Political Science Commons^™

New Release: Heart Of Buddha, Heart Of China

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

James Carter, Professor of History at Saint Joseph’s University and Chief Editor of the journal Twentieth-Century China, has recently published Heart of Buddha, Heart of China: The Life of Tanxu, a Twentieth Century Monk (Oxford University Press). To explore the life and work of this extraordinary individual, Carter embarked on a series of “travels with Tanxu,” spending time in Buddhist temples from Harbin to Hong Kong (with stops in Qingdao, Ningbo, Yingkou, and Shanghai along the way). Here, in an excerpt from the prologue to his book, Carter explains the challenges he encountered in tracing the life of Tanxu, an …

The Future Of The Gender Wage Gap In The American Workforce, Molly K. Merrick

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This thesis aims to accomplish four goals. First, to establish the extent to which a gender wage gap exists in the American workforce and why it matters. Second, it seeks to explore the various factors that scholars have advanced as potential explanations for this gap with the aim of identifying a more concrete and all-encompassing root cause of the gender wage gap as it exists today. Third, this thesis will individually evaluate a succession of equal pay legislation which has been enacted to date in order to discern the effectiveness of previous attempts to address this root cause, as well …

Ua12/3/1 Student Government Association - Governance, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records Student Government Association records related to governance. The series has been divided into the following subseries:

1. Constitution
2. Legislation
3. Meeting Minutes
4. Subject File
5. Elections
6. Committees
7. Judicial Council

Ua12/2/5 Student Affairs - Wku Amateur Radio Club, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about WKU Amateur Radio Club and WB4DQM. The collection consists of certificates, QSL cards received from other clubs around the world and a brief run of Radio Watch.

Year In Review: Books, Books, Books

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

As 2010 draws to a close, many media outlets have begun releasing their year-end “best of” lists. We always take a careful look at these to see which China-related titles appear, and have seen more than a few familiar names pop up. At the New York Times, the “100 Notable Books of 2010” include Peter Hessler’sCountry Driving and Yunte Huang’s biography of Charlie Chan, as well as Pearl Buck in China: Journey to The Good Earth by Hilary Spurling. Spurling’s work is also celebrated by Margaret Drabble at The Guardian, while both Pankaj Mishra and AS Byatt include Yiyun Li’s …

Hu Jingcao On Liang Sicheng And Lin Huiyin

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

In October, CCTV’s high-definition channel broadcast a new six-hour, eight-episode documentary on the famous husband-and-wife duo Liang Sicheng (梁思成, 1901-1972) and Lin Huiyin (林徽因, 1904-1955). Liang is renowned as a pioneering architectural historian, Lin as a writer, but their presence in China’s historical consciousness defies easy categorization. Both came from prominent families (Sicheng’s father was Liang Qichao, the scholar and reformer of the late Qing and early Republican period) and they left multifaceted legacies (their son, the noted environmentalist Liang Congjie, died in Beijing on October 28; American artist Maya Lin is Huiyin’s niece.)

Titled “Liang Sicheng Lin Huiyin,” the …

And Justice For All: Developing Rule Of Law In The Balkans, Ryan M. Lowry

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

The United Nations created the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to bring to justice those who had committed the worst crimes during the conflicts in the Balkans during the 1990s. From the outset, this institution was envisioned to temporarily process indicted war criminals. The domestic courts in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia were seen as being corrupt and ill equipped to handle such cases; rule of law was absent or severely lacking in these countries. As the Tribunal winds down, however, both international and domestic actors have emphasized the need to strengthen their judicial systems that will create a …

Policy Determinants And Medicaid Managed Care, Diane Elizabeth Brandt

Dissertations

The U.S. Medicaid program is increasingly challenged by reductions in federal entitlement spending, a faltering private sector health insurance base, escalating health care expenditures and an aging and increasingly diverse population. Converging pressures on state Medicaid programs have challenged state policy makers to find new approaches to enhance program efficiency. One of these policy tools is the adoption of Medicaid managed care programs for individuals with chronic illness and disability, particularly important as these enrollees incur the highest health care costs. The increasing prevalence of chronic illness combined with the growth of households in poverty creates significant implications for Medicaid …

Re-Reading Chalmers Johnson, Daniel Little

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Chalmers Johnson, co-founder and president of the Japan Policy Research Institute at the University of San Francisco and long-time professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley and University of California, San Diego, died on November 20, 2010. (Here are several notices — The Atlantic, theNew York Times, and The Nation.) In the past ten years or so Johnson has become widely known for his critical books about American empire (Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (2004), The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (2005), Nemesis: The Last Days of the …

The Shifting American Community And The Rise Of Social Media: Exploring Social Media In Grassroots Non-Profits, Casandra Fritzsche

Capstone Projects – Politics and Government

No abstract provided.

Liang Congjie, Public Intellectuals, And Civil Society In China, Guobin Yang

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Liang Congjie, professor of history and founder of China’s first environmental NGO, Friends of Nature, died on October 28, 2010 at the age of 78. His death was widely noted in the Chinese and international media: obituaries appeared in theNew York Times, The Atlantic, and other major English newspapers and magazines. The major web portal Sina.com dedicated a special section on its web site to Professor Liang. Friends of Nature, the organization which Professor Liang co-founded and led for many years, has posted a collection of commemorative essays from his former colleagues, friends, and followers and admirers. Much has been …

201028 Obiter Dicta: End Of The Year 2010, Steven Alan Samson

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Economic Size And The Changing International Political Economy Of Trade: The Development Of Western Hemispheric Ftas, Gaspare Genna

Selected Works Temporary Series

Why are some free trade agreements (FTAs) in the western hemisphere successfully negotiated and implemented while others seem to stagnate during negotiations? FTAs are more likely to develop when there is an asymmetrical power relationship and potential partners are satisfied with projected trade patterns. The European Union (EU) and United States have been successful in negotiating agreements with the Caribbean and Central American (CCA) countries. However, current bilateral and multilateral trade talks between the EU, the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR), and United States are at a standstill. Although all four sets of trade negotiations include dissatisfactory conditions for …

How Are The Torres Strait Islander's Traditional Hunting Practices Affected By The Current Rate Of Decline In Dugong And Sea Turtle Populations And The Australian Government's Co-Management Policies On Marine Preservation?, Katilyn Price

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

This paper will attempt to identify the extent to which the Torres Strait Islanders traditional hunting practices have been disrupted by the overall decline in dugong and sea turtle populations, which has directly correlated to an increase in hunting restrictions put in place by the Australian Government. The traditional hunting of dugongs and sea turtles provides not only a food source, but brings prestige to the men who catch them and serves as an educational platform to teach the younger generations about their culture. There are many environmental threats that impact the populations of sea turtles and dugongs though the …

Recent Legislation To Promote Wind Energy In Nebraska, Ryan Lemke

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Nebraska is currently ranked 4th in the nation for wind energy potential, but ranks low in actual wind power production. The lack of wind energy production could be the result of Nebraska’s unique public power districts that have eminent domain of distribution and retail sales of electricity in the State. Public Power districts are prohibited from receiving benefits of state and federal tax incentives for the development of wind farms, however some Nebraska power districts still pursue wind energy as a renewable source of energy.

Recent legislation changes, including the passing of laws LB629 and LB1048, have provided the State …

Can Community Design Build Trust? A Comparative Study Of Design Factors In Boise, Idaho Neighborhoods, Susan G. Mason

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Finding ways to increase trust may be one mechanism to overcome the alleged negative consequences of urban sprawl for neighborhoods. This study explores two relationships with community design and trust. First, is one benefit of some of the underlying concepts of New Urbanism design that they build trust? Second, can these design concepts overcome one undesirable feature of cities: the deleterious effect of income inequality on trust? This study uses survey data collected from 34 city of Boise neighborhoods and 2000 US census data aggregated to the neighborhood level to examine the effects of street design, sidewalks and open space …

Economic Size And The Changing International Political Economy Of Trade: The Development Of Western Hemispheric Ftas, Gaspare Genna

Departmental Papers (PS)

Why are some free trade agreements (FTAs) in the western hemisphere successfully negotiated and implemented while others seem to stagnate during negotiations? FTAs are more likely to develop when there is an asymmetrical power relationship and potential partners are satisfied with projected trade patterns. The European Union (EU) and United States have been successful in negotiating agreements with the Caribbean and Central American (CCA) countries. However, current bilateral and multilateral trade talks between the EU, the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR), and United States are at a standstill. Although all four sets of trade negotiations include dissatisfactory conditions for …

Racial Attitude Effects In The 2008 Presidential Election: Examining The Unconventional Factors Shaping Vote Choice In A Most Unconventional Election, Herbert F. Weisberg, Christopher J. Devine

Political Science Faculty Publications

Every election has unique elements, but the 2008 U.S. presidential race had it all: an African-American presidential candidate who won his party’s nomination by defeating a former first lady, an historically unpopular outgoing president, two ongoing wars, a failing economy, and a war hero running for president with a female vice-presidential running mate. With so many unique elements to account for, disentangling their independent effects to identify the dominant factors shaping the 2008 election is a tremendous challenge. This paper explores a wide variety of factors potentially influencing the 2008 vote, but it devotes particular attention to two exceptionally relevant …

Political And Civic Engagement Attitudes Among Asian American College Students, Matthew Vanada

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study explored the attitudes of political and civic engagement among Asian American college students. Previous research suggests that young people are increasingly more inclined to participate in civic activities over traditional forms of political participation. The researcher considered this trend by examining the views of Asian American students, a group whose political behavior has not been largely investigated.

This study employed a qualitative research design. Students from public institutions of higher education in Las Vegas were interviewed using an in-depth and semi-structured format. Findings suggest that there is a general willingness to become involved in civic activity such as …

National Intelligence Estimate, Fuad Guliyev

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

The Life Of An Unknown Assassin: Leon Czolgosz And The Death Of William Mckinley, Cary H. Federman

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The purpose of this essay is to examine the discourses that surrounded the life of Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of President William McKinley. The gaps in Czolgosz’s life, his peculiar silences, his poor health and the ambiguity and thinness of his confession, rather than taken as instances of mental and physical distress, have, instead, been understood as signs of a revolutionary anarchistic assassin. Czolgosz is an expression of a cultural tradition in somatic form. I argue that the discursive construction of criminality, already present in the late nineteenth century within the medical and human sciences, is what shaped Czolgosz’s life …

Plato’S Gorgias: Rhetoric, The Greatest Evil, And The True Art Of Politics, Paul A. George

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The interweaving of rhetoric, the greatest evil, and the true art of politics create the unity of the dialogue. Whereas Gorgianic rhetoric is pleasure seeking flattery which inspires belief without knowledge, noble rhetoric is refutative, inspiring the acknowledgment of falsity or ignorance. Moreover, it is self-refutation, meaning that the person being persuaded arrives at the conclusion of his ignorance by his own realization; the noble rhetor does not connect all the dots for them. The greatest evil is to have a false opinion about justice. A just penalty for suffering from the greatest evil is to face selfrefutation in hopes …

Preserving Republican Governance: An Essential Government Functions Exception To Direct Democratic Measures, William R. Leinen

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Progressivism And The Executive Branch: Woodrow Wilson's Expansion Of Presidential Power, Christopher F. Fisher

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

This paper examines how and to what degree Woodrow Wilson expanded the power of the president. After the Civil War, immigration, urbanization, and industrialization changed America. Progressives like Wilson argued that many of these changes were harmful to society. Wilson argued that a president with an expanded role, supplemented by administrative bureaucracies, could solve what Progressives believed were the problems of capitalism and the Founder's vision of America.

How Communist Is North Korea?: From The Birth To The Death Of Marxist Ideas Of Human Rights, Jiyoung Song

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article focuses on the Marxist characteristics of North Korea in its interpretation of human rights. The author's main argument is that many Marxist features pre-existed in Korea. Complying with Marxist orthodoxy, North Korea is fundamentally hostile to the notion of human rights in capitalist society, which existed in the pre-modern Donghak (Eastern Learning) ideology. Rights are strictly contingent upon one's class status in North Korea. However, the peasants' rebellion in pre-modern Korea was based on class consciousness against the ruling class. The supremacy of collective interests sees individual claims for human rights as selfish egoism, which was prevalent in …

Policy Transfer, Diffusion, And Institutional Change Under Uncertainty: The Role Of Policy Ideas, Yooil Bae

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Mapping 'Chinese' Christian Schools In Indonesia: Ethnicity, Class And Religion, Chang Yau Hoon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Schools are not ‘‘innocent’’ sites of cultural transmission. They play an active and significant role in transmitting values and inculcating culture. Schools also serve as a site for the maintenance of boundaries and for the construction of identities. Previous studies have recognized the relationship between education and identity. Building on existing literature, this study examines the ways in which Christian schools can be a site for the construction and maintenance of religious, ethnic and class identities of the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia. The study surveys four prestigious ‘‘Chinese’’ Christian schools in Jakarta. Through a brief but thorough profiling of the …

Mountain Monitor-3rd Quarter 2010, Jonathan Rothwell, Kenan Fikri

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

One year after the Mountain Monitor began tracking recession and recovery in the Intermountain West, the Southern Nevada economy has yet to turn around. The rate of slippage across a range of indicators has slowed measurably, but evidence of a nascent recovery eludes. Las Vegas' poor relative performance over the past year can be attributed not only to the legacy of a particularly devastating initial wave of economic distress, but also to a continued struggle to slow and reverse the downward trend.

The Cold War : A View From Russia, Vladimir O. Pechatnov

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Reconciling Modernity And Tradition In A Liberal Society, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Many modern liberals have been eager to tout the virtues of diversity, but many have equally found it difficult to tolerate customs or traditions that do not conform to liberalism’s deepest commitments to equality and individual liberty. The distinction between traditional and modern is not a very useful one for understanding the problems confronting liberal society, or for working out how to address them because the contrast does not pick out a tension or conflict about which we can usefully generalise. Chandran Kukatahs suggests that as the tension in question is not one that is capable of resolution, the best …