American Politics Commons^™

Guns And Their Place In The Us, Jacob Garibaldi

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

Creating this paper was a wicked problem due to how deep of an issue the gun debate is in the United States. In the discussion of guns, there is a side that wants to abolish them, a side that believes in the right of the second amendment, and a middle ground where we can have guns in society with added in legal measures. Surely enough, those that are in opposition to firearms are persuaded due to the acts of violence and crime committed with them. Then there are those that use them in a way of self-defense. Through this paper, …

Do Autocratic Regimes Excel In Natural Disaster Relief? A Case Study Of Political Institutions And Covid-19 Exposure, Jane Kay

Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has challenged what we know about the politics of public health. In this research study, I investigate the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural disaster and hypothesize if authoritarian governments are more adequate at disaster control and relief. I hypothesize that the more autocratic a government structure, the better they would be at handling COVID-19 exposure and outbreaks due to their centralized decision making, unified media, and their ability to make unpopular decisions without repercussions. In order to test this theory, I gather data from the Johns Hopkins database for three key dates in the pandemic …

Examining The Rise In Asian-American Hate Crimes, Onu Institute For Civics And Public Policy, Kennedy Aikey, Kennedy Cook, Hailey Trimpey

Critical Questions

In the past year, hate crimes targeting Asian-Americans in the United States have increased by nearly 150 percent. Many have linked this rise to charged rhetoric revolving around the CoronaVirus pandemic and its origins in Wuhan China. The use of terms like “Chinese virus” and “kung flu” have been used as derogatory ways to blame Asians for the virus. Asian- Americans in various communities are now becoming targets for hate crimes. Recently, many are trying to speak out against this and bring an end to the hate. Racism has surrounded these communities for years now, and it has gotten progressively …

A Study Of Undergraduate Major On The Youth Electorate Within The Bryant Community, Jenna Birnbohm-Kaminski

Honors Projects in History and Social Sciences

This thesis will carefully explore the relationship between undergraduate college major, and political participation and affiliation of young voters (ages 18-29). There has been a great deal of research in the field of voter behavior about this generation of young voters, and how they will impact the new electorate and overall political climate. An increasing commonality amongst young people is an undergraduate education of some kind. However, undergraduate students can choose their area of study, thus differentiating the exposure to information and experience of each student at a very impressionable time in their lives. A study of the political behavior …

Ghost Of Populism: Haunting The Demos In Democracy, Chloe A. Bidne

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

Several recent elections demonstrate voters across advanced industrial economies support candidates with a populist agenda. We observe this phenomenon, for example, in the election of Donald J. Trump as president of the United States as well as across the Atlantic through the majority of voters in the UK favoring the UK Independence Party’s call to leave the European Union and return to a nationally focused agenda through Brexit. Europe allows us to be vividly aware of voter support for populist agendas through their multi-party systems, which include political parties who openly and explicitly claim a populist agenda, such as the …

Global Studies Initiative Faculty Report: Interdisciplinary Collaborations, Dale Gardner

Global Studies Initiatives in Social Sciences 2020 - 2021

No abstract provided.

Partisan Cues, Emotion, And The Efficacy Of Corrections To Misinformation About Democratic Norms, Julia Ruth James

Honors Theses

Political misinformation and threats to democratic norms are major problems for American democracy. This thesis examines belief in misinformation about democratic norms and the efficacy of corrective information (fact-checking) in multiple circumstances, specifically analyzing the effects of emotions, partisan cues, and conspiracy thinking on the efficacy of the corrective information. To measure these effects, a survey of 45 questions was fielded through Lucid. Approximately 2000 respondents answered questions about their demographics, political beliefs/participation, and media habits. These respondents were subsequently randomly sorted into 1 of 8 experimental groups and received an emotional priming activity and a simulated news article containing …

3rd Place Contest Entry: Sovereignty, Statehood, And Subjugation: Native Hawaiian And Japanese American Discourse Over Hawaiian Statehood, Nicole Saito

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

This is Nicole Saito's submission for the 2021 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize, which won first place. It contains her essay on using library resources, a three-page sample of her research project on the consequences that Japanese American advocacy for Hawaiian statehood had on Native Hawaiians, and her works cited list.

Nicole is a junior at Chapman University, majoring in Political Science, History, and Economics. Her faculty mentor is Dr. Robert Slayton.

A Study Of Groupthink And Multiple Advocacy In Presidential Foreign Policy Fiascos, Ethan S. Wilt

Student Publications

As “the sole organ of the federal government in the field of international relations,” Presidents have almost exclusively presided over foreign policy. Modern Presidents, spanning from Eisenhower, Kennedy, Ford, Carter, and Reagan, have readily encountered foreign policy crises, with varying degrees of success. Why do some President fail while others triumph? It comes down to an assortment of factors: organizational structure, multiple advocacy, and groupthink. Organizational structure affects how information is disseminated and decisions are made. Multiple advocacy brings out all important interests during deliberations. Groupthink paralyzes deliberations by causing conformity, cohesion, and replaces critical thinking with irrationality. These frameworks …

The Eviction Landscape In South Carolina, Ethan Magnuson

Senior Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze the South Carolinian eviction crisis from the perspective of radical geography. South Carolina was chosen for the severity of its crisis and the lack of research at a sub-state level. Court records of eviction filings from 2019 were geocoded and tested for spatial clustering, which was clearly visible. Plaintiff names were used to identify the most frequent filers and distinguish landlords by type. At the census tract level, eviction filing counts were compared with neighborhood characteristics using negative binomial regression, and most were found to be significant in South Carolina. …

Space Exploration: Nasa Investment Into The Private Space Sector And Public Opinion, Brooke Ziegenhagen

Senior Theses

The space exploration industry has entered a new era with companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin leading the way to the privatization of space. This paper examines public opinion regarding the source of space exploration funding and proposes possible motivations for these sentiments. This is followed by an assessment on NASA’s investment trends into the commercial space industry. Both probes review the past decade, to reveal the public-private relationship in this new era and finally, conclude whether or not public opinion plays a role in the degree of NASA investment and what that role may be.

Polarization: A 21st Century Challenge To Global Democracy, Tim Biocic

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The purpose of this paper is to identify the issue of political polarization as it relates not only to American politics, but also to see how the issues in political polarization that exist in the United States are also experienced in other democracies around the world. The paper takes a look at what some of the different theories are about where polarization originates, who some of the leading scholars are in the debate over polarization, what institutional mechanisms contribute to the problem of polarization, and then finally what polarization looks like elsewhere in the world.

When it comes to the …

Catholic Voting: The Influence Of Abortion, Benjamin O’Brien

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Throughout the history of the United States, voting trends in American elections have evolved. One example of this is how the Catholic vote has changed since the 1960s. Factors such as race, gender, economics, and religious values may impact voting trends. These factors may have some impact on the shift in the Catholic voting trend. To determine this, I studied how Catholic voters feel about certain issues and how their responses may differ by income level, race, and gender. In my analysis I used data from the Congressional Campaign Election Study, which was gathered by a survey of voters in …

Partisan Trust In Social Media: Who Trusts The News On Social Media And Who Does Not?, Kenneth Morris

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Social Media has changed the way Americans and people around the world receive their news. This advancement in media has political scientists questioning who trusts the information they read on social media sites. The PEW Research Center provides excellent data from a public opinion survey they conducted in 2019. My analysis of the data found that found that the older generations (50 years and older) are more warry of the news they receive on social media. More specifically, the older Republicans have less trust than the other demographics. With President Trump’s Twitter account being permanently banned from the site in …

End Of The Line: The Women Of Standing Rock, Gary Saul

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock (2021), directed by Shannon Kring.

Rioting For Resurrection: Masculinity, White Supremacy, And Religion At The U.S. Capitol Insurrection (Panel Transcript), Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Stephen C. Finley, Bradley Onishi

Rioting for Resurrection: Masculinity, White Supremacy, and Religion at the U.S. Capitol Insurrection

This file contains the video recording of the virtual panel and discussion. The official flyer for the event is also available here and contains the panel presenter's biographies.

The Church And Michael Brown: The Influence Of Christianity On Racialized Political Attitudes In Ferguson, Missouri, Tyler Chance

Dissertations

This study examines whether the Christian faith played a pacifying or inspiring role in racialized politics following the death of Michael Brown and subsequent uprisings in Ferguson, Missouri. To evaluate the role of religion in responding to racialized crisis, the author examines both the attitudes of individual citizens and the actions of faith leaders. Using data gathered from two exit-polls conducted by the author in Ferguson and the surrounding area during the period between the death of Michael Brown and the decision not to indict the officer who killed him and then again after the grand jury decision, the author …

Barriers To Post-Secondary Success, Douglas Swanson, Najeana Henderson, Maritza Sloan

Dissertations

This study reviews factors that prior studies have identified or failed to consider as barriers to post-secondary success. The three main areas include academic success for Latinx students after high school, organizational systems and their impact on African-American students’ postsecondary readiness, and what workers think of their high school education with regards to career preparedness.

Five factors are identified as major barriers for Latinx students to continue in a higher education system. A survey of former students from Saint Louis, Missouri, and Dallas, Texas, metroplex area identified 56 Latinx students that participated in an initial survey. This led to a …

How "Lyingnewspapers" Made Huey Long The Ruler Of His State: A Model Of Press-Populist Dynamics, Christina A. Georgacopoulos

LSU Master's Theses

Huey Long’s use of the phrase “lyingnewspapers” to discredit negative publicity is commonly cited as evidence of his negative relationship with the mainstream press, but he did not always hold a hostile view toward newspapers. Before the press turned against him during his enemies' attempt to impeach him as governor in 1929, newspapers were one of his central tools for political advancement. He devised strategies to attract press attention and relied on newspapers to publicize himself and propagate his ideas more frequently and consistently than he used circulars or radio broadcasts, which are commonly attributed to his political success. As …

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 …

“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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.