American Politics Commons^™

Evaluating Partisan Registrations Amid The Electronic Registration Information Center Controversy, Jared Mcdonald, Alauna Safarpour, Michael Hanmer, Lisa Bryant

Political Science Faculty Publications

Election integrity is paramount to democratic health. The Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) is a multistate collaboration that facilitates essential election administration functions, whereby members share administrative data to ensure clean voter registration lists and to encourage individuals who are eligible but unregistered (EBUs) to register to vote. Despite ERIC’s primary focus on maintaining the accuracy of voter rolls, in 2022, some conservatives accused it of being a tool for partisan electioneering, prompting nine Republican-led states to leave ERIC. To assess the validity of a central criticism made against ERIC, the authors leverage field experiments conducted by member states during …

Does Deference To Religious Authority Predict Support For Political Violence?, John W. Compton, Ann Gordon

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

Does deference to religious authority undermine support for democratic norms, including those forbidding the use of violence for political ends? Scholars have struggled to answer this question, in part, we believe, because they have typically employed proxies for religious deference (e.g. Biblical literalism, worship attendance, and self-reported religiosity) instead of measuring it directly. We develop a new measure of deference to religious authority in politics (DRAP), using the 2024 Chapman Survey of American Fears. We find that (1) DRAP is strongly correlated with support for political violence; (2) other common measures of religiosity (e.g. Biblical literalism and self-reported religiosity) are …

Book Review: Wyche Fowler: A Political Life In Georgia, Congress, And Abroad, Amy Shaw

Georgia Library Quarterly

No abstract provided.

The Digital Divide In Political Redistricting: Ai's Impact On Minority Representation, Jaime Rodriguez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Technology plays a significant role in people's daily lives worldwide. It has infiltrated many aspects of our lives, from education and healthcare to politics. With our increasing reliance on technology, artificial intelligence (AI) has become well-enmeshed in our political systems, affecting people everywhere, especially minority groups. This essay will investigate the potential effects of AI on the political influence of racial and ethnic minorities, specifically focusing on its role in altering voting district boundaries— a practice referred to as redistricting. There are several areas of concern under which AI could unintentionally worsen gerrymandering, impact equity in the representation of minority …

Sometimes I Picture You Dreaming: How American Female Directors Use Women-In-Prison Films As A Pathway For Public Education And Activism In The Era Of Mass Incarceration, Nicolette Natale

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis examines the role of female directors in creating media that showcases how prisons perpetuate sexism or gender-based violence. As mass incarceration began to take off in the 1970s, this paper begins with an analysis of Jack Hill’s The Big Doll House (1971), which often served as the model for women-in-prison (WIP) exploitation films. While Hill perpetuated the white and male gaze in The Big Doll House, Stephanie Rothman subverts oppressive gazes in her WIP film, Terminal Island (1973), and demonstrates a concern with the historical gendered realities of prison – moving beyond representations of prison on the …

The Impacts Of Political Leaders’ Social Capital On Policy Success: The Case Of Local Food Systems, In Hae Noh, Beomgeun Cho, April M. Roggio, Luis F. Luna-Reyes

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Network approaches to collaborative leadership suggest that local leaders’ success depends on activities that connect their organization to diverse stakeholders and resources. Drawing on the literature on managerial networking and a mixed-methods approach that includes 38 semi-structured interviews and a survey of 185 New York State municipal leaders, we explore the impact of leaders’ networking efforts on food access and security in their communities. We hypothesize that different forms of leaders’ social capital (bridging, bonding, and linking) has an impact on policy success. Our results suggest that only bridging social capital has an impact on food access. We conclude with …

Oer Accessible Syllabus For Political Science 1100: Intro To U.S. Government, Carmen Melillo

Open Educational Resources

This is a sample OER accessible syllabus intended to create a cost-free Introductory level college course in Political Science and American Government.

Lifestyle Factors' Effect On Political And Religious Behavior, Madison A. Price

SPARK Symposium Presentations

There is a general understanding of an individuals’ political/religious beliefs when you analyze predictors like support of same sex marriage or views on abortion, but there is not a ton of research on how everyday lifestyle factors might affect how someone aligns themselves politically or religiously. Researchers have begun to expand the horizons of political and religious research by investigating how income, health, and politics affect religion (Francis-Tan & Tian, 2022), but there is a need to expand into more specific lifestyle factors. Which brings reason to question a few things: what lifestyle and demographic factors predict how religious someone …

Digital Diplomacy And Activism: Sustaining Institutional Legacy Through State-Proxy Discursive Competition In The Aftermath Of The Usaid 2025 Suspension, Maryam Alaa Elprince

Capstone and Graduation Projects

This study examines how the 2025 suspension of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) transformed the arena of U.S. foreign-aid diplomacy by eliminating the agency’s operational capacity and erasing its digital presence, thereby redistributing discursive authority across a fragmented communicative field. The research aims to determine how diplomacy adapts when a bilateral institution central to American soft power is dismantled through top-down decision, and whether discursive power exercised online can extend institutional relevance and legitimacy beyond structural collapse. Using an interpretivist qualitative design that combines digital-forensic reconstruction, document-based content analysis, and elite interviews  with top ranking officials, the …

The 2026 World Cup, In Trump’S Shadow, Richard Holtzman

History, Literature, and the Arts Faculty Journal Articles

This essay examines President Donald Trump’s rhetorical interventions in the lead-up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It is inspired by Eduardo Galeano’s Soccer in Sun and Shadow, which interprets football as a mirror reflecting broader political, cultural, and economic realities. My analysis explores how Trump commandeered the World Cup through spectacle, transforming it into a stage for symbolically demonstrating his power and indulging his ego. The president’s rhetorical behavior is explored and critiqued through three case studies and a final vignette: (1) the establishment of a White House World Cup Task Force, (2) the president’s threats to relocate …

Voices Of The Silenced, Frank E. Dobson Jr., Madison Borowicz, Cedar Carden, Nick Clark, Kenneth Fischer, Selah Gitonga, Ray Harvey, Tanasia Cunningham, Max Lewis, Gretchen Schneider, Raymond Shellow, Destiny Sexton, Isaiah Siaway, Awo Warsame, Aashvi Soni

Undergraduate Publications

Voices of the Silenced is a collection of creative work produced by the students of English 1192 at Otterbein University (Fall 2025). This booklet brings together prose, poetry, visual art, and multimedia expression centered on themes of activism, self-advocacy, identity, resilience, and social change.

Table of Contents:

• Preface by Dr. Frank Dobson
• Are You Becoming Who You Want to Be? by Madison Borowicz
• Agree to Disagree by Cedar Carden
• A Seriously Unserious Nation by Nick Clark
• Closeted Courage by Kenneth Fischer
• The Philosophy of an Activist by Selah Gitonga
• The Price We Pay by Ray Harvey & TaNasia Cunningham
• The …

American Spirits: The Impact Of Social Setting On Voter Turnout, Annika Lindberg

Scripps Senior Theses

Low voter turnout has characterized American elections for the past century, raising ongoing concerns about democratic representation. Although scholars agree that low turnout is problematic, they differ on which factors most strongly influence participation. This thesis examined whether creating a celebratory, patriotic Election Day environment modeled after Fourth of July festivities increased voter engagement.

Using two complementary methods, the research evaluated the effects of celebratory Election Day settings on voting behavior. Study 1 used a partial field case study, comparing turnout after Election Day parties held for three student organizations at a small California liberal arts college with turnout from …

Stitched In Precarity: Labor Exploitation, Immigration Policy, And Resistance In The L.A Garment Industry, Reyna Guadalupe Silva Carrillo

Scripps Senior Theses

Los Angeles hosts one of the largest garment manufacturing industries in the U.S., built on the labor of undocumented immigrants who often work under exploitative and unsafe conditions. This paper explores how the intersection of broken labor laws and punitive immigration enforcement creates systemic vulnerability for these workers. Despite recent reforms—such as California’s SB 62, which bans piece-rate wages and holds brands accountable—enforcement remains weak, and wage theft continues to persist. State-level protections for undocumented immigrants clash with federal policies that prioritize detention and deportation, leaving workers in a state of constant precarity. While grassroots movements have secured important legislative …

Guidelines For Enhancing Voter Accessibility, Anna Barrows

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Fatality Of Rights-Based Argumentation: Conservative Co-Optation, Liberal Fragmentation, And The Battle For The Narrative, Yesha Shah

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Rights-based liberal argumentation has become increasingly vulnerable to conservative co-optation. Because rights language is often indeterminate and easily reinterpreted, conservatives can appropriate liberal rhetoric, recast it in service of contrary ends, and redirect attention away from substantive policy consequences. This Article examines that dynamic through case studies on abortion, criminal justice reform, and affirmative action, and argues that liberals should rely more heavily on cost-benefit analysis as a complementary framework for political messaging. More concrete and empirically grounded than abstract rights rhetoric, cost-benefit analysis may be less susceptible to rhetorical hijacking while still supporting progressive policy outcomes.

From Candidates To Coalitions: How Citizens United Changed Electoral Influence, Marc J. Broadhead

SPARK Symposium Presentations

This study investigates the relationship between campaign fundraising and electoral success in the United States House of Representatives, with a specific focus on the period surrounding the Citizens United v. FEC (2010) Supreme Court decision. Using a robust dataset of 30,539 observations from 2002 to 2024, I analyze the ability of total candidate receipts and individual contributions on the probability of victory. Using a Difference-in-Differences (DiD) framework and logistic regression models, the results demonstrate that while fundraising remains a highly significant predictor of winning ($p < 0.001$), the "return on investment" for direct candidate fundraising has significantly decreased in the post-Citizens United era. Specifically, the advantage held by "High Funders" decreased by 8.1% after 2010, suggesting a financial saturation effect where direct receipts are increasingly diluted by the increase of outside expenditures. Partisan disaggregation reveals a "Partisan Efficacy Gap," where Democratic candidates experienced a statistically significant decline in the effectiveness of their fundraising post-2010, while Republican candidates' effectiveness remained relatively stable. These findings suggest that the deregulation of campaign finance has not only increased the total volume of money in politics but has fundamentally altered the marginal utility of a candidate’s campaign war chest, shifting the levers of electoral influence toward outside spending and institutional actors.

The Relationship Between U.S. Presidents And Governors From Opposing Political Parties: Policy Implementation And Crisis Management, Adam Richey

Honors College Theses

This thesis studies the impact of partisan divisions between U.S. presidents and state governors in regard to policy implementation and crisis management of the American federal system. While previous research has mainly addressed congressional polarization, executive relationships across different levels of government have received comparatively less scholarly focus.  Particularism theory argues that electoral incentives shape executive behavior, and this study finds that political alignment significantly affects cooperation, coordination, and responsiveness during times of crises. Focusing on qualitative comparative case study methods, the analysis examines Hurricane Katrina (2005) and the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021). The results show that partisan division most often …

Private Money, Public Risk: Why Florida’S Sb 178 Undermines Equity, Ethics, And Accountability In K–12 Athletics, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper critically evaluates Florida Senate Bill 178, which would require the Florida High School Athletic Association to adopt bylaws allowing coaches to use personal funds to support student athletes, once reported and presumed not to be an impermissible benefit. While the bill is framed to help students who lack essential items, it introduces serious structural risks that outweigh its intended benefits. By relying on private contributions within a public educational system, SB 178 threatens equity, transparency, and ethical governance.

The bill encourages uneven financial assistance that varies based on a coach’s personal means and the socioeconomic conditions of individual …

Elite Perceptions Of The Us’ Commitment To Nato After Russia’S Invasion Of Ukraine: “The Direction Of Travel Is Clear”, Jason W. Davidson

Political Science & International Affairs Articles

This article seeks to explore elite perceptions of the US’ commitment to NATO in the leadup to the 2024 election. It presents findings from ninety-two interviews from 2023 and 2024 with policymakers and analysts from six leading NATO allies. Analysis of the interviews demonstrates that only roughly half of interviewees were concerned with the US’ future commitment to NATO. The bulk of the article seeks to make sense of the variety of responses by categorizing them according to five different worldviews. A domestic political worldview provides an explanation for why some elites were concerned with the prospect of Donald Trump’s …

Religiosity And Political Affiliation As Moderators For Climate Change Belief, Jenna L. Hiljus

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Climate change remains a polarized issue in the United States despite broad scientific consensus. The present study examined how specific variables within political ideology (social and economic conservatism) and religiosity (belief, praxis, and morality) relate to climate change belief among undergraduate students at a private Christian university. Participants (N = 130) completed measures of climate change perceptions, multidimensional religiosity, and social and economic conservatism. Correlational analyses showed medium-sized, negative relationships between climate change belief and both social and economic conservatism, with no significant difference between the two domains. This finding suggests that political conservatism may operate as a unified construct …

Democracy In Practice, Stefanos Milkidis

Open Educational Resources

In this assignment, students are asked to write a public-facing blog post that connects a theme from American government to a current issue, event, or personal experience. The goal is to practice civic dialogue and critical thinking, while contributing to a broader public conversation about American government, politics, and democracy.

Political Elections In The New Wave Of Media: The Celebrification Of The Presidency, Camille B. Moore

Anthós

This article examines the impact of social media on journalism leading up to the 2024 United States presidential election and how expectations of candidates have changed. By exploring the degradation of discourse in news and how polarization and cognitive biases have intensified with the widespread adoption of social media, previous candidate conventions have begun to crumble. This has, and will continue to have, a large impact on voting and democracy in America, as scholars have noted since the beginning of the 2000’s, in examining a shift in news preferences as pop culture gains influence. This work further examines recent scholarship …

Constructing Descriptive Representation: A Study Of Contemporary Political Figures In The United States, Emma Zalewski

Honors Theses

Political representation in the United States depends not only on who the officeholders are, but on how they publicly perform identities such as gender, race, class, religion, and profession in ways that shape trust and legitimacy. Existing work on descriptive representation and performativity explains why shared identities matter, but it often treats identity too much like a fixed demographic category rather than a strategic and audience-sensitive rhetorical practice, leaving the question of how politicians actually deploy identity across different political settings unexplored. This project addresses that gap by showing that identity claims are best understood as deliberate performances that vary …

The Discrepancies In Voter Perception Of Male And Female Political Candidates: Biases Of Characteristic Traits And Policy Priority, Julia Piver

Honors Theses

Gender remains a defining factor in how political candidates are perceived by the American electorate, shaping not only evaluations of characteristic traits but also perceived policy priority. These discrepancies are rooted and propelled by traditional gender roles from the 1900s. This thesis shows that the perceptions of female and male political candidates differ depending on the informational environment as well as the voter demographics. I used both a quantitative nationally representative survey and a qualitative interview of students on Bucknell's campus. The date revealed that individuals in lower information environments are more likely to enact gender stereotypes along traditional gender …

Framing The War On Terror: Media Narratives And U.S. Foreign Policy After 9/11, Neva Essex

History and Political Science | Senior Theses

The media plays an essential role in developing an informed public and the shaping of information. Foreign policy and the coverage of the U.S. movements abroad drastically changed with the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This paper seeks to examine the ways in which media coverage of presidential rhetoric in regard to the U.S. response to terrorism changed over the course of the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. With the use of qualitative narrative analysis of print news media sources and official statements made from the White House, this paper will identify the patterns and changes which occurred over the …

Immigration Policy Priorities In The Carter And Reagan Administrations, Sulgi Kim

History and Political Science | Senior Theses

Historically, immigration policy has been important for the United States. It has shaped the nation’s economy, demographics, and political landscape. In each presidential administration, immigration has been addressed differently, shaped by a combination of political, economic, and international factors. While scholars such as Higham (1956), Zolberg (2008), and Pineau and Waters (2016) have examined the events leading up to and the effect of various immigration policies, the literature has not focused on a critical actor in immigration policy: the president. This thesis asks what factors shaped the immigration policy priorities of Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan? This study used …

Finding Aid For The Leslie H. Southwick Campaign Memorabilia Collection

Archives & Special Collections: Finding Aids (alphabetical)

The Leslie H. Southwick Campaign Memorabilia Collection focuses on presidential and Mississippi political campaigns dating from 1856-2017, although the bulk of content is from 1960-2004.  Formats include pamphlets and other campaign literature, bumper stickers, textiles, posters, campaign buttons, and other candidate and political party souvenirs.

Finding Aid For The Ralph C. Kennedy Collection

Archives & Special Collections: Finding Aids (alphabetical)

The Ralph C. Kennedy collection contains presidential campaign and inauguration memorabilia acquired during the course of Kennedy’s career in the U.S. Secret Service.

Why Does The U.S. Still Practice The Death Penalty? An Application Of Waltz's Three Images, Anika Tracy

University Honors Program Senior Projects

The United States is the only Western democracy that still practices the death penalty, and legal scholars, domestic politics scholars, and comparativists have written extensively about American capital punishment. In this thesis, I will synthesize this scholarship to present a multifaceted explanation for America’s uniquely continued use of the death penalty through Kenneth Waltz’s three “images” or levels of analysis. While Waltz’s three levels of analysis is an established theory in the field of international relations (IR), the utilization of IR theory for an analysis of American capital punishment is particularly enriching because death penalty abolition is a norm in …

Educational Inequality In Health Insurance Coverage Before And After The Affordable Care Act, Madelaine R. Adamich

Journal of Earth and Life Science

Health insurance and health care accessibility have historically been ongoing issues within the United States. Two key factors associated with the likelihood of an individual being insured are educational attainment and income. The 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA), which has been the largest overhaul of health care in the US to date, aimed to reduce disparities in health insurance coverage and health care accessibility. My research analyzes the extent to which the ACA succeeded in reducing disparities related to educational attainment. To examine the ACA’s effects, I utilize the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data from 2008 and 2015 …