Political Science Commons^™

Fake News! Russian Disinformation Targets American Cognitive Biases Through Diverse Mediums, Spencer Sproul

Research on Capitol Hill

"Fake news” is old news, but what is it and how do we combat it? The term describes disinformation, or the tactical creation and dissemination of false information.

My research seeks to combine traditional national security studies with cybersecurity and big data analytics to gain insight into the issue of “Fake news”, particularly regarding the Russian disinformation campaign leading up to and after the 2016 US presidential election.

The project consisted of analyzing both news and academic literature on this new Russian strategy. Its target is US citizens’ cognitive decision-making shortcuts. The campaign’s goal appears to be to covertly manipulate …

Cultural Traits Of Salvadoran Gangs Offer Chance For U.S. To Weaken Ms-13, Hannah Penner

Research on Capitol Hill

MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha) was founded by Salvadoran immigrants fleeing a harsh civil war in California during the 1980s. It became an international organization after deportation tactics in the LA barrios exported the threat to El Salvador.

Popular Culture And The Psychology Of The Insider Threat, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article illustrates an identification between pop culture and an important intelligence, law enforcement, and security issue.

Democratic Failure In Various Forms Of Democracy, Jonathan Lederer

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Democratic Failure is a problem which has plagued democratic states since their earliest instances, and increasingly is a problem in the world today. Accordingly, a question to ask is, “Are certain forms of democracy more likely to experience democratic failure than others?” The correlation between democratic failure and a state’s executive institutional structure has been researched extensively, while the correlation between a state’s legal tradition and democratic failure has been studied far less. This thesis attempts to confirm the conventional wisdom that certain democratic institutional structures are more likely to fail, and attempts to find out whether certain legal traditions …

Shamshur, Shamshur, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Shamshur has been in Cox’s Bazaar for 8 months and works in Hope Hospital (the camp hospital) as a traditional birth attendant. In addition, she makes house calls to pregnant women throughout the camp who are fearful of hospitals due to past trauma and sexual torture. Shamshur has nine children and a husband who is in prison.

Polls And Elections: Is Loyalty A Powerful Thing? Republican Senate Campaign Strategy And Trump Coattails In The 2016 Election, Neilan S. Chaturvedi, Chris Haynes

Political Science Faculty Publications

Presidential candidates provide a boost to their congressional candidate counterparts, in which congressional candidates should ride the proverbial coattails into office (Campbell and Sumners 1990; Stewart 1989). The 2016 election, however, provides an instance in which the presidential coattails were less than desirable. In this article, we argue that state politics determines the optimal strategy for how candidates should position themselves vis‐à‐vis a controversial presidential candidate. Based on our findings, voters rewarded candidates at varying levels for distancing themselves from then candidate Trump. Specifically, the disloyal strategy, in which candidates completely disavowed Trump, worked best in swing states and among …

Modina, Modina, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Modina fled Myanmar after experiencing and witnessing extreme violence, including the destruction of her village and the violent murder of her uncle by soldiers. She arrived in Bangladesh by boat after paying smugglers a large sum.

Nidar, Nidar, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Nidar has been in Cox’s Bazaar for 8 months and works in Hope Hospital (the camp hospital) as a traditional birth attendant. In addition, she makes house calls to pregnant women throughout the camp who are fearful of hospitals due to past trauma and sexual torture. Nidar has two children and a husband who fell victim to war.

Asma, Asma, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Asma is a teenager who fled from Myanmar after the army killed her uncle and her village was destroyed. She is now living in Cox’s Bazaar, married, pregnant, and trying to cope in a world where violence and rape are all too common.

An Exploration Of Iranian Use Of Gray Zones And Their Deterrence, Lauren Zimmerman, Amanda Urick

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Iran, being the religious minority in the Middle East, has begun to extend its reach outside of its borders by influencing the stability of other states within the region. They have been utilizing their economic revenue to fund terrorist organizations and cyber capabilities to threaten free use of the internet in the Middle East. Iran is the world's most active state sponsor of terrorism, but how do we deter them? Our paper will explore the history of deterring Iran and future possibilities.

A New Paradigm Of Discrimination And Measures Of Latino Linked Fate, Michael Herndon

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Linked fate has long been used as a measure of group consciousness and is an important component of group political behavior. Though applying linked fate to Latinos can be complicated because of a widely diverse set of nationalities and historical contexts, Latinos have shown signs of group cohesion under certain circumstances. Despite this, there is still a sizable gap exploring the theory of linked fate as it pertains to Latinos. Furthermore, there is a near-absence of literature that critically dissects the roles of different kinds of discrimination as they pertain to perceptions of linked fate amongst Latinos. There are distinct …

Shobika, Shobika, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Shobika escaped Myanmar amid widespread chaos. After being separated from her husband and experiencing the kidnap of her two children, she was raped by soldiers and became pregnant. Her husband now rejects this child.

Public Interest Litigation & Women’S Rights: Cases From Nepal & India, Jordan E. Stevenson

2019 Symposium

As a complex, diverse and dynamic region with diverging, constantly changing constitutional and jurisprudential contexts as well as lasting legacies of patriarchy, South Asia’s traditions of public interest litigation are one of the most well-studied institutions by Western audiences due to their contradictory progressive and innovative nature. Particularly in India, where public interest litigation gives ordinary citizens extraordinary access to the highest courts of justice, questions have been raised as to the effectiveness of public interest litigation as a tool to address gender disparities across the region. Although Supreme Court justices have been a key ally in eliminating legal barriers …

Januka, Januka, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

After being raped by a soldier in Myanmar, Januka fled to Bangladesh with her father and later found out she was pregnant. She fears no one will want to marry her because she has been raped.

The Road To Carnegie R1 At The University Of Nevada, Las Vegas, Robert E. Lang, David F. Damore

Lincy Institute Reports and Briefs

Founded in 1957, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is now classified as a top research university by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. This is a major accomplishment. The Lincy Institute’s analysis of all 130 “Carnegie Doctoral Universities” (2018) with “very high research activity,” or R1 status, (Appendix A provides a summary of the data on the 93 public institutions with R1 status, and Appendix B sorts this list by age of institution) finds that UNLV is among the 10 youngest institutions founded post-World War II in the U.S. to achieve this status.2 This is a …

Kosova Nën Administrimin Ndërkombëtar Dhe Levizjet Drejt Statusit Final, Vanesa Kabashi

Theses and Dissertations

Kosova është ndër shtetet më të vogla në rajon, dhe atë, si ekonomikisht, ashtu edhe nga aspekti i madhësisë së territorit dhe popullatës së saj, mirëpo kjo në të njëjtën kohë e luan një rol të rëndësishëm për sigurinë dhe stabilitetin rajonal. Kosova ka treguar që është faktor stabiliteti në dy raste të ndryshme por gradualisht të ngjashme. Së pari, Deklarata e Pavarësisë e 17 shkurtit 2008 nuk e destabilizoi rajonin dhe nuk u bëri thirrje aktorëve të tjerë të rajonit për të kërkuar ndryshim kufijsh, ashtu siç u frikësuan disa, dhe që, në fakt, u shfrytëzua si argument (nga …

Rohima, Rohima, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Rohima was brutally raped and tortured by soldiers during an attack. After witnessing other women receive the same treatment, she fled Myanmar for Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Once there, she got married while pregnant as a result of the rape.

Presidents’ Vetoes And Audience Costs, Laurie L. Rice, Samuel Kernell

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Veto threats may offer presidents bargaining leverage, but such leverage will be diminished if they and those with whom they transact business view a veto as hurting the president’s approval rating and his party’s prospects in the next election. How concerned must presidents be about the audience costs associated with a veto? Political science research suggests that they should be in that the public does not like vetoes and punishes presidents when they exercise this authority. In this article we test this argument with survey responses during times after presidents have issued a veto threat but before an actual veto. …

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum: Prospects For An Ethical Theory Of Accountability, Melvin Dubnick

Faculty Publications

This paper is intended to restate the case for the development of an "ethical theory of accountability" as an alternative to current theoretical frames being applied by students of accountable governance. I would emphasize the word "alternative" at this juncture, noting that an ethical theory should not be regarded as replacement for current models; rather it is offered as a reframing of accountability that can provide a significantly different perspective -- one rooted in (and built upon) ontologically distinct presuppositions about the nature of account-giving/receiving.

Central to the effort is establishing accountability as the capacity to engage in account-giving/receiving behavior …

Popular Versus Elite Democracies And Human Rights: Inclusion Makes A Difference, Devin K. Joshi, J. S. Maloy, Timothy M. Peterson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Scholarly research generally finds that democratic governments are more likely to respect human rights than other types of regimes. Different human rights practices among long-standing and affluent democracies therefore present a puzzle. Drawing from democratic theory and comparative institutional studies, we argue more inclusive or "popular" democracies should enforce human rights better than more exclusive or "elite" democracies, even in the face of security threats from armed conflict. Instead of relying on the Freedom House or Polity indexes to distinguish levels of democracy, we adopt a more focused approach to measuring structures of inclusion, the Institutional Democracy Index (IDI), which …

How To Be Singaporean: Becoming Global National Citizens And The National Dimension In Cosmopolitan Openness, Wen Li Thian

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper looks at how cosmopolitanism is practised amongst Singaporeans who have experienced Singapore’s education reform in the 1990s. Cosmopolitanism in Singapore is tied to state-intervention with a national orientation. To complement Singapore’s push towards cosmopolitanism, the education reform in the 1990s promoted the idea of a national citizen with a global orientation. I looked at 40 Singaporeans born after the year 1990 to investigate cosmopolitan attitudes that have emerged from the tensions between cosmopolitanism and nationalism. To meet the state’s ideals of cosmopolitanism, these Singaporeans employed strategies to practice a particular form of cosmopolitan openness which prioritise national interests. …

Law Library Blog (March 2019): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

“That’S Why I Deleted You, Aunt Kathy”: Political Tolerance, Online Selective Exposure, And Relational Closeness, Justice Forte

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

In the present day, people have copious options for news consumption, and therefore, are presented with increased opportunity to engage in selective exposure, or the selection of media that confirm their beliefs (Stroud, 2008). Past research in the areas of political tolerance (Sullivan et al., 1979), ideology (Brandt et al., 2014), and political conversations in the context of our relationships (Mutz, 2006) highlights the negative impact of tuning out the other side. In exploring these topics, these scholars set out to determine when individuals are willing to extend tolerance toward groups or views with which they disagree and when they …

Representation Of The Titanic In Children's Literature, Charity R. Huwe

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

State and national education initiatives are the driving force behind increased exploration of diverse texts, namely informational texts. Trade books offer opportunity for interdisciplinary units to develop through the rise of informational text use in both English/language arts and history/social studies. Primary source documents serve as a liaison to filing gaps in the information left out from textbooks and trade books. A more thorough understanding of historical figures and events are a result of such analysis. The initiatives do not dictate specific curricular material; teachers use their discretion when choosing available trade books, primary documents, and other curricular resources. In …

Assessing History Students’ Historical Skills In The Cape Coast Metropolis Of Ghana, Charles Adabo Oppong

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

This study assesses history students’ historical skills in the Cape Coast Metropolis of Ghana. The specific skills assessed were document literacy and evaluative skills. In assessing these skills, two instruments were employed: the use of a test and a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) guide. Students were tested to examine their skills in using historical documents under sourcing, contextualisation and corroboration. FGD was used to investigate how students evaluate historical evidence. The data analysis of the students’ test consisted of three stages. The first stage involved marking the responses while making notes on them, the second stage included writing a single …

Perspective Taking Through An Elementary Unit On Lewis And Clark, Ronald V. Morris

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

The teachers showed the perspectives students acquired through reading and comparing narratives. Teachers helped students work toward the common good in a democracy by helping the student to examine perspectives. In their reading and writing, they developed rich background and content about the experience. When students studied these explorers, the students developed an empathetic understanding for the hardships and sacrifices madeby the Corps of Discover as they traveled on this expedition. Student interest and motivation flowed into this project because they felt the problems as their own; they, therefore, were interested when they understood what it meant and found …

Militant Or Bystander: How To Protect Democracy, Amos N. Guiora, Kristine J. Ingle

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Militant Or Bystander: How To Protect Democracy, Judith M. Billings

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Given Today's New Wave Of Protectionsim, Is Antitrust Law The Last Hope For Preserving A Free Global Economy Or Another Nail In Free Trade's Coffin?, Allison Murray

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Financial Repression In China: Short-Term Growth But Long-Term Crisis, Guangdong Xu, Michael Faure

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.