Political Science Commons^™

Residential Segregation By Caste In The Indian States Of Gujarat And Karnataka, Alicia Terrero

Global Studies Student Scholarship

Major: Global Studies and Political Science

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Trina Vithayathil, Global Studies

This project looks at the Indian states of Gujarat and Karnataka and tries to identify why Gujarat has a higher degree of residential segregation than Karnataka. One factor that could explain this is the difference in level of solidarity at the subnational level for both states. Based on social expenditure data and inequality data, we find that Karnataka has higher levels of support for policies that further the collective good of the subnational (i.e. Kannada within Karnataka) community. This higher level of subnationalism and unity across social …

The Rise Of Left-Wing Populism In Europe: A Comparative Study, Daniel Iturri Calvo

Global Tides

The aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis left Europe in a state of shock, out of which political transitions occurred across the country. One of these transitions was the rise of left-wing populist parties. Their rise was most successful in Southern Europe, particularly in Spain and Greece. In these two countries, left-wing populist parties gained power swiftly and eventually began governing their respective governments. This essay compares the rise of Podemos in Spain and SYRIZA in Greece by looking at the main reasons for their mass popularity. The comparison reveals that the 2008 crisis was at the core of the …

395— Problems Of Representation: How Reforms Can Change Democracy, Vincent Meccariello

GREAT Day Posters

The electoral system in America is inherently undemocratic due to campaign finance corruption and the electoral college. Due to super PACs and large corporations donating unlimited money to fund campaigns, the values and opinions of citizens aren’t being heard. I propose four changes to the electoral system that would give substantial power to every American citizen, as well as theorize the impact of such drastic change. I attempt to summarize what reforms are and how they highlight the corruption in certain aspects of the American electorate system.

200— The Political Clout Of Wealthy And Poor American Indian Tribes, Katie Shepard

GREAT Day Posters

Since the passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, casinos on reservations have become lucrative sources of income for not only tribal governments but also state governments. With an increase in wealth, many tribes have increased their lobbying forces to become major political actors in state and federal government. But, while some tribal governments have become financially stable due to gaming others have become physically and economically isolated making some tribal governments extremely poor. Poor tribal governments continue to have problems and when lobbying is not an option grassroots movements such as protests become the most viable source of political …

181— Same Day Voter Registration And Increasing Voter Turnout, Alexander Short

GREAT Day Posters

Among major democracies, the United States has one of the lowest voter turnouts. Presidential elections in the United States see a turnout of only about 60% and turnout for midterm elections is even lower. These percentages are made worse when one considers that the population that does vote isn’t representative of the demographics of the nation as a whole. One of the reasons that voter turnout is so low is because many states require potential voters to register months before election day. A remedy to this problem that has been utilized by other nations and some states within the U.S. …

507— Partisan Polarization: American Democracy's Silent Enemy, Bryan Sokolowski

GREAT Day Posters

During a time of intense partisan polarization our democracy and its respective institutions have experienced several instances of gridlock. Our elected representatives’ failure to pursue crucial pieces of legislation has provoked the general public to disapprove of government and politicians. Partisan polarization has changed the entire political environment in the United States. Today, politics is a field most people distance themselves from, fearing to expose their beliefs, or intolerant of opposing partisan views. Some are also led to believe that their views or opinions do not matter, nor would they change the results of an election. For politicians it has …

306— The National Popular Vote Plan: A Possible Course Of Reform For The Electoral College, Ian Kirkpatrick

GREAT Day Posters

Does the Electoral College establish a system to elect U.S. presidents that truly represents the will of U.S. citizens? This question is subject to much debate in political science. Advocates of Electoral College reform assert that it fails to uphold the democratic principle of majority rule. One possible course of reform is the National Popular Vote Plan, in which member states pledge to award their Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote. In order to determine the validity of this proposal, the advantages and disadvantages of this reform must be considered.

410— Analysis Of Public Opinion On Social Welfare Programs In The United States, Timothy Condon

GREAT Day Posters

Political platforms on social welfare issues that directly affect the lives of millions of citizens can make or break a candidate’s campaign for office. Therefore, it is important to view and understand public opinion towards these programs. Not only the general public’s attitudes, but the attitudes of specific sub-groups as well, such as political affiliation, ideology, age, gender, race, religion, education, and class. The opinions of sub-groups have important implications for how candidates will campaign on social welfare issues and how policymakers will shape public policy regarding welfare programs. This paper will both summarize and analyze datasets of public opinion …

327— Identity Politics Within The Supreme Court, Anne Marren

GREAT Day Posters

Identity politics leads to individuals making political decisions to help those most similar to them. This leads to underlying bias towards those in your racial and socioeconomic group. The Supreme Court has been notorious for a lack of diversity on the bench. I will explore the consequences of this and how it has resulted in withdrawing civil rights away from certain groups.

392— Hegemonic Masculinity And The Partisan Gender Gap: Implications For American Democracy, Emily Pascale

GREAT Day Posters

There is a growing body of evidence that shows a correlation between gender inequality and economic inequality. Often these highly unequal societies, such as the US, have stringent gender norms that disparately affect how men and women think and behave, including the kinds of political opinions they express. My research will focus on the implications of divergent gender norms for American democracy, particularly for proposals aimed at redressing economic inequality. Because this normative behavior has gendered the perceptions of political parties and policies—such as men cognitively linking redistributive policies to a feminine ethos—these gendered ideas may undermine policies that have …

481— The Rise Of White Identity Politics In Modern America, William Dorfner

GREAT Day Posters

This project seeks to outline the rising tole that racial identity, specifically white identity, has played in our political discourse in recent years. Research suggests that there is a growing trend of using white identity as a means of getting elected to office in America resulting in events such as the election of Donald Trump.

219— Insuring America's Youth: Examining The Success Of Medicaid And Chip Coverage, James Mcglynn

GREAT Day Posters

Children make up 23% of the nation’s total population, but make up 32% of all persons in poverty. Given the overrepresentation of children among the US impoverished population, questions are raised on how best to provide much needed medical coverage to low income children. Currently, programs such as Medicaid and CHIP seek to provide low or no cost health coverage to children in low income households. However, the uninsured rate for children has risen from 4.9% to 5.5% in 2018. This is equivalent to about 425,000 children becoming uninsured. Do Medicaid and CHIP do enough to ensure that children in …

284— Talkin' Bout A Revolution: American Protest And Counter-Protest Movements In The Twentieth And Twenty-First Century, Alea Tiberi

GREAT Day Posters

This poster represents my research for my senior seminar in Political Science. This project explores different protest and counter-protest movements throughout the United States in the last one hundred years. Through comparative study, this project tracks and collates these different protest and counter-protest movements. This research attempts to answer the following questions: Have the nature of protest and counter-protests movements changed over time? If so, how have these movements adapted to modernity? Protest and counter-protest movements are some of the most direct opportunities for American citizens to engage in our democracy. Therefore, this project also explores the important implications of …

259— Housing As A Human Right: Addressing Family Homelessness In New York City, Alberta Eshenour

GREAT Day Posters

New York City has the largest homeless population in the United States. In fiscal year 2019, 132,660 New Yorkers entered the New York City municipality including 44,300 children. Families with children accounted for 70% of this population. These data represent an 80% increase in family homelessness since 2002 and make clear the fact the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness goal to end family homelessness by 2020 has not been guided by proper social policy in the City of New York. The Bloomberg and De Blasio Administrations represent two extremely different ideologies, however, neither administration, to this point, has been …

228— Biden's Bounce: The African American Vote And Biden's South Carolina Comeback, Rachel Morris

GREAT Day Posters

On February 29, 2020, registered Democrats across South Carolina came out to vote for their preferred primary candidate. At the time of this primary, former Vice President Joe Biden needed a win to show that he was still a contender in the race. As the poles closed that night, it was clear that South Carolina was going to give Biden the win and this momentum eventually propelled his campaign to a bigger win on Super Tuesday. South Carolina is an important primary state with 63 delegates available, and it can make or break a candidate’s chance of securing the nomination. …

287— The Question For The Modernization Theory, Fumi Ogura

GREAT Day Posters

In general, democratic countries have higher economic growth than non-democratic countries. The primary reason for this theory is that democracy and capitalism are mostly the two sides of the same coin. Thus, democratic countries can promote economic growth easier than authoritarian regimes. Most developed countries adopt to democracy while there are a lot of developing countries which do not have democratic political institution and adopt authoritarian regimes. For example, most countries in Middle East do not adopt democracy and overall GDP is not as high as developed countries like the US and European countries. However, some Middle Eastern countries that …

330— Public Opinion And Policy Regarding Welfare In The United States, Thomas Wirth

GREAT Day Posters

Government spending on social programs is perhaps the most widely debated platform topic in American politics. The American two party system has produced two distinctive camps, defined most obviously by liberal Democrats and Democratic Socialists on one side, and conservative Republicans on the other. The former argues that government should play a stronger role in securing wealth for the lower class than it currently does via social safety nets provided by taxes on richer individuals. The latter claims that the current American welfare state is either doing enough or too much in its legal role to redistribute funds to lower …

Volume 12, Haleigh James, Hannah Meyls, Hope Irvin, Megan E. Hlavaty, Samara L. Gall, Austin J. Funk, Karyn Keane, Sarah Ghali, Antonio Harvey, Andrew Jones, Rachel Hazelwood, Madison Schmitz, Marija Venta, Haley Tebo, Jeremiah Gilmer, Bridget Dunn, Benjamin Sullivan, Mckenzie Johnson

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Introduction, Dr. Roger A. Byrne, Dean

From the Editor, Dr. Larissa "Kat" Tracy

From the Designers, Rachel English, Rachel Hanson

Immortality in the Mortal World: Otherworldly Intervention in "Lanval" and "The Wife of Bath's Tale" by Haleigh James

Analysis of Phenolic Compounds in Moroccan Olive Oils by HPLC by Hannah Meyls

Art by Hope Irvin

The Effects of Cell Phone Use on Gameplay Enjoyment and Frustration by Megan E. Hlavaty, Samara L. Gall, and Austin J. Funk

Care, No Matter What: Planned Parenthood's Use of Organizational Rhetoric to Expand its Reputation by Karyn Keane

Analysis of Petroleum Products for …

Political Scandal And Party Identification, Michael Sekich

Honors Theses

How do voters react to political scandal, especially when a like-minded partisan is involved? We look to answer that question by utilizing the concept of self-monitoring. Before collecting the data, expectations were that high self-monitors would identify as an independent when exposed to the partisan political scandal. But, when presented with a non-partisan political scandal, high self-monitors would feel more comfortable identifying as their own partisanship. This study offers mixed results. We found that high self-monitors had the only meaningful differences, and low self-monitors did not display significant differences across the versions. The Republican scandal yielded the most meaningful response, …

Variation In Women's Political Representation Across Countries, Julianna Heck

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

This cross-national study examines the ongoing gender imbalance in positions of power in local and national governments. While some countries have gone to great lengths to combat disproportion and inequality, others have taken steps backwards and have made it almost impossible to achieve equal opportunities for women. Despite the fact that women make up almost half of the world’s population, men still far outnumber women in government in the majority of countries worldwide. This quantitative study analyzes variation in women’s political representation in four categories: domestic roles, wage parity, political systems, and gender quotas. The results suggest that although the …

Media Trust In America: Examining The Perspective Of Va College-Age Individuals, Ryan Whitmer

Virginias Collegiate Honors Council Conference

National statistics have been gathered for decades on public trust in mass media. Yet today, at a critical point in American history, this trust is on a severe decline. Are these findings reflective of the rising generation— that is, college-age youth? Data collected from college students in Southern Virginia reveal that there are significantly different opinions, particularly in the areas of overall trust and on the belief that trust can be restored. Additionally, college-age students show partisan divides opposite to the national average, as well as no variances between gender or race. These findings make it abundantly clear that actions …

Faculty Spotlight—Dr. Seth Masket, Owen Mckessy, William Moody

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

Interview with Dr. Seth Masket

Lessons Learned: Tony Fratto, Mercedes Cardona, Rosalind Z. Wiggins

Journal of Financial Crises

Fratto, who was Deputy Assistant and Deputy Press Secretary to the President during the financial crisis of 2007-2009, gives us his take on the government’s communications efforts and how best to prepare for future crises

The Consistency Of Voting Habits Among College Students, Mychala Walker

Virginias Collegiate Honors Council Conference

For generations, it was suggested that college students do not vote, despite research suggesting that voting is habit forming and youth voting can determine the trend for future civic engagement. The purpose of this project is to determine if voter disenfranchisement is the cause of such a lack of civil engagement among college students. I believed that college students did not vote because of the unclear laws and regulations regarding voting as a student. To collect data, I surveyed 71 Virginia State University students of various classifications and majors. Questions regarding demographics, voter registration status, and past voting history were …

How Will Covid 19 Impact The 2020 Election, A. Lee Hannah, Craig Woolley, Laura M. Luehrmann

Political Science Faculty Publications

This is the second installment in the Shelter in Place (SiP) Lecture series. This installment deals with the impact and implications of the Shelter in Place order on the 2020 presidential election. It covers topics ranging from changes in implications on campaigning, the incumbent advantage, fundamental changes, policy effects, and more.

The Resource Curse In Africa, Madison Smith

19th Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2020)

Countries with an abundance of highly valued natural resources face the possibility of thriving or struggling due to the presence of such resources. This project examines the potential resource curse in sub-Saharan Africa. The research here will draw on previous insights on how resources affect economic and political development in Africa. I will consider how the availability of valuable resources affects political elites’ relationship with their citizens and why the impact of resources matters in a comparative perspective. Using data collection and research on the existence of the resource curse, I expect to find that the curse is real and …

Democratic Development In Africa, Isabella Musherure

19th Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2020)

The last three decades have seen states in Africa, alongside states around the world, experiment with democracy to varying degrees. Scholarship on the successes and struggle among these democratic attempts suggest certain factors influence the transitions to and consolidation of democracy. These factors include structural and contingent factors, national vs. international factors, and economic vs. political factors. Yet there are still unknown influences on democracy. My research seeks to understand the call for democracy and the reasons why some citizens are pro-democracy and others aren’t, what neopatrimonialism is and the implications that it has on society. Lastly, understand how informal …

Global Technologies: A Discussion Regarding The Digital Divide, Stephen Hommowun

19th Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2020)

The digital divide is a concept that explains the gap in technological access between the global north and south. The purpose of this study is to show how technology can be used to enact social change. This study has found that there is a positive correlation between less technological access and less social change. As such, this study will also discuss factors that limit countries’ ability to develop new technology. These factors include a country’s economic strength, their literacy and educational standards, infrastructure in place, and political organization.

Setback Of Foreign Aid In Sub-Saharan Africa, Sungmin Suh

19th Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2020)

Every year, tens of billions of dollars are transferred as foreign aid to so-called developing countries, including sub-Saharan African states. My research regards the overall effectiveness in the development of these recipients. Some evidence supports the success of foreign aid in fostering development. My focus is to understand the effectiveness of foreign aid beyond the individual outcomes of various aid programs. Particularly, I will explore how aid affects investment, self-determination, democracy, and transparency in recipient nations. In this study, I examine the realities of the countries at individual country-levels rather than the macro measures focused on by such scholars as …

The Digital Divide In Sub-Saharan Africa, Taylor Spanbauer

19th Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2020)

The existence of a digital divide affects all information technology (IT) users. The digital divide is known as the gap between those who are able to make effective use of technology and the Internet, and those who are not. My project will explore the existence of a digital divide between countries in the global north and countries in the global south. Additionally, I will investigate the possible causes of the digital divide, and the positive or negative effects the divide may have on societies, all with an emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa. Causes of the digital divide can be traced to …