American Politics Commons^™

Allied Paper Landfill, A Case Study Of Superfund, Kaitlin Braunschweig

Honors Theses

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (1980), more commonly known as Superfund, delegates the responsibility for cleanup of more than 1,300 hazardous waste sites to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This thesis is designed as a case study to investigate the Superfund program through the lens of the Allied Paper Landfill portion of the Kalamazoo River Superfund Site. Through interviews with key stakeholders an evaluation was completed based on the following research questions: 1) are the current goals of Superfund appropriate, 2) is the funding mechanism sufficient to fulfill the goals of Superfund, and 3) is the …

Only Christians Need Apply?, Jeff Taylor

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Should Christians only vote for Christians? Is it ever appropriate, or even beneficial, for us to vote for a candidate who is not a Christian?"

Posting about what to value in a political candidate from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/only-christians-need-apply/

The “World’S Greatest Deliberative Body” And The Decision To Invade Iraq: The Rhetoric Of Senatorial Debate On Senate Joint Resolution 46, Henry Castillo

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

On the issue of the Iraq invasion, many in the public view President George W. Bush as the primary actor in its execution. Yet Bush explicitly sought congressional approval before employing military force against the country and elevated Congress’ role in the Iraq crisis. A plethora of academic research exists on how Bush persuaded the public into supporting the invasion. However, a dearth of scholarship exists on how Congress, specifically the Senate, deliberated on this decision. As a chamber often labeled as the “World’s Greatest Deliberative Body,” as well as having constitutionally-unique responsibilities in matters of foreign affairs, this study …

3rd Place Contest Entry: “The Good Of The Country Rises Above Party”: Roosevelt, La Guardia, And O’Connor And The Works Progress Administration In New York City During The Great Depression, Kristine Avena

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

This is Kristine Avena's submission for the 2016 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize, which won third place. She wrote about the cooperative efforts of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, and New York Congressman John O'Connor during the Great Depression.

Kristine is a senior at Chapman University, majoring in History. Her faculty mentor was Dr. Leland L. Estes.

The 2016 Presidential Primary Election: The Issue Of Higher Education, Crisha C. Carlos

Scholarly and Creative Works Conference (2015 - 2021)

National student loan debt reached $1.2 trillion in 2015. With forty million Americans carrying an average student loan debt of $27,000, many are demanding change to the current system, and are looking to the 2016 Democratic and Republican presidential primary candidates for a solution. When candidates campaign for office they address many public policy issues in their speeches and frame these issues in particular ways to attract support. How do the 2016 Democratic and Republican presidential primary candidates frame the issues of higher education and student debt? Using content analysis to analyze candidate websites and speeches, this study found that …

Slavery And Freedom In Theory And Practice, David Watkins

Political Science Faculty Publications

Slavery has long stood as a mirror image to the conception of a free person in republican theory. This essay contends that slavery deserves this central status in a theory of freedom, but a more thorough examination of slavery in theory and in practice will reveal additional insights about freedom previously unacknowledged by republicans. Slavery combines imperium (state domination) and dominium (private domination) in a way that both destroys freedom today and diminishes opportunities to achieve freedom tomorrow. Dominium and imperium working together are a greater affront to freedom than either working alone. However, an examination of slavery in practice, …

Characteristics Of Punitive States, Danielle Savage

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Findings from the literature on mass incarceration in the United States have in the past suggested that incarceration rates are strongly related to social, economic and political variables. In this study, I build upon these findings by testing (1) if the prevalence of more conservative political elites influences incarceration rates, and (2) if the racial context of a state relates to state punitiveness. My results suggest that states with citizens that have more conservative ideologies, as well as states that are more racially diverse, have higher incarceration rates.

Montana Democratic Presidential Rules Increase Fairness, Evan Barrett

Highlands College

A Montana Public Radio Commentary by Evan Barrett.

Published newspaper columns written by Evan Barrett on this topic, which vary somewhat in content from this commentary, appeared in the following publications:

Montana Standard, April 10, 2016

Ravalli Republic, April 14, 2015

Helena Independent Record, April 15, 2016

Billings Gazette, April 15, 2016

Missoulian, April 15, 2016

Livingston Enterprise, April 15, 2016 (download additional file below)

From Thomas Jefferson To Donald Trump: The Recurring Muslim Xeno-Archetype In American Politics And Government, Christopher S. Saladin

History: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

This paper connects the Islamophobic discourse of the 2016 presidential primary candidates to that of past American politicians through a historical analysis of their rhetoric and policies towards Muslims. I argue that Western discourse about Islam has long appealed to what I refer to as the Muslim “xeno-archetype,” which is a recurring but unchanging understanding of Islam in the Western mind. This xeno-archetype theory is derived from Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism, but is distinct in that it explains why unique misconceptions of Islam existed long before European colonialism. The xeno-archetype consists of specific stereotypes and fears of a given …

Friends Of Musselman Library Newsletter Spring 2016, Musselman Library

Friends of Musselman Library Newsletter

From the Dean (Robin Wagner)

Library Receives 9/11 Commission Papers (Fred Fielding '16)

Library News

Digital Scholarship Fellows

From Paupers to Presidents

Fair Use Week

Reading About Race

Student Workers Save the Day (Nadia Romero Nardelli '19)

Life in the Fishbowl (Brittany Barry '17)

In Memory of Douglas R. Price; Former Aide to Eisenhower

Special Purchases

From the Piano Bench (Jay P. Brown ’51, Doug Brouder ’83, Julie Caterson ’84 and Mr. & Mrs. Michael Fiery)

Research Reflections: The Spirit of Gettysburg (Timothy Sestrick)

Gift of Art

Old Gettysburg Back to Thee (Jenna Fleming '16, Avery Fox '16, Melanie Fernandes …

Affirmative Action Debates In American Government Introductory Textbooks, Sherrie L. Wallace, Marcus D. Allen

Publications and Research

Affirmative action debates remain hotly contested across America. Given how the topic is presented in respective disciplines and core textbooks, students are often misinformed. Introductory textbooks may be one of the few places where students are exposed to significant discussions on affirmative action. In this study, we examine affirmative action policy in American government introductory textbooks published between 2005 and 2014. Our study is modeled on previous, similar analyses of introductory textbooks. We use content analysis to examine the extent to which affirmative action discussions challenge or reinforce affirmative action myths and meritocracy. We conclude that textbook discussions that emphasize …

A Woman’S Choice At The State Legislative District Level: A Comparative Case Study Of The Northwest, Timothy Hibbard

McNair Scholars Research Journal

A major concern in the United States is the underrepresentation of women in State Legislatures. Based on data from CAWP at Rutgers University, the growth of female representation has stagnated since the mid-90s. In an attempt to study this trend, I asked the question, are women’s preferences for legislative districts different than their male counterparts? I looked specifically at open-seat districts, hypothesizing that women are more likely than men to choose an open-seat district. I compiled a comparative case study of the States in the Northwest, due to its high diversity among various factors including partisanship, urbanization, and population. Due …

Party Capability And The U.S. Courts Of Appeals: Understanding Why The “Haves” Win, John Szmer, Donald R. Songer, Jennifer Barnes Bowie

Political Science Faculty Publications

While many studies have examined party capability theory, few have empirically examined the potential causal mechanisms underlying the theory. We do this by combining quantitative analyses with qualitative data drawn from interviews with over 60 US courts of appeals judges. We find that the “haves,” or repeat players, hire better lawyers and that these lawyers independently contribute to the success of the repeat players. We also find that the advantages of the haves extend to all parties, though to a lesser extent than the advantages enjoyed by the US government. These results remain robust after controlling for ideology.

Do Parties Matter? A Political Model Of Monetary Policy In Open Economies, Hulya Unlusoy

Dissertations

In this doctoral dissertation, I present an original political model of monetary policy in open economies that reframes the Mundell-Fleming model when party politics and long-term interest rates are examined with the three economic variables (monetary policy autonomy, capital mobility, fixed exchange rate) that form the basis of the Mundell-Fleming model. The Mundell-Fleming model explains that there is no monetary policy autonomy in the short term under high capital mobility and a fixed exchange rate system. To see whether I arrive at a different conclusion than the Mundell-Fleming model, I pose the following two research questions: 1. What explains variations …

Rhetoric Vs Reality: Public Opinion On Immigration In The United States, Elizabeth M. Belair

Student Publications

The United States has a rich and interesting history of immigration. The country itself was created by waves of immigrants who came from across the globe. Although immigration has always existed in the U.S., the number of immigrants coming to the United States has increased during the 21st century, and as a result, a controversial debate surrounding the consequences of immigration has emerged. In this paper I examine how Americans view the debate on immigration, specifically focusing on what affects public opinion on this topic. I find that shifts in public opinion do not reflect changes in immigration patterns but …

Black Praxis: The Trace Of Jamesian Pragmatism In Duboisian Scholar Activism, Jerome D. Clarke

Student Publications

Philosophy and activism formed a mutualist relationship in regards to 20th-century Black American politics. Emancipatory theories undergirded the civil disobedience and reformist action of the entire century. W.E.B. DuBois, renowned African-American academic at the forefront of American and Pan-Africanist liberation movements, is often divorced from his originary philosophical roots. As he became the first Black PhD graduate of Harvard University, his mentor was philosopher and psychologist William James. James is the forefather of American Pragmatism, a school of thought still alive and dynamic in this day. DuBoisian scholars tend however to stress the German Idealist influences on DuBois’s thought. Informed …

Cómo Obama Ganó El 2012: Un Análisis Del Voto Latino (How Obama Won In 2012: Analyzing The Latino Vote), Ellen B. Rickes

Student Publications

Cada año, en promedio, durante su primer mandato, Barack Obama deportó a cuatrocientas mil personas. De hecho, la administración de Obama ha deportado el número de deportaciones más alto, cada año, en la historia de los EEUU. A pesar de esa política, Obama ganó el 67% del voto latino el 2008, y el 2012, gano el 71%. Este proyecto examina cómo Obama ganó el apoyo de tantos votantes latinos en la reelección, especialmente cuando se considera las deportaciones durante su primer mandato.

Barack Obama deported four hundred thousand people each year, on average, during his first term in office. In …

Social Media & Political Engagement: Environmental Organizations, Social Media And Political Engagement, Tyler Cate

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Social media is becoming more important in today’s digital society, but how effective is the use of social media when it comes to political engagement? How do environmental organizations use social media and is it effective in encouraging their “followers” to engage in online and/or offline political activity? I collected Facebook and Twitter data from ten environmental organizations to assess the effectiveness of each posting. I hypothesize that the groups making direct calls for action via social media receive a greater response – beyond “clicktivism” or “slacktivism” – than the groups that do not. The data includes the number of …

The Bannock Street Project And Midterm Voting, Sean Murphy

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The Bannock Street Project was an effort by the Democratic Party during the 2014 congressional elections, to offset the Midterm Dilemma. The Midterm Dilemma is the focus of many theories trying to assess why the president's party tends to do poorly during the midterms. The Bannock Street project failed and as a result the Democrats lost control of the Senate in 2014. I attempt to discover why the Democrat's project failed, and if its failure can be attributed to either The Surge and Decline Theory or The Negative Voting Theory. I use 2014 Pew Center election data to analyze the …

Examining American Attitudes On The Use Of Military Drones, Todd Brandon

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Recent polls have revealed that Americans of both the political left and right support the use of military drones. This statement stands true among groups who traditionally do not support the use of military force. I hypothesize that people of a more liberal persuasion will be more concerned with whether or not the drone program endangers innocent civilians, while those of a more conservative view will be more concerned with the legality of conducting military drone strikes. I analyze data obtained from the Pew Research Center to examine people's attitudes on military drone strikes via framing theory. My hypothesis has …