Political Science Commons^™

Universal Injunctions And The Executive-Judicial Relationship In America, Jeremy Kang

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis examines a specific type of legal controversy surrounding the Trump administration’s dealings with the judicial branch. Central to the matter is the concept of universal injunctions: how a federal court can enjoin even non-parties to a case from behaving in certain ways.

The history of universal injunctions, from pre-Enlightenment England to modern America, is initially discussed. Then special attention is given to their use against President Donald Trump in particular, culminating in the Supreme Court curtailing them, and district court judges ignoring the high court’s ruling. Finally, previous examples of conflict between the American executive and judicial branches …

Mapping Minority Investigative Powers In Congress, David Rapallo

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

“Shut down the Senate . . .” “Roll over and play dead . . .” In the first hundred days of President Donald Trump’s second term, these were the rallying cries of two far ends of a debate among Democrats about how to respond to the administration’s unprecedented actions. This debate, which rages on today, has been marked by a lack of specificity about the various oversight tools available to members of the minority party in Congress, particularly when they investigate whether the Executive Branch is faithfully executing the laws Congress passes. Scholarship too has focused little on the full …

A Leadership Trait Analysis Of U.S. Vice President Jd Vance, Aubrey Immelman, Sophie J. Heck

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of an indirect leadership trait analysis of U.S. vice president JD Vance, conducted for the purpose of anticipating Vance’s likely leadership style in a high-level executive role in politics, from the conceptual perspective of Margaret Hermann’s leadership trait analysis (LTA) model, employing an empirically based “psychodiagnostic meta-analytic” methodology.

Psychodiagnostically relevant data relating to Vance were collected from biographical sources and media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the Hermann Leadership Trait Inventory (HLTI) — constructed expressly for the present study — which taps seven leadership trait dimensions: belief in one’s ability to control …

Demographic Trends And Far-Right Party Support In Europe: The Role Of The Cordon Sanitaire, Maxwell Curry

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study examines whether cordons sanitaires, institutional exclusionary arrangements common in Western and Central Europe on the part of mainstream political actors aimed to prevent far-right political parties perceived as posing a threat to liberal democratic order from entering into governing coalitions or otherwise participating in mainstream political life, condition the relationship between immigration-related demographic change and support for far-right political parties. Contemporary scholarship has extensively examined the relationship between immigration and support for far-right political parties, but comparatively little research has examined the institutional factors that potentially condition such a relationship. In an analysis of parliamentary election data …

Pinochet’S Upswing: The Demise Of A Democratic Society In Chile, Jacob Behnk

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

In the United States, we tend to view democracy as an inviolable tenet of political life. Our nation’s founding is even romanticized as a heroic fight for liberty against the wicked tyranny of the British monarchy. It is unthinkable that democracy could ever be destroyed, let alone have the citizens cheer on those who engineer its destruction—yet this is the very situation that Chile found itself regarding Augusto Pinochet, a brutal dictator who ruled the country with an iron fist from 1973 to 1990. Pinochet would be voted out of power in a 1988 plebiscite, but still managed to win …

What Is To Be Done About The Radical Far-Right?, Bernard E. Harcourt

Faculty Scholarship

The far Right in America has become radical. In the process, it has outmaneuvered the progressives. In the first months of his second mandate, President Trump has mounted a revolution (or counterrevolution) against the liberal democratic state. Steve Bannon said he was Leninist and wanted to “smash the state.” President Trump has done just that. In this essay, I explore the far Right’s embrace of Lenin. I return to the Hegelian roots of Lenin’s politics to explain what he meant by “smashing the state machine.” I then argue that the Left should reclaim Lenin’s dialectics and his call, in the …

A World Without Literature? Tagore’S Words For His Times And Ours, Salmoli Choudhuri

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In 1907, Rabindranath Tagore delivered a lecture on world literature to an audience in Calcutta, the then capital of British India. Amid powerful and intersecting forces—colonialism and nationalism, industrial modernity and mass poverty—Tagore’s position on literature was neither disengaged nor defensive, insofar as he related it to the human condition and the capacity for world-making. Far from staking a representational claim to world literature on behalf of Indian or Bengali literature, I argue in this article, Tagore reconceptualized the idea from its earlier canonical formulation by Goethe. He departed from dominant nineteenth-century philosophies that conceived the world as a spatial—and …

Reconsidering Karl Marx’S Concept Of World Literature, Kenneth Cheng

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

It is widely assumed that Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels regarded world literature as an epiphenomenal product of the capitalist world market, and therefore as a symptom of rather than potential cure to the crisis of modern society. However, this conflicts with the fact that they designated the Communist Manifesto itself as a world-literary production—the joint work of communists of various nationalities—and opposed it to the national limitations of German socialist literature. This article challenges existing interpretations by outlining how Marx and Engels incorporated the humanistic idealism of the Goethean Weltliteratur tradition into the theoretical framework of historical materialism. It …

The Psychology Of Diplomacy In The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: The Role Of Emotions And Perceptions In Peace Negotiations, Tomy Octavian, Linda Noviyana

Journal Of Middle East and Islamic Studies

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict remains one of the major challenges in building sustainable peace through diplomacy. This study analyzes the role of emotions and perceptions in Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations through the perspective of diplomacy psychology. Using an integrative literature review and an integrated theory approach that combines psychological theories and international relations theories, this study synthesizes empirical and conceptual findings on the Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiation process. The results of the analysis show that negative emotions such as fear, hatred, and anger worsen diplomatic relations and hinder peace deals. Distorted perceptions of the other side's intentions and identities, as well as conflicting …

Expanding The Cognitive Attentional Standards Platform Through Artificial Influence Assessment (Aia): Rationale, Development, And Measurement Design, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping how individuals access information, make decisions, and interact with digital environments. The Cognitive Attentional Standards Platform (C.A.S.) was developed to assess attention related harms, cognitive safety, digital autonomy, and platform influence across digital systems (Clark, 2026). However, the growth of generative AI, conversational agents, and algorithmic decision support technologies has introduced new forms of influence that may not be fully captured by existing assessment domains. This paper proposes the Artificial Influence Assessment (AIA) as an expansion of the C.A.S. framework designed to measure AI mediated influence on cognition, behavior, autonomy, and information processing. Drawing on …

Governing Algorithmic Attention: Attention Safeguard Models And The Cognitive Attentional Standard As System Level Interventions In Human Computer Interaction, Behavioral Economics, And Artificial Intelligence, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Algorithmic recommendation systems and interface designs shape attention by combining visually salient cues with uncertain reward timing and low friction interaction. These conditions can sustain anticipatory checking, extend time on task, and reduce natural disengagement points through patterns such as infinite scrolling and autoplay. This paper synthesizes research across neuroscience, human computer interaction, behavioral economics, and artificial intelligence to argue that attention capture is a predictable outcome of incentive driven design rather than an individual failure of self regulation. It advances the Attention Safeguard Models and the Cognitive Attentional Standard as system level interventions that regulate exposure conditions, pacing, and …

Preserving The Family In The Globalized Era: Explaining State Discouragement Of Women’S Rights And The Gap Between Law And Family Realities In Tajikistan, Ivy Alexandra Raines

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation is guided by a two-part research question, which begins by asking why Tajikistan exhibits low levels of gender equality within the family despite strong international commitments and a formally secular legal framework. The second question builds on the first by asking why a state that offers legal guarantees in line with its international commitments, as outlined by Article 16 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), invests significant energy in discouraging divorce rather than in safeguarding women’s rights that would support their ability to leave harmful marital situations. Employing qualitative discourse …

Talking From The Soul: Exploring The Impact Of African American Vernacular English (Aave) In Digital News On Black Youth Political Behavior, Ananda Collins

Dissertations - ALL

Black youth have a long history of political engagement yet consistently report the lowest levels of traditional forms of political participation in the entire U.S electorate. While social media has emerged as an alternative political space, structural and linguistic barriers continue to limit their engagement. This dissertation examines whether African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in digital political news media influences the political behavior of young Black Americans. Using a mixed-methods approach that combines a survey experiment and in-depth interviews, this study tests whether political news written in AAVE, compared to Standard American English (SAE), affects political engagement, information retention, and …

Papers On American Elections, Murat Abus

Dissertations - ALL

The transfer of executive power through free and fair elections is the cornerstone of democracy. However, losers' consent is a fundamental requirement for the peaceful transfer of power through elections. In advanced democracies, due to the long series of free and fair elections and frequent electoral turnovers, there is an implicit assumption about the status of elections as the mechanism to shape the structure of representative government and resolve societal conflicts. Voters naturally occupy a central role in the maintenance of this societal consensus. Therefore, factors that affect the voter experience - voter satisfaction and voter confidence - are normatively …

Feed-Ing Identity Item Development, Observational, And Experimental Analysis To Study The Relationship Between Algorithm-Based Short Video Platforms And Identity, Sarah Elizabeth Hogenboom-Jones

Dissertations - ALL

Short video social media platforms (SVPs) such as TikTok and YouTube Shorts are distinguished from other forms of social media by two key features: video delivery and explicit algorithm-driven selection. In this project, I argue that these platform features make SVPs particularly potent at reinforcing individuals’ identities and enable more effective persuasion relative to other media. These media are sufficiently unique that to study their effects I develop novel survey items designed specifically around the key features of SVPs. These items assess both usage of SVPs and their impact on identity. I find that users of SVPs are particularly likely …

Data Governance In Local Government: Evidence From Spatial Data Initiatives, Maame Efua Q. Arthur

Capstone Projects – Politics and Government

The adoption of modern digital applications and tools enables community development organizations to improve public services and community well-being. In response to the data surge, several local governments in the U.S. are converting spatial data into user-friendly geospatial products, including maps, dashboards, web, and instant apps. Research suggests that while these tools enhance operations for municipalities, they also increase public accountability and data transparency. However, developing data-driven tools is dependent on structured data governance practices that ensure data accessibility, accuracy, reliability, and security. Using the City of Bloomington, Illinois, as a case study, this study assesses the city's data-driven initiatives, …

The Political Culture Of Taxation, Steven M. Karceski, Steven Pfaff

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

In My Tax Dollars: The Morality of Taxpaying in America, Ruth Braunstein explores the political culture of taxation in contemporary America. Calling our attention to the origins of contemporary tax debates, she shows how morality and American civil religion influence how citizens understand taxation, citizenship, and the proper scope of government. In this article, we review Braunstein's main arguments and the evidence she presents in support of them. We take stock of the book's theoretical frame work and the applicability of the concepts it borrows from the sociology of religion. For all there is to like about Braunstein's book, …

Interview With Orca Winner John Hibbing, Political Science; How Political Attitudes Correlate With Physiological Traits, Mark A. Griep, John Hibbing

UNL ORCA Interview Series

Dr. John Hibbing was awarded the ORCA in 1993. John was born in 1953 in Paullina, Iowa. He earned a bachelor's in secondary education from Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, but then realized that teaching high school wasn't for him. Instead, he attended the University of Iowa, where he earned a master's and doctorate in political science. In 1981, he joined the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as an assistant professor of political science and rose quickly through the ranks. Initially, he studied the reasons that members of the U.S. Congress retire. This led to a longer-term collaboration with Kevin Smith and …

The 1778 Fort Pitt Treaty: U.S. Relations With The Lenni-Lenape Nation And The Unraveling Of Early Promises, Veronica E. Riddle

Masters Theses

This study examines the Treaty of Fort Pitt (1778), signed in present-day Pittsburgh, as the first formal diplomatic agreement between the United States and the Lenape (Delaware) Nation during the American Revolutionary War. Formed amid the military and political instability of the Revolution, the treaty promised mutual military assistance, recognition of Lenape sovereignty west of the Alleghenies, protection from settler encroachment, and the unprecedented possibility of Native representation within the emerging American confederation. However, following the deaths of key Lenape leaders, escalating frontier violence, and the failure of the Continental Congress to ratify or uphold critical provisions, the treaty rapidly …

From Hashtags To Regime Change: How Ai-Driven Social Media Algorithms Fueled Youth Protests Against Authoritarianism In Bangladesh But Stalled In Pakistan (2020-2025), Rafia Nishan Abbasi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this research, it has been investigated that how and why youth protests were amplified by AI based social media algorithms in Bangladesh; however, their impacts resulted in occasional and isolated resistance in Pakistan during 2022-25, taking in account the differences in state regulations, platform governance, and civil society networks. While utilizing Mixed-methods approach, this study employs comparative discourse analysis, a structured survey (N=466), semi-structured interviews, legal and policy tracing, and platform data. This research has proposed a novel theoretical framework of Algorithm Regime Mediation (ARM). ARM considers platform algorithms as politically intermingled intermediaries which can determine socio-political outcomes by …

Articulating The Future: How The Techno-Optimist Manifesto Constructs Ai Hegemony, Christian Noel Yeomans

Master's Theses

This paper analyzes two recently published digital manifestos—the Techno-Optimist Manifesto (TOM) by Marc Andreessen and the Bitcoin Whitepaper (BW) by Satoshi Nakamoto—and how they articulate political visions for the respective rising technologies of artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency. I apply Laclau and Mouffe’s discursive articulation theory to both manifestos, analyzing how they contribute to the formation of hegemonic ideological visions among the elites of these two technological sectors. In the context of AI elites, TOM transforms an existing Silicon Valley ideology, techno-optimism, into a radical new form of accelerationism, which I coin t/opt. This shift is examined within the context …

Editor’S Introduction, Michael D. Pante

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

No abstract provided.

Bridging The Gender Gap In Ghanaian Local Governance: Key Enablers And Pathways, Martin Brantuo, Victor Fannam Nunfam, Joseph Akanganngang Asitik, Ebenezer Afrifa-Yamoah

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This qualitative study examines factors facilitating women’s election to District Assemblies in Ghana through social capital and supply–demand theoretical frameworks. Through interviews with thirteen female Assembly members and four officials, the research identifies four critical enablers: financial resources, political affiliations, community relationships, and educational qualifications. Financial resources emerged as crucial for campaign management and voter mobilization, while political party support provided strategic advantages despite the nonpartisan nature of local elections. Strong interpersonal relationships within communities proved vital for building voter trust, and educational background enhanced candidates’ credibility. The findings inform recommendations for implementing gender quotas, establishing campaign funding mechanisms, voter …

Spotting Power: Reframing Media Literacy In Civic Education, Kason Kendall

Democracy & Education

This article analyzes and critiques the tendency to frame media literacy as a neutral skill set concentrated on verifying sources, or "spotting the error." While this approach emphasizes cognitive habits of checking for bias and accuracy, it does not adequately prepare students to understand intentional misinformation as a political strategy. Building on Matthew's (2020) response to Curry and Cherner (2019), I propose that limiting media literacy to error correction hides the strategic production and intentional spread of disinformation by powerful organizations, corporations, and media outlets. Rooted in curriculum theory and the work of scholars such as Gramsci, Hall, Habermas, and …

“The Blue Party? No, Wait, Is There Really A Blue Party?” A Study Of Young Norwegian Children’S Perceptions Of Politics, Stine Johansen Utler

Democracy & Education

The study investigates Norwegian primary school children's immediate responses to “What do you think of when you hear the word ‘politics’?” It examines children’s perceptions of the concept of politics, their emphasis, and how they communicate their perceptions, providing information about children’s political socialization, knowledge, and understanding as well as early conceptual learning. The data come from group interviews with 36 children (20 second-graders and 16 fourth-graders). The study was not longitudinal but emphasized differences in the content of children’s perceptions. The analysis identifies four different categories of children`s perceptions. These vary according to their emphasis, their apparent associative political …

Exploring Border Rhetoric, Resistance, And The American Dream: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' First House Address, Candice L. Ruh Phd, Cassandra Hightower

Feminist Pedagogy

Border rhetoric can be a “muddy” topic for undergraduates, as borders are often taught as fixed, factual lines that divide places and people. However, from a communication perspective, borders are fluid, symbolic, and socially constructed. This difference between viewing borders as physical dividers versus rhetorical constructs creates a valuable opportunity for students to think critically about how meaning is shaped by borders of land, language, and identity.             This original teaching activity uses Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ (D-NY) first House speech—the most-watched C-SPAN video within 12 hours of release (Gajanan, 2019)—as a central case. It invites students to analyze a key moment …

The Contentious Politics Of Abortion: Understanding The Black Protests And Women’S Strikes In Poland, Taubie Sanders

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

In 1993, the Polish Parliament, the Sejm, passed a law called ‘The Abortion Compromise’ permitting abortion only in cases when there is a serious threat to the life or health of the woman, pregnancy is the result of a crime, or prenatal tests show the fetus to be severely or incurably damaged. The current abortion laws in Poland are the most restrictive in all of Europe. Poland’s abortion laws have undergone much contestation in recent years. In 2016, the Black Protests erupted across the country in opposition to a proposed total ban on abortion. In 2020, the Women’s Strikes commenced …

Collaboration In Conservation: Examining Environmental Policy Perspectives Among Ranchers In Rural America, Adeline Braun

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Rural Americans play an essential role in environmental protection policy in the United States due to their political influence and their management of large amounts of land. This study examines what factors affect rural support for and opposition to environmental management policies in order to gain a deeper understanding of when and why rural Americans support and oppose certain environment-related policies. Data collected from interviews with seven current and former ranchers in Wyoming along with information gathered from three relevant environmental organizations is analyzed through the lenses of economics, partisan politics, rural identity, and policy framing. The findings of this …

Explaining Variation In Medical Aid In Dying Policy Across U.S. States, Abigail Hopper

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

This paper asks why Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) policy in the United States does not follow a simple partisan pattern between states. Existing scholarship on morality policy emphasizes ideological conflict and partisan alignment, but this framework cannot fully explain why states with similar political compositions have adopted different MAiD policy outcomes, indicating that some key mechanisms shaping the variation have been overlooked. To address this, this paper combines a national dataset of MAiD policies across all fifty states with a comparative case study of Montana, Colorado, and West Virginia, focusing on differences in institutional venues, framing strategies, and coalition …

“Three In A Jeep”: Exploring The Conditions For Successful Peacekeeping Through United Nations Special Political Missions, Audrey Duff

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

This thesis examines a specific type of United Nations peacekeeping operation, referred to as Special Political Missions (SPMs) and their progress in transitions from war to peace. While traditional peacekeeping has made advances in separating conflict and human rights development, SPMs provide concentrated specialization in areas, including electoral support, government mediation, and disarmament. Through a structured focus comparison of three unique SPM case studies, this research explores what key dimensions are involved in successful Special Political Missions. By comparing the United Nations Mission in Nepal, United Nations Mission in Colombia, and United Nations Observer Mission in Bougainville, this thesis intends …