American Politics Commons^™

Habeas Corpus: Breaking Reservation Boundaries, Samantha Byrd

Digital Legal Research Lab

Dr. Katrina Jagodinsky’s Petitioning for Freedom examines marginalized peoples’ use of habeas corpus in the American West from 1812 to 1924. This project has uncovered Indigenous manipulation of the American legal system to counter the challenges of colonialism. Indigenous peoples used habeas to protest, and sometimes successfully mitigate boarding school experiences, forced removal, and confinement on reservations. This study aims to show how Indigenous peoples and other minorities had a complex understanding of the law and used it to their advantage.

Advisor: Katrina Jagodinsky

Life Of The Party: Social Networks, Public Attention, And The Importance Of Shocks In The Presidential Nomination Process, Elizabeth A. Stiles, Colin D. Swearingen, Linda Seiter

2022 Faculty Bibliography

We examine the effects of shocks on the invisible Presidential primary in the United States. First, we build on existing models using an algorithm simulating social network shocks. Findings show that positive shocks significantly aid the lead candidate’s chances of winning in the invisible primary. Negative shocks, however, are less detrimental to a lead candidate than positive shocks are helpful, as the leader is often able to survive a negative shock and still emerge victorious. Broad empirical tests demonstrate the importance of shocks as well. Beyond the importance of shocks, findings also suggest that Presidential candidate success in the invisible …

The Epic Journey Of Pepe The Frog: A Study In Post-Truth, Jaq Webb

[Archive] Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Abstract

The internet meme Pepe the Frog is an excellent avenue for exploring the relationship between post-truth politics, new media, and viral ideas. While memes as conceptualized by Richard Dawkins are essentially timeless components of human society, internet memes as exemplified by the hijacking of Pepe the Frog by the Alt-Right and the Trump campaign are a novel force with uniquely dark implications for liberal democracy. In this study, I attempt a leftist analysis of the best thinking about Post-Truth Trump-era politics and the communication tactics of the Alt-Right, which suggests that some of the same cultural and material forces …

A Home Shielded By Laws: Freedom Suits And Enslaved Mothers, Heidi Martin

Digital Legal Research Lab

This project collects, digitizes, and makes accessible the freedom suits brought by enslaved families in the Circuit Court for the District of Columbia, Maryland state courts, and the United States Supreme Court. This project places families in the foreground of our interpretive framework of slavery and national formation.

Using TEI encoding, we focused on outcomes, relationships between individuals and the claim for freedom made. Using these data sets, I focused specefically on mothers petitioning for their children. Of the 508 cases I utilized, 131 included children and a parental figure. I set out to distinguish the additional burden mothers had …

In The Waiting: The Role Of The Slave Bastille In Antebellum D.C., Ellyzabeth Morales-Ledesma

Digital Legal Research Lab

In 1808 the Transatlantic Slave Trade ended and in turn the government created a federally protected human market. As the South's demand for human labor force increased the domestic slave trade rocketed and in turn created even more turmoil for the Black population if the United States. Slave Traders and Man-Dealers took advantage of the market and kidnapped Free Black men women and children. While waiting to be sold enslaved people would be admitted into holding cells and jails; this was the creation of slave jails and Slave Bastilles. Slave jails served as places where the horrors of a human …

The Acoustics Of Civil Resistance: Summoning The Spirit Of The Law With A Smartphone, Sharon Sliwinski

Data and Test Instruments

Inspired by Diamond Reynolds’s radical gesture to open a live broadcast in the moments after Philando Castile was shot by police in 2016, this paper explores the ways smartphones have become a critical tool of civil resistance. The paper situates this tool in a historical context, tracking the role of visual testimony in the long struggle for Black liberation, drawing special attention to the acoustic dimension and posing questions about how attending to the sonic environment modifies our understanding of bearing witness as embodied practice and our understanding of civil resistance.

Life In Hampton Roads Survey Press Release #2: Politics And Political Opinions, Social Science Research Center, Old Dominion University

Life in Hampton Roads Survey Report

Life in Hampton Roads 2022 - Politics and Political Opinions

The Life in Hampton Roads survey always includes a few questions about political attitudes. In 2022 the questions included party affiliation, political ideology, job approval of President Biden, Gov. Youngkin and local mayors.

Continuity And Change Of Latter-Generational Racism In The United States From 2004 - 2016, Collin Swords

Honors Program Theses

Does the intensity of racial attitudes among voters in the U.S. change from 2004-2016? Do attitudes of latter-generational racism like negative stereotyping, racial resentment, anti-black affect, and white identity impact voter’s perceptions of Presidential candidates throughout 2004 - 2016? Additionally, what is the impact of race on these preferences, specifically white racial sensitivity? This thesis examines the impact of latter-generational attitudes on Republican Presidential Candidate affect over a time series of 2004 – 2016. Over time, the Republican Party is becoming more male, white, and lower income/ educated while the Democrat Party is becoming more diverse and better educated. Over …

Geographic Language In Politics: A Comparison Of 2016 And 2020 Vice Presidential Debates, Julia Owens, Taylor Carter, Matthew Balentine

Scholar's Day

Similar to their running mates, VP candidates used geographic language to highlight important domestic and foreign issues. In both debates, each VP candidate utilized swing state references. However, swing states were not as prominently used by VP candidates. The 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential candidates' swing state references constituted a much higher proportion of their domestic language. It should be noted that previous research typically excludes references to candidates’ home states, as this has been found to be a source of data inflation and statistical noise. Thus, an analysis of the 2016 VP debate is complicated by the fact that …

Examining The Relationship Between Male And Female Rotc Experiences And Career Ambition, Anabelle S. Bergstrom

Holster Scholar Projects

An exploratory study of how experiences within ROTC programs affect the career ambitions of male and female cadets. Fourteen cadets from two New England universities were interviewed and asked questions regarding experiential factors including but not limited to physical training, uniforms, and treatment by commanding officers. Air Force and Army ROTC programs are included in the study. Findings not only show how certain experiences of ROTC cadets affect their career ambition, but they also show significant differences in the treatment of female cadets compared to their male counterparts.

Habeas Corpus As A Means For Economic Freedom In The Progressive Era, Janana Khattak

Digital Legal Research Lab

Habeas corpus protects individual freedom by allowing detained individuals proper trial. Economic liberty, or the “right to earn a living in an occupation of choice without unnecessary government interference,” is a key component of individual freedom. Following the depression of 1893, the Progressive Era ushered in a sharp increase in productivity. This was in part because of an immigration boom. While immigrants sought economic opportunities for the betterment of themselves and their families, ideologies of nativism rose.

Advisor: Katrina Jagodinsky

Abraham Lincoln: Thoughts On Slavery And Racial Equality, Abraham Scofield

OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal

Looking at the political thought of Abraham Lincoln, two major themes arise: slavery and racial equality. Development of his thought on these subjects spanned his entire life and is revealed through his speeches, public statements, and written works. With the sheer amount of thought that Lincoln dedicated to these subjects, it can be difficult to decipher where he truly stood on these issues. To come to a more concrete understanding of Lincoln’s thought regarding these subjects, this article offers multiple interpretations of each of these themes. Concerning Lincoln’s thought on slavery, three interpretations arise: the Anti-Expansion interpretation, the Moral Opposition …

State Of The Parties 2022 (Ninth Edition), John C. Green, David B. Cohen, Kenneth M. Miller

The State of the Parties

The State of the Parties 2022 brings together leading scholars of parties, elections, and interest groups to provide an indispensable overview of American political parties today. The 2020 presidential election was extraordinary. What role did political parties play in these events? How did the party organizations fare? What are the implications for the future? Scholars and practitioners from throughout the United States explore the current state of American party organizations, constituencies and resources at the national, state and local level.

Spies, Sanctions, And Single-Party States: How American Sanctions Influence Intelligence Operations, Anthony J. Anta

Honors Undergraduate Theses

States have a diverse and unique set of available mechanisms to deploy when seeking to interact in the international community. Economic sanctions have long been one such tool available for states looking to coerce or incentivize a change in the behavior of another state. Likewise, states have historically sought to influence and gain unknown knowledge on another state or actor. Covert intelligence operations have changed forms, mechanisms, and techniques, especially since the expansive advancements in technology in the 21^st century. This paper seeks to understand the influence that economic sanctions have on the ability for single-party states to conduct …

Voting Trends In Immigrant Women To The United States, Enia Levis

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The aim of this paper is to explore and explain the relationship between various cultural and societal factors on how immigrant women to the U.S. vote. There is a growing amount of research on the voting habits of both women, and immigrants. This paper seeks to understand the voting habits of individuals who identify with both categories. This thesis utilizes public opinion data from the 2018 General Social Survey to discover if there is a relationship between country of origin in addition to gender, and if the respondent voted for Trump or Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. My theory …

Moving From Harm Mitigation To Affirmative Discrimination Mitigation: The Untapped Potential Of Artificial Intelligence To Fight School Segregation And Other Forms Of Racial Discrimination, Andrew Gall

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Segregating Cities, Separating Environments: A Look At The Relationship Between Redlining And Polluting Facilities In Philadelphia, Natalie Chartove

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores the relationship between federal redlining policy and the siting of air polluting facilities, using a dual approach of geospatial analysis and historiography on Philadelphia as a case study. Geographic Information System (GIS) tools are applied to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data on air polluting facilities and the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) Residential Security Maps. This analysis is used to determine the number of facilities within redlined neighborhoods and their patterns of density. Findings suggest that higher concentrations of polluting facilities are present in those neighborhoods ranked lowest by the HOLC, while neighborhoods ranked highest show remarkably …

The Impact Of Prescribed Burns And Smoke Exposure On Marginalized Communities In California, Annika Ragnartz

Scripps Senior Theses

In response to the increase in wildfires seen over the past decade, federal, state, and private landowners in California are taking steps to mitigate the effects of future wildfires. A key part of the mitigation plan is to increase the number of prescribed burns being done across the state. This planned substantial increase in prescribed burns aims to protect communities from wildfires but a key concern this paper will address is the impact that this increase is having on marginalized communities in the state. This paper will aim to provide some context for the current situation in California and examine …

The Power Of One: Majority Leadership Power In The United States Senate, Andrew Taylor Ordentlich

Honors Theses

The United States Senate has long been heralded as an institution known for its strong reliance upon procedural rules and the leadership that is able to use those rules to their advantage. Recent leaders including Senators Reid, McConnell, and Schumer have attempted to reform the rules of the Senate to its advantage. But why are we seeing this influx in reform now? This thesis utilizes the theory of Conditional Party Government (CPG) to explain the prevalence and lack of reform between 1900 and today. Using roll-call vote data and primary sources such as historical newspapers and the Congressional Record, this …

“…To Represent The Needs Of The Residents—Not The Needs Of The Outsiders” California’S Housing Crisis And The Dilemma Of Local Control, Ravi S. Joshi-Wander

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the role played by city-level governments in determining the availability of housing within their locale. I propose an overarching hypothesis that features of government which provide greater opportunity for the public to influence their local governments will lead to a decreased availability of housing. This hypothesis is tested over the course of two chapters. First, through an analysis of cities throughout California, the effect of different structural features of government are tested against several dependent variables which measure housing availability in a series of linear regressions. A statistically significant positive correlation is found between the presence of …

The Legislative Branch Revolves Around The White House: A Copernican Understanding Of The Evolving Relationship Between The President And Congress, Lukas K. Alexander

Honors Theses

Executive-centered partisanship is a new scholarly idea that focuses on the growing centrality of the president in party and governmental affairs. Scholars have looked at the president’s growing electoral, administrative, and organizational responsibilities to support the theory. While the evidence is compelling, there is a key aspect of our Federal government that is omitted in their theory - the president’s role in Congress. In this thesis, I look at the effect that the president has on legislative voting behavior between the 107th and 116th Congresses. To analyze the data, I examine the effect of the president on Senator voting behavior …

When Charismatic Leadership Trumps Social Networking: Searching For The Effects Of Social Media On Beliefs Of Electoral Legitimacy, Noe Alexander Aguado

Politics, Justice, Law, and Philosophy

This research examines the effect that information and communications technology, via social media, had on peoples' confidence in American democratic processes. Using a large N dataset, this work finds that use of social networking sites (SNS) had a negligible effect on voter confidence. This finding is surprising given President Trump's ubiquitous online presence and his role in pushing conspiracies about electoral fraud in the 2020 presidential election. I go on to examine how respondents' sentiment toward President Trump affected the trust they had in American democratic institutions. This study finds that political elites can serve as a more powerful influence …

The State Of Our Community Social Capital In Kensington, New Hampshire, Sawyer B. Rogers

Honors Theses and Capstones

This study investigates the transformation of social capital over time, using the example of a small New England town: Kensington, New Hampshire. National social capital assessments indicate a substantial decline in social capital since the post-WW2 era. Kensington does not follow this extreme decline in social capital, with a significant rise during the 90s and into the early 2000s. Additionally, Kensington has high levels of social capital when compared to New Hampshire residents overall. Survey findings point to strong trust, yet weak social infrastructure in Kensington. Therefore, the most consistent way to maintain social capital between shifts is to create …

Reclamation: Managing Water In The West; An Overview Of The Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program, United States Bureau Of Reclamation, Roger S. Otstot

US Government Documents Related to Indigenous Nations

This undated summary released by the Bureau of Reclamation offers a concise overview of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin flood control plan which was enacted when Congressed passed the Flood Control Act of 1944. This plan led to the construction of several dams in the Missouri River basin, including the Garrison Dam. The completion of the Garrison Dam displaced the majority of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara people living on the Fort Berthold Reservation. This document contains tables, graphs, maps, and a photograph.

Using Short Bursts To Optimize Redistricting In Georgia, Vedika Vishweshwar

CMC Senior Theses

Identifying extreme outliers in large state spaces is a difficult prob-
lem. I consider this problem in the context of finding political district-
ing plans that maximize the number of districts in which the majority
of the population is from a minority group, such as African Americans.
Since the set of all possible districting plans is enormous and unfeasi-
ble to examine in practice, this paper proposes a sampling method to
find these outlying plans. Specifically, this paper experiments with short
bursts in the context of minority voting rights in Georgia. Short bursts
are a type of Markov Chain in …

Back To The Sources? What’S Clear And Not So Clear About The Original Intent Of The First Amendment, John Witte Jr.

Faculty Articles

This Article peels through these layers of founding documents before exploring the final sixteen words of the First Amendment religion clauses. Part I explores the founding generation’s main teachings on religious freedom, identifying the major principles that they held in common. Part II sets out a few representative state constitutional provisions on religious freedom created from 1776 to 1784. Part III reviews briefly the actions by the Continental Congress on religion and religious freedom issued between 1774 and 1789. Part IV touches on the deprecated place of religious freedom in the drafting of the 1787 United States Constitution. Part V …

Creditable Civic Engagement? Aligning Work On Civic Activity With Faculty Incentives, Kenneth W. Moffett, Laurie L. Rice

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Political scientists frequently study and engage in civic engagement work and the institutions that employ them state that they value these endeavors. Yet, there is a disconnect between valuing and doing this work relative to aligning it with faculty incentives. We discuss our experiences with civic engagement work and how we made it fit into how we are evaluated. We use our experience to motivate recommendations to fellow faculty, institutions, and administrators with respect to how they can do and encourage this work going forward.

The Pardon Paradigm: The Presidential Pardons Of Donald J. Trump, Hlynur Saemundsson

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The presidential pardon power is an oft-overlooked political institution that seems to be perceived as being innocuous and irrelevant to larger political concerns. This research examines the pardons issued by President Donald J. Trump in an effort to evaluate whether they align with constitutional expectations regarding the use of this unrestricted presidential power. Dr. Jeffrey Crouch, a leading scholar on the subject, has demonstrated that the pardon power was intended to be used as a disinterested act of grace or an act in the public interest. A close survey of President Trump’s use of this power shows that many of …

Smoke Filled Back Hollars: The Impact Of Traditional Barbecue On Modern Political Campaigns Within Western Virginia, Monica Thomas Fury

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The first political barbecue took place in Virginia during the Colonial period. Since then, barbecue has remained an essential part of American civic life. Western Virginia, defined for the purposes of this thesis as the political borders of the sixth and ninth Congressional Districts in Virginia as drawn in 2021, is largely a rural area, considered by most political consultants to be heavily Republican and not winnable seats for Democratic candidates. The state Democratic Party of Virginia has rarely earmarked funds or support for candidates within those districts for the past two decades. Ironically, the Democratic party controlled this same …

Did The Political Climate Exacerbate The Pandemic In The U.S.?, Brittany T. Morin, Joanna Gyory, Anthony F. Morin

Master's Theses and Capstones

The global pandemic that began in the United States in early 2020 continues to be a topic of controversy. The added aspect of affect polarization in the country’s political realm may have exacerbated the effects of COVID-19. In their published article in Nature Human Behaviour, Gollwitzer et. al. found that it was possible to link voting partisanship, physical distancing, and COVID-19 outcomes showing that a county’s partisanship might be used to predict the degree to which that county would socially distance and then, therefore, the rate of cases and fatalities in that error on a lagged timescale. This researcher attempted …