Political Science Commons^™

Continuing Conversations: The Image Of Richard Nixon In Political Cartoons, Megan Sanderson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Historians have extensively researched and reported on the images presented by United States presidents. Political cartoons have been an effective means of depicting government figures’ behaviors, actions and deficiencies. The goal of this thesis is to examine images of President Richard Nixon as captured in political cartoons, with particular attention to the themes represented in works following the President’s key speeches. Nixon’s “Address to the Nation on the War in Vietnam” (1969), “Toasts of the President and Premier Chou En-lai of China at a Banquet Honoring the Premier in Peking” (1972), and the “Question-and-Answer Session at the Annual Convention of …

Understanding Tacit Theories Of Nonprofit Administrators In Collaborative Interorganizational Networks, Ella C. Sanders

Honors Theses

As the nonprofit sector increases in size, many organizations are choosing to collaborate as a new approach to delivering goods and services to the public. Collaboration occurs when “organizations work together to address problems through joint effort, resources, and decision making and share ownership of the final product or service” (Guo & Acar, 2005). In my research, I ask the question: How do nonprofit administrators conceptualize this kind of interorganizational collaboration? These conceptualizations are referred to as tacit theories: the wisdom and knowledge of administrators that is implicitly known as a result of experience. I compare these tacit theories to …

A Survey Of The Cuban Government’S Prospects Of Attracting Foreign Direct Investment., Philip Moore

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Cycling Around The Car : An Analysis Of America’S Car Culture, Cycling For Transportation In The Netherlands, And An Exploration Of Policy Solutions., Stephanie Dooper

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

The Israeli Vagabond: An Analysis Of Israel's Hilltop Youth Movement, Laura Singer

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Over the course of the 2015-2016 academic year, I have researched the Hilltop Youth Movement in Israel. The Hilltop Youth is a group of less than 100 individuals who live in settlements in the hills of Israel, past the allotted legal green line and instigate attacks towards Palestinians. In this project, I explain who the Hilltop Youth are and their role as spoilers for peace between Israel and Palestine in the Middle East. To do this, I researched social movements, terrorism, and gang movements to understand what category the Youth fit into and what that determination signifies for Israeli government …

Guns In America, A Comparative Study Of Firearm Policies In New York And Texas, Ashley Milosevic

Political Science

No abstract provided.

A Historical Analysis Of The Early Christian Church Fathers’ Opinions Regarding Abortion, Lauren Taylor Provencher

Honors Theses

Due to scarce material on the subject in the Bible and supposed discord among Early Christian Church Fathers, the debate on abortion is one that is often hotly contested in the United States. From the religious political aspect there is much debate over whether the Early Christian Church had a single mindset towards the notion on abortion or was deeply divided on the subject as we are today. A popular narrative, even among many in academia, is that the Church was not unified on the topic. Some even go so far as to ascribe to a pro-Choice stance on abortion …

A Comparative Analysis Between The Histories And Methods Of The Pro-Life And Lgbt Movements, Savanna B. Fox

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the connection between the elite theory and social movements by comparing the success of the pro-life and gay rights movements in America and investigating the effects that elite influence has had on these movements. The research is deductive in nature, investigating the elite theory in relation to social movements. The methodology of this project is organized as a comparative analysis between the gay rights and pro-life causes. The research discovers that elite influence, whether a social movement appeals to morality politics or interest group politics, and what kind of policy changes a movement seeks to affect all …

Factors Of Political Party Competitiveness In Mississippi, Anna Kate Baygents

Honors Theses

This research project examines the relationship between urbanization and political party competitiveness in Mississippi. Using elections results from the 2011 and the 2015 Mississippi House of Representatives races, this project seeks to find if there is a relationship between urbanization and competitiveness in Mississippi, and if not, which factors do affect competitiveness. Previous research indicates that as an area urbanizes, its elections become more competitive among different political parties. However, this study finds that there is no clear correlation between urbanization and party competitiveness in Mississippi elections, and that other factors, including race, education, and geographic location, may have more …

Excessive Police Force And Misconduct: A Failing System And How To Improve It, Elise Seale

Honors Theses

The Law Enforcement Misconduct Statute was passed by Congress as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, partly as a reaction to a nationwide debate about excessive use of police force after Rodney King’s brutal killing in 1991. The statute gave the Department of Justice the ability to investigate and file suits against individual police departments; the statute’s intent was both to reform the investigated departments with high amounts of misconduct and excessive force and to incentivize police reform nationwide. However, because of the financial setbacks involved in launching investigations and inconsistency in implementation, this …

Just The Facts? Media Coverage Of Female And Male High Court Appointees In Five Democracies, Maria C. Escobar-Lemmon, Valerie Hoekstra, Alice J. Kang, Miki Caul Kittilson

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

In this article, we examine gender differences in news media portrayals of nominees to high courts and whether those differences vary across country and time. Although past research has examined gender differences in news media coverage of candidates for elective office, few studies have looked at media coverage of high court nominees. As women are increasingly nominated to courts around the world, it is important to examine how nominations are covered by the news media and whether there is significant variation in coverage based on gender. We analyze media coverage of high court justices in five democracies: Argentina, Australia, Canada, …

Welcoming The Stranger: African Refugees And Israel’S Asylum Regime, David Kimelman

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper will explore the Israeli asylum regime and its development since the state’s inception and will discuss the rationales and motives behind national policy and public perception of asylum seekers. Over the last decade, Israel’s asylum regime has been significantly upgraded to meet the growing needs of the state to manage an unprecedented flow of asylum seekers entering into the country. Upon arriving in Israel, however, asylum seekers have found a state that is reluctant to take them in and a citizenry unwelcoming to outsiders perceived as a divisive “other.” This “otherness” is perceived as a danger to many …

Explaining The Outcomes Of The Affordable Care Act Through Lowi And Salamon’S Policy Evaluation Models, Anna Moravec

Honors Theses

This paper illustrates how tools-based theoretical models, like Lester Salamon’s, can be used to predict the outcome of policy tools. Theodore Lowi and Lester Salamon’s theoretical models were applied to select provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to generate predictions regarding their outcomes. The validity of these predictions was assessed by comparing them to current empirical data and trends. Ultimately, this paper sought to demonstrate how tools-based models can be used to predict policy tool outcomes relatively accurately. Our evaluation used Lowi’s original model detailed in his Four systems of policy, politics, and choice (1972) paper and Salamon’s model …

Terrorism Turnover: An Assessment Of Radicalized Extremism From Al Qaeda To The Islamic State, Zachary R. Schwermann

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

Terrorism has become a hot button topic since the rise of the radicalized Islamist organization Al Qaeda, in the late 1990’s. However, the infamous attacks on September 11^th, 2001 are what truly brought this organization and its ideals to the forefront of the world’s attention. This paper provides a comprehensive and in depth analysis of the creation of Al Qaeda and traces the path of its connections to the Islamic State, which is currently the dominant radicalized Islamist organization. The Islamic State grew out of the Al Qaeda branch in Iraq and in addition to covering how that …

Syria: The Name Of Our Shame, Lama Abu-Odeh

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

From withdrawing US troops from Iraq to waging a war on ISIS in Iraq, Obama has deftly recast the meaning of US intervention in the region from unjustifiable imperialist occupation (of Iraq by conservatives) to justifiable global policing of terror (the liberal answer to occupation). The former is a form of irrational, inefficient, unnecessary, and morally indefensible intervention, whereas the latter is a form of rational, efficient, necessary and virtuous one. In this essay, I argue that that the withdrawal/re-intervention of the US supra state in the imperial place staged by Obama, cheered for and rationalized by liberals, is similar …

The Once And Future Superpower: Why China Won't Overtake The United States, Stephen G. Brooks, William C. Wohlforth

Dartmouth Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Chinese Culture And Hungary, Attila Kasznár

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Remittances As Contributor To Risk Management And Poverty Reduction In Grenada, Dianne Jntl Rosemary Forte

Dissertations

A Small Island Development States (SIDS) viewpoint is underrepresented in the existing migration literature. That perspective is necessary because SIDS geography creates a unique set of social and economic circumstances that predisposes small states to high vulnerability to external shocks from environmental events and influences emigration decision making. Like other SIDS, Grenada is characterized by small land mass, small population, limited opportunities for productive labor, and limited resources to efficiently support all the requirements of modern institutions. This has resulted in high levels of emigration and a pattern of circularity as Grenadian households make rational decisions to manage risk and …

Choral Theatre, Albert Joseph Wolfe Jr.

Dissertations

Jamaica gained its independence from Great Britain in 1962, after some 300 years of colonization. Prior to Independence, the standard arts education curriculum was decidedly British and Western European. That which was labeled Caribbean or Jamaican “folk” by the British was deemed inferior and was not taught, demonstrated, or performed in formal settings. Thus, generations of Jamaicans never observed or imagined a Caribbean aesthetic in the visual and performing arts. Instead, pre-Independence Jamaicans were taught British and Western European music and performed it the “British” way.

Today, Jamaicans boast a number of artistic developments that are instantly recognized across the …

The Evolution And Analysis Of Legal Protection For Medical Conscientious Objectors., John Peter Hill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conscientious objection has a long tradition of legal and social recognition in America. It evolved as a subset of the constitutional free exercise of religion, and encompassed medical practice as well as the military after Roe v. Wade in 1973. Its constitutional protection abruptly changed with a Supreme Court case in 1990. Thereafter, medical conscientious objection – the exemption from performing certain acts by medical professionals – was regulated largely by legislation. Many of the conflicts arose and were resolved at the state level. Yet there is little study at the state level of why conscientious objection is protected or …

Exchange Patterns And Relations In Collaborative Governance., Charles Wharton Kaye-Essien

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collaborative governance has received considerable attention in recent years. From environmental resource management to public safety, collaborative governance continues to play a vital role in regional problem solving. In spite of this increasing popularity previous attempts to model the political, economic, and demographic determinants of collaboration have in most cases produced inconsistent results, thereby undermining the ability to generalize from such findings. Additionally, our understanding of the relational patterns that emanate from collaborative agreements remains fairly rudimentary. The main objective of this research is to address some of the gaps in the literature and improve our understanding of collaborative governance …

Kansas City, Missouri's Municipal Impact On Housing Segregation, Robert Neil Cooper

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Throughout Kansas City Missouri’s history, the parks and boulevards system, restrictive covenants, real estate and lending practices, urban redevelopment, public housing, and racial steering have contributed to the establishment and continuance of housing segregation. Although historians have studied these main types of housing segregation and the federal government’s actions thoroughly, little work exists to show how Kansas City, Missouri’s municipal government has influenced housing segregation. By examining Kansas City’s municipal response to the aforementioned types of segregation, it is clear that city officials have taken steps to both aid and discourage segregationist housing practices. Although municipal agencies, like the Commission …

Missed Connection: A Case Study Of Social Media, The Youth Vote And The 2015 Louisiana Gubernatorial Race, Valencia Richardson

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Crowd-Sourced Text Analysis: Reproducible And Agile Production Of Political Data, Kenneth Benoit, Drew Conway, Benjamin E. Lauderdale, Michael Laver, Slava Mikhaylov

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Empirical social science often relies on data that are not observed in the field, but are transformed into quantitative variables by expert researchers who analyze and interpret qualitative raw sources. While generally considered the most valid way to produce data, this expert-driven process is inherently difficult to replicate or to assess on grounds of reliability. Using crowd-sourcing to distribute text for reading and interpretation by massive numbers of nonexperts, we generate results comparable to those using experts to read and interpret the same texts, but do so far more quickly and flexibly. Crucially, the data we collect can be reproduced …

China’S “Asia Dream”: The Belt Road Initiative And The New Regional Order, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Since Xi Jinping became leader in 2012, he has redirected Chinese foreign policy. This article examines the role of peripheral diplomacy in Xi’s emerging grand strategy. While it is popular to look to theories of the international system – offensive realism and liberal institutionalism – to explore this issue, this article follows constructivism to take seriously the role of ideas and domestic politics in foreign policy-making. Through an analysis of official and unofficial sources, it traces linkages between ideas, institutions, and behavior in Chinese foreign policy. In particular, it argues that Beijing is combining new ideas (China Dream, Asia Dream), …

Review Of Beyond And Between The Cold War Blocs, Wen-Qing (Wei Wenqing) Ngoei

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In their introduction to this special issue of The International History Review, Janick Marina Schaufelbuehl, Sandra Bott, Jussi Hanhimaki and Marco Wyss state that this collection of papers examines “what independent pathways” existed for peripheral states, independence movements, or regional alliances “within the Cold War system that were not directly subjected to the East-West confrontation” (902).And there is, in principle, much to recommend this endeavor. As the introduction rightly points out, there is abundant evidence of middle and smaller powers as well as non-state actors who pursued their objectives through “an extensive array of strategies” that “did not easily fit …

A One Percent Chance: Jabotinsky, Bernadotte, And The Iron Wall Doctrine, Andrew Harman

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

This thesis is an examination of the long historical processes that have led to the Israel/Palestine conflict to the contemporary period, focusing mostly on the period before Israeli independence and the 1948 war that created the Jewish state. As Zionism emerged at the turn of the twentieth century to combat the antisemitism of Europe, practical and political facets of the movement sought immigration to Palestine, an area occupied by a large population of Arab natives. The answer to how the Zionists would achieve a Jewish state in that region, largely ignoring the indigenous population, fostered disagreements and a split in …

Political Action In Public Education, Brian Edmonds

Honors College Theses

Within the history of the United States, education policy has been an area of constant development and change. The unique structure of government in the U.S. means that any changes on a national level go through a detailed process with many different actors coming together and working toward the change. In the case of education policy change is often an intensive and laborious process. When looking at these changes the question really is this: does change in education policy represent government reacting to its own failures? Investigation into this question is divided into 6 sections: 1 – an introduction, 2 …

Campaign Finance Reform In The United States In The Wake Of Citizens United Vs. Fec 2010, Kayla Junkins

Honors College Theses

The Citizens United v. FEC 2010 Supreme Court case confirmed that it was legal for individuals, corporations, unions, and other groups to make unlimited independent political expenditures. Since this ruling, super PACs have played a significant role in national elections in the United States as there are no legal limits on the size of donations they can accept or political expenditures they can make. Due to the growing influence of money in politics, campaign finance reform has become a major issue for 2016 presidential candidates. Conversation about the influence of money in politics has erupted from all ends of the …

The Role Of School Boards In Addressing Opportunity And Equity For English Learners In The U.S. Mountain West, Carrie Sampson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Locally-elected school boards in the United States may be the public’s closest democratic link to public education. Yet, little is known about how school boards balance their representational obligations with their responsibilities to address educational inequities. The purpose of this study is to examine how school boards address policies and practices for one of education’s most vulnerable populations, English learners (EL). Applying the conceptual framework of social construction theory for policy design, which assumes that policy is heavily influenced by the social construction of target groups, this multiple-case study includes data from 30 interviews, four years of school board meeting …