Political Science Commons^™

Uzbekistan Re-Emerges As The Strategic “Heartland Of The Heartland”, G. R. Copley

International Relations: Politics, Economics, Law

The article analyzes the influence of fundamental political and socio-economic changes in Uzbekistan on the formation of a new strategic situation in an important region of Eurasia. The emergence of a new, dynamically developing Uzbekistan, having a central position in Central Asia, can revive not only the region itself, but also the neighboring regions through which the Great Silk Road passed. Today, Uzbekistan has all the resources and opportunities to implement an ambitious reform program, as well as revitalize intra-regional cooperation in Central Asia. According to the author, Central Asia is still, and once again, the pivot of the “world …

On The International Conference “Uzbekistan In The Context Of Regional Security And Global Change”, Sh. M. Abdullaev

International Relations: Politics, Economics, Law

The review is dedicated to the results of the international conference on the theme “Uzbekistan in the context of regional security and global changes”, which was held on November 7-8, 2019 in Tashkent. The organizers were the University of World Economy and Diplomacy under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan together with the international scientific project COMPASS (Great Britain). During the two-day discussions, international experts discussed a wide range of issues, including large-scale reforms in Uzbekistan, integration processes in Central Asia, issues of security and sustainable development. They noted that today A new political atmosphere is …

Book Review On The Collective Monograph "Applied Analysis Of Foreign Policy Situations", Prepared And Published By The Center For International Economic And Political Studies At Uwed., U. Xasanov

International Relations: Politics, Economics, Law

A solid team of authors of this monograph has made a rather serious attempt to study the basics of applied analysis in the foreign policy of the state, information aspects of their methodological support, modern approaches to the study of international politics, targeted structuring of foreign policy analysis and features of operational and analytical work, the nature, categories and specifics of the leading international think tanks and research institutions, features of system modeling and forecasting of political situations in the world – all this in the compartment has traditionally set the tone in determining and promoting the foreign policy of …

The Story Of Property: Meditations On Gentrification, Renaming, And Possibility, Rachel Brahinsky

Politics

Property is a story. We assign land and resources legal status, and we narrate this as ownership and power. The interlocking loans, credit, and debt from which housing markets are compiled are built through narratives about value and its origins. The urban landscape, which is made by those markets, is produced through a confluence of human decisions, made with information about conditions and access. This information is based in stories—stories about what will sell, whether risk is viable, and what constitutes risk itself. These interlocking stories produce processes such as gentrification, one of the key contemporary challenges of booming cities …

Mestizaje As Lateral Universality: Moving In-Between Cosmopolitan Elitism And Nativist Populism, John Francis Burke

Political Science Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Trinity University's Summer Bridge Program: Navigating The Changing Demographics In Higher Education, John R. Hermann, Sheryl R. Tynes, Wendy Apfel

Political Science Faculty Research

Our article is divided into five sections. First, our study explores the demographic, economic, and cultural changes influencing higher education. We also explain the tangible and intangible benefits of a college education for first-generation, underrepresented students (FGUS). Second, we provide a brief discussion of the history of Trinity University and our Summer Bridge program. Third, our study describes our Summer Bridge program. Fourth, the data we collected examines how our Summer Bridge students’ grades and retention rates compare to our other first-year students. And, fifth, our article concludes with a discussion of future directions for our Summer Bridge program and …

Victim Silencing, Sexual Violence Culture, Social Healing: Inherited Collective Trauma Of World War Ii South Korean Military “Comfort Women”, Mijin Cho

VCU Phi Kappa Phi Award Winners

The unresolved reconciliation process for WWII South Korean military “comfort women” presents a case of nationally inherited collective trauma, in which South Koreans far removed in time and space from the historical tragedy feel its implications and obligations for reparations and social healing. In examining the South Korean comfort women redress movement and systemic concealment of WWII military sexual slavery, this study investigates a pattern of victim silencing, characterized by institutional patriarchy and ineffective government involvement, from 1945 to 2019. Following the South Korean government’s formal rejection of the 2015 agreement with Japan regarding a final and irreversible conclusion to …

Teacher Unrest In West Virginia, 2018-2019, Lindsey D. Reed

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

In 2018, the United States saw an influx of teacher strikes which were largely propagated by red-state legislation. Then and now, teachers are trying to gain a voice in educational legislation despite corporate and political strongholds on legislators. As a last measure to gain access to the policymaking process, teachers strike. When teachers strike, it becomes a social issue which puts pressure on families, the economy, and legislation. The purpose of this non-experimental, descriptive study was to examine the perceptions of teachers who participated in the 2018 and 2019 West Virginia teachers’ strikes as they relate to their interactions with …

Darfurians In The Diaspora: Perceptions Of The Conflict In Darfur, Sudan’S Past And The Future Of Darfur Under International Response, Abdulrazik Mi Mohamed

2020 Symposium Posters

A strong scholarly focus in Sudanese studies has come to life corresponding to the increased interest in Sudan’s past, present conflicts, and a long period of war throughout various regions. Many scholars have extensively explored the war and genocide in Darfur and made a plentiful contribution to the literature on otherwise limited Sudanese studies. The focus of this research is the genocide in Darfur and the international response. First, this study will examine three hypotheses drawn from political science literature in Sudanese studies with special analysis of Alex de Waal’s center-periphery hypothesis in Sudan (2007), assessing how the government of …

Local Renewable Energy Initiatives In Germany And Japan In A Changing National Policy Environment, Carol Hager, Nicole Hamagami

Political Science Faculty Research and Scholarship

Our article explores the contribution of local initiatives to the creation of path dependencies for energy transition in Germany and Japan in the face of resistance from entrenched incumbents at the national level. We use a process-tracing methodology based partly on interviews with local participants. In particular, we explore the role of local initiatives in securing "socio-political space" for the expansion of renewable energy (RE) and in embedding themselves in "ecosystems" of public and private institutions. German energy activists were more successful than their Japanese counterparts in expanding this space and creating positive feedback in part because they were able …

“I Don’T Want To Hear Your Language!” White Social Imagination And The Demography Of Roman Corinth, Ekaputra Tupamahu

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

This article aims to deconstruct the hidden pervasive whiteness in biblical scholarship and to propose another way to reimagine the linguistic dynamic of Roman Corinth from an Asian American perspective. It highlights the legal and historical interconnectedness of whiteness and the dominance of English. English is a critical marker of whiteness in the United States. In this context, immigrants are expected to conform to and assimilate themselves with whiteness by performing English. This particular racialized context has influenced and resulted in a scholarly historical reconstruction of immigrants in Roman Corinth as “Greek speaking im/migrants.” Immigrants can come from many different …

Making Research Data Accessible, Diana Kapiszweski, Sebastian Karcher

Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs

This chapter argues that these benefits will accrue more quickly, and will be more significant and more enduring, if researchers make their data “meaningfully accessible.” Data are meaningfully accessible when they can be interpreted and analyzed by scholars far beyond those who generated them. Making data meaningfully accessible requires that scholars take the appropriate steps to prepare their data for sharing, and avail themselves of the increasingly sophisticated infrastructure for publishing and preserving research data. The better other researchers can understand shared data and the more researchers who can access them, the more those data will be re-used for secondary …

Impact Metrics, John Gerring, Sebastian Karcher, Brendan Apfeld

Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs

Virtually every evaluative task in the academy involves some sort of metric (Elkana et al. 1978; Espeland & Sauder 2016; Gingras 2016; Hix 2004; Jensenius et al. 2018; Muller 2018; Osterloh and Frey 2015; Todeschini & Baccini 2016; Van Noorden 2010; Wilsdon et al. 2015). One can decry this development, and inveigh against its abuses and its over-use (as many of the foregoing studies do). Yet, without metrics, we would be at pains to render judgments about scholars, published papers, applications (for grants, fellowships, and conferences), journals, academic presses, departments, universities, or subfields. Of course, we also undertake to judge …

Teaching Political Science Research Methods Across Delivery Modalities: Comparing Outcomes Between Face-To-Face And Distance-Hybrid Courses, Delton T. Daigle, Aaron Stuvland

Faculty Publications - Department of History and Politics

What delivery modality is most effective in teaching undergraduate, political science research methods? Using systematically collected data from two academic terms and employing a quasi-experimental design, this paper explores variation in learning outcomes between face-to-face and distance-hybrid course offerings. Variation in the dependent variable is observed through measuring attrition (drop or failure), course performance among those who pass, and course satisfaction. While any evidence of difference in attrition rates is marginal when controlling for sex, age, university experience, a background in similar coursework, or whether the course is taken by a major, there is no evidence that modality predicts performance …

Interview With Mel Gurtov, Mel Gurtov, Jacob Hutchins

Conflict Resolution Oral Histories

Professor Mel Gurtov was interviewed on May 21, 2020, by Jacob Hutchins in Portland, Oregon.

In this interview, Gurtov discusses his career trajectory and history, detailing his involvement with release of the Pentagon Papers and his work studying the Vietnam War for the government. He explains how he came to teach political science and international studies at Portland State University, and his part in building and implementing the Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution program. He gives his views on the nature and value of political science regarding international conflict, and answers questions about his shifting political position during the war …

Interview With Tom Hastings, Tom Hastings, Patricia A. Schechter

Conflict Resolution Oral Histories

Professor Tom Hastings was interviewed by Professor Patricia Schechter on May 8, 2020, in Portland, Oregon.

In this discussion, Dr. Hastings recounts his professional development as a scholar and practitioner of nonviolence. The first half of the story involves his youth, early activism, and college training in Wisconsin. The second half involves his move to Portland, Oregon in 2000 and his growing involvement with Conflict Resolution at PSU.

The Party Decides, Or Does It?: An In-Depth Analysis Of The 2020 Presidential Primaries And The Democratic Party's Influence, Emma Trittin

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This paper explores the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primaries through the lens of Marty Cohen's The Party Decides model. The model utilizes five key indicators in helping to predict who the party will decide as the nominee: widespread voter approval, key endorsements, fundraising, media coverage, and success in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary. While the model has been an indicator for almost 50 years, two of the five recent primaries have shown that the candidates are the exception to the rule. This paper will either prove whether or not the exception becomes the rule, if the rule is no …

Thucydides In Pyongyang: Fear, Honor And Interests In The 1968 Pueblo Incident, Benjamin Young

Research & Publications

Purpose: On January 23, 1968, North Korean naval forces captured a U.S spy ship, the USS Pueblo, off the coast of Wonsan. This incident nearly led to a second Korean War and heightened hostilities between the U.S and North Korean governments. This article demystifies the strategic thinking of Kim Il Sung’s regime and clarifies the reasoning behind Pyongyang’s risky undertaking in capturing the Pueblo and its crewmen as a rational and pragmatic action.

Design, Methodology, Approach: While the Pueblo crisis has been examined by a number of historians, this article which is based on former Eastern bloc archival documents and …

When The Lights Went Out: Electricity In North Korea And Dependency On Moscow, Benjamin Young

Research & Publications

The division of the Korean Peninsula has been symbolized by electricity. While South Korea lights up on satellite images, North Korea is dark. Using archival documents from North Korea’s former communist allies and Pyongyang’s state-run media, the author argues that the DPRK’s electricity shortages were not a result of the regime’s Juche ideology but rather an outcome of overreliance on Soviet assistance. This analysis disputes the notion of North Korea’s Juche ideology as a totalizing phenomenon within the DPRK’s political structure. By presenting a multifaceted history of North Korea’s electricity sector, the author highlights the ways in which Pyongyang engaged …

Is Anybody There? Exploring The Role Of Social Presence In An Online Political Science Research Methods Class, Delton Daigle, Aaron Stuvland

Faculty Publications - Department of History and Politics

Social presence, or the “being there” and “being real” presence of others in an online learning environment, is widely considered to have a positive impact on student motivation and participation, actual and perceived learning, course and instructor satisfaction, and retention in online courses (Richardson et al. 2017; Oh et al. 2018). Several aspects of social presence remain understudied however, such as how gender, class rank, and other demographical characteristics may influence perceptions of social presence and condition the relationship between perceptions of social presence and academic performance or course satisfaction. Furthermore, although studies of the impact of social presence abound, …

Urban Informality, Environmental Xenophobia, And Infrastructures Of Citizenship: The Political Lives Of Nicaraguan Migrants In The Informal Settlement Of La Carpio, Costa Rica, Nikolai Alexander Alvarado

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines urban politics, environmental justice, and infrastructure from the vantage point of South-South migration. It focuses on the work of Nicaraguan migrants living in the informal settlement of La Carpio in San José, Costa Rica, as they negotiate rights in the form of urban services. Nicaraguans in La Carpio have organized politically since 1993 to self-install, demand, and negotiate services such as potable water and electricity. In the process, they successfully compel local authorities to allocate these services and grant them an implicit recognition of their right to remain and live a decent life, regardless of their status. …

U.S. Democratization In Post-Cold War Russia: A Critique, Franklin T. Hughes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

States are path dependent entities that deviate solely in the face of catastrophic failures in the pursuit of axiomatic ends by conventional means. The inertia of bureaucratic institutions, a foreign policy consensus within a self-reproducing elite of experts, the self-interest of political elites and a sense of “national self” or identity lead states to understand themselves in light of a history and a relative level of status on the world stage. Since the end World War II, the U.S. has a certain path that places the spread of democracy and laissez-faire capitalism extremely important if not vital foreign policy goals. …

The African State: An Illusory Vestige Of Colonialism, Muhammad K. Otaru

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In a 2006 Interview, prominent Nigerian author, and social commentator, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said; “…Nigeria was set up to fail. The only thing we Nigerians should take responsibility for is the extent of the failure….”1. Such a view about colonialism and the states it arbitrarily created is widely shared by many on the African continent, who have come to understand that the very creation and existence of the African state are largely to blame for the seemingly countless socio-economic and political issues faced on the continent.

1 Kimber, Charlie, Interview: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The Socialist Review. (Online, October …

An Economic Analysis Of Cyber Warfare Governance Models, Kevin M. Kelleher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Allusions to death delivered by bits and bytes have been in vogue since the Reagan administration. Yet, as the internet and its connected devices have since proliferated, cyber violence remains far more fiction than fact. Nevertheless, prominent U.S. officials have all but assured the eventuality of a devastating attack. In anticipation, political, legal, and industry experts are now seeking to codify and inculcate international norms to govern acts of war prosecuted via cyberspace. Two of the most prominent governance models to emerge are the Tallinn Manual and Microsoft’s Digital Geneva Convention. The driving thesis of this research argues that within …

2020 Children's Story Cards, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Arif: "I like being in school again."

Norina: "We laugh a lot but I also worry."

Nooda: "I came on a boat. It was a big boat!"

Madina: "I just want to live in a safe place..."

Shurangez: "Sometimes we didn't feel safe at school."

Alex: "I'm from Nigeria. Coming to Italy was very difficult-very, very difficult, a real struggle."

Danial: "I want to be a useful person and follow my dreams."

Firoz: "I am 13 years old and I am worried about my family."

Ali: "Ali lived in Afghanistan. One day while walking to school a bomb exploded near …

Brexit And The Future Of Scotland, Brigid Stakelum

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Four years after the United Kingdom’s (UK) referendum to leave the European Union (EU), many questions remain, especially about the mechanics of the so-called “Brexit.” However, there is a general lack of media discussion about the effects of the Brexit on Scotland, who voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU, and two years prior to the EU referendum, Scotland voted to remain in the United Kingdom by a small margin. One of the main arguments for remaining in the UK was that there was doubt that Scotland could join the EU after leaving the UK. The research question for this …

Election Forecast: 2020 Presidential General Election, Fernando J. Guerra, Brianne Gilbert, Max Dunsker, Alejandra Alarcon

StudyLA Reports

StudyLA conducted an inaugural survey of political thought leaders in Los Angeles asking their predictions for the 2020 general election

• purposive sample of political thought leaders in or representing Los Angeles with additional snowball sampling
• 174 respondents
• self-administered online survey
• administered October 5-23, 2020

Covid-19 Public Opinion Survey Final Results, Fernando J. Guerra, Brianne Gilbert

StudyLA Reports

About this Study

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, StudyLA conducted a survey of Los Angeles County residents to assess how the pandemic has impacted them. Residents were asked about the government's response, their understanding of the coronavirus and the measures to take to limit its spread, and the emotional and economic impact it has had on them.

Highlights

• An overwhelming majority of Angelenos (95%) support the Safer At Home order.
• Most Angelenos (59%) say that the local government response has been just right, but another 30% think that local government could do even more.
• Angelenos are listening. Most Angelenos …

Police And Community Relations Survey, Fernando J. Guerra, Brianne Gilbert

StudyLA Reports

In the wake of nationwide demonstrations for racial justice prompted by the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and countless other Black individuals, Los Angeles has become a focal point for critical discussions around police and community relations.

StudyLA’s 2020 Police and Community Relations Survey focuses on the attitudes and opinions of adult city of Los Angeles residents toward the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) following this period of nationwide demonstrations. Residents were asked a range of questions to measure public opinion regarding policing. Specifically, we gauge how residents feel the LAPD is doing with respect to the …

Public Opinion On Policing In Los Angeles, Fernando J. Guerra, Brianne Gilbert, Mariya Vizireanu, Max Dunsker, Alejandra Alarcon

StudyLA Reports

In the wake of nationwide demonstrations for racial justice prompted by the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and countless other Black individuals, Los Angeles has become a focal point for critical discussions around police and community relations.

StudyLA’s 2020 Police and Community Relations Survey focuses on the attitudes and opinions of adult city of Los Angeles residents toward the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) following this period of nationwide demonstrations. Residents were asked a range of questions to measure public opinion on policing. Specifically, we gauge how residents feel the LAPD is doing with respect to the …