American Politics Commons^™

The Fire This Time: Assessing The Scalability Of Supportive Service Programs For Young Men Of Color, A Case Study, Ronald James-Terry Taylor

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

After spending the spring 2014 semester teaching at an urban high school in New York City, I began to question specifically what could be done to better support my students; specifically the young men and boys of color. By serving as a volunteer in the Empowering Males Leadership Class (EMLC) during the spring of 2014, I developed an interest in understanding (1) how the program was effective in servicing young men and boys of color and (2) how the interplay between federal programs and local implementation was characterized. This analysis is a hybrid of political science and policy implementation analysis, …

Linking Language To Latino Turnout, Alexander C. Ervin

Honors Projects

After Latino-Americans demonstrated their power in the 2012 presidential election, securing increased minority support at the polls has become a primary goal for both major U.S. political parties. A reliable bloc of Latino voters on one’s side could mean more wins, yet Latinos have a low voter turnout rate. This paper explores how to increase Latino turnout and argues that the use of the Spanish language in electoral advertising will have a positive effect and actually raise the rate of Latino participation. By comparing statewide Latino turnout data during both the 2002 midterm elections and the 2008 presidential election, I …

Improving Rhode Island’S Health Care System: Lessons From The Cuban Model, Sarah R. Moffitt

Senior Honors Projects

Improving Rhode Island’s health care system: lessons from the Cuban model

Cuba is world renowned for its health care system. In regards to international health crises, Cuba is a leader in sending workers abroad and training doctors from all over the world. Within its own borders, the Cuban model provides free access to all citizens in which every individual has a primary care provider. Cuba boasts high vaccination rates, a long life expectancy, low infant mortality rate, and a population that is one of the healthiest in the western hemisphere.

The purpose of this research project is to evaluate the …

Ap Article Related To Chris Christie Bridge Scandal (50+ News Outlets), Matthew Hale

Political Science Publications

This AP article was featured in 50+ news outlets.

Approaching Ideals Through Innovation: Twentieth And Twenty-First Century Mass Media Technology And American Democracy, Elizabeth Brand Cermak

Senior Theses

From the moment our First Amendment was adopted, America’s ideal of democracy has been firmly intertwined with media communications between the President and the citizenry. Over time, technological advancements have altered the way this communication is facilitated, increasing the public’s access to the Office of the Presidency, and visa versa, via new forms of media. Through an examination of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s use of the radio, the first televised debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960, and Barack Obama’s use of Social Media and the Internet, this thesis will seek to answer the question of whether the …

The Trans-Pacific Partnership: A Deeply Flawed Partnership, Mel Gurtov

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The American people have become used to government trickery in foreign affairs—wars and interventions based on lies and falsified evidence, “national security” used to justify the whittling away of privacy, classification of documents to hide embarrassing disclosures, massaging of budget figures to mask outrageous spending on arms, and demands for new weapons when already in possession of an unmatched conventional and nuclear arsenal.

Now comes trickery in a different domain: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which has substantial bipartisan support and strong presidential endorsement. Eleven countries are awaiting the outcome in Congress as President Obama seeks approval to put the TPP …

Encouraging Bipartisanship: Polarization And Civility As Rhetorical Tools For Ameliorating The U.S. Senate’S Partisan Environment, Angela Marie Mcgowan

Dissertations

On October 1, 2013, the Senate buckled under the pressure of intense partisanship. Dramatically demonstrating their lack of mutual agreement, senators refrained from conducting the nation’s business for 16 days. Considerable media attention covered this shut down, especially the ensuing rhetorical activities of the Senate’s female policymakers who urged bipartisanship. The flurry of activity surrounding the legislative impasse sparked this dissertation’s conceptual orientation. Accordingly, this investigation reveals how Washington lawmakers can, in good faith, set aside partisan views in order to accommodate policy objectives.

This project reveals rhetorical strategies that, when utilized, are capable of facilitating Senate bipartisanship. Each chapter …

The Influence Of Economic Performance In The 2014 Midterms: A Gubernatorial Tutorial, Justin M. Markon

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Who is responsible for the state economy, and does it matter in electing the state chief executive? Until now, numerous researchers have examined the influence of the economy and other factors in gubernatorial elections. However, the most recent studies at the state level did not include economic conditions or found them to be insignificant. This project will examine the thirty-six gubernatorial elections in 2014 and analyze both national- and state-level economic indicators. After investigating the economic performance factors in relation to the election results, it appears that economic conditions did not influence vote choice in the November 2014 gubernatorial elections, …

The Snowden Effect: The Conflict In A Free Society, Who Values Privacy Versus Who Values Security?, Matthew C. Blake

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The Obama Administration has come under scrutiny by both the public and Congress, since former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden made known the scope of government surveillance programs being utilized by the U.S. government to gather intelligence on domestic citizens. Snowden’s disclosures about the government’s surveillance practices to the mainstream media began in June 2013. I focus on how public opinion towards the government’s surveillance practices and an individual’s reasonable right to privacy has shifted after revelations made by Edward Snowden on the practices of the NSA. Individuals may show support for more government surveillance in the name …

First Ladies In The Press: Analysis Of New York Times Coverage Of Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, And Michelle Obama, Siddra Shah

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This study analyzed New York Times coverage of Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama's official first lady activities during the first term of their husband's presidencies. Language used by journalists was analyzed to determine whether there was a negative, positive, or neutral tone used that may have indicated support, favorability, or criticism; and if so, whether there are certain activities or types of activities that warrant more negative or positive coverage; and how this changes depending the first lady and activity covered. ProQuest Central was used to find relevant New York Times articles that reported the first lady acting …

Personal Wealth And Legislator Voting Ideology, Bo Stewart

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper studies the impact of personal wealth on legislator voting ideology. I specifically examine members of the US House of Representatives during the 112^th Congress. After establishing a relationship between wealth and poltical views toward economic policies amongst the general public, I hypothesize that wealthier legislators will have more conservative roll call vote records on economic policy than their less affluent colleagues. After controlling for party, district ideology, district wealth, and district education level, my multivariate analyses indicate that party and district ideology are the only variables that have a statistically significant relationship with legislator voting ideology. My …

Meeting In The Middle: The Impact Of Single-Party Dominance On Partisan Politics, William Samuel Adcock

Master's Theses

Polarization within the American government has reached near historic levels in recent decades. One of the most readily apparent results of this partisan atmosphere is the increase in the number of American states that are almost totally controlled by one of the two major political parties. This study seeks to examine the effect this single-party domination has on the policy positions of Senate candidates of the minority parties in these states. It is hypothesized that minority party candidates seeking election in these states will be more likely to adopt policy positions more commonly associated with the platforms of the majority …

“Last Flag Standing”: How Traditional Conservative Values And Symbolic Voting In The State Of Mississippi Help Explain The Defense Of The Confederate Flag By Voters In The 2001 Referendum, Joshua Von Herrmann

Honors Theses

Mississippi is the last state in the United States to publicly display the confederate symbol as part of its state flag. In 2001, when given the chance to remove this symbol from its flag, voters in Mississippi supported this symbol by a vote of 2 to 1. Previous studies have documented the importance of race in the outcome of the 2001 referendum, but lack analysis of other potential influential factors specific to the state of Mississippi. This study examines the issue of the Mississippi state flag through a case study analysis using the ballot initiatives of Amendment 1 in 2004, …

Partisanship Has A Price: Citizens United And Political Partisanship In The Us House Of Representatives, Sean Kennedy

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This study aimed to determine whether or not a correlation between independent expenditure levels and political partisanship in the US House of Representatives exists, using the Congressional sessions from before and after the Citizens United decision to determine if the decision had any effect on political partisanship. Multiple factors were tested to determine levels of correlation and to adjust for any potential exasperating factors. The study concluded that a very strong correlation exists between aggregate levels of independent expenditures and distance between average levels of partisanship for the parties. However, no causal relationship could be established from the data alone, …

Operation Judicial Review: A Comparative Analysis Of The Role Of The Judiciary In Domestic And Foreign Detention And Material Support Cases During The War On Terror, Tyler Mitchell

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The Bush and Obama administrations have pursued a military campaign during the War on Terror in which “the world is a battlefield.” The globalized nature of contemporary warfare has tested the limits of constitutional protections for individuals under the control of the United States government. My distinction thesis focuses on the extension of constitutional rights and, in turn, the maintenance of the separation of powers during the War on Terror. I provide a comparative analysis of the role of the judiciary to reconcile constitutional First Amendment free speech & association and habeus corpus rights with federal executive & legislative counterterrorism …

Political Harvests: Transnational Farmers' Movements In North Dakota And Saskatchewan, 1905-1950, Jason Mccollom

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research uses as a case study farmers' movements in North Dakota and Saskatchewan, two identical locales in terms of wheat monoculture, demographics, and agrarian ideology, and traces the differing Social, economic, and political outcomes between 1905 and 1950. The research, however, moves beyond this and also investigates the transnational integration, connections, and engagements among agrarian groups across the broader North American northern plains and across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, to Europe, the Soviet Union, and Australia. Methodologically, this study applies Social movement theory, pioneered by sociologists Doug McAdam, Sidney Tarrow, and Charles Tilley, which seeks to replace a …

Beyond The Schoolhouse Door: Educating The Political Animal In Jefferson’S Little Republics, Brian W. Dotts

Democracy & Education

Jefferson believed that citizenship must exhibit republican virtue. While education was necessary in a republican polity, it alone was insufficient in sustaining a revolutionary civic spirit. This paper examines Jefferson's expectations for citizen virtue, specifically related to militia and jury service in his 'little republics.' Citizens required not only knowledge of history and republican principles, but also public spaces where they could personify what they learned. Jefferson often analogized the nation as a ship at sea, and while navigational instruments are necessary in charting an accurate course, i.e., republican theories, they become inconsequential without the decisive action required for their …

Courtroom To Classroom: Judicial Policymaking And Affirmative Action, Dylan Britton Saul

Political Science Honors Projects

The judicial branch, by exercising judicial review, can replace public policies with ones of their own creation. To test the hypothesis that judicial policymaking is desirable only when courts possess high capacity and necessity, I propose an original model incorporating six variables: generalism, bi-polarity, minimalism, legitimization, structural impediments, and public support. Applying the model to a comparative case study of court-sanctioned affirmative action policies in higher education and K-12 public schools, I find that a lack of structural impediments and bi-polarity limits the desirability of judicial race-based remedies in education. Courts must restrain themselves when engaging in such policymaking.

The Cold War: Over, Renewed, Or Never Ended?, Matt Phipps

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The Cold War has been studied repeatedly since the war supposedly ended in 1991. However recent events are starting to cause some concern and make many question whether or not the Cold War actually ended, if it took a different shape or perhaps has just been on pause. I argue that the Cold War has been a conflict that has been going on since 1947 and although the conflict has looked differently in recent decades the conflict was never properly put to an end. The research analyzes US decision making with respect to Russian and Asian relations over the last …

The Narrowing Of Federal Power By The American Political Capital, David Fontana

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Essay--—prepared for a symposium hosted by the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal on the future of the District of Columbia--—argues that American federal power can be better understood by considering the features of the metropolitan area that houses the most important parts of the American federal government. In other American metropolitan areas and in most capital metropolitan areas elsewhere in the world, local life features multiple and diverse industries. Washington is the metropolitan area that houses the most important parts of the American federal government, and Washington is dominated by the government and related industries. Washington is, …