Political Science Commons^™

As A Matter De Facto: State Capacity Dynamics And Their Role In Shaping Sovereignty For Unrecognized States, Angely Martinez

Dissertations - ALL

What explains de facto states that do not pursue statehood? Why do we see examples of unrecognized states pushing for reintegration after a period of time? Why do some de facto states seem content with the status quo? Previous examination of de facto state strategies highlighted the role that the international system plays in granting independence. For the most part, de facto states, by default secessionist movements who have sundered from the parent state, are unlikely to be granted independence by the very system which holds a taboo against secession. The exceptions to this came after a long time of …

Judicial Deference To Administrative Statutory Interpretation In The Modern American Administrative State, Rachel Marie Macmaster

Dissertations - ALL

The American administrative state of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries is defined by deference by federal courts to administrative agencies. The political science and (especially) legal literatures have long discussed how federal courts defer to agencies, but little attention has been dedicated to how to identify deference and why courts defer. This dissertation redefines deference, a term that has been topic of extensive discussion in the last forty years but that was missing a key feature: the intent of the deferrers. Using administrative courts as the proxy for agencies at large, this dissertation suggests three reasons why judges may defer. …

Advancing A Sustainable Career Model For Political Science Students: Implications For Career Development Research And Practice, Tashfeen Ahmad

Journal of Global Awareness

This paper aims to assist lecturers, universities, and their administrators in improving the relevance of political science undergraduate degree programs in the context of globalization and the Fourth Industrial Revolution era. This paper will reflect on how to tailor the political science degree to achieve a sustainable career and improve students' employability in the future. The latest theoretical frameworks incorporating the concept of "sustainable" career development were used in advancing the model of employability in the political science field. The author relies on a qualitative approach and the literature review with implications for practice in advancing the notion that competency-based …

Authoritarianism And The Rentier State - Venezuela And Nigeria, Victoria Zobeida Castillo

Senior Theses

The oil states scattered throughout the developing world are no more democratic or peaceful than they were at the beginning of the twentieth century's natural resource era. In fact, some countries are worse, tainted by civil unrest, plummeting per capita income, and rising inflation. These socioeconomic ailments are often referred to as the Resource Curse or Dutch Disease. Mineral wealth, however, should not be confused with the dangers of sole oil wealth. The oil states are significantly more likely to be governed by authoritarian leaders. The irony of oil's unusual properties of fluctuating prices and secretive contracts do not solely …

Judicial Deference To Administrative Statutory Interpretation In The Modern American Administrative State, Rachel Marie Macmaster

Dissertations - ALL

The American administrative state of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries is defined by deference by federal courts to administrative agencies. The political science and (especially) legal literatures have long discussed how federal courts defer to agencies, but little attention has been dedicated to how to identify deference and why courts defer. This dissertation redefines deference, a term that has been topic of extensive discussion in the last forty years but that was missing a key feature: the intent of the deferrers. Using administrative courts as the proxy for agencies at large, this dissertation suggests three reasons why judges may defer. …

Bridging The Realms Between Cyber And Physical: Approaching Cyberspace With An Interdisciplinary Lens, Lena Andrea Rose

Senior Theses

This project investigates the use of cyber technology as a political tool through the investigation of the following case studies: (1) The Sony Pictures Hack in the United States in 2014, (2) The Qatari News Hack in 2017, and (3) China’s enactment of the Hong Kong National Security Law in 2020. These three case studies depict that rapid technological advancement has led to greater cyber warfare between state powers. The Sony Hack examines political coercion, the Qatari Hack examines disinformation, and the Hong Kong National Security Law examines surveillance and suppression of opposition. As a result of an increasingly complicated …

Vox And The Legacy Of Franco: A Study Of The Rise Of The Populist Radical Right In Spain, Daniel Robert Berenston

Senior Theses

Populist radical right parties succeeded electorally across Europe since the start of the 1980s. However, until 2018, the populist radical right was electorally irrelevant in Spain even as the populist radical right gained traction in the rest of Western Europe. There is very little literature explaining how Vox overcame obstacles in Spain to be the first party of its kind to have success in Spain. In this thesis, I examine how Vox fits into previous academic literature that explains the populist radical right and whether that literature applies to the case of Vox. I argue that the previous literature cannot …

Breaking Point: How Migrant Crises Have Influenced The Rise Of Far-Right Parties In Italy, Germany, And The Uk, Theadora Serena Petropoulos

Senior Theses

Far-right politics in Europe did not die with Adolf Hitler in 1945. In the early 21st century, populist parties had a somewhat quiet existence beneath Europe’s political surface and did not find much success in elections. However, as refugees and asylum seekers fled the Syrian Civil War and North Africa beginning in 2015, and as Eastern and Central Europeans flocked to the UK, European far-right parties found themselves with a new opportunity to mobilize support. Now in 2020, far-right parties have become legitimate contenders in both national parliaments and the European Parliament. The migrant crisis is perhaps one of the …

The Role Of International Factors In Electoral Volatility In Latin America: An Examination Of Structural Adjustment, Michelle Kuenzi, Hafthor Erlingsson, John P. Tuman

Political Science Faculty Research

Does structural adjustment increase party system instability in Latin America? We employ the Latin American Presidential and Legislative Elections (LAPALE) database (http://www.lapaledata.com) and our own original data set for structural adjustment to assess the effects of structural adjustment and other economic, social, and political variables on legislative volatility in 18 Latin American countries during the period of 1982 to 2016. The results of our study indicate that structural adjustment results in higher levels of within-system electoral volatility and support a broad version of economic voting theory. Extra-system electoral volatility is driven primarily by institutional and demographic factors. Our findings also …

As A Matter De Facto: State Capacity Dynamics And Their Role In Shaping Sovereignty For Unrecognized States, Angely Martinez

Dissertations - ALL

What explains de facto states that do not pursue statehood? Why do we see examples of unrecognized states pushing for reintegration after a period of time? Why do some de facto states seem content with the status quo? Previous examination of de facto state strategies highlighted the role that the international system plays in granting independence. For the most part, de facto states, by default secessionist movements who have sundered from the parent state, are unlikely to be granted independence by the very system which holds a taboo against secession. The exceptions to this came after a long time of …

Conflict, Consensus And Modernizing Trajectories In Sub-Saharan Africa, Charles Themba Tuthill

Dissertations - ALL

Research on the political economy of African states has often focused on explaining the roots of socio-political disfunction or has been pre-occupied with successful cases like Botswana, whose demography and social structures differ markedly from other states on the continent. This dissertation takes a different approach; it seeks to understand the developmental dynamics of successful African states whose peoples and societies largely reflect the majority of states on the continent south of the Sahara. The research question first asks why Ghana and Kenya succeeded in creating growth-enhancing economic institutions. Next it examines why, in the post-Cold War era, Ghanaian economic …

Constitutional Crisis And The Tenth Amendment: Civil Disobedience, Founding Principles, And The State’S Responsibility, Travis Younce

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

This past year we have seen an unprecedent grab of power from the State to the federal levels. This has caused many Americans to voice their concerns through civil disobedience. Yet, as we have seen from the summer of 2020 to the electoral vote on 6 January 2021, many Americans have gone beyond civil disobedience and rioted, causing loss of life and destruction of property for their beliefs.

The Founding Fathers were concerned with a central government that exceeded its powers and destroying the powers at the local or State level in favor of federal rule. In Federalist no 45 …

Relations Of The Catholic Church And The Government Of The Republic Of Lithuania Relations During The Crisis Of Covid-19: Partnership Or Dispute?, Audris Narbutas

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

The religious liberty is one of the most profound and fundamental deep freedoms in the West World. The vast majority of the modern democracies recognize the people’s right to worship God according to the particular traditions and norms of the different religious communities.

The state of Lithuania belongs to this family of democracies where the religious liberty plays a significant role in the legal system of the Lithuania. The rights to express and practice each one’s faith are established in the Article 26 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania[1] and in the bilateral treaties with the Holy …

The Effect Of International Level Covid-19 Stay-At-Home Orders On Death Rates, Valeriia Manchak, Annalisa Stoll, Kyle Conniff

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

In this paper, we document and compare data gathered from more than 50 countries with different demographic characteristics, lockdown policies, health systems, and different varying timelines to combat COVID-19. After discussing the variables and their impact on the mortality numbers, we will make a recommendation concerning the different lockdown policies for future use. The main objective of this paper is to investigate connections between government policies, population age, age density, smoking rate, IQ air pollution, forms of greeting, death rate, obesity/health index, mean age, face coverings, contact tracing, international travel control level, etc. and how these independent variables might affect …

Neo-Extracting Gilded Welfare States: A Comparative Study Of Extractivism And Latin American Welfare State Formation, Pabvitraa Ramcharan

Student Theses and Dissertations

This paper attempts to establish a stronger linkage between neo-extractivism and social welfare states in contemporary Latin America using both a micro and macro perspective. By emphasizing the human capital aspect of the welfare state’s role in promoting equitable redistribution and correcting market failures, this paper attempts to evaluate the extent to which extractive industries contribute to human capital formation. Due to the sectors’ large influence on the state and weak capacity to create employment, I develop the concept of the “gilded welfare state,” defined by the inability of extractive industries to ensure equal opportunity and generate formal employment despite …

The Social Contract Theory In The Face Of Empirical Morality: Integration And Its Consequences, Margaux F F Ramee

Student Theses and Dissertations

The following study experimentally investigated moral attitudes, both intuitive and reasoned, to assess the validity of the social contract theories of four prominent thinkers: Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Rawls. These social contract thinkers, though different in their proposals, all attempt to provide an answer to one long-withstanding question: which governmental structure is best? Their theories also interweave moral cognition with the governmental structure recommended. Thus, this research endeavored to contribute to the contemporary discussion of the social contract theory, encourage empirical investigation of the social contract theory, and provide a framework for future research of a …

Budgetary Obstacles To Police Reform: The Case Of San Francisco, Hayden Anderson

Master's Projects and Capstones

In response to the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement issued a statement calling on cities to Defund the Police. The event sparked a nationwide reckoning that has reshaped the narratives and strategies for remedying the racial bias and police brutality apparent in the criminal justice system. The shift in police reform efforts embraces notions guiding police budgeting decisions. Today's advocates are transforming their approach to police reform to include budgeting decisions by promoting a municipal practice known as police budget reform. This Capstone explores the feasibility of successful police budget reform under current …

Christian Identity Meets Identity Politics: A Lutheran Approach To Political Engagement, Michael Hanson

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Identity politics has become a frequently referenced and much maligned term used to describe a trend in political engagement in the early 21^st century. Identity politics is employed across the political spectrum and has critics on both the left and right in the United States. Christian Identity Meets Identity Politics examines the contours of identity politics to understand and consider the concerns which lead neighbors to engage in identity politics, accounts for the needs of those neighbors who are denied God’s gift of justice through the state, considers criticisms leveled against identity politics within the greater view of Western …

Affordable Housing In San Francisco: A Historical Analysis Of Its Finances And Policies, Ricky H. Tran

Master's Projects and Capstones

The affordable housing crisis is not new to San Francisco. As it has been made clear several times, The Bay Area continues to face a crisis of a massive wealth disparity as housing prices continue to rise as incomes for the top earners have risen dramatically since 1999. In San Francisco, rents and housing prices are one of the highest in the nation, and people are facing rent burdens, in which a large portion of their income goes to rent, as for those with low and extremely low income are facing severe rent burdens, which take up more than 50% …

Contextualizing Bipoc High School Students’ Racialized Experiences Under Trump, Christina Ung

Master's Theses

This thesis contextualizes public high school experiences of self-identified students of color during Trump’s presidency. The study features three recent high school graduates from the same campus, and their perspectives on a series of topics related to their racial identity. It was important that this research served as a space for marginalized voices to share their lived experiences, as they are frequently left out of American curriculum. More specifically in this case, the high school is located in a small, rural town where the population is majority white and politically conservative. Through the lens of critical race theory (CRT), data …

The Role Of Nations-State In Protecting And Supporting Internally Displaced Persons, Daisy Byers

Master's Theses

The rising increase of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) has become a global problem. There are over 40 million internally displaced people globally, and 15.9 million are displaced in Africa. These displacements come into place due to war/conflict, corruption, massive human rights violations, natural disasters, urban renewal projects (at the hands of powerful nations such as America, China, France, UK, etc.), and large-scale development projects. According to UNHCR, refugees are people who have international cross-border. In contrast, internally displaced persons must stay within their own country and stay under the protection of their government, even if the government is the reason …

The Significance Of Christian Iconography In Communist Mexican Muralism Of Diego Rivera, Rachel Renee Amaro

University Honors Theses

This study compares two of Rivera's fresco mural paintings; Liberation of the Peon (1923) at the Secretaria de Educación Publica building in Mexico City, Mexico and Agrarian Leader Zapata (1930) located at Palacio de Cortés in Cuernavaca, Mexico to two Renaissance Christian paintings to highlight the similar use of Christian iconography. This analysis argues that although groundbreaking in style, Rivera's art relied heavily on Christian iconography that not only came from his own background of knowledge, but also enabled him to speak to the people of Mexica in a time when they relied heavily on his art to tell the …

Biographies

CLAMANTIS: The MALS Journal

No abstract provided.

The Non-Christian Nature Of Marxism, Andrew Looker, Jr.

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

Marxism is one of the most impactful philosophies in the history of mankind. It refers to the political and economic theories formulated by Karl Marx, a German philosopher who lived from 1818 to 1883. Marx’s most well-known works include the Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (1859). Marxism initially consisted of the three related ideas of a philosophical anthropology, a theory of history, and a radical economic and political program.[1] More specifically, Marx claimed that capitalism is just one stage in the historical progression from inferior economic systems to superior ones. Marx held that every society throughout history has …

Illegal Abortion: Truth Vs. Fiction, Andrew Looker, Jr.

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

Abortion has remained one of the most contentious issues in American political discourse ever since the Supreme Court legalized the procedure in the 1973 decision Roe v. Wade. Numerous emotional, statistical, and even Biblical arguments have been formulated in debates over this topic. However, arguably the two most common assertions are that thousands of women perished due to unsafe abortions prior to Roe v. Wade, and that laws restricting or outlawing abortion are ineffective in reducing abortion rates. As an example, former President of Planned Parenthood Leana Wen made the following claim in May 2019: “Before Roe v. …

The Effect Of State Level Covid-19 Stay-At-Home Orders On Death Rates, Stephen A. Langeland, Jose Marte, Kyle Connif

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

This paper attempts to examine a correlation between lockdown length and COVID-19 case rate, death rate and fatality rate. In March of 2020, the publishing of alarmist epidemiological models prompted government officials to enact sweeping emergency measures (Miltimore 2020). Notably, the Imperial College London model published by epidemiologist Neil Ferguson predicted a “best-case scenario” of 1.1 million COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. by August 2020. This model heightened concern that the hospital system would be overwhelmed, a reason cited by President Trump’s Coronavirus Task Force members, Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci, as justification for the “15 Days to Flatten the …

Antitrust In The Age Of Trump, Stephen Langeland

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

Calls for regulation of major tech giants are currently ringing out from both the left and right sides of the political spectrum, largely for different reasons (Soave 2020). The current DOJ antitrust suit against Google was undermined by murmurs of political motivation as former-Attorney General William Barr personally played a key role in pushing the investigation forward into a lawsuit. (Birnbaum 2020). Prior examples of this can be seen in the reportedly political motivation of the DOJ’s unsuccessful attempt to block the 2017 merger of President Trump’s nemesis CNN’s parent company Time Warner and AT&T following President Trump’s campaign trail …

A League Of Their Own: A Textual Analysis Of The Spiral Of Silence, Media Representation, And The Intersection Of Gender And Race In Politics, Asya Symone Robinson

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Within the past fifty years, women and women of color have become active in the USA political sphere. However, there is still a visible gender and racial gap in politics that can be associated with uneven societal progression. This gap is documented through the media representation of women in politics. Analysis of the media coverage of Geraldine Ferraro, Sarah Palin, and Kamala Harris revealed four themes: Experience, Strength, Likeability, and Appearance. These themes are used to misrepresent women in politics and influence voter evaluations. This study analyzed how the layer of the evaluations is dependent upon not only gender but …

Professor Greg Shaw On Gerrymandering And The Effect On Local Races, Eric Stock

Interviews for WGLT

IWU Professor of Political Science Greg Shaw says he hopes McLean County's redistricting commission will draw maps that will keep neighborhoods, communities and voting precincts together. He tells WGLT's Eric Stock that gerrymandered districts have protected incumbents, even in county government.

Migrating Away From Jim Crow: Using The C3 Framework To Teach The Great Migration, Jeremiah Clabough

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

In this article, I discuss how to teach about the causes for the Great Migration using the Inquiry Arc from the C3 Framework. First, a brief overview of the Great Migration is given. Then, a series of activities is provided with primary and secondary sources to explore the causes for the Great Migration. Finally, a writing activity is given that allows students to summarize the reasons that millions of African Americans took part in the Great Migration. The steps and resources to implement the series of activities are provided.