Political Science Commons^™

Us Media’S Coverage Of China’S Handling Of Covid-19: Playing The Role Of The Fourth Branch Of Government Or The Fourth Estate?, Wenshan Jia, Fangzhu Lu

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

The present study is an analysis of a sample of reports on China’s handling of COVID-19 by several major US media with a focus on a controversial op-ed by the Wall Street Journal. It is found that instead of covering it objectively as a public health crisis, these media reports tend to adopt the strategy of naming, shaming, blaming, and taming against China. In other words, they seize the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan as an opportunity to serve Trump’s “America First” doctrine by a coordinated attempt to destroy the Chinese dream and arresting China’s ascendency. First, the naming/shaming …

Full Spectrum Space Deterrence: From Laws To Technology, Joshua Carlson

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Conflict in space is becoming an ever-real possibility, with the potential of rendering the space completely useless for future generations. Current talks are centered around limiting or preventing any weapons deployed to space, but this is not the most effective way of dealing with the issue. The focus should shift to agreeing on how nations should act responsibly in space together instead of preventing nations from acting at all. The best way of accomplishing this goal is by improving satellite design, creating agreed upon and understood rules of engagement, fostering widespread cooperation between nations, and choosing not to be the …

U.K.’S Decision To Increase Nuclear Warhead Stockpile Cap Defies Logic, Erika Simpson

Political Science Publications

This abstract discusses the United Kingdom's controversial decision to increase its nuclear warhead stockpile cap, defying international expectations and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The decision, announced amid global disarmament efforts and criticism, reflects internal political dynamics and challenges the UK's credibility on the world stage. It explores implications for UK-Scotland relations, public opinion, and broader international reactions, contrasting with global trends towards nuclear disarmament. The abstract also examines the upcoming UN NPT Review Conference and its potential impact on global nuclear policies and alliances.

“Yes, Separation! No, Integration!” A Historical Analysis Of Black Nationalist Groups Across The Decades: From The Civil Rights Era To The Contemporary Era, John Mcgee

Undergraduate Research Conference

As tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets with the chants of “Black Lives Matter!” Or “hands up, don’t shoot” issues such as police brutality and institutional racism have once again been thrust into the national spotlight. The strength, longevity, and occasional violence associated with these protests have made Americans from all backgrounds aware of the demands of the protestors. Unsurprisingly, these recent protests, often concerned with issues of race and justice, have drawn comparisons to the powerful protests of the civil rights era. As a result of the success of the civil rights movement and leaders …

Rethinking The Refugee Regime: Would A Human Rights-Based Approach To The Issue Of Climate Refugees Produce Just Outcomes?, Gordon Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

Human rights-based approaches are highly useful for a myriad of issues facing the international community. However, they have yet to be utilized in practice due to norms in the international community that favor sovereignty over human rights and international cooperation. This thesis will demonstrate the utility of such approaches by applying one to the issue of climate refugees. It is estimated that by the year 2050, hundreds of millions of people around the globe will become displaced due to climate change. Because climate-related reasons are not included in the criteria for what makes one a refugee, these people will not …

Information Search And Political Ideology: Examining How An Individual’S Political Ideology Relates To The Category And Depth Of The Political Information They Pursue, Megan Elbel

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The expansion of news media in television and online allows the public to tailor their consumption of political news to their specific interests. Understanding how the public engages in political information search with respect to their political identities can provide insight into the type and amount of information an individual pursues before making a political decision. The present study examines how people of various political ideologies gather information related to political issues. Participants completed surveys gauging their attitudes toward a number of political policy issues following a task in which they were allowed to select political issue topics and control …

Temple Of Peace : International Cooperation And Stability Since 1945, Ingo Trauschweizer

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

This collection raises timely questions about peace and stability as it interrogates the past and present status of international relations.

The post–World War II liberal international order, upheld by organizations such as the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and similar alliances, aspired to ensure decades of collective security, economic stability, and the rule of law. All of this was a negotiated process that required compromise—and yet it did not make for a peaceful world.

When Winston Churchill referred to the UN framework as “the temple of peace” in his famous 1946 Iron Curtain speech, he maintained that international …

The Effect Of Selection Process On Judicial Behavior, Grant Baldwin

Student Works

Does the judicial selection process affect judicial behavior? In this paper I argue that the judicial selection process does affect the behavior and the character of the judiciary. Specifically, I argue that judges that are selected by executives in systems where no accountability to the people is present will mirror the ideological views of the executive in making their judicial decisions. I also argue that the competitive nature of elections influences judges to be more responsive to public opinion than those held accountable on non-competitive retention ballots. Lastly, I argue that judges that are elected or retained on non-partisan ballots …

Examining The Climate Crisis, Onu Institute For Civics And Public Policy, Kennedy Aikey, Kennedy Cook, Hailey Trimpey

Critical Questions

From wildfires in California to record high temperatures in eastern Siberia, the climate crisis was felt in all parts of the world in 2020. Although there is near universal consensus in the scientific community that a climate crisis exists, government action to confront it has lagged in most countries--including the United States.

Smoller And Moodian: Issues Matter In Supervisor’S Race, Fred Smoller, Michael A. Moodian

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

"Moorlach’s defeats need to be viewed in the context of a changing Orange County. OC has a long reputation of being the land of John Wayne, the Save Our State initiative, and the John Birch Society. However, Orange County today is diverse both culturally and politically."

Free To Hate: Hate Crimes' Intertwinement With The Evolution Of Free Speech In The United States, Lee F. Paulson

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

In response to the growing tension between civil liberties and civil rights, this research investigates the relationship between the relative expansiveness of free speech and a the nationwide propensity for hate crimes. I argue that government’s legal limitations of speech influence the development of linguistic and hierarchical norms in a national culture. Given structural inequality’s association to violence and crimes of intimidation, I hypothesize that as the government expands the legal bounds of free speech, the national propensity for hate crimes decreases. Text analyses of 50 influential freedom of expression rulings in the United States (U.S.) Supreme Court from 1919-2019 …

Political Communication Channels Of The Aceh Woman Legislative Member In Conveying Information To The Community, Ainol Mardhiah, Cindenia Puspasari, Maisura Maisura, Nanda Ameliany

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This research investigates the political communication channel of the Aceh’s woman legislators to the community. After the period of political conflict in Aceh, women participation in the public sphere as a legislator is shown to be increasing in quantity. However, their coverage on the media regarding their performance and activity as Aceh’s women’s legislators is still lacking. These women representatives have not been received enough recognition within the community. This study aims to reveal the political communication channel of these women’s legislator to the constituents. This study was conducted in the Aceh Legislative Body using a descriptive qualitative method. The …

An Analysis Of State Attorney General Attempts At Policy Influence Through Naag Multistate Advocacy Letters, Sam Crowley

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

State Attorneys General have emerged as influential political actors on the national level in the last 25 years. State attorneys general seek to influence policy at the federal level in both partisan and bipartisan manners. Media attention in recent years and previous scholarship has focused mostly on areas of partisan conflict between and among state attorneys general. This paper seeks to explore areas of bipartisan cooperation among state attorneys general as demonstrated through the practice of signing multistate advocacy letters addressed to Congress, administrative agencies, and the private sector that are coordinated through the efforts of the National Association of …

Practicality Or Principle: A Comparative Study Of The Origin Of Legal Protections On Gun Rights, Robert (Rj) Haskin

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This study examines the legal protections of the right to bear arms as an extension of John Locke’s principles of government. Whereas most studies of the right to bear arms focus on the contemporary practical consequences of an armed populace, I focus on the foundations of the right and how it has been exercised across the diverse circumstances of the U.S. and Azerbaijan to achieve the ideal of self-determination. Specifically, I detail and compare the political histories of each country leading up to their independence and how they obey Locke’s precepts. Given that the chief commonality between the two countries …

A Home Run For Turnout: An Analysis On The Use Of Sports Facilities To Increase Voter Turnout, Drew Bydalek

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

In 2020, American voters turned out to cast ballots in record-breaking numbers. While many factors likely contributed to this increase in turnout, professional sports stadiums and arenas were used as polling locations for the first time. Did this first-time use of sports facilities contribute to increased turnout in the 2020 election? I theorize that sports facilities increase turnout by decreasing the cost of voting and providing psychological motivations to vote. The research design employed to test this theory is a difference-in-differences model (DD) that compares 2016 and 2020 county vote totals while controlling for various demographic factors. The results indicate …

A Historical Analysis Of The Causes Of The French And Indian War, Jake Althouse

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The current study attempted to answer the following research question: what were the causes of the French and Indian War between Great Britain and France in 1754? To do so, the current study researched secondary sources from a historical perspective, political theories regarding the causes of war, and primary sources from individuals involved in the build-up to conflict. Previous research by historians and political scientists have mainly attributed the causes of the French and Indian War to a security dilemma and the spiral theory of war. The current study does not support this assertion. Instead, the current study asserts that …

Implications Of Information: An Analysis Of How State Secrecy Prevails Over The Rights Of Free People, Cassandra Kostal

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This thesis is an analysis of the withholding of information at the hands of the federal government and the subsequent creation of a culture of secrecy that threatens the freedom of information. The primary research question was: How does the government keep information classified in the age of information and how does this penchant for secrecy and nondisclosure undermine the public’s faith in their leadership? Research into this question was conducted through two means: printed and online publications. The printed publications were books recommended to me by Dr. John Bender and the online publications were sources found through searches using …

Pornography: Social, Emotional And Mental Implications Among Adolescents, William Kelly Canady

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This presentation will explain the historical development of pornography. It will highlight four segments: 1- Porn’s impact on brain development of reward pathways, ultimately increasing the appetite for more porn. 2- Porn can be a false substitute for real intimacy, resulting in decreased sexual satisfaction with a real person and increased verbal and physical aggression. 3- Porn promotes sex trafficking, promotes multiple sex partners and reduced STD prevention. 4- A review of interventions available to assist clients in navigating a lifestyle away from pornography.

Term Limits, Political Polarization, And Voter Behavior: An Analysis Of The Nebraska Unicameral, Jared Long

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Term limits are an often-debated reform proposal in American politics. In the 1990s and 2000s, many states adopted a range of term limit policies, including Nebraska. At the time, many bold predictions were made for how such a significant structural change in state governance might affect political norms. Over the past 20 to 30 years, many empirical studies have been carried out to weigh the merits of these predictions. However, much research has focused on institutional effects within state legislatures themselves; less focus has been given to the residual effects on voters themselves.

This paper posits the argument that term …

Influence Of The Federal Government On The Diffusion Of Victims' Rights State Constitutional Amendments, Vicki Rose Jeffries-Bilton

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation examines the factors associated with the diffusion of state constitutional victims' rights amendments across the United States in the twenty-year period of 1982 to 2001 to understand the impact of the federal government on state constitutional change. Because each branch of the federal government took prominent actions in the area of victims' rights on the national policy stage during this era, it is important to know whether these actions influenced policy change at the state level. This dissertation examines whether one form of prominent federal action, the president's use of rhetoric to acknowledge support for victims' rights, influenced …

Coming Together Through Object Based Learning In A Pandemic, Brian Sheehy, Michael Sandstrom, John Heeg

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

In the summer of 2019, three history teachers from all over the US, met in France for National History Day’s Memorializing the Fallen program and commenced a lasting friendship. While in France, touring the WWI cemeteries, memorial sites, and museums, we all realized the importance of experience-based learning and the seeds were sown for our interest in object based learning. Aside from the philosophical and pedagogical discussions on long bus rides and our passion for history, we shared a belief in the importance of revitalizing history education and helping it to evolve in the face of our twenty-first century world. …

Deliberation On The Public Good During Covid-19: A Case Study Examining Elementary Students’ Use Of Civic Perspective-Taking, William Toledo, Esther Enright

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Abstract

Building on prior research on place-based social studies instruction (Toledo, 2017; 2020), this study specifically looks at data from six third-grade teachers who designed and implemented a civics curriculum focused on engaging students with a unit on locally-relevant public issues. The ten-lesson unit that the teachers and research team collaboratively developed was taught in six classrooms across a large school district. A central public issue in the unit was travel across borders during COVID-19, or simply the coronavirus as it was commonly referred to at the time. Students also considered tensions between immigration and containment of contagious illnesses through …

Beyond Pandemic Pedagogy: Thoughts On Deconstruction, Structure, And Justice Post-Pandemic, Samantha Cutrara

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

No abstract provided.

Tanner Colby, Some Of My Best Friends Are Black (2012), James W. Gentry

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.

H-Diplo Roundtable Xxii-30 On Nichter. The Last Brahmin: Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. And The Making Of The Cold War, Jessica Elkind, John Milton Cooper Jr., Lloyd Gardner, Sophie Joscelyne, Luke A. Nichter

Presidential Studies Faculty Articles and Research

A set of reviews of Luke A. Nichter's The Last Brahmin: Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and the Making of the Cold War, with a response from the author.

Mapping Brexit: Analysis Of The Results Of The 2016 Eu Membership Referendum, Jessica Long

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The 2016 EU Membership Referendum, also known as Brexit, resulted in the United Kingdom deciding to leave the European Union (EU). This paper uses mapping techniques to examine the results of the Brexit. Results of the referendum show that most voters within the United Kingdom (UK) voted along regional entities. The major regional entities examined within the paper include England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Within these regions, national identity, age, and economic status had a major influence on a voter’s decision to Leave or Remain in the EU. Demographics were mapped and examined at multiple levels to better understand …

The Social Correlates Of War: Conflict Correlations Within Belief Systems., Richard R. N. Decampa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous cross-national research concerning the political or economic factors that lead to international conflict tends to focus on leadership by elites, anarchic security, or democratic peace. However, less quantitative cross-national research focuses on how religious and national belief systems impact international conflict. Previous research suggests that value systems, such as religiosity and nationalism should impact conflict, though there is little cross-national empirical evidence to support these claims. Thus, I expand on this work by testing the relationship between several variables that represent religiosity and nationalism and the initiation and escalation of conflict between nation states. The main dependent variables are …

Rent Seeking Dan Praktik Korupsi Di Tubuh Bumd: Kasus Bumd Pt Banten Global Development (Bgd), Mahpudin Mahpudin

Jurnal Wacana Politik

Artikel ini membahas tentang praktik rent seeking di tubuh Badan Usaha Milik Daerah (BUMD) spesifik pada PT Banten Global Development (BGD) sebagai perusahaan milik Pemerintah Provinsi Banten. Alih-alih memberi kontribusi terhadap Pendapatan Asli Daerah (PAD) dan pembangunan di Banten, PT BGD justru hanya menjadi alat perburuan rente antara state actor dan economic actor dengan memanfaatkan sumber daya keuangan yang dimiliki pemerintah untuk kepentingan ekonomi politik segelintir elit. Artikel ini berusaha memetakan pola rent seeking yang bekerja dibalik pengelolaan perusahaan PT BGD. Metode kualitatif dipilih dalam penelitian ini, adapun pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui studi literatur terhadap berbagai bahan bacaan yang relevan. …

Analisis Perencanaan Pembangunan Partisipatif Di Desa Pemekaran Sebagai Perwujudan Demokratisasi Ditingkat Lokal (Suatu Studi Pada Desa Pemekaran Di Kecamatan Mendo Barat, Kabupaten Bangka), Putra Pratama Saputra, Siti Aisyah, Darmanto Darmanto

Jurnal Wacana Politik

Kunci keberhasilan pengelolaan pembangunan tersebut terletak pada bagaimana perencanaan pembangunan dilakukan secara partisipatif. Ditambah adanya dukungan dari pemerintah daerah yang diselenggarakan secara desentralisasi dengan berbagai kompleksitas perkembangan masyarakat, keberagaman struktur sosial dan budaya lokal, serta tuntutan demokratisasi ditingkat lokal dalam penyelenggaraan pemerintah dalam merespon kebutuhan masyarakat melalui pembangunan. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk menganalisis perencanaan pembangunan partisipatif di desa pemekaran, Kecamatan Mendo Barat, Kabupaten Bangka. Untuk mengkaji penelitian ini digunakan konsep perencanaan pembangunan partisipatif. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode kualitatif. Teknik pengumpulan data melalui wawancara, observasi, dan studi dokumentasi. Hasil penelitian menunjukkkan bahwa mskipun merupakan desa pemekaran …

Politik Sumber Daya Alam: Studi Terhadap Kepentingan Elit Politik Lokal Dalam Pemekaran Wilayah Di Kabupaten Paser Provinsi Kalimantan Timur, Niken Nurmiyati

Jurnal Wacana Politik

Penelitian ini berupaya untuk mengkaji tentang politik sumber daya alam dalam kaitannya dengan kepentingan elit politik lokal pada pemekaran wilayah di Kabupaten Paser. Metode yang digunakan adalah kualitatif yang didukung oleh software NVivo 12 Plus melalui coding data pada situs berita online. Hasil penelitian menyatakan bahwa elit politik lokal memiliki peran dalam proses pemekaran wilayah, mulai dari Bupati hingga anggota DPR RI. Dominasi kepentingan politik semakin kentara ketika isu pemekaran mulai bermunculan, mulai dari DOB Paser Tengah dan DOB Paser Selatan. Keduanya sama-sama mengusulkan pemekaran. Sebagai wilayah administratif pemekaran, Kecamatan Batu Sopang dan Muara Komam memiliki kedudukan strategis karena memiliki …