Political Science Commons^™

Quality Journalism In The Digital Age: Strategies To Adapt And Remain Profitable, Jack Brewster

Honors Papers

In the United States, the news media is commonly referred to as the “fourth estate” because we rely on it to fulfill a variety of functions essential to a healthy democracy. We trust the media to, among other things, tell us what is going on in the world, contextualize and provide historical background on current events, filter politicians’ spin, fact-check, be a “watchdog,” promote robust civil discourse, and enable understanding of complex issues.

Up until the last decade or so, the media could meet this “standard” without sacrificing its financial well-being. The internet and the smartphone, however, changed everything. The …

Forecasting Changes In Religiosity And Existential Security With An Agent-Based Model, Ross J. Gore, Carlos Lemos, F. Leron Shults, Wesley J. Wildman

VMASC Publications

We employ existing data sets and agent-based modeling to forecast changes in religiosity and existential security among a collective of individuals over time. Existential security reflects the extent of economic, socioeconomic and human development provided by society. Our model includes agents in social networks interacting with one another based on the education level of the agents, the religious practices of the agents, and each agent's existential security within their natural and social environments. The data used to inform the values and relationships among these variables is based on rigorous statistical analysis of the International Social Survey Programme Religion Module (ISSP) …

Adaptation Of Customary Quechua Indigenous Political Organization In The Face Of Modern Resource Extraction: A Case Study In The Apurimac Region Of The Andes Of Peru, Yojana Miraya Oscco

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This research focused on the forms and structure of customary political organization in Quechua indigenous communities of the Peruvian Andes that extend from the villages to their associated migrant communities in the capital. As the mining industry has been expanding rapidly throughout the Andes in recent decades, describing the political organization of these remote communities is a key aspect of their negotiation practices with these external industries. This research was conducted utilizing grounded theory in a comparative case-study format by analyzing two villages and their associated migrant communities from the Andean District of Juan Espinoza Medrano. This research utilized a …

Community-Based Initiatives For Neighborhood And Community Rehabilitation: A Case Study Of The Mission District, San Francisco, California, Francesca Monique Gallardo

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Through the case study of San Francisco, CA’s Mission District, this research project addresses how community-based affordable housing development is operationalized to rehabilitate communities and neighborhoods experiencing effects of gentrification, mass displacement, and cultural dilution. My goals were to identify how the processes of building a sense of community, trust, and cohesion- rehabilitating and critical to affordable housing development efforts in the Mission District? And, how are nonprofit community development organizations engaging with these processes in collaboration with citizen and community partners? The final objective is to provide evidence-based strategies to assist other at-risk minority communities and neighborhoods in the …

The Effects Of Moral Message Framing On Political Ideology, Matthew Christiansen

All Master's Theses

There is disagreement as to whether and to what extent the American public is becoming more polarized, but certain issues such as climate change have been found to be polarizing. However, ideologically congruent moral message framing has been shown to moderate attitudes towards climate change and may provide a method to reduce polarization and moderate extreme attitudes. The current study attempted to broaden previous findings to investigate whether moral message framing could result in not only shifting relevant attitudes, but political ideology as a whole. Operating under Moral Foundations Theory (Haidt & Graham, 2007) two proenvironmental messages were constructed using …

Residential Solar In Washington State, Sam Pfeifer

All Master's Theses

Electricity generated through residential solar provides a low carbon source of electricity. However, diffusion of residential solar remains low across the United States. Growing this diffusion takes an understanding of localized uptake trends, which can focus policy and business efforts to help increase residential solar market penetration. This is the first research to investigate residential solar uptake in Washington State and to examine environmental education as a potential driver of residential solar uptake. Through a snapshot analysis which considers environmental, economic, education, and cultural variables the present research fills this gap. Triangulated results include mapping of variables, ordinary-least squares multiple …

โลกาภิบาลมาตรฐานอาหาร : กรณีศึกษามาตรฐานข้าวอินทรีย์ไทย, ไพลิน กิตติเสรีชัย

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

วิทยานิพนธ์ฉบับนี้จัดทำขึ้นโดยมีวัตถุประสงค์สามประการ ประการแรก เพื่อคลี่คลายให้เห็นถึงการทำงาน ของกระบวนการโลกาภิบาลมาตรฐานอาหาร โดยมีกรณีศึกษาคือมาตรฐานข้าวอินทรีย์ โดยศึกษาในแง่ของที่มา ตัวแสดง ที่เกี่ยวข้อง ที่มาของสิทธิอำนาจ ตลอดจนปฏิสัมพันธ์ของตัวแสดงเหล่านั้น ประการที่สอง คือเพื่อศึกษารูปแบบการ อภิบาลมาตรฐานข้าวอินทรีย์ในประเทศไทย โดยศึกษาเชื่อมโยงกับกระบวนการโลกาภิบาลมาตรฐานเกษตรอินทรีย์ และ ประการสุดท้ายคือเพื่อทำความเข้าใจกับปัญหาและอุปสรรคของการอภิบาลมาตรฐานเกษตรอินทรีย์ในไทย และ เสนอแนะแนวทางการแก้ไขปัญหา วิทยานิพนธ์ฉบับนี้ใช้ระเบียบวิจัยเชิงคุณภาพโดยใช้การวิจัยเชิงเอกสาร และการ สัมภาษณ์ผู้ให้ข้อมูลหลักที่เกี่ยวข้อง จากการวิจัยได้ข้อค้นพบว่า การริเริ่มการทำเกษตรอินทรีย์เกิดขึ้นจากตัวแสดงที่ไม่ใช่ รัฐที่เล็งเห็นปัญหาของการเกษตรแบบสมัยใหม่ จากนั้นจึงเกิดการรวมตัว สร้างเครือข่ายระหว่างประเทศจนเกิดเป็น องค์กรระหว่างประเทศนอกภาครัฐอย่างสหพันธ์เกษตรอินทรีย์นานาชาติ หรือ IFOAM ที่มีบทบาทสำคัญในกระบวนการ โลกาภิบาลมาตรฐานเกษตรอินทรีย์ ถึงแม้ว่า IFOAM จะไม่ได้มีสิทธิอำนาจบังคับเหมือนรัฐ และไม่ได้มีอำนาจในเชิง เศรษฐกิจเหมือนบรรษัทข้ามชาติทั้งหลาย แต่ IFOAM คือชุมชนองค์ความรู้ด้านเกษตรอินทรีย์ ที่ถือครอง ‘สิทธิอำนาจเชิง ความรู้' และสิทธิอำนาจดังกล่าวได้ทำงานผ่านกระบวนการโลกาภิบาลในสามมิติ ได้แก่ มิติของการวางระเบียบกฎเกณฑ์ มิติของการแข่งขันเชิงความรู้ และมิติของการเสริมพลังอำนาจ ในกรณีของประเทศไทย การอภิบาลมาตรฐานเกษตร อินทรีย์แสดงให้เห็นถึงการขัดกันของสถาบันที่เป็นทางการและไม่เป็นทางการ การขาดความร่วมมือระหว่างภาครัฐและ เอกชนจึงเป็นปัญหาสำคัญในการพัฒนากระบวนการอภิบาลมาตรฐานเกษตรอินทรีย์ที่มีประสิทธิภาพในประเทศไทย

Scandal And Mass Politics: Buganda's 1941 Nnamasole Crisis, Carol Summers

History Faculty Publications

Summers discusses Buganda's 1941 Nnamasole crisis following the Christian marriage of Irene Namaganda, Buganda's queen mother who was pregnant with her slightly older lover. Namaganda's Christian marriage was powerfully scandalous, profoundly violating expectations associated with marriage and royal office. The scandal produced a political crisis that toppled Buganda's prime minister, pushed his senior allies from power, deposed the queen mother, exiled her husband, and changed Buganda's political landscape. The scandal launched a new era of public mobilization and protest that took Buganda's politics beyond the realm of deals between the oligarchy and British elites, and into public gossip, newspapers and …

In The Wake Of Vicarious Traumatization : Making Meaning Through Jungian Theory And Engaged Buddhism, Angel Haydn Reed

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

No abstract provided.

Power, Profit, And Political Participation: How Neoliberal Rationality Limits Citizen Influence In A Democracy, Emma Woods

Senior Independent Study Theses

Democracy’s promise is that citizens hold the ultimate power in government. However, the ascension of neoliberal rationality, an economic rationality that focuses primarily on economic growth with political activity being secondary or merely instrumental to economic growth, acts as a threat to that promise. This paper offers a critical analysis of political participation in a democracy, using two theoretical frameworks, liberalism and neoliberalism. Based in these theoretical frameworks, it provides an analysis of how changes in individual conceptions of self have institutional effects on politics. Laying out the framework of neoliberalism, tracing its ideological roots in liberalism and its subsequent …

Συμβολική Βία Και Η Αναπαραγωγή Της Εξουσίας, Despina Lalaki

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Making Medicaid Work In The Mountain State? An Assessment Of The Effect Of Work Requirements For Medicaid Beneficiaries In West Virginia, Simon F. Haeder

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

West Virginia is one of the poorest states in the nation, and West Virginians face some of the highest rates of illness and disability. One of the few bright spots for the health of West Virginians have been government-funded programs like Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The Affordable Care Act (ACA), including the expansion of Medicaid under Governor Tomblin in 2014, has brought health coverage and access to care to hundreds of thousands of West Virginians. Today, about a third of West Virginians rely on Medicaid, and the program has become the backbone of the state’s health …

Social Media Use And Negative Partisanship Among College Students, Savannah Maas

Honors Theses

Since the creation of the United States of America, the political climate has vastly changed and adapted, each time period with its own distinct characteristics. Today, the American electorate and Congress are more polarized than ever and negative partisan-ship has become a central characteristic in politics. Partisan identities of voters are more homogenous than ever and approval rates of people's opposing parties are at an all-time low. People's political decisions have begun to be more driven by dislike of the opposing party than support of their own. Social media has also grown over recent years and has begun to play …

A Prediction Of Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd. V. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Hilary Price

Honors Theses

This is a study of the Supreme Court ruling in the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The paper attempts to make a prediction of the ruling based on factors relevant to the Court's decision. I studied the facts of the case, the briefs submitted by petitioners and respondents, Supreme Court precedents, interpretive tests, amicus curiae briefs, and voting patterns of the Supreme Court Justices. Based on this information, I came to the conclusion that I believe the Court will issue a conservative ruling in favor of petitioners, Masterpiece Cakeshop.

Risk Factors For The Ill-Defined Causes Of Death In The Brazilian States: A Multilevel Analysis, Nadia Cristina Pinheiro Rodrigues, Regina Paiva Daumas, Andrea Sobral De Almeida, Gisele O'Dwyer, Monica Kramer De Noronha Andrade, Matthew B. Flynn, Valeria Teresa Saraiva Lino

Political Science & International Studies: Faculty Publications

This study describes the spatial-temporal changes of the proportion of ill-defined causes of death in Brazil (1998-2012) and investigates which demographic and socioeconomic factors affect this proportion. We collected information of the proportion of ill-defined causes of death by age (15-59 years), sex, period, locality, and socioeconomic data. We used a multilevel Poisson model to investigate which factors affect the risk of ill-defined causes of death. Unlike states located in the South and Midwest, we detected clusters with high proportional levels of these deaths in states in the North and Northeast regions. A greater proportion occurred in 1998-2002 (0.09), in …

Beyond Big Bird, Binders, And Bayonets: Humor And Visibility Among Connected Viewers Of The 2012 Us Presidential Debates, Kevin Driscoll, Alex Leavitt, Kristen L. Guth, François Bar, Aalok Mehta

Communication Faculty Publications

During the 2012 US presidential debates, more than five million connected viewers turned to social media to respond to the broadcast and talk politics with one another. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study examines the prevalence of humor and its relationship to visibility among connected viewers live-tweeting the debates. Based on a content analysis of tweets and accounts, we estimate that approximately one-fifth of the messages sent during the debates consisted of strictly humorous content. Using retweet frequency as a proxy for visibility, we found a positive relationship between the use of humor and the visibility of individual tweets. Not …

Struggles In State Building In Multi-Ethnic And Multi-Religious Lebanon And Bosnia, Zachary Ruch

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Lebanon and Bosnia are quite possibly the most divided nations on earth with each having multiple ethnic and religious populations. Both nations have had disastrous civil wars that included some of the most brutal killing in the 20th century. With the intervention of foreign powers both nations were able to set aside their differences and come to a peace settlement. In both cases the peace settlements accomplished its ultimate goal of ending the violence. The subsequent scholarship however created unrealistically high expectations for these settlements to foster a democratic culture and build a national consensus. This paper seeks to understand …

Europe's Parallel Media Universe: Cross-National Analysis Of Populist Media Oppression In The Eu, Csongor Bajnoczki

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

This research is to show that populist parties in the European Union attempt to oppress the traditional established media as soon as they come in to power. The multiple regressions test the hypothesis of a negative relationship between the political power of populist parties and degree of media freedom. For the assessment and clarification of the relationship between the level of media freedom and the political power of populist parties, political rights and civil liberties country scores from Freedom House's Freedom in the World reports, GDP per capita from World Bank, corruption perception indexes from Transparency International, and Grigorii V. …

Comparing Rates Of Women Leaders In Western Europe, Elizabeth Stark

Honors Projects

This article analyzes the rates of women leaders in conservative, green and right-wing parties in Western Europe. The genders of parliamentary leaders, founders and party leaders of these parties are examined to determine if women are over represented or under represented as political leaders in Western Europe.

A United Nations Renaissance: What The Un Is, And What It Could Be, John Trent, Laura Schnurr

Textbooks

PS 435 - International Organization

Licensed under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

Outlaw Heaven: Why States Become Tax Havens, Charles A. Dainoff

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

It is the argument of this dissertation that states become tax havens as a conscious economic development strategy. These states – more properly referred to as "jurisdictions" because some lack the sovereignty of the traditional Westphalian state – do not have the natural resources or the population to pursue more traditional economic development strategies, but they do have the ability to write or implement laws that create a virtual resource: banking secrecy. These jurisdictions are able to carry out this strategy because they tend to be well-governed, stable, and relatively wealthy, making them attractive partners for the international banking, legal, …

Things Fall Apart: The Determinants Of Military Mutinies, Jaclyn M. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

Military mutinies are occurring more frequently in the last two decades than ever before. Mutinies impact every region of the world. Given that they are occurring more frequently, impact every region, and often have disastrous implications, scholars must answer the foundational question: why do mutinies occur? What are the proximate domestic conditions that give rise to military mutinies? This project makes three contributions. First, I set out to formally define mutinies and collect a new dataset that will allow scholars to examine mutinies empirically. Second, I present a theoretical framework that explains when and why mutinies will occur. Finally, I …

Economic Anxiety Or Racial Predispositions? Explaining White Support For Donald Trump In The 2016 Presidential Election, Emmitt Y. Riley Iii, Clarissa Peterson

Political Science Faculty publications

In this article, we examine the degree to which White support for Donald Trump is driven by economic anxiety or racial resentment. Given Donald Trump's rhetoric surrounding racial and ethnic minorities during the 2016 presidential election, it is perplexing that the influence of racial attitudes has been ignored in explaining his electoral success. We argue that Whites with high levels of racially resentful attitudes should be more likely to support Donald Trump and that racial resentment should be a greater determinant of support for Trump than variables measuring economic anxiety. Relying on logistic regression analysis, we utilize data from the …

California As A “Blue-Print’ For Progressive Immigration Reform?: Uncovering Racial Liberalism To Expose Reconfigured Anti-Migrant Hegemony, Edith Jaicel Ortega

Scripps Senior Theses

Using the frames of analysis and language of political whiteness and anti-migrant hegemony, this paper examines the narrative of liberal immigration reformers transforming California’s political landscape within the period of 1994 to 2017. Taken as case studies the following articles of legislation are analyzed: Proposition 187 in 1994, the California Dream Act in 2010, the Trust Act in 2014, up to the present Senate Bill 54 in 2017. The paper finds that while California has experienced a recognizable shift in racial liberalism in rhetoric and legislation, its overall policy continues to work within the framework of anti-migrant hegemony that functions …

Voices Of Women: The Impact Of Women's Political Reservations On Female Child Mortality In India, Kohsheen Sharma

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper uses state-level variation in the implementation of the 73rd amendment in India to observe the relationship between political reservations for women in local government and female child mortality. Nationally, reservations for women are not associated with a statistically significant difference in female child mortality. However, a state by state analysis shows variations in the level of impact of reservations on the topic of female child mortality. This paper examines the constraints on female representatives and their level of effectiveness in executing pro-female policies given the political and social environment. The two case studies on Kerala and Haryana explore …

Coal-To-Liquid Technology: A Look At The Geopolitical Tension Behind China's Energy Strategy, Kaela Cote-Stemmermann

Scripps Senior Theses

As interest in renewable energy development continues to rise around the globe, the alignment of China’s capabilities and incentive to invest in the green energy sector position the country in a leading role. However, China’s recent investment in coal-to-liquid (CTL) technology raises questions as to the direction of China’s energy policy and reflects broader geopolitical tensions within the Chinese government. Although CTL technology has been widely criticized as being environmentally unfriendly and economically unsustainable, China continues to invest in it at an astounding pace. Research proposes several possible explanations, such as corruption or local conflicts of interest, however, a critical …

Seismicity Spikes And Earthquakes In Oklahoma: 2009-Present, Josh Bowser

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Since 2009 the state of Oklahoma has experienced seismicity spikes pushing yearly totals of significant earthquakes from around 2 per year (in years prior) into the hundreds. The purpose of this paper is to present the history of Oklahoma’s problem with seismicity spikes, the science around the issue, and the governmental approaches to solving the problem. Experts in the field of seismology and geophysics have arrived at a consensus regarding induced seismicity in Oklahoma, but regulating associated industrial activity is an on-going political hot topic on which representatives and the public are divided. This project examines the regulatory approach of …

Radicalization And The Internet, Dustin Covert

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

How extremist groups use the internet has recently become a major national security issue. This paper discusses the role that the internet plays in the radicalization process. It will review recent research that analyzes how extremist groups use the internet and properties of the internet that may help to radicalize an individual. This paper will lay a foundation for future research to establish relationships between the internet and the radicalization process.

Organizational Pursuit Of A Beloved Community, Christina Aronhalt

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The following paper is an examination of three organizations, Vamos Puerto Rico, The Well CDC, and the Karen Community of Akron, who are working towards the betterment of their community by fighting the injustices that their communities face. In this paper, I argue that the choices made by each of these three organizations, reflected in their organizational structure and the initiatives they focus on, can be understood as linked to the common goal of the beloved community when examined through the framework of the six steps of nonviolent social change. The steps of nonviolent social change are information gathering, education, …

Just War: New Customary International Law To Combat Violent Non-State Actor Groups?, Lisa Marie Holz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The issue that this study focused upon was the legitimacy of military interventions by a state against a violent non-state actor group located within another state's territory. The research sought to answer how interventions by the United States and its allies have evolved during the post 9/11 era. It additionally explored if the justification for military interventions had changed. This study used data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program and the United Nations Security Council to create a hybrid data-set and analyzed the data for the location and number of states participating in operations against violent non-state actors ("VNSAs"). This …