American Politics Commons^™

American-European Alignment: An Assessment Of Economic And Security Factors Impacting The Relationship Between The United States And Europe Since Wwii, Peter Nicholas Gianaris

CMC Senior Theses

The United States and Europe have had a relationship that has constantly augmented during the past 80 years. The extent of this change has depended on a number of factors including security and economics. This paper seeks to analyze the relationship between the United States and Europe throughout the Cold War, following the Cold War, and in the wake of Russia’s current invasion of Ukraine. It will view the partnership through a security and economic lens and seek to determine how much both factors impact the relationship and in what way each factor has impacted the relationship. It will also …

For Richer Or Poorer: The Warren Court's Relationship To Socioeconomic Class, Nicole Jonassen

CMC Senior Theses

The U.S. Constitution does not enshrine socioeconomic rights. Why does this matter? Many argue that socioeconomic rights have value in and of themselves because they secure certain minimum conditions of human dignity, but socioeconomic rights also have instrumental value because abject material deprivation often makes traditional political and civil rights meaningless. In this thesis, I explore the relationship between U.S. constitutional law and socioeconomic rights through an analysis of the Warren Court’s decisions regarding socioeconomic class. In Chapter 1, I present existing literature on socioeconomic rights, socioeconomic rights in the American context, and what many scholars see as the Warren …

Let Your Head Hang Down: A Narrative Examination Of Cultic & Conspiratorial Romance, Kyle Macy

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

A response to recent cultural trends of radicalization, extremism, and violence in American society, this dissertation, a novel rendered in ephemeral fragments of oral histories, interrogates the romanticist postures that compel a community of musical artists, the so-called “Folk Revival Revival,” toward infamy and tragedy. Where more traditional sociological approaches to cultic formations stress the importance of centralized charismatic authority, and more traditional psychological approaches rely upon a conspiratorial Cold War ethos of cognitive bias and coercive control (i.e. “brainwashing”), this project meets such assumptions with incredulity, asserting instead that cultic and conspiratorial entrancement awakens first from within, and may …

A Cherokee Historiography: 125 Years And The Trail Of Tears, Joshua Huberman

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

Synthesis Essay..............................3

Document Section.........................28

Textbook Engagement...................38

Bibliography....................................48

Body. Freedom. Choice: Creating Artwork In Post-Roe America, Erin Sedra

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

I knew from a young age that I never wanted children. Whenever I expressed my disinterest in motherhood, I was often met with bewilderment, disapproval, and hostility. The church I was raised in taught me that my value and worth as a woman directly correlated with the power of my birthing hips. This fundamentalist upbringing has significantly shaped my relationship with my femininity, my body, and my artwork. When I feel powerless, turning to my art gives me a sense of control and self-expression. This body of work began as a reaction to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and …

A Bargaining Theory Of Us-China Economic Rivalry: Differentiating The Trade And Technology Wars, Cathy Xuauxuan Wu

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

This article examines the outbreak and persistence of US–China economic war, which comprises both the trade war, featured with retaliatory tariffs, and the technology war, featured with restrictions on Chinese access to US technologies. Building on the analytical framework of bargaining and war, I argue that different components of the economic war emerged from distinct causes. The outbreak of the trade war was primarily driven by the information problem, characterized by mutual uncertainty and the lack of effective communications. The technology war was largely a result of the commitment problem driven by the existing power’s concern regarding potential future changes …

Nato Past 75: Moving Into A Twenty Years' Crisis, 2021-2041, Simon Serfaty

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

[Introduction] "A constructive treatment of Europe's present-day problems calls for historical thinking which is something more than mere historical knowledge," wrote historian Hajo Holborn about the political collapse of Europe. Historical thinking views the moment as a combination of Saint Augustine's "three presents" - of things past and things future as well as of things present. Admittedly, it is on all three accounts that current conditions now look bleak on both sides of the Atlantic. At home, the constitutional order is at risk in the United States and other Western democracies, pending the next national election; abroad, the postwar institutional …

Vote Like A Man, Act Like A Woman: An Exploratory Analysis Of The Political Behavior Of Contemporary American Conservative Women, Alex Hawkins

Masters Theses

This article seeks to establish a baseline for the political behavior and participation levels of Republican women by measuring six political activities. Using CCES 2020 self-selected survey data, the six political activities measured were: made a political donation, attended a march or protest, attended a political meeting, worked on a campaign, contacted a public official, displayed political signage. The political behavior and participation levels of Republican women were compared to the levels of Republican men and non-Republican women. This comparison was established to provide further insight into the political behaviors of Republican women, including the relationship between gender and partisanship …

Sister City International Project Exchange: Providing Resources For Migrants, Claire Saldaña

Honors Program Theses and Research Projects

Migrants continuously enter the United States through the southern border and overwhelm Texas border cities’ resources. Many migrants entering U.S. have travel plans; however, they need basic resources to continue their journey. San Antonio has one of the best migrant resource center models in the country but are increasingly overwhelmed with the continuous surges. This proposal focuses on the City of San Antonio, as it is the main port of transportation for migrants to the rest of the U.S. Through the Sister City International program San Antonio will create a letter of intent for an exchange program. The creation of …

¿Tengo El Derecho A Votar?: Un Análisis De Las Leyes Del Acceso Lingüístico Y Los Impactos De Recursos Multilingües De Votación En La Participación De Votantes Hispanos En Iowa Y Michigan, Madeline L. Hinz

Honors Program Theses

This thesis examines the linguistic accessibility of voting from multiple perspectives through the analysis of federal and state level electoral legislation in conjunction with language access services available in Iowa and Michigan. It compares a variety of influences on Spanishspeaking participation in elections and the linguistic accessibility of voting in the two states. I have chosen these states because of their similar linguistic makeup and populations of Spanishspeakers and Hispanic/Latine groups as a percentage of their total population. This research includes a discussion of language laws at the state level, how each of these laws impacts voting accessibility, and is …

The Contribution Of The White Working-Class Toward Their Own Political And Economic Disenfranchisement, Dana De Castro

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to answer the following question: why are the white working-class in America complicit in their own political and economic disenfranchisement? Moreover, this paper utilizes two time periods in American history, specifically, the Antebellum period and the Jim Crow era, and examines the white working-class’s behavioral pattern in these periods with the historical context in mind that took place in each of the eras. Through an analysis of the two studies, it is revealed that the white working-class has long been disenfranchised politically and economically. The white working-class of the past (specifically, the Antebellum period …

Partisan Panel Composition And Reliance On Earlier Opinions In The Circuit Courts, Stuart Minor Benjamin, Byungkoo Kim, Kevin M. Quinn

Faculty Scholarship

Does the partisan composition of three-judge panels affect how earlier opinions are treated and thus how the law develops? Using a novel data set of Shepard's treatments for all cases decided in the U.S. courts of appeals from 1974 to 2017, we investigate three different versions of this question. First, are panels composed of three Democratic (Republican) appointees more likely to follow opinions decided by panels of three Democratic (Republican) appointees than are panels composed of three Republican (Democratic) appointees? Second, does the presence of a single out-party judge change how a panel relies on earlier decisions compared to what …

Type Vs. Turnout: Correlations Between Types Of Higher Education Institutions And Student Voter Turnout, Janea Mccoy

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Voter turnout in the youth demographic has been the subject of increased attention and research in the past several years, with many questions left unanswered. The 18-25 age demographic can play a crucial and impactful role in elections. However, many young adults do not vote. Higher education has often been viewed as a catalyst for civic engagement amongst this age demographic, with correlations between enrollment in higher education and increased rates of voter turnout being evident. Given there is much variation between different kinds of institutions, however, this raises the question: what types of institutions and their respective characteristics correlate …

Power And Politics In The Media: The Year In C-Span Archives Research, Volume 9, Robert X. Browning

The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research

Power and Politics in the Media: The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research, Volume 9 features articles from multiple disciplines that use the C-SPAN Video Library to explore recent controversies in American politics. Topics covered include Supreme Court nominations, Supreme Court oral arguments, rhetoric on disasters and COVID-19, and the effect of clothing on the approval of women in power. What unites these topics is the unique use of the video record of C-SPAN to explore the intersections of politics, power, rhetoric, and the media in the contemporary United States. Written in accessible prose, this volume showcases some of the most …

Bipartisan Legislation In Supermajority State Legislatures, Ashley R. Gustafson

Honors Thesis

We ask how partisan (im)balance affects the prevalence of bipartisan legislation in U.S. state legislative bodies. We conducted a quantitative analysis of all fifty state legislative bodies over five years, 2017 to 2022, examining both institutional and individual action. We analyze minority member behavior differences between supermajority and veto-proof legislative bodies as compared to simple majority legislatures. Our work shows that minority party legislators in Democrat supermajority state legislative bodies are more likely to sponsor bipartisan legislation, and the amount of bipartisan legislation sponsored overall in a state legislature is likely to decrease in Republican supermajority state legislative bodies. This …

“Every Nation Except Our Own”: The Social Gospel, Anti-Immigrant Sentiments, And U.S. Foreign Policy, Andrea Darmawan

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This thesis concerns the social gospel, a liberal Protestant movement that enjoyed its heyday in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The thesis argues that the movement’s two most prominent figures, Washington Gladden and Walter Rauschenbusch, expressed an antipathy toward immigrants and a paternalistic attitude toward foreign nations and cultures. These attitudes then laid the foundation for contemporary anti-immigrant sentiments and US foreign policy. Gladden and Rauschenbusch’s rhetoric contains sentiments which act as a precursor to various elements of American exceptionalism, from missionary activity abroad to liberal attitudes toward the Middle East after 9/11. These links have …

Political Rhetoric And Latino Public Opinion: A Study Of Abortion In The U.S., Fernanda Valdez

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies political rhetoric and Latino public opinion on abortion in the United States. Mainly, this thesis asks: Is political rhetoric on abortion shaping the Latino vote? This thesis conducted a content analysis of political rhetoric through speeches, interviews, debates, political advertisements, and social media accounts from Democratic and Republican gubernatorial candidates. The gubernatorial races studied in this thesis are those from California and Texas from 2010 to 2022. In the content analysis, this research accounted for words and phrases that referenced abortion and the type of arguments (reproductive rights-based and moral-based arguments) made in those references. Then, this …

Gin, Jesus, & Jim Crow: Prohibition And The Transformation Of Racial And Religious Politics In The South, John Compton

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

A review of Brendan J J Payne's Gin, Jesus, and Jim Crow: Prohibition and the Transformation of Racial and Religious Politics in the South.

“This Forum Is Not A Democracy”: The Role Of Norms And Moderation In Cultivating (Anti)Democratic Incel Identities, Jennifer Forestal

Political Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Incels (short for “involuntarily celibate”) have recently gained notoriety for their aggressive, often violent, misogyny, yet incels were not al- ways an antidemocratic social group. They thus pose a challenge for thinking about democracy and identity in (anonymous) digital environments: how can we create spaces for marginalized social groups while ensuring the resulting identities remain democratic? While many scholars point to technological affordances or corporate content moderation policies as providing some solutions, in this article I propose a more democratic approach. Drawing from incel wikis and archived forum posts from two early incel communities—IncelSupport and LoveShy—I argue that a community’s …

Fighting Aids With No Help: Radical Solidarity And How Community Organizations Overcame A Neglectful Federal Government, Sophia Kennan

Honors Theses

Community organizations have forever shaped the history of the United States. As de Tocqueville noted in a visit to the US in the 19th century, volunteerism and forming associations is a way of life ingrained in American society. The way that these community organizations operate in relation to government action is incredibly important to understanding democratic processes in the US, and one such period that is of note is the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. During this time, the government was infamously silent and neglectful on themes surrounding the epidemic, and this inaction greatly informs how community organizations operated during …

Incivility In 2022 Senatorial Elections, Mark Meyer

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This honors capstone project will examine the effect of social media, specifically Twitter, on U.S. senate elections in 2022. It will track the tweets of personal and official campaign Twitter accounts from the end of the primary until election night in two “Toss Up” or highly contested seats in the 2022 senate elections. This project will examine the winner of the Republican and Democrat primaries only. All the tweets from the timeframe will be tracked and categorized by intention or use of the tweet. These categories will break down the tweet into what it was meant to do be it …

Critical Consciousness & The Rural-Urban Divide, Kendall O'Rorke

University Honors Theses

This study investigated the relationship between conceptions of Critical Consciousness (CC) and urban vs. rural geographic location type. Participants (N = 31) completed the Short Critical Consciousness Scale (CCS-S), and 25 additional questions regarding potential location-based idealogical differences. No measurable differences were found regarding differences in conceptions of critical consciousness (using CCS-S scores) based on rural-urban location, however, other responses supported some current research regarding political typology. Additional research is needed to fully understand this topic.

The Pride Pipeline: Violent Nationalism In The United States, Emily Veloz

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

A striking rise in American Nationalism has emerged due to varying factors; however, a particular selection of identities have acted as primary contributors to this phenomenon. This piece navigates the increasing application of violence in the political arena in tandem with the impacts of racial, socioeconomic, and social factors that have fueled this collective aggression. Previous research points toward the hyperpolarization that has been perpetuated by political figures and media outlets, the augmentation of a psychological us-vs.-them mentality, and the perceived threat to American hegemony across the globe. Through an analysis of data provided by the 9th edition of the …

The Professionalization Of The Supreme Court, Ruben Lopez-Apodaca

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The professional and personal backgrounds of Supreme Court Justices are becoming increasingly similar. Nearly all sitting justices hold degrees from an Ivy league law school and have experience as federal circuit judges. In earlier periods this was not the case. The Stone Court of the 1940’s had six Ivy League alumni and one judge with federal circuit experience. This begs the question, when and why did this shift take place? This study will provide an overview of the occupational and educational backgrounds of every justice from 1910 to the present, in addition to Supreme Court nominees of the same period …

Fear Of Immigrants And Immigration In American Society, Sabrina Laib

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Immigrants, regardless of status, are portrayed as a threat to American society through the media. This paper will investigate Americans and their fear of non White immigrants and naturalized citizens through the theories of immigration threat, social identity theory, group cue, and the so-called freeloader problem. Due to the rise of xenophobic rhetoric being parroted by American politicians such as the Muslim ban enacted during the time of former President Trump’s presidency, the U.S. border control’s violence towards central American refugees, as well as undocumented laborers that Florida’s Governor DeSantis did not want working in his state anymore, leading to …

Information Inflation: How Social Media News Consumption Contributes To Societal And Political Fears, Owen Cotton

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

By permitting each American to be exposed to countless amounts of information through social media, platforms have become even more influential for public perception. Since the establishment of social media platforms the United States has certainly seen an increase in political and social disputes, particularly during the last couple presidencies. In this paper I will examine what is the link between growing concerns of public unrest and social media, and to what extent the next generations of Americans are affected. With a partial focus on feelings resulting from the January 6th riots in 2021, I will examine to what extent …

America’S Fear Of Civil Unrest Through The Lens Of 2020 Blm Protests And January 6th, Morgan Romine

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Over the past five years, the United States of America (US) has experienced events which highlight societal weakness and faults in the foundations of the US system. This research paper focuses on the level of fear a participant has of civil unrest in the US, how that fear has evolved following the events of 2020, including the January 6th Insurrection and 2020’s summer of Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests. Factoring the age, political affiliation, and socio-economic status of the study’s participants into the findings, is a way to understand where the participant’s fear may be stemming from. My research uses …

The Bitter End: The 2020 Presidential Campaign And The Challenge To American Democracy, Zachary Morris

The Journal of Economics and Politics

No abstract provided.

The Political Divergence Of Ohio And Michigan, Dominic D. Wells, David J. Jackson

The Journal of Economics and Politics

Ohio and Michigan are demographically similar states whose politics have diverged since 2016. This research aims to explain why these two Midwestern states have taken such different political paths in recent years. A comparative case study is used to examine a number of possible explanations. The results of this research show that institutional factors such as registration and voting laws, redistricting processes, and ballot measures have contributed to the political divergence of Ohio and Michigan. Further, data on policy preferences are compared to show that the differences between the states are not the result of different policy preferences among their …

Keepers Of The Peace Or Soldiers: An Analysis Of The 1983 Beirut Marine Barracks Bombing And The Rationale Behind Deploying Troops In A Peacekeeping Capacity, Brock Bellinger

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Despite President Reagan’s historic foreign policy success in ushering in the collapse of the Soviet Union and liberation of Eastern Europe, the loss of life during the Beirut Marine barracks bombing marks a substantial failure in Reagan’s foreign policy record. Reagan’s foreign policy failure in Beirut that resulted in the deaths of 241 Americans merits further examination amongst students of international relations as this peacekeeping mission illustrates the dangers of sending American troops into harm’s way without a clear and decisive goal and exit strategy. By evaluating the 1983 Beirut Marine barracks bombing, the hindsight and judgment of history allows …