Until this time, the conditional effect of these three variables has only been included in studies of major- or regional-power war, within the theoretical framework of power transition theory. To what extent do these correlates of war apply to foreign policy in general? Borrowing the insights of foreign policy substitution and the logic of the bargaining theory of war, I …

More Guns, Less Butter, And Officers At The Table: Understanding The Nexus Between The Military's Integration Into Politics And Resource Allocation In Democracies And Non-Democracies, Salah Ben Hammou

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The civilianization of government is often seen as a necessary prerequisite for successful democratization and healthy civil-military relations. This thesis explores the impact of integrating the military into political decision-making on the distribution of "guns" and "butter" – military spending and social spending - across dictatorships and democracies. Whereas a general consensus suggests that autocracies allocate greater goods to the military and fewer goods to the general public relative to democracies, an understudied variable is the military's integration into politics in both democracies and autocracies. Given that military elites have greater incentives relative to civilian elites to prioritize military spending …

Introduction To Unlikely Heroes: The Place Of Holocaust Rescuers In Research And Teaching, Ari Kohen, Gerald Steinacher

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

The aim of this collection is not to provide an all-encompassing work about "rescuers" or the phenomenon of rescue. The topic is too large to cover exhaustively, of course, but doing so is also not our aim. We use a few examples in this volume to illustrate research findings and teaching techniques related to Holocaust rescuers in order to show the issues at stake. We open with some new research on the phenomenon of rescue and resistance during the Holocaust.

Emotions, Terrorist Threat, And Drones: Anger Drives Support For Drone Strikes, Kerstin Fisk, Jennifer L. Merolla, Jennifer Ramos

Political Science and International Relations Faculty Works

In this article, we investigate how threat perceptions and emotions can jointly impact individuals’ attitudes toward drone strikes. We argue that conditions of threat can increase public support for the use of drone strikes. We further contend that the effect of threat perceptions on support for drone strikes is mediated by negative, emotional reactions, particularly anger. We test our arguments in France, the United States, and Turkey using data generated from nationally representative online surveys, in which individuals were randomly assigned to a control group, a condition in which they read about terrorist threat (with or without a reminder of …

Development Of Violence And Sectarianism In Lebanon, Alicia Mallo

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The pattern and acceptance of sectarianism and the resultant ethnic violence in Lebanon can be traced back to the mid-19th century as the result of European involvement in the Levant. Through the history of Lebanon in the 19th and 20th centuries, the modern sectarianism and ethnic violence can be better understood as results of international intervention and interference.

The Political, Social, And Economic Variables That Influence American Immigration Attitudes, Brandon Combs

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Comprehensive immigration policy has been and continues to be a challenge for American policy makers. Although this can be said for many other problems, a holistic approach to immigration policy must address several social, economic, and political ramifications. For instance, in times of economic downturn, policy makers may reassess the economic impacts of increased foreign labor flows as Americans argue they are increasing competition for scarce jobs. Immigration can also become an issue of national security, namely after the 9/11 attacks which heightened perceived fears of immigrants and prompted tighter border protection. In addition, public opinion on immigration is also …

Three Essays On Municipal Structure And Government Fiscal Management Outcomes, Wenchi Wei

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

This dissertation aims to reclassify municipal structures of the U.S. municipalities and investigates the effect of municipal structures on government fiscal management outcomes, including fiscal conditions and fiscal slack balances. This dissertation is comprised of four chapters. The first chapter briefly introduces, and each of the remaining three is an independent research article. The second chapter investigates seven essential structural characteristics of the U.S. municipalities and constructs a municipal structure political-administrative index. It then examines the determinants of municipal structures on a political-administrative dimension. The empirical results show that municipal structure choices are statistically significantly associated with citizens’ socioeconomic and …

The Use Of Force: Hard Offensive Counterterrorism, Daniel Thomas

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

In the following research, I investigate whether hard offensive counterterrorism results in the failure or success of a counterterrorism strategy. In the second chapter, the academic literature of counterterrorism strategies is examined. Next, a hypothesis is put forth that if a hard offensive counterterrorism strategy is utilized, indicators such as high troop levels, more civilian casualties, more negative public opinion, and an increased rate of terrorism, will point to a failed counterterrorism strategy. Then, I put forth a methodology to test the hypothesis while introducing troop level databases, various public opinion polling sources, and terrorist attack databases to investigate the …

Foundation And Revolution: Hannah Arendt And The Problem Of Legitimacy And Stability In Constitutional Consolidation, Mel A. Topf

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

This chapter investigates the relations of revolutionary consolidation to the American constitutional founding. The concepts of consolidation and augmenta- tion have received little attention in relation to the central question of constitutional legitimacy. Hannah Arendt’s theory of revolution is paradigmatic in this respect. Notwithstanding her influential discussion of foundation, Arendt gives relatively little attention to the pragmatic role of consolidation in acts of constitutional founding. Further, scholarly analyses of Arendt on revolution rarely offer critiques of her concept of foundation in this respect. I focus on Arendt partly owing to her influential theories regarding founding of bodies politic and partly …

The Legalization Of Street Vending In Los Angeles: Exploring The Impact On Vendors And Their Livelihoods, Karen Alpuche Caceres

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis aims to unpack the impact the legalization of street vending and the subsequent regulation had on sidewalk vendors. Although legalization occurred state-wide through Senate Bill 946 in September of 2017, the rules and regulations for vending were passed at a city-level, and I am focusing on the City of Los Angeles specifically. Through interviews with government officials, non-profit partners and advocates, and vendors from different parts of the City, I analyze information around the policy itself, its history, and the impact it has and is expected to have on vendors and their businesses. While vendors have been central …

Theater And The Rwandan Genocide, Chantal Kalisa

French Language and Literature Papers

In 1994 Rwanda was the scene of genocide, or, more precisely in French, it was Ie theatre dugenocide (theater of genocide). Perpetrators and victims played their role while the rest of the world watched the "spectacle" live on television. Perhaps because of its spectacular aspect, the Rwandan genocide has inspired a number of artistic materials. In the last decade we have indeed witnessed the growth of literary and artistic expression in relation to the Rwandan genocide. Survivors and witnesses have told their stories in books and songs. Journalists, as well as other travelers "to the end of Rwanda," to use …

Prioritized Interests: Diverse Lobbying Coalitions And Congressional Committee Agenda Setting, John R. Hibbing

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

For most congressional legislation, committee consideration is the first and most drastic winnowing point. Organized interest groups try to influence this winnowing. Many have suggested such influence arises from organizational resources. I offer an alternative view based on the need of policy-motivated committee agenda setters to assess the viability of bills before granting them consideration. Such needs incentivize agenda setters to favor legislation supported by organizations representing diverse industries, causes, and other interests. Analyzing new data on organizations’ positions on over 4,700 bills introduced between 2005 and 2014, I show that committee consideration favors such “interest diverse” coalitions, not coalitions …

กระบวนการสร้างกรอบโครงความคิดของขบวนการเสื้อแดง จังหวัดขอนแก่น, ชุติเดช สำเร็จ

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

วิทยานิพนธ์ฉบับนี้ อธิบายความขัดแย้งทางการเมืองไทยในช่วงสองทศวรรษที่ผ่านมา ผ่านการวิเคราะห์ขบวนการเสื้อแดง จังหวัดขอนแก่น โดยใช้ทฤษฎีกรอบโครงความคิด (framing) เป็นเครื่องมือหลักในการทำความเข้าใจขบวนการ วิธีการดำเนินเลือกใช้การวิจัยด้านเอกสาร (documentary research) การสัมภาษณ์เชิงลึก (in-dept interview) ประวัติศาสตร์จากคำบอกเล่า (oral history) และการสนทนากลุ่ม (focus group) ของผู้นำและมวลชนคนเสื้อแดงจังหวัดขอนแก่น งานศึกษานี้ชี้ให้เห็นว่ากรอบโครงความคิดของความอยุติธรรม (injustice frame) เป็นกรอบโครงความคิดหลัก (master frame) ของขบวนการเสื้อแดงเชื่อมโยงรวบรวมความคิดทางการเมืองของชาวบ้านที่หลากหลาย อยู่กระจัดกระจายและอ่อนแอได้ กรอบโครงความคิดที่ถูกสร้างขึ้นได้ร้อยรัดทัศนคติที่แตกต่างกันของปัจเจกบุคคล และสร้างความหมายร่วมกันของคนเสื้อแดงลุกขึ้นมามีปฏิบัติการทางการเมือง อย่างไรก็ตามกระบวนการสร้างกรอบโครงความคิดของขบวนการเสื้อแดงก็มิได้เป็นไปอย่างง่ายดาย แต่ทว่างานศึกษานี้ค้นพบกระบวนการตอบโต้กรอบโครงความคิด (counter framing) การปะทะ ต่อสู้ ต่อรองของมวลชนในฐานะผู้กระทำการทางการเมือง (political actor) มวลชนมิได้นำเชื่อกรอบโครงความคิดที่ถูกผลิตขึ้นอย่างง่ายดาย จนในบางครั้งมวลชนเองก็มีความพยายามที่จะลบล้างเพื่อสร้างกรอบโครงความคิดใหม่ขึ้นมาทดแทน (reframing)

Un Peacebuilding Efforts In Post-Conflict Situations, Zag Legrand Kimpolo-Nkaya

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis analyzes the work of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission, Fund, and UN Family organizations in ensuring stability and development in underdeveloped and developing countries during post-conflict situations. This work defines and examines peacebuilding and development using data from the PBC, PBF, Polity IV, the Human Development Index Report, and other sources, including UN documents. Three case studies where chosen to evaluate the effectiveness of peacebuilding missions in accordance with the PBC priorities: Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, and Central African Republic. The UN work has contributed to development in these cases; however, improvements were needed in some areas as …

The Importance Of Property Rights In The Developing World: A Study And Comparison Of Zimbabwe And Botswana, Luke A. Scarpa

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Foreign Intervention And The Process Of State Failure Case Study On Libya, Islam Mohamed Goher Mohamed

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis investigates the relationship between foreign intervention and state failure. I argue that even an ideal international multilateral humanitarian intervention in a weak state will lead to deepening state failure if the intervention was biased and driven by material rather than ethical interests, focusing on achieving military victory of one party of the internal conflict rather than a negotiated settlement between all conflict parties and ignores the responsibility to rebuild in the aftermath of the intervention.

In making this argument, I developed a conceptual framework to analyse the impact of intervention motives, patterns, forms and instruments on strengthening or …

The Role Of Quality Education In The Economic Development Of Mexico, Betzayra Perez

CMC Senior Theses

Mexico’s education system ranks among the lowest in terms of quality and achievement levels. Given the importance of education for a country’s economic development, it is crucial to understand how improvements in Mexico’s education quality can result in economic growth for the country. This thesis aims to create awareness about how the quality of learning rather than total schooling can result in improving Mexico’s economic development. First, a general literature review provides significant findings of the quality of education, the difference between learning and schooling, and educational equity, and its effects on economic development. Moreover, a detailed overview of the …

(Un)Safe Zones: Good Intentions, Bad Logic, Emma Henson

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis aims to explore the disconnect between calls for safe zones as a tool of humanitarian intervention, and the dark history of safe zone failure. This thesis begins with a brief discussion of current calls for safe zones in Syria, and how a proper theoretical framework and historical understanding are needed to discuss whether or not safe zones can be successfully implemented in Syria. The following literature review discusses not only prominent academic arguments and the history of humanitarian intervention, but it suggests a framework for deconstructing case studies. This framework looks first at the interests of an intervening …

Catching Congress Up: Restoring The Office Of Technology Assessment, Bruno Youn

CMC Senior Theses

Congress has become infamous for its lack of understanding of technology, particularly with the Facebook and Google hearings in 2018. To improve this understanding, this thesis argues for the return of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), a congressional support agency created in 1972 that provided science and technology expertise to Congress until its termination in 1995. It also considers potential changes that might be made to the old OTA model and the political environment in which a new OTA would need to survive.

Giving To Get: A Neorealist Explanation Of Japan’S Foreign Aid Program, Tiana Steverson Pugh

CMC Senior Theses

Many countries use aid as a political tool, but Japan is unique in that foreign aid is one of its most important foreign policy tools. Drawing from literature on donor motivations for aid-giving, this paper argues that the neo-realist view of aid-giving offers the best explanation for why Japan provides aid. More specifically, Japan’s aid-giving is motivated by its pursuit of economic and strategic goals. This underlying motive for aid-giving necessarily impacts how Japan provides aid and how it uses aid to respond to human rights violations in recipient countries.

Asserting Indigenous Identity To Substantiate Customary Forest Claims: A Case Study Of The Dayaks Of West Kalimantan, Indonesia, Charlotte Reinnoldt

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines Dayak identity constructions and how they have been and are currently being used to assert customary land rights in forested areas of West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The Indonesian state has required that customary land claims include proof that communities have maintained their indigenous institutions. Drawing from government and NGO reports, academic research, and Indonesian law, a few questions thus are explored: What aspects of identity must be maintained in order to be sufficient to claim customary land rights under Indonesian law? How has recent Dayak mobilization fed into a resurgence in Dayak identity and pride, and vice versa? …