Political Science Commons^™

What Could Have Been? Surveying The Labor Impact Of The 2025 Executive Orders On Glam Workers, Raegan Stearns, Alphie Garcia, Jina Duvernay

LWLC Faculty Research

What Could Have Been? is a collaborative project designed to document the labor lost as a result of federal cuts and grant terminations, especially within GLAM institutions. This survey was inspired by a sub-group of members of the 2025 Archives Leadership Institute (ALI) Cohort who came together to collect evidence of the personal and professional losses resulting from the current sociopolitical landscape. While the project seeks to document the effects on the GLAM communities, What Could Have Been? also acknowledges the loss of personal livelihoods and vilification of public servants in addition to amplifying the impact of the erasure of …

Ideology, Issue Consistency, & Rationality In Political Preferences Among Bgsu Students, Cassidy Kroggel

Honors Projects

Affective polarization — negative feelings toward the opposing political party — is increasing in the United States. As partisanship becomes weaponized, an individual’s ideological consistency becomes an important determiner for their negative feelings toward other individuals with different beliefs. This concern reaches beyond mere disagreement, and has serious implications for the future of our democratic principles: open dialogue, compromise, and policy making. Rationality and the ability to change one’s mind seems to be at the forefront of this issue, acting as a bottom-up driver for policy preference formation. This research analyzes the connection between ideological consistency, rationality, and affective polarization …

Elephant In The Classroom: How Ethical Ai Can Improve Student Success, Ibrahim Kocaman, Daniel A. Cutrer

Publications

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into teaching and learning in higher education without compromising academic integrity is a pressing issue. To make the benefits of generative AI (GenAI) available to students while upholding principles of ethics and academic honesty, the authors implemented an ethical use of AI policy in their Introduction to Research Methods at Embry-Riddle University. The authors hypothesized and found that allowing ethical utilization of AI would lead to higher student engagement and academic success. These findings offer valuable insights for higher education programs and educators, particularly in security studies.

Signal Processing Of Ecologically Significant Signals For Transient Bedload Characterization, Nathan R. Sjullie, Quinn B. Morgan, David Burnett

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

When rivers achieve a great enough flow rate, sediment along their riverbed becomes mobilized and transported downstream. This process is known as bedload transport. As bedload transport initiates, micro-collisions of various sediments and gravel generate underwater acoustic signals that can be detected by hydrophones. While there is extensive research on underwater acoustic theory and surrogate methods for monitoring bedload transport, there is a lack of heuristic work that analyzes collected bedload samples in conjunction with underwater acoustic recordings. The aim of this work is to complete an analysis on collected bedload samples and the simultaneous underwater acoustic recordings via signal …

"Judge Not The Stranger": Partisanship, Social Media, And Support For Immigration Tactics, Mary Moody, Esme Bolander, Emma Thomas

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Public opinion polls on immigration in the United States largely focus on gaps between parties and partisans. We provide a new approach, with a novel survey experiment employing randomized vignettes. We find that respondent gender, candidate gender, and candidate country of origin are insignificant predictors of immigration preferences. However, candidates with negative social media posts about the United States government were significantly more likely to face deportation, regardless of a respondent’s partisanship. This has important implications for understanding American citizens’ perceptions of immigration, free speech, and who is welcome in the United States.

The Impact Of The War In Ukraine On Conscription Policies In Western Balkan Countries, Alfred Marleku, Elsa Llalloshi

International Journal of Business and Technology

This research paper examines the impact of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine on the transformation of conscription policies in Western Balkan countries. Several Western Balkan governments have considered reinstating military service in response to escalating tensions in the region. The study analyzes the geopolitical pressures stemming from the conflict and assesses how they have prompted these nations to rethink their defense strategies through the lens of conscription. By exploring the causal relationship between heightened regional insecurity and policy shifts, this paper provides insights into the broader implications of the Ukraine war on military readiness and national security in the Western …

The Cult Of Clean Hands: Why No One’S Innocent In America’S War On Corruption, Elizabeth Doan

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This study examines how fear of corruption functions as both a political weapon and a national ritual of moral reassurance. The focus lies in understanding why Americans across party lines express deep mistrust in political institutions while simultaneously seeking purity through accusation. Drawing on a nationally representative survey of U.S. voters, the research examines how partisan identity, media narratives, and generational memory influence the emotional economy of corruption—what citizens fear, whom they blame, and why those fears persist. Testing the initial expectation that Republicans would express greater concern about corruption revealed that such fear is shared widely across parties, reflecting …

Solutions Or Punishment? Determinants Of Attitudes Towards Homelessness, Gabriella J. Bartsch

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

As the homeless population continues to rise in the United States, it is imperative to look into public opinion, fear, and support for policies regarding perceptions of homelessness. I will examine the relationship between several key determinants—political ideology, socioeconomic status, fear perceptions, and public attitudes toward homelessness policies—within the United States, using data from the Chapman Survey of American Fears, a representative national sample of U.S. adults. Among the key findings is a significant relationship between political party identification and attitudes toward homeless individuals. There is strong, consistent agreement across demographic groups that adequate shelter space should be made available …

Echo Chambers In Encryption: How Germany's Netzdg Law Displaced Far-Right Discourse And Bolstered Afd Support On Private Platforms, Jackson Pace Campbell

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This study examines the relationship between social media political engagement and support for Germany's far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party in 2021, arguing that the 2017 Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) inadvertently displaced anti-immigration discourse from moderated public platforms into private encrypted spaces, fostering echo chambers and radicalization. Drawing on data from the German Longitudinal Election Study pre-election survey (N=5,119 nationally representative voters), logistic regression analyses test associations between AfD support and social media political use, controlling for socio-demographic and attitudinal factors. Findings confirm hypotheses: overall social media political engagement nearly doubles AfD support odds; private encrypted apps like Telegram and …

Divided We Fear: The Politics Behind America's Economic Anxiety, Yadira Flores Hernandez

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Imagine waking up to headlines announcing a market crash. Some picture an end to stability; others see a nonpermanent storm. What separates these reactions is far more than just perspective; it is politics. Using the 2025 Chapman Survey of American Fears, a representative sample of U.S. national adults, I will study the patterns of fears regarding economic collapse across and beyond political lines. Furthermore, I will examine how partisanship shapes perceptions of such collapse, adding layers of analysis with media and personal economic fears. My findings support the hypothesis that Democrats appear to express higher levels of concern about an …

18 To Buy, Any Age To Die: Why Do Americans Fear Gun Control Amidst Rampant Gun Violence?, Taylor Gadsden-Deterville

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In the first 303 days of 2025, there were 350+ mass shootings in the United States. Recent research has shown mass shootings are one of the primary fears among Americans, and if unaddressed, could continue to cause political and social division. Using the Chapman University Survey on American Fears (CSAF), a national representative sample of American adults, my research highlights the influence of primary factors such as gender, political orientation, and media intake. This research will examine the correlation between gun violence and opposition to weapon regulation. Mass shootings have become rampant in spaces that should be safe, like schools, …

The Erosion Of Credibility: How Government Control Shapes Distrust In Journalism, Ellie Bickelhaupt

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In the past few months, talk show hosts have been canceled for speaking out against the president, deepfakes and AI have become more accessible, there has been an increase in propaganda and state-sponsored media, and through all this, we have seen a continuous increase in government control. All of these factors offer potential explanations as to why there has been an increased distrust and loss of respect regarding journalism throughout the United States in recent years. This research aims to demonstrate that when the government heavily monitors and controls the country, Americans are less likely to trust the media and …

Nativism As The Engine Of Fear Toward “Illegal” Immigrants, Amilie Cai

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Contemporary concerns about “illegal” immigration reveal deep-seated anxieties about race, cultural, and national identity in the United States. In this paper, I examine how xenophobia, media consumption, and Christian nationalism collectively shape fear of illegal immigrants. I build upon previous literature, such as the Group Threat Theory, which posits that dominant groups mobilize to preserve social hierarchies when their status is threatened, and the Agenda-Setting Theory, which emphasizes the media’s power to shape public perceptions. Using Wave 11 of the Chapman Survey of American Fears–a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults collected in 2025–I provide a comparative analysis of these …

Loneliness And Support For Political Violence Within The United States, Kellen Downey

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Although loneliness is a growing public health issue in the United States, its political effects remain understudied. This paper seeks to understand the relationship between loneliness and the support of political violence by utilizing the Chapman Survey of American Fears (CSAF Wave 11). This survey, which is a component of the 2025 Chapman Survey of American Fears, includes the three-item UCLA Loneliness Scale, as well as two separate items specifically measuring political violence. Using a national survey (N=1,015), I address the following questions: (1) Are lonely individuals more likely to support violence on political grounds? (2) Does strongly identifying with …

How Do People Talk About The Political Parties?, Carol Anne Bredeson, Cassandra Smith, Meghan Rentner

Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Performance As Political Resistance: Looking At Theatrical Approaches To Advocacy/Public Policy Through The Lens Of The Aids Crisis, Abby Campion

Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Bloody Sunday: The March For Voters' Freedom, Gioia Casella

Student Zines

This zine was created for the the class ENG 120, taught by Prof. Steven Bookman. It discusses the events of "Bloody Sunday," March 7, 1965, when civil rights protesters were attacked by state troopers on the Edmund Pettus bridge.

Mass Higher Education And Voter Turnout In The U.S, Eric R. Hansen

Political Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Have turnout rates in the U.S. risen as more Americans have attained college degrees? Educational attainment is associated with a higher likelihood of voting among individuals, but scholars remain skeptical that increases in mass education levels are associated with higher turnout in populations. I argue that higher rates of college degree attainment not only raise turnout rates among graduates themselves but have positive externalities for turnout in graduates’ communities. To test the relationship at the aggregate level in the U.S., I turn to data from the 50 states and the District of Columbia from 1980 to 2020, when college education …

Finding Utopia: An Examination Of Pedagogical Approaches To Teaching Utopianism In U.S. College Classrooms, Brittany Page Brake

Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how, and if, utopianism is being taught in college classrooms across the United States. Long considered impractical, overly idealistic, and/or politically dangerous, utopianism has been largely marginalized in political science and American culture. However, this project finds that there are instructors teaching utopianism and they are using the concept to challenge students to think differently about governance, justice, and institutional design. Drawing from political theory literature, course syllabi submitted by faculty from different U.S. universities, interviews with instructors, and personal case studies of my own courses at Central State University and Manchester University, I explore how utopian …

Taming The Wicked Problem: Transparency, Civic Apathy, And The Challenge Of Rebuilding Trust In Local Government, Austin N. Kaiser

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Since the 1960s, the United States has experienced a persistent decline in public trust in government. The Founders believed that government could only function with the consent of the governed, making this erosion of trust a significant concern for democratic legitimacy. In response, many scholars and practitioners have championed transparency as a pillar of sound governance and a potential remedy for rebuilding trust. However, the solution may not be as simple as improving openness. Public officials increasingly recognize that transparency alone may have limited or even unintended consequences, especially when public participation is low or administrative resources are strained.

This …

The Birth Of A City: The Politics Leading To The Incorporation Of The City Of El Paso, Michael Britt

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

While the history of the Civil War and Reconstruction-era focuses on the eastern United States, those events rippled across the country and affected the development of places far from the national capital and sites of the major battles. Most histories of El Paso, Texas focus on the era after the arrival of the railroad and growth of Fort Bliss as a major military installation. The region that now encompasses El Paso County, Texas experienced European migration centuries before the United States developed, and its Spanish and, later, Mexican background would impact how the area integrated with the United States. Texas …

Table Of Contents, Rory J. Conces Prof.

International Dialogue

No abstract provided.

Notes From The Editor, Rory J. Conces Prof.

International Dialogue

No abstract provided.

Works Of Love From Russia, Alisa Gorshenina

International Dialogue

This reflective artist’s statement by Alisa Gorshenina (Alice Hualice) intertwines autobiographical narrative with the creative context of four works produced during and after her politically forced displacement from Russia. Gorshenina recounts a lifelong pattern of resisting external pressures—from expectations to relocate for education and career advancement to demands that she flee Russia following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. She frames her continued desire to live in her hometown of Nizhny Tagil as an act of personal agency and a “new language of resistance,” grounded not in state loyalty but in an authentic, non-nationalistic love of place. Increasing censorship, denunciations, canceled …

Introduction And Letter To Firas And Ali, Joanna Zabielska

International Dialogue

In this deeply personal and politically charged epistolary essay, Joanna Zabielska reflects on the intersecting forms of erasure occurring within European cultural institutions and at the continent’s militarized borders. Framed as a letter to two men—Firas and Ali—whom the author met during the humanitarian crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border, the piece recounts their experiences of pushbacks, violence, detention, and survival, contextualizing their stories within a broader critique of European migration regimes. Zabielska juxtaposes this with her account of institutional censorship in Austria, where the names of the two men were removed from her VR installation Über das Neue at Belvedere …

Fragments, Najlaa Attaallah

International Dialogue

In Fragments (شظايا), Najlaa Attaallah offers a poetic, intimate, and devastating meditation on exile, trauma, and the unrelenting violence endured by Palestinians in Gaza. Written from Reykjavík yet emotionally tethered to her homeland, Attaallah narrates the psychic rupture caused by witnessing war from afar—the guilt of safety, the suffocating pull of memory, and the sense of existing as “a body without certainty.” Across lyrical vignettes, she explores the collapse of ordinary life under the weight of collective horror: sleeplessness, paralysis, obsessive monitoring of news, and the disintegration of routine maternal roles. The text moves between present anguish and childhood …

Political Discoveries In A Žižek Substack Project Critical Digital Studies, Edward Sankowski, Betty J. Harris

International Dialogue

This review essay analyzes Slavoj Žižek’s recent turn to Substack as a publishing platform, examining both his motivations and the philosophical and political implications of this medium for contemporary critical theory. Sankowski and Harris argue that Žižek’s Substack writings continue long-standing themes in his work—anti-capitalism, ecological crisis, updated Communism, and the cultural dimensions of ideology—while also revealing notable shifts, including heightened pessimism about historical progress and new reflections on environmental catastrophe. The authors assess the advantages and pitfalls of Substack for intellectual discourse, including its circumvention of traditional editorial “censorship,” its contribution to information glut, and its role in fostering …

Of The Freedom Famine In Palestine, Ibtisam Barakat

International Dialogue

In this searing essay, poet and author Ibtisam Barakat bears witness to what she names the “Freedom Famine” in Gaza—a deliberate, decades-long deprivation of basic human rights culminating in the catastrophic conditions of 2025. Writing from the United States while in conversation with Gazan author Omar Hammash, Barakat juxtaposes their drastically unequal realities: her safety and his daily encounters with death, displacement, and starvation. Through Hammash’s testimony—delivered amid constant bombardment and interrupted by news of a friend’s killing—Barakat documents the collapse of Gaza’s infrastructure, the mass targeting of aid workers, the lethal failures of international relief, and the killing of …

Dear Belvedere, Rabbya Naseer

International Dialogue

In this powerful open letter—originally delivered as a video message—artist Rabbya Naseer explains her decision to cancel her 2025 solo exhibition at Belvedere 21 after the museum refused to allow her proposed works addressing Palestine, colonialism, and contemporary violence. Framed as both personal testimony and institutional critique, the letter meditates on the ethics of waiting, perseverance (sabr), and the responsibility of artists amid geopolitical crisis. Naseer recounts months of stalled communication and escalating curatorial restrictions that ultimately rendered any engagement with the Israel–Palestine conflict “not possible.” Rejecting the museum’s demands for neutrality, depoliticization, and the substitution of existing …

The Impact Of Colonization On The Political Development Of Colonized Nations Post-Independence: The French Colonization Of Lebanon, Mariam Faleh

Honors Theses

Colonization is characterized in literature through the lens of the colonizer, defined primarily by its successes. From the discovery of the New World by Columbus in 1492 to the establishment of the United States of America by the EU, spread of democracy across the globe, and its association with the idea of globalization, colonization is seen as the pioneer of the modern world. While colonization has played a large role in the development of the world as we know it, paving the way for the success of many independent nations, it has also simultaneously hindered the development of many. This …