Political Science Commons^™

The Lotus, The Orchid, And The Dragon: An Examination Of One Country, Two Systems And Its Trajectory In Xi Jinping’S China., Eric M. Bush

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Xi Jinping has prioritized National Rejuvenation, a new pillar in the Chinese social contract based on the view that western powers exploited China during a Century of Humiliation and now, under the Communist Party, China is reclaiming its former glory. As China approaches its centennial in 2049, the CPC has prioritized fully reunifying and integrating Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau with the mainland. Through a comparative analysis of Hong Kong and Macau’s demographics and political and economic institutions, this thesis examines the current status of the One Country, Two Systems policy and anticipates its trajectory under Xi Jinping.

Preventative Force And The Rules Of Proportionality, Jacob Price

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The thesis examines how a tiered system of proportional rules will provide a better understanding for how to use force outside of a declared conflict. The tiered system provides explicit standards and subprinciples to determine how and when a foreign state can use preventative force on specific targets. The thesis asserts that certain preventative action against immediate and existential threats can be justified, but any demonstration of force cannot continue beyond a threat incident. The thesis evaluates the current demonstrations of force in Mexico, West Africa and situations involving weapons of mass destruction. Through the tiered system, states can proportionally …

Driven Towards Whiteness: The 1968 Election And White Supremacy, Arianna Tsikitas

Honors Scholar Theses

Existing literature highlights the political interaction between the Republican party and civil rights, how civil rights impacted the white ethnic revival, and the appeals made by the Republican party to keep their new voters happy. Many are familiar with the history of discrimination against Eastern European immigrants, yet the process through which they adopted white identity politics is another matter. The role of right-wing activists and leaders during the Wallace Presidential campaign was instrumental in connecting these dots for the Republican leadership, however this too goes largely unnoticed. My thesis will complement existing literature by tracing the involvement of these …

Governing A Continent Of Trash: The Global Politics Of Oceanic Pollution, Anne Longo

Honors Scholar Theses

There is a new continent growing in the North Pacific Ocean known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The Patch is composed of a vast array of marine pollution, discarded single-use items, and mostly microplastics. This thesis explores how and why governments and other entities do or do not deal with the growing problem of ocean pollution. Sovereignty roadblocks and balance of power prove to be obstacles for such efforts. This thesis then attempts to create the ideal model of governance for ocean plastics using the policy-making process. The policy analysis reviews bilateral, multilateral, and non-governmental solutions for the removal …

The Violence Against Women's Act: From The Criminalization Of Domestic Violence Through Modern Political Challenges, Carrie Anderson

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The Violence Against Women’s Act, or VAWA, is a landmark piece of federal legislation to combat domestic violence in the United States. It passed in 1994 following various state efforts to stop intimate partner violence. Broad federal legislation was needed to end domestic violence because of the unique nature of the crime including the strong connection between victims and perpetrators, the vast scale of the problem, and the reoccurring nature of domestic violence (Fagan, p. 28-29, 1996). VAWA has been expanded through reauthorization efforts in 2000, 2005, and 2013. Reform efforts have focused on increasing protections for victims especially focusing …

Examination Of Online Voter Registration Within Non-Profit Organizations Post 1993, Jonathan Mcnicholes

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Voting is a key eliminate to the validity of our democracy. Nonprofit organizations are one of the fastest growing organization structures within our society, with growing opportunities to engage voters in pursuit of their goals along with enhanced pressure following the movements surrounding the 1993 voter registration act. In this Thesis I analysis what categories of nonprofit organizations promote voter registration using their websites, to order to establish which organizations are utilizing their resources to promote their goals. The data I use is taken from the Washington Representatives studies which consists of 43,012 nonprofit organizations within Washington DC. My research …

The Effect Of Signing Ballot Petitions On Turnout, Samuel Franklin Harper

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the Progressive Era, almost half of the U.S. states adopted the ballot initiative, the process by which citizens can petition to change their state’s laws or constitution independent of their state’s legislature. Many Progressives believed the initiative would have positive “educative effects” on voters, such as increasing voter turnout. Most studies show the Progressives’ hypothesis that the initiative would increase turnout was correct, but how and for whom the initiative increases turnout remains disputed. Using two Arkansas initiative petitions and the Arkansas voter registration file, I find that the act of signing a ballot initiative petition significantly increases the …

Weaponizing The Epa: Presidential Control And Wicked Problems, Craig A. Jones

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In its broadest sense, presidential control encompasses all the actions, in both word and deed, whereby presidents “go it alone” to adopt policies in the absence of congressional will to do so, and sometimes directly contrary to it. This dissertation studies how President Obama used rhetorical and administrative tools of presidential control to address the “wicked problem” of climate change. The “administrative presidency” and the “rhetorical presidency” are familiar political science terms, but in the case of climate change policy, they appear to be moving policymaking in a new and perhaps profound direction, which this study refers to as “post-deliberative …

Presidential Influence And Competitive Grant Funding: Reexamining Presidential Pork, Benjamin Albert

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

How does partisan alignment with the president affect the distribution of federal competitive grant funding? This analysis contributes to the literature on distributive politics by reexamining the relationship between alignment with the president and competitive grant funding over the time period of 2001 to 2017. Furthermore, the analysis will test if the relationship between alignment and competitive grant funding changed after the enactment of the 2011 earmark moratorium. Fractional probit regression is used to model the relationship between a representative’s partisan alignment with the president and the portion of annual competitive grant funding that their district receives. The results suggest …

Media Framing And Immigration Reform: An Examination Of The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, And Immigration Modernization Act Of 2013, Lorena Paredes

Political Science & International Studies | Senior Theses

As of 2020, there are 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States? Recently, the topic of immigration in the United States has become more controversial. In 2013, the U.S. Senate passed S.744 the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. When this bill was introduced many believed that it had a good chance of making it through the legislative process. The bill represented a compromise between Republicans and Democrats and addressed many problems associated with immigration. However, the bill was not passed by the House of Representatives, leaving the issue of immigration reform unresolved. The role …

The Fragility Of Democracy: The Rise Of Authoritarianism In Hungary And Poland, Maria Fernandez

Political Science & International Studies | Senior Theses

Hungary and Poland have attempted to establish democratic systems of government since the end of Soviet occupation in 1991. Recently, both states have elected leaders who have started to manipulate their democratic institution into one that seems not so democratic; both Hungary and Poland have manipulated their judicial branch into one that now serves only their own interests. Leaders in Hungary and Poland have shown their support for regimes such as those in Russia, China, and Turkey. What factors contribute to democratically elected officials shifting towards authoritarianism in post Eastern-Bloc countries? From Samuel P Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations, to Levitsky …

Asymmetric Threats: Analyzing The Future Of Nuclear Terrorism & Cyber Attacks; The Value Of Deterrence Theory For Addressing The Challenges Of Nuclear Terrorism In The Age Of 21st Century Cybersecurity, Oliver Demmert-Shelfo

Political Science & International Studies | Senior Theses

Given the rapid development and ease of access to technology, the threat of extremist organizations utilizing cyberspace as a means to target critical American strategic infrastructure is of increasing concern. The risk posed by the acquisition of fissile material, sabotage, or use of a nuclear device by an extremist organization has been exasperated due to technological development outpacing strategy. Despite policy-makers’ attempts to protect the public from cyber-attacks and nuclear terrorism, the federal policies in place have failed to account for the continual evolution of technology and the gaps in security that this advancement brings. Through examining documents from congressional …

Sex, Stress, And The Supreme Court: Verbal And Vocalic Analysis Of Brett Kavanaugh’S Senate Confirmation Hearings To The Supreme Court, Alexandra Johnson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzed the relationship between verbal and nonverbal vocalic communication patterns exhibited by Brett Kavanaugh, now a sitting Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, during his Senate confirmation hearings in 2018. Additionally, the relationship between verbal statement types: attempt to define reality, personal narrative, policy positions, attacks, acclaims, and defenses, and the nonverbal vocalics of sighs, sharp intakes of breath, and sniffs were evaluated together to see which statement types would elicit higher physiological stress responses during both the 16-minute speech given at the end of the Day One hearing and the 45-minute testimony during the sexual assault hearing. …

Ser Americano: The Cost Of Being American, Alejandra Campos

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over a decade ago, the Dreamer movement began, led by young undocumented Latinx youth. These activists became known as "Dreamers" who continue to advocate for a pathway to citizenship for all immigrants. Through media, speeches, and artwork, Dreamers use the cultural narrative of the "American Dream" to create the boundaries of their American identity. Traditionally, American Identity is studied through 4 schools of thought: ethno-culturalism, liberalism, civic republicanism, and incorporationism. I offer an analysis of two concepts of American identity, meritocracy, and hyperdocumentation, that are mostly missing from the American identity literature. Additionally, I propose social citizenship as a theory …

'The Once Peaceful Little Town:' Edmondson, Arkansas, And The Decline Of African American Landownership, Samuel Morris Ownbey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the systematic dispossession of African American property by white planters in the Arkansas Delta. It argues white planters, backed by a legal system favorable to their interests, expropriated the black land in the once flourishing community of Edmondson, Arkansas. Founded in 1902 by African American business and political leaders, the Edmondson Home and Improvement Company purchased farmland and town lots and began to sell or rent the land to African Americans coming to the area. Located in Crittenden County, Edmondson represented black defiance in the face of Jim Crow laws and white supremacy. The town consisted of …

Long's "Truth Telling In A Post-Truth World" (Book Review), Julie E. Sweeney

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Spid: A New Database For Inferring Public Policy Innovativeness And Diffusion Networks, Frederick J. Boehmke, Mark Brockway, Bruce A. Desmarais, Jeffrey J. Harden, Scott Lacombe, Fridolin Linder, Hanna Wallach

Government: Faculty Publications

Despite its rich tradition, there are key limitations to researchers' ability to make generalizable inferences about state policy innovation and diffusion. This paper introduces new data and methods to move from empirical analyses of single policies to the analysis of comprehensive populations of policies and rigorously inferred diffusion networks. We have gathered policy adoption data appropriate for estimating policy innovativeness and tracing diffusion ties in a targeted manner (e.g., by policy domain, time period, or policy type) and extended the development of methods necessary to accurately and efficiently infer those ties. Our state policy innovation and diffusion (SPID) database includes …

The True Capabilities Of American Education Policy, Mirren Galway

Political Science

This paper is an analysis of today’s American education system, how it has come to be, and why it seems to consistently fall behind when compared to other countries. Beginning with an evaluation of American education today, this paper follows the implementation of recent policy, the deep issues facing the education system and what can be done to address them. Specifically, it explores why, despite such bipartisan legislation like the No Child Left Behind Act, many students and teachers are still being left behind, and why common arguments about education policy continue to fail students. I argue that, although new …

Climate Migration: Evaluating The Conditions That Breed Conflict, Avery Dillon

Honors Thesis

The prediction that climate change will cause conflict is at its core based on the assumption that climate change will trigger resource scarcity, resulting in displaced peoples and potentially violent conflict. However, the empirical evidence supporting this phenomenon is highly uncertain and at times directly contradictory. In recent decades, some have claimed that climate change’s exacerbation of extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods, and droughts have already played major roles in conflicts such as the Syrian Civil War (Selby 2019). Others directly dispute this direct effect, arguing instead that climate change has played only a minor role in influencing …

America’S Second-Class Children: An Examination Of President Trump’S Immigration Policies On Migrant Children And Inquiry On Justice Through The Catholic Perspective, Gabriel Sáenz

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

North And South Korea: Division By Constructions, Hannah Horton

Honors Theses

This paper focuses on aspects of social identities that have been constructed over time in North and South Korea and their implications on the division of the Korean peninsula. This project seeks to answer the question of how social groups and individual dynamics differ between North Korea and South Korea with special attention to the experience of division? And, how these differences structure the dynamics of formal division and the larger politics of reunification? These questions have been ignored because of the emphasis on the realist and institutionalist scholars’ analysis of the division. It focus on analyzing the division through …

Prevailing Facets Of Spanish Colonialism: The Roots Of Exploitation And Inequality In Latin America, Camden Eckler

Honors Theses

Four main facets characterized Spanish colonialism in Latin America and contributed to the persistence of inequality and exploitation in colonial institutions – conversion, easy money, centralism, and political violence. The facets of conversion, easy money, centralism, and political violence are not institutions in themselves, but rather practices and logics of Spanish colonialism whose presence can be seen in social, political, and economic institutions and traced throughout history despite changes and developments in institutions. These facets’ entrenched presence in the foundations of Latin American social, political, and economic institutions has manifested throughout the shared and unique histories of Latin American countries. …

Portrait Of Modern Pluralism: A Practitioner's Perspective On Interest Group Politics And Theory., Mary Ellen Wiederwohl

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a practitioner’s view on interest groups and interest group theory based primarily on Mancur Olson’s conclusions that small, organized minority interests have an advantage over the large, disorganized majority interests in the policymaking process; it tests the “why” behind this theory through an examination of a variety of factors, including the influence of money, the power of communications tools deployed by these interests, and the lobbyists’ role. It includes an introduction plus four chapters, including literature review, research methods, participant observations and in-depth interviews, and conclusion. The research methods included primarily participant observation based on a two-decade …

Al-Shabaab And Boko Haram: Recruitment Strategies, J. Tochukwu Omenma, Cheryl Hendricks, Nnamdi C. Ajaebili

Peace and Conflict Studies

This paper is an examination of the membership recruitment strategies of two violent extremist organizations (VEOs), namely al-Shabaab and Boko Haram. The majority of the literature on VEOs concentrates on the conceptualization of terrorism, motivations for terrorism and counter-terrorism strategies, as well as a focus on the frequency of VEO attacks, number of fatalities and funding sources. The literature tends to portray poverty as the main driver of recruitment. The focus on recruitment strategies has been relatively recent. There is therefore still a lack of in-depth analyses on the processes of recruitment of specific extremist groups, and this impacts on …

Estranged Political Relationships: Demystifying The Root Causes Of Violent Conflicts In South Sudan, Sam A. Onapa

Peace and Conflict Studies

Abstract

The breaking of peace agreements and the subsequent perpetuation of civil war in South Sudan are sustained by the failure to adopt broad interventions addressing the many layers of the conflict. An understanding of the multiple causes of the conflict can form the basis for a successful and durable peace agreement. To investigate why violent conflict persists, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 29 major stakeholders, including conflict parties, mediators, eminent South Sudanese personalities, scholars and civil society leaders. The responses were grouped into five major themes: historical conflicts, estranged political relationships, power struggles, resource control and ethnic violence …

Geographic Imaginaries Of Urban Spatial Segregation: A Case Study Of The West End Neighborhoods In Louisville, Kentucky., Amber Dock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this thesis is to translate the framework of geographic imaginaries into an urban context in order to capture a narrative of how residents conceptualize and experience segregation. This framework is rooted in an investigation of local discourses as they exist within a specific social, political, and historical context. Institutionalized segregation and structural racism are the foundations on which the American urban context studied here was built upon. This study employs multiple methods, including contextualizing the study area, analyzing discursive content, and visualizing the results. The results of these analyses included empirically connecting concentrations of protected classes to …

Contemporary Francophone West African Social Movements In The Rise Of Neo Pan-Africanism: A Case Study Of Y En A Marre In Senegal., Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba Ndiaye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The emergence of the Y en a marre movement in 2011 has reshaped the face of social activism in Francophone sub-Saharan Africa. In less than a decade of its existence, Y’en a marre has become iconic in Senegalese civil society and beyond. Their effective opposition to the Wade regime between 2011 and 2012 reverberated beyond the Senegalese border through their slogan “touche pas à ma constitution” (Do not touch my constitution), a rallying cry that young people in Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo later appropriated, thus giving the movement a Pan-African platform. The birth of Y’en …

Alliance Cohesion: Connecting The Disconnect In Alliance Reliability, Noelle Troutman

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Alliances are important to understanding international peace and conflict, but disagreement exists among scholars regarding alliance reliability with findings of allies fulfilling alliance obligations 25-75% of the time (Sabrosky, 1980; Leeds, et al., 2000; Berkemeier and Fuhrmann, 2018). What mechanism ultimately lies at the center of this puzzle? I argue that alliance cohesion, specifically differences in cohesion relating to internal dynamics of alliance structure and power distribution, lie at the center of this empirical disconnect. I define alliance cohesion as the ability of allies to agree on security preferences and appropriate methods to meet these ends. In this study I …

Globalization: A Blessing Or A Curse For Women In Developing Countries, Magaly Denisse Carrillo Terriquez

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Countries have been able to exchange goods and services as well as intellectual property. However, they have not addressed how these changes affect those that are considered a vulnerable population, women. The feminization of poverty is a real problem in our globalized society, where women form 70% of the world’s poor. This paper investigates globalization’s impact on women empowerment by focusing on maternal mortality and female primary education in eighty-seven developing countries. The literature suggests that an increase of globalization leads to a decrease in maternal death and to an increase in female primary education. The pooled data set was …

Girl’S Education In Africa: The Importance Of Culture And State Capacity, Hadley Olivia Hobbs

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Why is girls’ education participation notably below average in countries throughout both North and Sub-Saharan Africa? Previous research has concluded that the low rates of girls’ education in Africa are attributed to economics and more specifically wealth. While wealth needs to be addressed as a part of the discussion of issues surrounding girl’s education, it does not seem to be the primary cause of low participation outcomes. I argue that culture and governance are the primary factors effecting girls’ education in Africa. Moreover, government effectiveness and female genital mutilation are primary causes of the outcomes of girl’s education and appear …