Political Science Commons^™

The Complex Landscape Of Lgbtq+ Inclusion Within The Politics Of Africa And The Dynamics Of Anti-Lgbtq+ Laws And Development, Barbara Agyapong

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The politics of LGBTQ+ inclusion has undergone significant transformations worldwide, reflecting evolving societal attitudes, advancements in human rights, and the increasing global recognition of LGBTQ+ rights. However, the politics of LGBTQ+ inclusion in Africa presents a diverse and intricate landscape, characterized by variations in attitudes, legal frameworks, and societal acceptance across the continent. This study explores the complex and evolving dynamics of Anti-LGBTQ+ laws in Africa, with some countries making strides towards LGBTQ+ inclusion by repealing colonial-era legislation, while others have become more repressive. Notably, countries such as Angola, Cape Verde, Lesotho, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, and Seychelles have …

The Symbolic Politics Of Same-Sex Marriage Legalization, Kaden Sinning

Honors Projects

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, many commentators highlighted increasing resistance to the ruling. Some observed typical public backlash, but others noted targeted LGBTQ rights bills from state legislators. While much of the scholarly literature suggests that public backlash is short-lived and tends to resolve toward Supreme Court doctrine, less clear is the impact of state legislative efforts following judicial decisions. To help clarify this discrepancy, this research examines the effect of Obergefell on state bill proposals. I argue that Obergefell acts as a trigger for state legislators to …

The Internal Debate: How National Identity Created The Russo-Ukrainian Conflict, Logan James Weisenfels

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The longstanding conflict in Ukraine has prompted more attention, discussion, and research into the relationship between Ukraine and Russia. This relationship dates back to medieval times, but its importance to contemporary issues begins in the 19-20th Centuries and come to a head after the fall of the Soviet Union. This analysis seeks to understand how and why Ukrainian national identity gradually became a solidified civic identity after the Maiden Revolution and annexation of Crimea in 2014. This starts with providing a short history between Russia and Ukraine, that looks at certain events and regions in their shared history, and are …

[Preface To] Peace, Preference, And Property: Return Migration After Violent Conflict, Sandra F. Joireman

Bookshelf

Growing numbers of people are displaced by war and violent conflict. In Ukraine, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Syria, and elsewhere violence pushes civilian populations from their homes and sometimes from their countries, making them refugees. In previous decades, millions of refugees and displaced people returned to their place of origin after conflict or were resettled in countries in the Global North. Now displacements last longer, the number of people returning home is lower, and opportunities for resettlement are shrinking. More and more people spend decades in refugee camps or displaced within their own countries, raising their children away from their home …

Who Fears Strangers And Spiders: Political Ideology And Feeling Threatened, Thomas Lukaszewicz

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

In this study, I evaluated the correlations between threat sensitivities and political ideology. Two hypotheses were tested. First, I hypothesized that conservatives would have higher social threat sensitivity than liberals, with social threat defined as a threat dependent on outgroup or social actions (Barclay & Benard, 2020). Second, I hypothesized that conservatives would have higher disgust sensitivity than liberals. To test these and related hypotheses I used a 2018 Qualtrics national demographically representative sample that included 1031 participants. To operationalize threat sensitivity, I used items asking participants to rate how threatened they felt by various fears. These individual items were …

How Social Media Affects Political Beliefs And Movements, Alyssa Anderson

Honors Capstones

This project aims to assess how social media influences young adults’ political beliefs and movements. Social media is prominently used through the ages of 18-29 and plays a key role in intellectual development. Engagement online has increased within the last few years discussing topics like politics, COVID-19, and social movements. With the help of social media, young adults feel more empowered and informed by sharing political content. Voter turnout, civic engagement, and participation in social movements have increased with the informative content now available on all social media platforms. In this paper, I assess how social media has affected political …

Wgss Queer Theories And Politics: A Blog Post, Cassidy Vogel

Feminist & Queer Praxis

"Political education is the practice of using knowledge for action, whether its serving and educating the community or taking personal action. This is central Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, but in Dr. Klinker’s Queer Theories and Politics (WGSS 374) students were able to engage in political education beyond the class." Winona State University (WSU) student Cassidy Vogel blog post discusses and shared their experiences engaging in political education beyond the classroom.

This blog post was intended for the WSU Academic Blog which showcases the exciting and challenging work that WSU Student do.

Measuring Attitudes And Behavioral Trends As It Pertains To Global Poverty Eradication, Zoe Patrick

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Since the 1990s, approximately 1.1 billion people have escaped poverty across the globe, and they no longer must live on less than $2.00 a day. This progress has been consistent over the last 20 years, but recent social and economic disruptions have led to a steadily increasing number of people struggling under the weight of extreme poverty. Data collected by the World Bank shows that 88 to 115 million people are projected to be pushed into extreme poverty because of the 2020 economic downturn and coronavirus pandemic. There are hundreds of nonprofit organizations that donate time and money towards the …

Understanding And Improving The System: The Effects Of Weighting On The Accuracy Of Political Polling In Arkansas, Beck Williams

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

In an effort to increase the accuracy of statewide political polling in Arkansas, we explore the statistical strategy of weighting with a focus on one yearly opinion poll: The Arkansas Poll. We conduct over 70 weighting experiments on the 2016 and 2020 Arkansas Polls using a variety of variables and opinion questions. From these experiments, we find that while some weighted variables tend to create larger changes, weighting typically results in a single-digit percentage change that does not substantially shift or “flip” the majorities. Due to a greater rate of change through weighting in the 2020 Poll compared to the …

Dissecting Discontent: How Stocks And Flows Of County-Level Economic And Social Factors Affect The Vote Shares Of Populist Candidates, Thomas Dowd

Honors Scholar Theses

Across the United States, recent waves of populism have disrupted existing political institutions and fueled the rise of figures like Donald Trump on the right and Bernie Sanders on the left. Myriad research has been conducted to examine the reasons behind this surge; underlying much of the literature is the story of a population who is deeply unsettled by how global changes threaten the social and economic fabric of their communities. This thesis will test many of the possible drivers of populism, including economic wellbeing, income inequality, social capital, and community breakdown. Using data from the 2016 Democratic presidential primary …

Peer Reviewing The World: Increasing Civil Society Participation In The United Nations Universal Periodic Review, Lucien F. O'Brien

Political Science Honors Projects

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is an exceptional mechanism within the framework of international human rights. The fact that it evaluates all UN member states’ human rights records on a universal basis sets it apart from other enforcement mechanisms that do not give equal time to all countries or do not seek to cover all human rights. Following the introduction of hybrid modalities in the third cycle, the UPR faces a turning point in terms of who is included in the process and how. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with UN officials, diplomatic mission members, civil society representatives, and academics, as …

Pursuit Of The Vote: Factors Utilized In Resisting Discrimination In Democratic Elections, Matthew Nicholson

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

Suffrage movements make use of various social and political factors to pressure their governments to expand the scope of voting rights. Using McAdam’s political process model, I will analyze how disenfranchised groups’ use of nonviolent demonstration, appeals to international pressure, and appeals to religion, affects their success. This will also highlight patterns that emerge when groups are willing to instigate violence in pursuit of their goals. Most studies examine these variables in the context of the pursuit of independence or revolution, whereas this study focuses on groups wishing to remain within a system given their desired reforms. I will analyze …

Mental Health In Massachusetts Prisons, Jeffrey Yung

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

In November of last year, former Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division released the findings of an investigation of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections (MDOC). They found several violations of prisoner’ constitutionals rights for mental health cases under the Eighth Amendment. The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishments for criminal defendants. The findings reveal a lack of structured mental health care for MDOC prisoners, untrained employees, and unnecessary abuse of restrictive housing for prisoners designated under a mental health watch program.

No Justice, No Peace: An Examination Of The Conditions Of The George Floyd Protests To Determine How To Facilitate Successful State Legislative Outcomes, Emily R. Funk

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

This thesis examines the relationship between the conditions of the George Floyd protests from May to August of 2020 to the impact they had state on policing reforms within state legislatures. I examine protests in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, looking at those protests’ size, media coverage, and violence and compare that to the degree of policy change achieved within each state. I find that, contrary to expectations, protest size was not associated with policy change, but that the party control of the state government was a strong predictor of how states responded to protests. Within some …

Framing The Democratic Socialist Movement: A Discourse Analysis Of Pro-Movement Literature, Elizabeth H. Rouse

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

In light of the rising prominence of the democratic socialist movement (DSM) in the United States, this thesis performs a discourse analysis of the frames utilized in pro-movement literature. Through the evaluation of five full-length books, I strive to answer the following research questions: How has pro-movement literature framed the DSM? What is the significance of the frames that have been employed? Based on qualitative observations reinforced with a minor quantitative study, I identify thirteen frames that are significant across pro-DSM literature. Then, in analyzing these frames, I argue that they can largely be categorized into three groups: 1) as …

Spies, Sanctions, And Single-Party States: How American Sanctions Influence Intelligence Operations, Anthony J. Anta

Honors Undergraduate Theses

States have a diverse and unique set of available mechanisms to deploy when seeking to interact in the international community. Economic sanctions have long been one such tool available for states looking to coerce or incentivize a change in the behavior of another state. Likewise, states have historically sought to influence and gain unknown knowledge on another state or actor. Covert intelligence operations have changed forms, mechanisms, and techniques, especially since the expansive advancements in technology in the 21^st century. This paper seeks to understand the influence that economic sanctions have on the ability for single-party states to conduct …

Creditable Civic Engagement? Aligning Work On Civic Activity With Faculty Incentives, Kenneth W. Moffett, Laurie L. Rice

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Political scientists frequently study and engage in civic engagement work and the institutions that employ them state that they value these endeavors. Yet, there is a disconnect between valuing and doing this work relative to aligning it with faculty incentives. We discuss our experiences with civic engagement work and how we made it fit into how we are evaluated. We use our experience to motivate recommendations to fellow faculty, institutions, and administrators with respect to how they can do and encourage this work going forward.

“We Have Rung The Alarm Bell Loud And Clear”: Exploring The Effects Of The Securitization Of Global Public Health Crises By International Organizations On State Response, Lilia Eisenstein

Senior Independent Study Theses

This study seeks to answer the following question: What are the effects of the securitization of global public health crises by international organizations on how states act to try to control such crises? I draw on literature from the constructivist school of thought and securitization theory, which posits that security threats are socially constructed through the process of securitization. My study examines framing at the international level by international organizations (IOs) and related actors in the global health regime. I hypothesize that securitizing language and the use of the security frame by international actors will increase the initial amount of …

Ethnic Nationalism In Postcolonial Disputes: The Epistemic Re-Evaluation Of Interest-Driven Knowledge Claims, Hahyeon Lee

Senior Independent Study Theses

This thesis combines the disciplines of political science and philosophy to illuminate the conceptual links between ethnic nationalism, postcolonial disputes, and epistemology. In doing so, it proposes a novel understanding of postcolonial disputes that moves beyond the politics of national sentiments and socially constructed historical memory to one that also recognizes the epistemic stakes in the contestation. To this end, the research question is stated as, “If postcolonial disputes are intensified by ethnic nationalism, are postcolonial disputes an instance of epistemic subjectivism?” To answer the question, the thesis pursues two objectives (the empirical and the philosophical) that ultimately tie in …

What Makes States Comply With Their Environmental Treaty Commitments : A Comparative Case Analysis Of Australia And Canada During The Kyoto Protocol, Brandon Enric Weeber

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Climate change, or global warming at the time, made a significant public outcry in the 1970s. Two major international treaties, the Montreal Protocol of 1987 and the Kyoto Protocol of 1997, were created from the spark of international demand for action. Why is it that after such a movement, the global community still fails to cooperate on climate change action? What makes a state comply with its international environmental treaty commitments, like the Kyoto Protocol? This thesis' research findings indicate that neither public opinion, elite framing of climate change as a threat, nor a state's capacity impact a state's compliance …

The Balance Of Convertibility: Manipulating External Support In Civil War, Kimberly L. Wolfe

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Despite the pervasive trend in civil war of multiple sponsors backing rebels or the government, there is surprisingly minimal analysis on how the balance of support influences conflict duration. Building on the research of Sawyer et al. (2017), who find that the “fungibility” of external support leads to longer civil war, this thesis contributes a new scoring method for analyzing the balance of “fungible” (hereafter “convertible”) support among combatants (rebels versus government), discovering that a balance of convertibility contributes to shorter conflict. Convertible resources are those that combatants manipulate to enhance their warfighting capacity, such as funding, while troops or …

The Level Of Trust Between International Election Observers And Incumbents In Unconsolidated Democracies, Rogers Mtui

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

A great deal of research focuses on the question of why incumbents invite IEOs but do not explicitly explored the root cause of why cheating in elections occurs despite the presence of IEOs. The occurrence when incumbents in young democracies invite international election observers (IEOs) and nevertheless cheat in elections has not been fully explored. This research advances the following expectation: incumbents seeking international benefits and whose electoral institutions are not fully mature are more likely to invite IEOs and cheat in an election. This is due to the ability of the incumbents who are seeking for the reelection to …

Desperate Democrats In The Reagan Revolution: A Party Determined To Win The White House, Matthew Maxwell Akins

Senior Independent Study Theses

Bill Clinton’s 1992 election to the presidency as a Democrat ended a series of defeats for that party on the presidential level. Clinton may have won the White House, but he did not do it alone. In the decade before his victory, the “New Democrats” worked to moderate the Democratic Party from within, responding to the presidential losses of 1980, 1984, and 1988. Scholars have explored this topic from many angles, but none have explored it from the perspective of these “New Democrats” in a way that traces their story from Al From and Gillis Long to the DLC and …

Setting The Stage For Representation: Women Candidates And Moderators' Impact On The Prevalence Of Women's Issues In Presidential Primary Debates, Hannah Groetsch

Senior Independent Study Theses

This Independent Study explores how women’s increased presence in presidential primary debates impacts the extent to which women’s issues are discussed in the debates. Prior research on political representation and critical mass theory indicates that women politicians can turn their identity as women (descriptive representation) into action that benefits their women constituents (substantive representation) by adding women’s voices and lived experiences into the political conversation. I capitalize on the 2020 election being the first where multiple women presidential candidates ran against each other, allowing me to see whether the increase in the number of women participating in the Democratic primary …

From The Parks To The Polls: National Parks, Place Attachment, And Environmental Voting Behavior, Rebecca Larue

Senior Independent Study Theses

This study examines the relationship between National Park visitation, place attachment, and levels of support for pro-environmental ballot measures. The theoretical argument for this relationship is that increased visitation to National Parks will lead to increased place attachment, or connection, to the National Parks. This increased connection to a place of natural beauty could cause people to be more inclined to support ballot measures that protect the environment. A survey, administered through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, was used to collect the data, and a mediation analysis was used to analyze it. The results of this study show that visitation to National …

Add Women And Stir: The Effect Of Female Mentorship On Women's Law School Experiences, Riley E. Smith

Senior Independent Study Theses

This Independent Study examines the effect that female mentorship has on women’s experiences in law school. Previous literature indicates seven areas in which women’s experiences differ from men’s: their attitudinal changes over time in law school, their relationships with professors, their participation in class, their perception of their academic achievement, their feelings of alienation, and their confidence. In every way, women’s experiences are worse than men’s. Some mentorship literature suggests that these experiences could be improved by female mentorship, though other literature demonstrates that female mentorship has no effect. Therefore, I ask, what is the effect of female mentorship on …

Bridging The Divide: Community Centers As A Catalyst Of Socioeconomic Opportunity Cultivation For At-Risk Youth, Grayson Bourke

Capstone Projects – Politics and Government

The East Bluff Community Center (EBCC)’s mission is to “foster community engagement and neighborhood stabilization by providing a vibrant place to gather.” This paper seeks to shed light on the role that community centers play in creating socioeconomic opportunities for at-risk youth in low-income, American communities. The author completed an 11-month internship through Illinois State University’s Stevenson Center in which I was placed as a Community Engagement Coordinator at the EBCC. While at EBCC, I conducted a neighborhood needs assessment, strengthened existing and built new interorganizational partnerships, and launched a building revitalization within the context of the Integrated Prevention and …

Sovereignty, Statehood, And Subjugation: Native Hawaiian And Japanese American Discourse Over Hawaiian Statehood, Nicole Saito

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Although discourse over Hawaiian statehood has increasingly been described by scholars as a racial conflict between Japanese Americans and Native Hawaiians, there existed a broad spectrum of interactions between the two groups. Both communities were forced to confront the prejudices they had against each other while recognizing their shared experiences with discrimination, creating a paradoxical political culture of competition and solidarity up until the conclusion of World War Two. From 1946 to 1950, however, the country’s collective understanding of Japanese American citizenship began to shift with recognition of the community’s military service record and an increased proportion of veterans elected …

The Longest Sin And Deepest Silence, Cierra White

Spring Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

The focus for this project will be analyzing the relevance of the civil rights movement today. Such as how the foundations and scarifies of the civil rights movement let to the social climate of the Black Live Matter movement. This project will explore topics of racism, discrimination, inequality, suburbanization, and the divide of racial lines. Also, this project will focus on Civil Resistance and civil disobedience. This project will compare the ideas of Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, and other prominent civil rights leaders during this time. I believe that by exploring and analyzing the causes of the Civil …

A Historical Analysis Of The Causes Of The French And Indian War, Jake Althouse

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The current study attempted to answer the following research question: what were the causes of the French and Indian War between Great Britain and France in 1754? To do so, the current study researched secondary sources from a historical perspective, political theories regarding the causes of war, and primary sources from individuals involved in the build-up to conflict. Previous research by historians and political scientists have mainly attributed the causes of the French and Indian War to a security dilemma and the spiral theory of war. The current study does not support this assertion. Instead, the current study asserts that …