Political Science Commons^™

Arguing For The Philosophy Of Political Science, Robert Herold

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

While there are many working scientists who engage in things like theory building and empirical testing, there has also been a group of scientists who sought to better understand the philosophy behind science. This philosophical study of science as a project is referred to as the philosophy of science and there are different sub-fields for each of the natural and social sciences, except for political science. This lack of an explicit sub-field dedicated to reflecting on our philosophy of science, i.e., our beliefs, values, methods, etc., has caused this knowledge to become tacit within our community. Because the knowledge of …

Hate In The Heartland: Examining Hate Groups In Nebraska’S Past And Present, Grant Van Robays

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Hate groups that malign entire classes of people based on race, religion, sexuality, gender, or other characteristic appear in every U.S. state. Nebraska is home to nine such groups, one of the highest figures in the country on a per capita basis. While notoriously secretive, previous research and watchdog reporting has pulled back the curtain on hate groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan and various neo-Nazi organizations, positing theories on how and why groups form. Minimal research has described in depth hate groups in a single state, let alone a quaint state like Nebraska. This case study of hate …

Diets, Detoxes, And Dysmorphia: Health, Wellness, And Misinformation On Tiktok, Courtney Kilroy

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The worlds of social media and wellness have been similarly categorized as “Wild West” industries. Innovation in science and technology are growing exponentially and are increasingly a part of most people’s everyday lives. TikTok began in 2016 and has since accumulated 78.7 million users in the United States. The wellness industry was valued at $4.37 trillion worldwide in 2020, likely due in no small part to the concept’s proliferation across social media platforms like TikTok. This rapid growth has come with unforeseen consequences, both positive and negative. A negative consequence that has been more frequently discussed and researched in the …

Without Local Newspapers, Can We Save Our Democracy? An Analysis Of Political Culture, Voter Turnout, And Civic Engagement, Julia Reinhard

Political Science & International Studies | Senior Theses

Since the 1830s, newspapers have been accessible to all members of the public in the United States regardless of socio-economic status. Newspapers are important political information providers. Local journalists provide invaluable expertise for the community they serve about community-level problems, local elections, and help hold government accountable. If news organizations cannot afford to sustain a local newspaper and its staff, the result is a news desert for the community. While recent research has examined the decline of local newspapers, little has been done on how the decline of local newspapers affects civic engagement and voter turnout across the United States. …

Representative Government: An Evaluation Of Single-Party Dominance In The State Of Arkansas, Kennedy Lynn Hill

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Studying the opinion-policy link in the state of Arkansas can determine if the state has had a representative governing body. The state, like many others, has a history of single-party dominance politics, and this study seeks to understand the conditions for policy congruence under one-party rule. Specifically, this research focuses on the past two decades of Arkansas politics, wherein the state’s legislature experienced a partisan shift from the Democratic Party to the eventual single-party dominance of the Republicans. Using data from the Arkansas Poll and the Arkansas State Legislature to analyze multivariate OLS regression models, this study investigates factors that …

Post-Obergefell V. Hodges: How Lgbt Contact Can Alter Public Lgbt Policy Positions In The U.S. And Arkansas, Briana Huett

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Contact Theory (CT) of attitudinal change has utilized to understand perceptions of minority-group members and the policies that surround them since the 1950s. It has further been used to specifically examine how we form our opinions of LGBT-identifying individuals, the LGBT community, and LGBT policies more generally. However, further evidence is still needed from the CT literature surrounding how this form of contact interacts with individuals’ social identities to determine and alter their LGBT policy positions, how the level of contact with LGBT persons might have differing effects on these positions, and whether LGBT contact holds the same effects …

Kids And Campaigning: The Impact Of Child Care As An Approved Campaign Expense On Women's Legislative Candidacy, Matilyn Kay Mortensen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

While women’s candidacy continues to reach record numbers in the United States, women remain grossly underrepresented as candidates and elected officials at all levels of government. Many people and groups are focused on increasing women’s political involvement and often these efforts focus on empowering individual women to become candidates. However, when women do run for office, there are many systemic challenges they face, such as the fact that whether or not women work professionally or for compensation, they perform more unpaid care work than their men counterparts.

In the past few years, multiple states across the nation have begun allowing …

“Effective Immediately”: A Qualitative Analysis Of The Reaction Of Mississippi Newspapers To 1969’S Alexander V. Holmes County Board Of Education Decision, Phoebe Waters

Honors Theses

This qualitative study analyzed articles from Mississippi newspapers in three regions. In North Mississippi, Greenville and Tupelo were surveyed. In Central Mississippi, Jackson, Meridian, and Natchez were surveyed. In South Mississippi, Hattiesburg, McComb, and Biloxi were surveyed. These newspapers were chosen as they were among the biggest in the state and reported either daily or weekly and would be able to provide a wide range of opinions. These newspapers were surveyed from October 30, 1969, through November 14, 1969, and headlines, editorials, and other opinion pieces were analyzed. This study analyzed articles in order to investigate what the media response, …

#Blacklivesmatter: Critical Political Implications Of Twitter Discourse In The Wake Of George Floyd, Jillian C. Waterhouse

Honors Theses

As we move forward into a digitalized age of communication, social media becomes increasingly powerful with each passing day. Digital forms of interaction foster an active political discourse and influence the behavior of both the public and government officials. The freedom to deliver public statements at will has been effectively utilized by individuals, local activists, and representatives of the legislative branch to interact in discourse concerning current events, therefore furthering the mobilization of social media to shape the American public policy stage as a whole. As a result of the accessibility of the internet, social media has become the most …

Reinventing Our Understanding Of The Left-Right Political Dichotomy: The Case Of Argentina, Sol Halle

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

What happens to a country’s political culture once populism takes root? Have Global North-centered methods of evaluation miscategorized Global South political party identification both historically and contemporaneously? As the world grapples with the continued rise of populism and its divisive rhetoric, scholars must thoroughly examine the movement’s spheres of influence beyond traditionally accepted frameworks. Understanding populist parties is vital, for they oftentimes create staggering disruptions within a nation’s political culture. These disturbances become starkly apparent in times of crises as challenges plunge everyday citizens deeper into the political sphere. The case of Argentina allows for an examination of the ways …

The International Perception Of The Irish Republican Army And Chechen Insurgency, Henry Forteith

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

This purpose of this project is to examine how the labels used to describe the Irish Republican Army and Chechen insurgency changed after certain acts of violence. This paper begins by describing the history of imperial subjugation of Ireland and Chechnya, as well as examining the similarities between the actions and motivations of the IRA and Chechen insurgency. Then, to study the change in language to describe these groups, two searches were conducted into the New York Times and International Newsstream databases. The first search examined articles about the IRA and Chechen insurgency published between 1998 and 2009, while the …

Why Renegotiation?: Renewal Of The South Korea-Chile Bilateral Free Trade Agreement, Montserrat Bugueno

International Studies (MA) Theses

This thesis project explores the motivations behind the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) renegotiation between Chile and South Korea. Existing studies have examined the reasons and outcomes of creating the initial Chile-South Korea FTA, but they have not focused on renegotiations between the two countries. A few investigations on renegotiations have focused on diversifying their exports and expanding their markets in each other's regions. However, most research lacks further exploration of both countries' market security concerns. By analyzing official government documents and conducting three semi-structured interviews with government officials and experts in the field, I argue that the current protectionist …

How Conservative Media Influences Views On Illegal Immigration, Juhi Doshi

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Conservative media sources tend to amplify antiimmigrant rhetoric on their news platforms. Relying on the 2021 Chapman Survey of American Fears, I examine how conservative media sources like FOX News may influence how likely one is to fear illegal immigration in comparison to someone who watches CNN. Data is sourced from questions that ask subjects how afraid they are of illegal immigration, where they get their news from, what their racial attitudes are, and their political affiliation. The topic of illegal immigration has been studied for years, however there is not much literature published on how media consumption can directly …

Ukraine: Experience Of War, Natalia Ishchuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"The May issue of OPREE is being published during the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people to the massive invasion of Putin’s Russian army. The unjust war of aggression launched by Russia in 2014 has been going on for more than eight years. But three months ago, the destructive leader of our neighboring state to the east wished a great victory over Ukraine. This prompted a major slaughter between the two nations."

An Epidemic Of Skepticism: Examining Right-Wing Populist Responses To The Covid-19 Crisis In Germany, Rachel Moline

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the role of far-right populist groups in the framing of global health crises. To understand the impact far-right populism has had on the response to health crises, I will be analyzing the case of the Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD), or Alternative for Germany, and their response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. I evaluate three distinct time periods in the AfD’s history and determine how the AfD has framed and reframed its crisis narrative in response to the coronavirus compared to previous crises, such as the refugee crisis of 2015. I hypothesize that new crises will lead far-right …

If A Tree Falls In The Forest: Presidential Press Conferences And Early Media Narratives About The Covid-19 Crisis, Masha Krupenkin, Kai Zhu, Dylan Walker, David Rothschild

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, as we confronted questions about social distancing, masking wearing, and vaccines, public safety experts warned that the consequences of a misinformed population would be particularly dire due to the serious nature of the threat and necessity of severe collective action to keep the population safe. Thus, the media and the political elites (e.g., President of the United States) who possess the power to set the information agenda around COVID-19 bear a huge responsibility for the general welfare. Through automated text analysis of complete transcripts of national cable, network, and local news, we explore their narratives surrounding …

Evaluating Imf Structural Conditionality And Good Governance: Has Streamlining Worked To Reduce Corruption?, Yila Ataman

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

At the turn of the century, while facing significant criticism for the inherent invasiveness of structural conditionality, the frequently high number of conditional requirements attached to loans, and relatively low implementation rates of conditional reforms, the IMF made a series of changes to their conditionality practices to streamline back to their core organizational mission of macroeconomic stability. The IMF defends its continued use of structural conditions with the institutional transparency and accountability that these conditions seek to impose, thereby reducing corruption. IMF structural conditions can however create new opportunities for corrupt linkages to develop and limit the state’s institutional capacity …

Votes And Voices: Minority Languages And Electoral Substate Nationalism In Spain And The United Kingdom, Valeryn Shepherd

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Substate nationalist political parties are a key component of the electoral politics of Spain and the United Kingdom. The demographic support that these parties receive is often tied to speakers of regional languages. In this paper, six regions in the two countries - Scotland, Catalonia, the Basque Country, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Galicia - are examined using geographic data analysis to determine whether communities with a high level of minority language speakers are more likely to vote for substate nationalist parties. In most of the cases, I find that there is a strong connection between the two.

Making Aid Work: Assessing The Impact Of Regional Similarities On State Development Through A Transaction Costs Approach, Sophia Corinne Wozniak

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This research seeks to discern the extent to which similarities between states involved in bilateral aid transfers impact the effectiveness of aid in catalyzing human development within the recipient state. Essentially, in this study I intend to understand if recipient states respond more positively to assistance when the donor state bears similar characteristics to the recipient. As a myriad of new donors emerge into the donor discussion, they bring with them unique cultural contexts, languages, religions, colonial heritages, geographic locations, and many other aspects which may distinguish them from the existing pool of donors.

The Carrot Vs. The Stick: A Comparative Analysis Of Secondary Sanctions Vs. Positive Inducements In Gaining European Support For A U.S.-Led Sanction Regime, Andy Gomez

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The United States has a history of imposing its will on other countries via aggressive sanction regimes. In many of those regimes, U.S. policymakers note that support from European partner states is paramount to the regime's success. Over the past 20 years, the U.S. and its European partner state's interests have had relatively aligned, fostering cooperation and implementation of like-minded policies against target states. The end of paralleled interests left policymakers with a conundrum, which stemmed the research question of this study. What circumstances determine whether secondary sanctions or positive inducements are more effective in gaining European support for a …

The Expansion Of Nocs: What Strengthening State-Owned Enterprises Means For Global Energy, Alexander L. Fretz

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The rise of National Oil Companies (NOCs) in the 20th century has been well documented. However, little work has been done with respect to how these entities have evolved in the 21st century. This study aims to measure the changing strength of contemporary NOCs by comparing them to their privatized counterparts. Using this comparative analysis, the study will explain the changing global energy landscape and the potential internecine effects on the international system.

Russia, Europe And Central Asia Energy Security And Pipeline Politics, Mehmet Kınacı

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Energy Security will continue to remain as one of the top security concerns for Europe. Depleting reserves and growing energy demand have increased European dependence on external energy resources. Today, Russia is by far the largest supplier of oil, coal and the natural gas to Europe. Oil and natural gas revenues have played a vital role to rebound the Russian economy and have supported Putin’s ambitions to reestablish Russia as a great power, increasing its influence over the former Soviet space. This complex energy relationship has increasingly been a cause of concern.

The main question this study seeks to answer …

Homeless Youth Research Project: Expanding And Improving Services And Resources, Steve Lobo

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Coalition of Homeless Service Providers is a 501(c)(3) organization working to eliminate homelessness by promoting partnership and interagency cooperation. They serve the homeless community of Monterey and San Benito counties. The U.S. struggles with solving the homeless problem including homeless youth. There are many homeless youths in Monterey and San Benito counties. This project supports the Youth Homeless Demonstration Project’s efforts to expand services and improve policies that directly affect homeless youth. This project involved researching best practices in other jurisdiction’s Coordinated Community Plans. The expected outcome is to increase the agency’s knowledge of these best practices. The primary …

Dissecting Discontent: How Stocks And Flows Of County-Level Economic And Social Factors Affect The Vote Shares Of Populist Candidates, Thomas Dowd

Honors Scholar Theses

Across the United States, recent waves of populism have disrupted existing political institutions and fueled the rise of figures like Donald Trump on the right and Bernie Sanders on the left. Myriad research has been conducted to examine the reasons behind this surge; underlying much of the literature is the story of a population who is deeply unsettled by how global changes threaten the social and economic fabric of their communities. This thesis will test many of the possible drivers of populism, including economic wellbeing, income inequality, social capital, and community breakdown. Using data from the 2016 Democratic presidential primary …

Reconceptualizing Conservation, S. J. Cooke, Sarah Michaels, E. A. Nyboer, L. Schiller, D. B. R. Littlechild, D. E. L. Hanna, C. D. Robichaud, A. Murdoch, D. Roche, P. Soroye, J. C. Vermaire, V. M. Nguyen, University Of Ottawa,, J. F. Provencher, P. A. Smith, G. W. Mitchell, S. Avery-Gomm, C. M. Davy, R. T. Buxton, T. Rytwinski, L. Fahrig, J. R. Bennett, G. Auld

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Early definitions of conservation focused largely on the end goals of protection or restoration of nature, and the various disciplinary domains that contribute to these ends. Conservation science and practice has evolved beyond being focused on just issues of scarcity and biodiversity decline. To better recognize the inherent links between human behaviour and conservation, “success” in conservation is now being defined in terms that include human rights and needs. We also know that who engages in conservation, and how, dictates the likelihood that conservation science will be embraced and applied to yield conservation gains. Here we present ideas for reconceptualizing …

A Convention To Save America, Andrew Todd Looker, Jr.

Masters Theses

Article V of the United States Constitution articulates the methods for amending the Constitution. Amendments are formally recommended by either a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress or by a vote of two-thirds of the state legislatures. This latter method is known as a Convention of States. Despite its inclusion in Article V, no amendment has yet been proposed for ratification by such a convention. This research aims to explain the history of Article V, the process for an Article V Convention, the current efforts to call such a convention, and amendments that should be considered at this convention. …

Five Public Concerns Represented By Environmental Groups In The Development Of Regional Free Trade Agreements: A Case Study Of The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (Usmca), Julian Rodriguez

International Studies (MA) Theses

This thesis explores how the public discourse surrounding the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) negotiations affected the formulation of the free trade agreement (FTA). More specifically, the project set out to determine if North American environmental groups successfully had public concerns addressed and codified in the Environment chapter of the USMCA. By analyzing official statements made in press releases by seventeen prominent Environmental groups operating in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, the thesis provides an account of the concerns related to liberalized regional trade prior to the USMCA’s ratification in 2020. The analysis of organization statements regarding public health, climate …

The Economic Impact Of U.S. Drone Strikes On Pakistan, Cavika Prashad

Honors College Theses

Drone strikes have a detrimental impact on the region of a nation, especially when the contact is not the targeted threat. When drone strikes are sent out, they result in consequences such as death, infrastructure damage, and consequently, unemployment increases. While proponents of drone strikes say they are precise weapons with little disruption to civilian life, this paper shows that in Pakistan, U.S. drone strikes have had an economic impact, particularly by increasing unemployment. Using an OLS model, the drone data from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and individual survey data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics were used to …

Why Do Americans Report A Greater Fear Of Government Restrictions On Firearms Than In Years Prior?, Ethan Oppenheim

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In recent years, studies have shown that support for increased gun control legislation has decreased to its lowest point in nearly a decade and yearly gun sales have approached record numbers. Statistical data found in the Chapman Survey of American Fears suggests that over the past three years, the percentage of Americans who fear government restrictions on firearms has dramatically increased. In this project, I examine this dramatic shift in sentiments and identify the racial, ethnic, and religious demographics which are driving these evolving sentiments on firearm regulations. Upon observing responses given in the most recent survey as well as …

Contextualizing The 2019 “Chile Despertó” Movement: The Impact Of Historical Relational Processes On Mobilization And Repression, Tanya Leon

International Studies (MA) Theses

To expand our theoretical and empirical understanding of mobilization and repression in Latin America, this thesis asks three critical questions. Are economic indicators sufficient predictors of social movement emergence in Latin America? What other factors contribute to large-scale mobilization in Latin America? How do government’s respond to large-scale Latin American social movements? Specifically, when, and why do democratic governments choose to employ repression against social movements? Accordingly, I construct a quantitative model to test the correlation between rise in protest and worsened economic conditions. I apply it to a comprehensive dataset of political events in multiple South American countries throughout …