Political Science Commons^™

Tilting The Playing Field: Executive Attacks On Big Law Firms As A Mechanism Of American Competitive Authoritarianism, Sajah Ali

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines how President Donald Trump’s executive campaign against elite law firms, collectively known as “Big Law,” serves as a concrete case study of competitive authoritarianism in action. Drawing on Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way’s framework in their work The Path to American Authoritarianism, this thesis applies their four pillars of competitive authoritarianism to the administration’s executive orders targeting major law firms and maps those pillars onto three distinct firm responses: fighting back, capitulation, and quiet retreat. Situating this case study within the broader political context of Trump’s second term, this thesis finds that while the United States has …

China-U.S Relations: Techno‑Nationalism, Strategic Entrapment, And Taiwan., Prince Y. Munya Mr.

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract

This thesis examines how China–U.S. relations evolved from a manageable strategic rivalry into a more rigid and increasingly difficult form of competition after the Obama administration’s “Pivot to Asia.” It argues that traditional explanations such as power transition theory alone cannot fully explain the deterioration of the relationship. Instead, the study introduces the concept of techno-nationalism, where technological leadership becomes tied to national identity, economic security, and geopolitical power, particularly in areas such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and supply-chain security. Through historical analysis and policy tracing, the thesis develops the concept of strategic entrapment to explain how both Washington …

Editor's Pen, Ronald E. Goodwin

The Griot - Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.

No abstract provided.

Into The Fire: An Examination Of Violence In Reconstruction Texas, 1865-1868, John Gorman

The Griot - Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.

This article examines the scale, patterns, and political implications of racial violence in Texas between 1865 and 1868, arguing that white terror functioned as a systematic effort to suppress Black freedom and restore antebellum racial hierarchies. Drawing on Congressional testimony, Freedmen’s Bureau records, and the 1868 Report of the Special Committee on Lawlessness and Violence in Texas, the study reveals that violence was not random but structured along social, labor, and political lines. Murders, whippings, intimidation, and organized attacks—such as the Millican riot—intensified when freedpeople asserted labor autonomy or political rights. Despite nearly 900 reported murders, convictions were exceedingly rare, …

Beyond Income Deprivation: Assessing The Compounding Impacts Of Fixed Costs And Broadband Equity On Food Security, Aemro Worku, Morgan Woodle Phd, Nakeina E. Douglas-Glenn, Research Institute For Social Equity Rise

Research Institute for Social Equity

Nearly 47 million people in the United States, including 14 million children, are considered food insecure by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These nutritional deficiencies are often considered problems of uniform economic hardships. Analyzing 50-state data, this report reveals two distinct structural challenges: financial cash flow and physical geography. First, absolute food insecurity is driven by high costs of living, fueled by housing rent burdens, and is mitigated by strong broadband internet access that connects families to benefits. Second, physical access to healthy food shows no independent relationship with household budgets; rather, it is a problem of corporate grocery placement …

Hybrid Threats And Deterrence Effectiveness In Europe, Chick Edmond

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Objectives:
The current European security landscape is characterized by the growing intersection of historical security challenges (i.e., "traditional" security issues) and new forms of hybrid threats. These changes call for a significant re-evaluation of the role of deterrence in today's world. Traditional deterrence approaches have focused on the use of military capability as well as credible retaliatory threats. However, the recent development of hybrid warfare, including cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns, economic coercion, and clandestine sabotage has made it increasingly difficult to distinguish between times of war and times of peace. This research argues that existing frameworks for deterring adversaries will increasingly …

The Evolving Beijing Consensus: Chinese Communist Party Political Control And Economic Trade Offs, Ian Murphy

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

China’s rapid economic rise and unique development trajectory have long been the subject of scholarly debate, often framed through the concept of the “Beijing Consensus” as an alternative to the Washington Consensus. While initial conceptualizations highlight innovation, sustainability, and national sovereignty, later analyses highlighted elements like state capitalism and authoritarianism, particularly in the wake of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. This paper argues that the Beijing Consensus is undergoing a significant evolution under Chairman Xi Jinping, increasingly prioritizing the Chinese Communist Party’s political security, regime stability, and ideological control at the expense of economic growth. This marks a notable departure …

Evidence-Based Policymaking And Global Governance: An Examination Of The Role Of The Policy Studies Organization And Ecosoc, Chick Edmond

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Transnational challenges, such as climate change, global inequality, pandemics, digital governance, and institutional legitimacy crises, are becoming increasingly complex, therefore, the demand for evidence-based decision-making has become an important developing normative and practical issue in the area of global governance. The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is the principal organ of the UN responsible for coordinating policy processes across all areas of economic, social and development issues. However, despite ECOSOC’s ability to make decisions concerning how the world addresses these problems, it has been widely criticized for being unable to translate expert knowledge into tangible policy outcomes. Therefore, this paper …

Exploring Drone Technology For The Survey And Documentation Of Aerospace Archaeology Sites, David G. Morgan, Thomas R. Allen

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

This research examines the implementation of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) during a pilot mission in Nike Park to support its aerospace preservation. Located in Carrollton, Virginia, it was a Cold War missile installation that formed part of the area’s air-defense network. This project aims to use a drone to capture high-resolution video and imagery of Nike Park’s Administrative Office Supply and PX building and the Nike Ajax missile to create virtual 3D models for the Isle of Wight County Museum’s exhibit. For this mission, the DJI Mini 4 Pro drone manually flew a circular flight pattern around the missile and …

Nuclear Deterrence In The Age Of Hybrid Warfare, Chick Edmond

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

The main mechanism through which strategic stability can be preserved amongst nuclear armed states has traditionally been viewed as nuclear deterrence. Deterrence works on the premise that catastrophic consequences will cause rational restraint due to the fear of nuclear conflict. The proliferation of hybrid warfare (the coordinated use of conventional, cyber, informational, economic, and proxy instruments below the threshold of open war) has changed the strategic environment within which deterrence now operates. This research paper assesses whether nuclear deterrence is still effective in preventing escalation in an era marked by continuous grey zone competition amongst major powers. The paper also …

The Contested Kinmen Model, Ian Murphy

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

[Introduction] Kinmen County, Taiwan, stands as an anomaly in East Asia- it is an archipelago administered by Taipei but visually and geographically tethered to the coastline of the People's Republic of China (PRC). For over seven decades, these islands have served as the physical frontline of the unfinished Chinese Civil War, functioning first as a kinetic battleground and later as a laboratory for cross-strait engagement. Yet, to view Kinmen as a relic of the Cold War is to miss it's contemporary strategic significance. The region has now become the primary theater for the PRC's "Kinmen Model" (Jinmen Moshi, symbols redacted), …

Winning Without War In Africa: The Will To Fight, Strategic Openness, And Great Power Rivalry, Chick Edmond

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

This research assesses how “will to fight” impacts the ability of African nations to achieve strategic success during periods of increased competition between powerful nations (great powers) and increasing global and transnational threat. Unlike most studies on strategy which focus on the physical assets (material capacity), institutions (governance), and the support received from other nations (external assistance) a new study provides evidence that the will to fight of an African nation has a significant impact on its ability to sustain its deterrent capability, remain strategically open, and resist coercion. Using case studies of four regions (the Sahel, Mali, Cameroon, and …

Essays On Politics And Ideology In Asset Management, Madison Borrelli

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This dissertation examines how political influence and ideology shape the investment and governance decisions of institutional investors. My first essay studies the effects of political interference on public pension plan asset allocation. Plans facing investment restrictions shift away from low-cost traditional assets toward higher-fee, lower-performing alternative assets. While politicians advocating these restrictions receive increased media attention, state economies do not benefit. These findings underscore how political incentives create agency problems that adversely affect investment decisions and outcomes.

The second essay examines whether differences in political ideology between asset managers and investors give rise to conflicts of interest. Mutual fund institutions …

The 2026 World Cup, In Trump’S Shadow, Richard Holtzman

History, Literature, and the Arts Faculty Journal Articles

This essay examines President Donald Trump’s rhetorical interventions in the lead-up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It is inspired by Eduardo Galeano’s Soccer in Sun and Shadow, which interprets football as a mirror reflecting broader political, cultural, and economic realities. My analysis explores how Trump commandeered the World Cup through spectacle, transforming it into a stage for symbolically demonstrating his power and indulging his ego. The president’s rhetorical behavior is explored and critiqued through three case studies and a final vignette: (1) the establishment of a White House World Cup Task Force, (2) the president’s threats to relocate …

Strategic Decoupling: How Great Power Competition Reshapes Domestic Economic Policy In The United States And China, Chick Edmond

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Objectives:
The core idea of this research is that states react to great-power competitions using institutionally dependent paths: the U.S. uses regulatory tools such as export controls, investment screening, and targeted subsidies based on its fragmented, legally mediated-governance structure; whereas, China uses state-driven tools such as central planning directives, State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) mandates, and Policy Bank lending driven by its hierarchical Party-State structure

Methods:
This research utilizes a qualitative comparative case study model to compare how the U.S. and China have developed different forms of domestic economic policy in reaction to competing interests of being a global superpower. A comparative …

Detection Of Financial And Political Fake News As A Measure To Prevent Instability In Financial Markets, Konstantyn Malyshenko

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This article explores the role of social networks as a catalyst for instability in financial markets. Its purpose is to present strategies for mitigating the media’s influence on adverse outcomes, primarily by analyzing the information cascades and related transactions in stock markets. The innovative aspect of this research lies in the development of methods for analyzing specific types of information, particularly media reports, to identify indicators of fake that distort public perception. The focus of this study is on fake news and the analysis of its potential linguistic features for identification purposes. A significant outcome of this research is the …

Mystics, Oracles, And Bones: Spiritual Resistance For Justice, Healing, And Resolution, Leah Hollis

Comparative Civilizations Review

This conceptual essay examines the enduring human impulse to seek meaning, justice, and healing through mystical traditions in response to suffering and harm. When traditional solutions through grievance, the law, or mediation fails, some individuals may turn to spiritual practices not as superstition, but as embodied strategies of survival, reclamation, and clarity. Comparing diverse traditions from a variety of cultures, including oracle bone divination in ancient China, the Oracle at Delphi in Greece, West African Ifá, Benin’s Voudou, diasporic Hoodoo, Celtic Druidic law, and Sufi mysticism, this paper explores how mystics have long served as interpreters of suffering and perceived …

Front Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

The Tech-Nuclear Renaissance: A New Critical Juncture For American Nuclear Energy Policy, Henry P. Otte

CMC Senior Theses

Nuclear energy has re-emerged as a central priority in American energy policy. This thesis examines the Trump administration’s efforts to support nuclear energy development and plant restarts, and asks whether today’s nuclear renaissance represents a critical juncture for nuclear energy policy. By analyzing American, French, and Swedish nuclear energy history, this thesis applies a three-variable analytical framework, state autonomy and administrative structure, political permeability, and crisis influence, to identify the institutional conditions necessary for durable policy change and evaluate the structural characteristics of this new environment. The central finding is that today’s push is distinct from prior attempts at expansion, …

Examining The Dynamics Between Criminal Justice Campaign Messaging, News Coverage, Public Policy Mood, And Voter Participation In Judicial Elections, Hayley Munir, Marcy Shieh, Michael Catalano

Faculty Publications - Criminal Justice Sciences

Objective

In low-information elections, any amount of information can be decisive in voter behavior, including the choice of whether to make a choice in each race. In judicial elections, often low-information affairs, rhetoric about criminal justice typically attracts the most attention of potential voters. Given the nature of these judicial races, voter knowledge on candidates relies on a variety of state- and race-level contextual factors, including issues of law and order, a key feature of judicial races as highlighted in campaign advertising. We examine the impact of crime rhetoric in judicial campaign ads, front-page news coverage of criminal cases, and …

Equity In Coastal Resilience: A Framework For University Engagement In Community-Based Projects, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf, Jennifer L. Whytlaw, Marina Saitgalina, Ogechukwu N. Nwandu-Vincent, Khairul A. Anuar, Thomas Allen, Joshua Behr

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

As communities face intensifying climate hazards, it is vital to strengthen resilience in ways that explicitly prioritize social equity. This study examines how higher education institutions can better support government, nonprofit, and community partners in advancing equity-centered coastal resilience in the U.S. Utilizing a qualitative research design, we analyze discussions among researchers and practitioners during a three-day workshop. We present a framework derived from a thematic analysis of breakout group transcripts from a three-day national virtual workshop involving 113 researchers and practitioners. The analysis identified four core themes: the necessity of aligning projects with community-defined priorities; the foundational role of …

Sea-Level Rise Adaptation And Collaboration In Polycentric Governance: A Comparison Of Three Regions, Francesca Vantaggiato, Mark Lubell, Matthew C. Nowlin, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf, Majid Shafiee-Jood

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

Adaptation to sea-level rise confronts coastal communities worldwide with a new set of collective action problems that require collaboration. When does collaboration result in concrete action for adaptation? To address this question, we combine the Ecology of Games and Collaborative Governance frameworks using a comparative analysis of three coastal regions in the United States. We leverage original survey data from the San Francisco Bay Area in California (2018, N = 878), the Tri-County (Charleston) Area in South Carolina (2022, N = 152), and the Hampton Roads region in Virginia (2023, N = 153), three regions that differ in terms of …

The Autonomy Of Bulgarian Theological Scholarship: Institutional Control And Discursive Transformation Under The Communist Regime (1944–1960s), Diana Petrova Tyurkedzhieva

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article examines the autonomy of theological scholarship in Bulgaria under the communist regime as part of the broader problem of academic freedom under authoritarian rule, focusing on 1944 to the 1960s. While existing research has primarily addressed the relationship between the Orthodox Church and the State through institutional restriction and political repression, this study analyses how theological scholarship was transformed institutionally and discursively. It combines historical and institutional analysis with an examination of speeches, public statements, and academic publications in ecclesiastical and theological periodicals. The article argues that the separation of the Faculty of Theology from Sofia University in …

Hybrid Identity And Religious Radicalization: On The Effectiveness Of Kazakhstan's State Policy, Sholpan Zhandossova, Marhabbat Nurov

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the relationship between hybrid identity and religious radicalization in Kazakhstan, arguing that state policy has been built on a systematically inverted risk hierarchy. Drawing on secondary analysis of longitudinal sociological surveys, expert assessments, and official statistics, the article demonstrates that the intensity of religious practice is a statistically non-significant predictor of radicalization (ρ=+0.18; p>0.05), whereas identity fragmentation– the internal incoherence between competing ethnic, Soviet-secular, Islamic, and civic- Kazakhstani identity layers–carries the strongest positive correlation (ρ=+0.61; p<0.001). The normative architecture constructed between 2011 and 2024 is evaluated against these empirical predictors across four analytical levels: longitudinal trend analysis, regional identity profiling, factor correlation analysis, and institutional trust trajectories. The article finds that successive policy instruments have concentrated institutional resources on the weakest risk factor while leaving the strongest predictors structurally unaddressed. The post-2016 decline in registered criminal cases is attributed primarily to the organizational collapse of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as a recruitment structure rather than to domestic policy effectiveness. Trust in the state-affiliated religious authority declined by twenty percentage points over the period of maximum normative intensity–an outcome directly contrary to policy intent. The article concludes with three evidence-based corrective directions: reorienting the diagnostic framework toward monitoring identity fragmentation, recovering protective social factors as explicit policy targets, and restructuring formal religious authority to allow community-derived legitimacy to carry preventive functions.

Religion And International Relations: The Concept Of Soft Power And Orthodoxy In Kazakhstan, Ali Ukenov

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the role of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan (OCK), a constituent part of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), within the framework of religious soft power. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the relationship between the ROC, Russian foreign policy, and transnational religious influence has attracted increased scholarly attention. Drawing on the concept of soft power and constructivist approaches, the study combines qualitative field research with media content analysis. The empirical material includes twenty semi-structured interviews conducted with Orthodox clergy and active parishioners across Kazakhstan, as well as an examination of the case of former priest Yakov …

The Decline Of Access Donors In Funding National Nominating Conventions, Karen Sebold, Eric Heberlig, Robert G. Boatright

Political Science

The US major-party presidential nominating conventions are an essential platform for a political party’s branding and messaging for upcoming presidential and congressional elections. The conventions also can provide revenue and media attention to their host cities and, consequently, convention fundraising has grown substantially in recent decades. Convention fundraising rules were changed in 2014, tripling the limit for contributions to a party’s campaign funds and removing limits on contributions to host-city committees. Although we do not expect these changes to affect individual donors, we expect corporations, banks, and labor unions to have taken advantage of these new rules. Elections since 2014, …

Imperial Islam And Colonial Control: The Orenburg Muslim Spiritual Assembly As A Mediator Of Russian Rule In The Kazakh Frontier, Zharas Akhan

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Examination of the strategic role of the Orenburg Muslim Spiritual Assembly (OMSA) as a pivotal instrument of imperial governance in the Kazakh Steppe during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The study investigates how the Russian Tsarist administration instrumentalized Islamic institutions to exercise political control and facilitate the integration of nomadic Kazakh society into the imperial hierarchy. Drawing on extensive archival evidence, the author analyzes the institutional evolution of the Muftiate, its involvement in diplomatic and intelligence operations, and the intermediary agency of Tatar mullahs who bridged the gap between the Kazakh aristocracy and the Russian bureaucracy. The paper identifies …

Gender-Diverse State Legislative Candidates In The United States: Identity Used Strategically On Campaign Websites, Nicholas Mossman

Honors Theses

In this honors thesis, I evaluate how transgender, nonbinary, and other gender-diverse state legislative candidates in the United States use their campaign websites to communicate messages related to gender identity to voters, and the potential effects of communication on electoral success. I used a dataset of eighty-nine candidates between 2014 and 2024, and coded fifty-four candidate websites to measure how candidates describe their personal identity and communicate about issues related to gender identity, like LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination and gender-affirming care. While existing research evaluates how voters respond to LGBTQ+ candidates, this thesis examines how candidates potentially attract voters through their campaign …

“What Are The Security Issues Surrounding Cislunar Space And Lunar Resources? How Do Theories Of International Politics And Territory Apply To Those Issues?”, Ina Loka

Honors Theses

In the recent decades, cislunar space has attracted significant interest among the biggest spacefaring nations, Russia, China, and the United States. Cislunar space is no longer a distant subject solely associated with scientific studies. It has become a crucial domain in the conduct of military operations and its importance has been increasingly emphasised in these states’ military doctrines. In an environment where the intentions of other actors are hard to determine and where there is a high degree of uncertainty, these three states are ramping up their (counter)space capabilities in order to protect themselves from any adversarial attacks, and to …

How The Sui Generis Principle Has Been Historically Abused In International Law: From The British To The Israelis, Ahmad Hamdan

Human Rights Brief

I. Introduction

For over a century, powerful actors have used a single Latin phrase, sui generis, as a shield to evade accountability under international law. Meaning “of its own kind,” this theory dictates that a situation is so unique that ordinary rules should not apply. In international law, sui generis typically refers to situations or entities that cannot easily be categorized under existing legal frameworks or conventions. Its use indicates that there is no directly applicable precedent and that, as a result, no legal principles apply; instead, the situation itself will set the precedent. While some researchers argue that …