Other Political Science Commons^™

‘A Sense Of The Sea’: Grassroots Culture, Care, And Endurance In Swansea, Cymru, Katy Clark

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis argues that under present conditions, everyday political-aesthetic life is not only about resistance or reproduction but about holding: the work of keeping people, practices, and attachment present and oriented as conditions change. Holding takes the form of care and maintenance; as practices of making, assembling, and imagining; and as the work that keeps open the possibility of renewed attachment to public things and to each other. In the field, this was named as ‘a sense of the sea’, an affective register characterized by wariness, attunement, attentiveness, orientation, and endurance. I am calling this a fragile infrastructure of …

Fulfilling Higher Education’S Responsibility To Students And Democracy In A Challenging Political Environment, Abraham Goldberg, Dena Pastor, Kayla Dixon

International Journal on Responsibility

The American Association of Colleges and Universities and more than 70 higher education organizations have expressed their shared commitment to making civic inquiry and democratic engagement central to undergraduate education. A framework emphasizing the development of skills to address public issues through courses and practical experiences accompanied their prominent call. Yet, campuses currently are facing increases in educational gag orders and institutional policies aimed at limiting discussion of DEI topics and political protests. Although attacks on free speech would seem to conflict with efforts to prepare students for democracy, there has been little scholarly attention on what students know about …

Illiberalism In Israeli Public Opinion, Hannah M. Ridge

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

Israel has long identified as a democracy. However, scholars have expressed concerns that it is engaged in democratic backsliding (Kremnitzer and Shany 2020; Oren and Waxman 2022). Despite holding repeated elections, its liberal credentials are weakening, as the rule of law and judicial independence are threatened. Institutionally, then, it is fulfilling Dahl’s (1971) contestation requirement for democracy but not the inclusiveness requirement. At the citizen level, there is questionable democratic culture (Inglehart and Welzel 2003). If the public supports electoral institutions but not liberal values, then the democracy’s foundation is weak (Mounk 2018). This article analyzes recent Israeli public opinion …

Holidays, Religiosity, And Democratic Attitudes, Hannah Ridge

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

Decades of research have linked religion and religiosity to support for democracy and authoritarianism. This study uses a temporal religious prime during national surveys – the European Social Survey and the National Election Survey – to identify the effect of religion on regime-type preferences. Jewish Israelis who took surveys on Friday or Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, expressed more openness to non-democratic governance. They also interpreted the word democracy in a more populist way. Furthermore, non-religious Jews were less democratic on the Sabbath and more interested in strongman rule than they were on days without the religious connotation. Similarly, more religious …

Prerogative In Common: On The Emancipatory Potential Of Radical Mutuality Amid Sovereign Decisionism, Matthew Builes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In times of crisis, liberal democracies resort to authoritarian measures that undermine core democratic values. Dominant thought in the study of emergency-era law and politics appeal to a dichotomy of normal and exceptional times, to critique or justify the turn to sovereign decisionism. While this strategy seems clear-cut, the persistence of exceptional spaces and the crises that supposedly generate them challenge existing frameworks by blurring the line between norm and exception. This project explores the prospect of radical mutual aid, as a transformative response to the enduring crisis of modernity.

The Wavering Future Of Democracy In Latin America, Brianna N. Bleeck

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The erosion of democratic governance in Latin America has emerged as a critical area of concern for political scientists, policymakers, and international organizations. Historically, the region has experienced fluctuating political landscapes marked by periods of democratic consolidation followed by authoritarian regression. Throughout the 20th century, countries such as Chile, Argentina, and Brazil witnessed military dictatorships resulting from socio-economic crises and political instability. Despite widespread democratic transitions throughout the 1980s and 1990s, contemporary Latin America faces new challenges that threaten its democratic integrity. The resurgence of authoritarian tendencies within the region coincides with escalating homicide and assault rates in many countries, …

Democratic Commitment In The Middle East: A Conjoint Analysis, Hannah M. Ridge

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

Polls from the Middle East/North Africa show high support for democracy. However, the veracity of this support has been called into question. This study uses a conjoint analysis to show that citizens support democratic institutions, as well as favoring an effective welfare state and a state religion. The results demonstrate that support for elected governance is not contingent on the state's providing economic benefits; citizens are more likely to favor participatory government at each level of economic outcome. Interest in incorporating religion in the state, however, is contingent on the political and economic profile described; the contingent effects suggest interest …

Perceived Party Differences, Election Outcomes, And Satisfaction With Democracy, Hannah M. Ridge

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

Multiple studies have identified a significant gap between electoral winners’ satisfaction with the functioning of their democracy and electoral losers’ satisfaction. This disparity is attributed to the diverging policies the parties would enact. For this to be true, citizens must perceive true differences among the parties. Using thirty-one post-election surveys from twenty-five countries, this study finds that the win-loss satisfaction gap is conditioned by the perceived differences among the political parties in the democracy. The effect of winning or losing on citizens’ satisfaction is significantly larger when citizens identify greater differences among the parties. This effect is driven by the …

Dismantling New Democracies: The Case Of Tunisia, Hannah M. Ridge

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

After a decade as the stand-out democracy of the Middle East, Tunisia took an anti-democratic turn in July 2021 with President Kaïs Saïed’s self-coup. Using a survey fielded in the weeks after these reforms, this article documents the substantial support for liberal institutions and civil rights in Tunisia. Democracy itself, on the other hand, is not so strongly supported. The study thus identifies potential for democratic backsliding in Tunisia through the strategic implementation liberal but anti-democratic actions. Other would-be authoritarians could follow Saïed’s model of strategic regression to autocratize their regimes.

Electoral System And Party Survival: The Case Of Indonesian Democracy 1999-2019, M. Faishal Aminuddin, M. Fajar Shodiq Ramadlan

Jurnal Politik

Studies on party survival strongly emphasize the internal dynamics of political parties and their ability to adapt to retain voter support. This article contends that changes in electoral systems and laws, classified as an external factors, also have a significant impact. As a result of these changes, new political parties cannot register to run for office. These changes have also made small political parties with little support unable to survive in parliament. Two significant findings emerge from this case study of Indonesia’s five election cycles. First, changes in Indonesia’s electoral systems and laws have been heavily influenced by the desire …

Freedom Vs. Security: Analyzing The Connection Between States' Prioritization Of Security Over Civil Liberties And Citizen Support For Democratic Norms, Carlyn Trumbull Madden

Dissertations and Theses

Is global democracy declining? This is a question many have argued over, leading to multiple, oftentimes contradictory, answers regarding causes and potential solutions. This thesis seeks to explore the question of democratic decline by analyzing changes over time in public opinion survey data in three states- New Zealand, Turkey, and the United States- looking specifically at how the government has balanced the tradeoff between security and civil liberties in the post-9/11 world. I argue that long-term government prioritization of security over freedoms has eroded support for fundamental democratic norms, as citizens willingly accept restrictions to their rights in exchange for …

Best Practices For Voter Engagement Within Higher Education, Alyssa Tomins

Honors Projects

It is imperative that higher education institutions learn more about how to recruit members of younger generations to participate in future elections. Young people have historically voted at low rates, but that trend has started to change in recent years as more resources are being devoted to voter engagement among young people. This leads to the interest of understanding what best practices and strategies have academic institutions utilized to advance voter engagement on their campuses. This qualitative study analyzes these best practices and strategies at 84 colleges and universities, all of whom are members of The Andrew Goodman Foundation Vote …

Just Like The Others: Party Differences, Perception, And Satisfaction With Democracy, Hannah M. Ridge

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

A robust literature on citizens’ satisfaction with democracy argues that system satisfaction is based on the policy outcomes that citizens anticipate from electoral results. A tacit assumption in this research is that there are differences between the parties and that citizens are aware of the ideological and preference diversity in their political environment. Some citizens, however, fail to perceive these differences. Using a multi-national set of post-election surveys, regression analysis, and propensity score matching, perceived party difference is shown to substantially impact citizens’ systemic satisfaction. Those who believe all parties are the same are substantially less satisfied with the functioning …

Democracy In The Mena, Alexandria Petrof

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

There is not sufficient evidence that the Middle East will be able to democratize effectively. First and foremost, most attempts of implementing democracy have failed. The landscape and lack of industrialization also plays a role in the inability to apply democratic systems into this area. Lastly, the educational system, or lack thereof, struggles to educate their children and citizens as a whole and education is one of the biggest factors in the success of democracy.

The Role Of Opposition In A Democracy: A Bibliometric Analysis, Abhinav Shrivastava Mr., Richa Dwivedi Ms.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Globally, democracy is under threat with the prevalence of authoritarian regime all over the world and the role of opposition in a democracy is an under studied subject and has not received adequate importance by researchers all over the world. The present study focuses on the bibliometrics analysis of the role of opposition in democratic system in order to understand the research status of the subject globally using SCOPUS and Web of Science databases.

The analysis shows that research has been undertaken by various organisations and researchers however, the present time demands more attention on the role of opposition so …

Enemy Mine: Negative Partisanship And Satisfaction With Democracy, Hannah M. Ridge

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

Polarization has increased in recent decades, including emotional distance between partisans. While positive partisan identity has been linked to the absorption of democratic norms and democratic satisfaction, this article addresses the impact of negative partisanship on citizens’ satisfaction with the functioning of their democracies. Employing two measures of negative partisanship – dislike for a party and unwillingness to ever vote for a party – the article finds that negative partisanship is linked to lower satisfaction with democracy, particularly negative partisanship for major parties. It also finds that respondents’ sentiments towards other parties moderate the experience of electoral outcomes; the win/loss …

Democracy And Social Policy In Southeast Asia: A Comparative Process Tracing Analysis, Fadillah Putra, M. Faishal Aminuddin

Jurnal Politik

The relationship between democracy and social policy in Southeast Asia is a critical topic that has received insufficient attention. In general, trends in improving social policy as part of the government’s responsibility for citizens do not follow the trend of democratization. Even in autocratic countries, improving the quality of social policy is always a priority. This study answers the following question: what can the trend of improvement in social policy explain in relation to democratization at the state level? Through the comparative process tracing analysis method, this study demonstrated a discriminatory treatment factor in providing access to public services to …

Democracy Unchained: Contractualism, Individualism, And Independence In Buchanan’S Democratic Theory, John Thrasher

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

Contrary to the claims of some of his critics, James Buchanan was an ardent democrat. I argue that Buchanan’s conception of democratic governance organized by a contractually justified constitution is highly distinctive because of his commitment to a strong conception of individualism. For Buchanan, democracy is neither justified instrumentally—by the goods it generates—nor by reference to some antecedent conception of justice. Instead, democracy is the only political option for a society that takes individualism seriously. One implication of this view is that democracies can only be limited by the rules they collectively give themselves in the form of constitutions. I …

Unequal Democracies: Economic Sanctions' Impact On Human Rights In Democratic Systems, Daniel Partin

Masters Theses

In the past, research into the field of human rights has treated regime as a dichotomous variable and divided the type of governmental structure into either autocracies or democracies. By lumping all democracies into one category, all variation between different categories of governmental composition is discarded and it is difficult to examine the differences between types of democratic governments and their human rights capacities. Due to their tendency to accrete power centrally, presidential democracies are thought to repress the rights of citizens more often and severely than parliamentary systems. Further, an exogenous shock to the political system, such as the …

Government And The Intelligence Community: A Case Study On Russia And The United States Government's Effect On Intelligence Systems, Jessica M. Lago

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The United States and Russia are two major superpowers with governments that are run in different manners. Central to a government's and country's defense is their intelligence systems. The intelligence systems of these two countries are run as part of the government and are integral to its functioning. The purpose of this thesis is to discuss how both the governments and intelligence systems are structured and do they coincide with their respective systems. Using a case study on the United States and Russia, their intelligence systems and governments a comparison was drawn. While looking at the history of both governments …

And That's The Word: Effects Of The Colbert Report On Political Knowledge And Participation, Nicholas Canfield

Student Research – Stevenson Center

The Colbert Report was a satirical, political, and “fake” news show that lasted for almost a decade on the Comedy Central Network. Although many scholars have argued the program was less impactful and influential than Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, phenomena such as the “Colbert Bump” show a definite impact on the political lives of many Americans. Using four quantitative surveys from 2008 to 2012, this thesis investigates the effects of watching The Colbert Report on individuals’ political knowledge and political participation. Results indicate non-Republican viewers increased their political knowledge, but not participation, from watching the show. The educational …

An Epistemic Justification For Voting, Julia Maskivker

Faculty Publications

Received wisdom in most democracies is that voting should be seen as a political freedom that citizens have a right to exercise or not to exercise. But would liberal democracies be any less liberal if voting were seen as a duty? Contrasting the libertarian argument against the moral duty to vote, this paper proposes that we have a duty to vote well – with knowledge and a sense of impartiality. The obligation is one among many instantiations of a natural duty to promote and support just institutions in society. The paper links justice with democratic epistemic virtues to ground the …

Peran Partai Oposisi Di Parlemen Pasca Pemilu Presiden 2014, Tuswoyo Admojo

Jurnal Politik

The existence of opposition party in Indonesian parliament after the reform era has been taking place since 2004, precisely since Megawati Sukarnoputri lost the presidential election and then declared herself and her party, Indonesian Democratic Party–Struggle (PDI-P) as an opposition party. After that, PDI-P attempts to perform as a functioning opposition to criticize the government’s policies in about ten years. Then, the candidates proposed mainly by PDI-P, eventually won the 2014 presidential election by overcoming the other candidates, Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa. After the defeat, Prabowo-Hatta formed the Red and White Coalition (RWC) to maintain their opposition to Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla …

The Prospect Of Democracy: China’S Possibility Of Political Reform, Chase Thomas

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

What factors help or hinder democratization in China? Democracy in China is not an unknown term, but the difficulty of making “democratic” reforms in China has raised the question of if China will democratize. This literature review and analysis will examine the factors, which help or hinder democratization in China through economic and cultural means. By using a literature review as well as reviewing the concepts of democracy and prerequisites thereof, three scenarios for democratization will be determined. Through the use of the information provided in the latter, I predict that while democracy is possible in China, the state will …

The Ethics Of Legislative Vote Trading, John Thrasher

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

It is argued in this article that legislative vote trading by representatives is both ethically permissible and may be ethically required in many cases. This conclusion is an implication of a thin, general account of representation that requires representatives to vote on the basis of the perceived preferences or interests of their constituents. These special duties arise from a thin account of representation and create a weak, defeasible duty for representatives to engage in what they believe will be beneficial vote trades. After establishing this claim, the article considers two objections to this duty. One is based on equating legislative …

How And Why Do Dictatorships Survive? Lessons For The Middle East, Erica Frantz

Bridgewater Review

Political events in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have dominated news headlines for the past two years. Since the revolution in Tunisia in December 2010, one dictatorship after the next has appeared on the verge of collapse, as citizens gather en masse to voice their demands for democratic governance. In countries such as Libya and Egypt, though relatively successful democratic elections were held following the collapse of long-standing dictatorships, it is uncertain whether the new political system being installed will be democratic or autocratic. When looking to the future of the region beyond the Arab Spring, one thing …

Social Media And Political Changes In Al-Alam Al-Arabi, Jabbar Al-Obaidi

Bridgewater Review

The Arab countries are typically described as lacking democratic traditions, freedom of the press, human rights and civil liberties. The utilization of social media for political purposes became crucial to the widespread expression of pent-up social discontent that precipitated the Arab Spring. Uploaded videos, photos, and Twitter feeds served to outrage people in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, and Syria. This volatile combination of a young population, authoritarian rule, corruption and poverty is prompting youth to spearhead political demonstrations and the demand for regime change.

Taking It Off In The Mideast, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author explores the concept of democracy and the impact of financial, moral, and sexual corruption in the Middle East.

Globalizing Democracy Or Democratizing Globalism?, Matthew S. Weinert

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Transnational Democracy: Political Spaces and Border Crossings edited by James Anderson. London: Routledge, 2002. 224pp.

Law, Human Rights, Realism And The “War On Terror”, J. Peter Pham

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror by Michael Ignatieff. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004. 212pp.