Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
-
- Political Science (13)
- American Politics (12)
- Law (11)
- Sociology (10)
- American Studies (7)
-
- Arts and Humanities (7)
- Public Affairs (6)
- Public Policy (6)
- Inequality and Stratification (5)
- Social Welfare (5)
- State and Local Government Law (5)
- Law and Politics (4)
- Other American Studies (4)
- Politics and Social Change (4)
- Comparative Politics (3)
- Economics (3)
- Environmental Policy (3)
- Environmental Sciences (3)
- Environmental Studies (3)
- Global Studies (3)
- International and Area Studies (3)
- Natural Resource Economics (3)
- Natural Resources Management and Policy (3)
- Natural Resources and Conservation (3)
- Physical Sciences and Mathematics (3)
- Race and Ethnicity (3)
- Science and Technology Policy (3)
- Keyword
-
- Statistical analyses (11)
- United states (4)
- History (3)
- Corporate capture (2)
- Democratic (2)
-
- Literature reviews (2)
- MN (2)
- Pollution (2)
- Republican (2)
- Turnout (2)
- Agribusiness (1)
- Alternatives (1)
- American Dream (1)
- Anti-immigrant sentiment (1)
- Behavior (1)
- Big ag (1)
- Big tech (1)
- Biotech (1)
- Campaign contributions (1)
- Cancer (1)
- Case studies (1)
- Casinos (1)
- Child adoption (1)
- Christian Nationalism (1)
- Compute (1)
- Conservatives (1)
- Control of space (1)
- Cooperative federalism (1)
- Corporate lobby (1)
- County government (1)
- Publication Year
- Publication
- Publication Type
Articles 1 - 16 of 16
Full-Text Articles in Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
Educational Inequality In Health Insurance Coverage Before And After The Affordable Care Act, Madelaine R. Adamich
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 …
Powering The Machine, Draining The Planet: Whether U.S. Environmental Law Is Equipped To Regulate The Energy And Water Demands Of Ai Data Centers, Michael Marcu
Journal of Earth and Life Science
Artificial intelligence (AI) data centers have become one of the United States' fastest-growing and least-regulated sources of environmental stress. In 2024 alone, U.S. data centers consumed 183 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity more than the entire nation of Pakistan and consumed an estimated 17 billion gallons of water (IEA, 2025; Berkeley Lab, 2024). By 2030, electricity demand from these facilities is projected to reach 426 TWh, a 133% increase in six years (Pew Research Center, 2025). This paper examines whether the existing U.S. environmental regulatory framework put by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), and the …
Effects Of Round-Up On The Environment, Sandra J. Marcu
Effects Of Round-Up On The Environment, Sandra J. Marcu
Journal of Earth and Life Science
Many people around the world have used and still currently use Roundup but are unaware of the effects it has on the environment. Roundup is a spray on application weedkiller that is widely used around the world today both residentially and commercially. It enables its user to grow a garden or a field of crops with a no-tilling approach to eliminate weeds. It is a well-known and popular choice for killing weeds that has been around since the mid 1970’s (Oca, 2017). John Franz, a Monsanto scientist discovered that glyphosate (main ingredient in Roundup) was an herbicide or weedkiller, and …
American Immigration: Differing Views On The Threat From Immigrants, Carl Karpinski
American Immigration: Differing Views On The Threat From Immigrants, Carl Karpinski
Political Science Theses and Capstones
Immigration has been a hot button issue in politics across the world, especially in recent years in the United States. People’s views on immigration vary broadly among political parties and from every corner of the country. Why do people believe the things they do about immigrants? I researched this question to determine why immigration is at the forefront of American politics and how different aspects of one’s life affect his or her sentiments. Using General Social Survey data, I explored why some people feel threatened by immigrants coming to their country and others do not. Variables analyzed include income, church …
Beyond Pluralism And Elitism: How Much Influence Do Special Interests Have On The Content Of Congressional Legislation?, Kyle Johnson
Beyond Pluralism And Elitism: How Much Influence Do Special Interests Have On The Content Of Congressional Legislation?, Kyle Johnson
Political Science Theses and Capstones
Do powerful special interests have too much influence over what is written in congressional legislation? There has been ongoing debate about how influence should be distributed between interest groups in affecting legislation. A central question in this debate asks whether interest groups with more financial clout have more influence in policy-making than interests that have fewer resources? Furthermore, much research has been on interest groups influence on the lawmaker’s vote instead of the interest’s influence prior to the vote. My research seeks to determine the extent to which interest groups influence the content of legislation in the U.S. Congress. My …
The New Evangelicals: How Donald Trump Revealed The Changing Christian Conservative Base, Michael J. Herbert
The New Evangelicals: How Donald Trump Revealed The Changing Christian Conservative Base, Michael J. Herbert
Political Science Theses and Capstones
I analyze how Donald Trump, who many see as an uncertain standard bearer of Christian values, given his colored personal life and various tortured exchanges on the Bible, became the champion of Christian conservatives. Using Pew data from a January 27th, 2016 survey, I analyze how the Republican presidential candidate went from the lowest rankings of religious association just 10 months prior, to winning the highest white evangelical support since George W. Bush in 2004. More research will be conducted on how the specific group known as evangelical voters has changed, as well as what other variables such as economic, …
State-To-State Child Adoption Variations: A Political Culture Perspective, Erica Trabing
State-To-State Child Adoption Variations: A Political Culture Perspective, Erica Trabing
Political Science Theses and Capstones
The domestic adoption system throughout the United States has been complex yet crucial in starting millions of families over the years. About 7 million Americans are considered adopted persons, and as many as 100 million Americans have adoption in their immediate families. Though these numbers seem impressive, there are still 130,000 children in the U.S. foster care system waiting to be adopted. Adoptions in the US fall into one of three main categories. The first is adoption of children from the public foster care system, the second is adoption through private adoption agencies or independently, and the final category is …
An Analysis On The Effects Of Voter Id Laws And Minnesota’S Decision To Vote Against It, Amy Asell
An Analysis On The Effects Of Voter Id Laws And Minnesota’S Decision To Vote Against It, Amy Asell
Political Science Theses and Capstones
In recent years, the topic of voter identification has been a hotly contested issue in state legislatures around the country. Since 2003, nearly 1,000 bills concerning voter ID have been introduced in a total of forty-six states. In 2012 alone, voter ID legislation was pending in thirty-three states. On November 6, 2012, the citizens of the state of Minnesota voted on whether they supported an amendment to the state Constitution that would require all voters to present a valid photo ID in order to vote. Despite poll numbers indicating that a majority of Minnesotans supported the amendment the voter ID …
Women Ruling The Bench: Steps To Achieving Gender Parity On State Courts, Cheyenne L. Horien
Women Ruling The Bench: Steps To Achieving Gender Parity On State Courts, Cheyenne L. Horien
Political Science Theses and Capstones
Across the United States, each state practices one of several methods of selecting judges to their courts. Many of these processes have not changed for decades and some argue this results in minorities, both gender and racial, receiving fewer spots on the bench. I focus explicitly on the gender aspect of judicial selection: Why are there fewer women judges in some states than in others? Previous literature on this topic is mixed. I analyzed data gathered from the American Judicature Society and other sources. Among the five methods (appointment, combination, merit selection, non-partisan election, partisan election), because of the many …
The Effects Of Tribal Governments On Reservation Poverty Rates, Heather Raisch
The Effects Of Tribal Governments On Reservation Poverty Rates, Heather Raisch
Political Science Theses and Capstones
Poverty rates on Indian reservations are far higher than the national average. Since Tribal Governments have at least some control over these reservations, to what extent are they to blame for these higher than average poverty rates? I look at each reservation and their type of government, constitution, policies and demographics to analyze the causes of their poverty as it relates to tribal government. There are many other pieces of research that are similar to this, but none looking specifically at the overall effects the government has on its community. My hypothesis is that communities with higher poverty rates tend …
Why Do Some Nations Have More Renewable Energy Policies?, Melissa Dahl
Why Do Some Nations Have More Renewable Energy Policies?, Melissa Dahl
Political Science Theses and Capstones
Some nations have considerably more renewable energy policies than others and this research is attempting to discover why. Renewable energy use is quickly growing in our world and has become a major topic in today’s politics. Existing literature suggests various theories as to why some nations have more renewable energy policies than others. I test these theories with data from two major data sources; REN21, the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century, and the International Energy Agency. I anticipate that nations with a larger number of effective political parties, higher GDPs, and larger population would have more renewable …
The Politics Of Subsidizing Sports: Legislative Voting For Three Minnesota Sports Venues, Dave Hitchcock
The Politics Of Subsidizing Sports: Legislative Voting For Three Minnesota Sports Venues, Dave Hitchcock
Political Science Theses and Capstones
Since 1998 the State of Minnesota has funded the building of the Xcel Energy Center, Target Field, and TCF Bank Stadium. The focus of this research is to locate voting trends within the Minnesota House of Representatives towards these venues. I recorded the votes of each member on the legislation approving these venues from the Minnesota Journal of the House and then constructed data sets for all three buildings. From this data, trends emerge potentially linking the voting tendencies of members based on party, gender, and geographical location of their district. Initial analysis supports a fairly strong relationship between district …
Nonvoters: Doing Nothing To Change The Government They Hate, Geoffrey N. Mciver
Nonvoters: Doing Nothing To Change The Government They Hate, Geoffrey N. Mciver
Political Science Theses and Capstones
The sporadic and often dismal voter turnout of the American public is often regarded as a hole in the democratic model. This research examines the influence of an individual‘s attitude about their government and how it affects their voting habits. Literature in the past has isolated demographic makeup as the reason for nonvoting, i.e. education or income. However, the nonvoter‘s state of mind in relation to their general feelings toward government and the social contract has been broadly overlooked. A new measure of an individual‘s attitude toward government was created using a collection of survey questions centered on a person‘s …
Welfare Benefits After The 1996 Reform Act: A New Look At The Idea Of States As Welfare Magnets, Erin Sollund
Welfare Benefits After The 1996 Reform Act: A New Look At The Idea Of States As Welfare Magnets, Erin Sollund
Political Science Theses and Capstones
The focus of this research is to find the differences of how each state’s welfare policies have changed since the welfare reform act of 1996, and also how recipients have responded to this change. In my analysis I combined data from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Preliminary results suggest that states with a higher percentage of recipients on welfare before the reform showed a greater change in number of recipients than states starting with a lower percentage as did states with stronger Democratic leanings, a more …
Minnesota Mandates: County Government Fiscal Stress In An Era Of Declining State Support, Selena Krueth
Minnesota Mandates: County Government Fiscal Stress In An Era Of Declining State Support, Selena Krueth
Political Science Theses and Capstones
Minnesota counties are experiencing more than just financial burdens from state mandates these days. Counties and local governments currently are seeking the most effective solution of implementing state mandates; leaving behind the argument of no mandates without funding to "give us mandates that work". In my analysis I combined county budgetary and demographic data, with phone survey data gathered from Minnesota counties. I anticipate results that will show a wide variety in county administrator attitudes towards state mandates and varying local capacity to meet them. Costly state mandates, such as health services, and large county populations have proven significant in …
The Pen May Be Mightier Than The Sword...But What About A Laser Weapons System, Rebecca Schauer
The Pen May Be Mightier Than The Sword...But What About A Laser Weapons System, Rebecca Schauer
Honors Capstones
Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.