American Politics Commons^™

Conservative Media And Political Socialization: Immigration, Gay Marriage, And Abortion As Presented By Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, And Cnn, Jeff Mckay

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study addresses the political socialization of politically conservative individuals and how political ideologies seem to coalesce among individuals from various socioeconomic backgrounds. The main issue that this study aims to tackle is the impact of conservative media on the political socialization of conservative individuals and how media as an agent of socialization might influence them to support ideas that are not to their benefit economically. For instance, conservative individuals from various backgrounds wholeheartedly support the same free market principles. However, the negative effect that capitalism has had on the liberty of middle and lower class citizens of the United …

Political Participation Over The Life Cycle, Jennifer L. Erkulwater

Political Science Faculty Publications

Although we have paid attention to group differences in political activity on the basis of race or ethnicity, gender, and especially socio-economic status (SES), we have so far ignored such disparities among age groups, disparities that will become especially important in Chapter 16 when we consider inequalities in Internet-based political participation. The participatory deficit of citizens who have recently entered the electorate raises the same kinds of questions we have been bringing to inequalities of political voice on the basis of socio-economic status: How do we account for disparities in political activity on the basis of age? What are their …

Using Self Organizing Maps To Analyze Demographics And Swing State Voting In The 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, Paul T. Pearson, Cameron I. Cooper

Faculty Publications

Emergent self-organizing maps (ESOMs) and k-means clustering are used to cluster counties in each of the states of Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio by demographic data from the 2010 United States census. The counties in these clusters are then analyzed for how they voted in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election, and political strategies are discussed that target demographically similar geographical regions based on ESOM results. The ESOM and k-means clusterings are compared and found to be dissimilar by the variation of information distance function.

The Lilliputians Of Environmental Regulation: The Perspective Of State Regulators, Michelle C. Pautz, Sara R. Rinfret

Political Science Faculty Publications

When we think about environmental policy and regulation in the U.S., our attention invariably falls on the federal level and, more specifically, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Although such a focus is understandable, it neglects the actors most responsible for the implementation and maintenance of the nation's environmental laws — the states. Recognition of the importance of the states still ignores an even smaller subsection of actors, inspectors. These front-line actors in state environmental agencies are the individuals responsible for writing environmental rules and ensuring compliance with those rules. They play an important role in the environmental regulatory state.

With …

The Practice Of Government Public Relations, Mordecai Lee, Grant W. Neeley, Kendra Stewart

Political Science Faculty Publications

With the recent change of administration in the U.S. executive branch, we have seen increased attention to issues of public information, transparency in government, and government and press relations in the United States and abroad. In addition, rapidly evolving technology and its influence on public communication have left many in government struggling to remain current in this area. Citizens and constituents learn to use interactive tools when searching for information, utilize technology for communications, and now expect government information and services to exist in the same information space as private entities.

This book is an effort of leading experts in …

Election Law As Applied Democratic Theory, James A. Gardner

Journal Articles

Democracy does not implement itself; a society’s commitment to govern itself democratically can be effectuated only through law. Yet as soon as law appears on the scene significant choices must be made concerning the legal structure of democratic institutions. The heart of the study of election law is thus the examination of the choices that our laws make in seeking to structure a workable system of democratic self-rule. In this essay, written for a symposium on Teaching Election Law, I describe how my Election Law course and materials focus on questions of choice in institutional design by emphasizing election law’s …

The Fourth Amendment, Ethan Payne

A with Honors Projects

This projects explains the fourth amendment using skits and a PowerPoint presentation.

Fear Factor: The Role Of Fear In A Liberal Democracy, Sasha Stillman

Featured Research

What is the most appropriate role of fear in contemporary democratic politics? Political figures and institutions harness and even create public fear for power and for maintaining order and structure. This thesis explores the moral dimensions of the use of fear in politics. I expected to find that not all politically premeditated uses of fear are undesirable. Could it be morally acceptable then, or even praiseworthy to use politically-motivated fear in certain cases? In certain situations, public fear may, in fact, be used to enhance democracy. This essay clarifies situations in which the political use of fear is both desirable …

Stephen Colbert’S Super Pac: A Better Tomorrow?, Shannon K. Anderson

Pepperdine Policy Review

No abstract provided.

The Political Economy Of Congressional Patent Policymaking In The Late 20th Century, Jesse T. Richman

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Beginning in the early 1980s, the U.S. Government reformed the patent law in ways that made patents easier to acquire and defend, but further efforts to expand the rights of patent owners had stalled by the mid-1990s. I use a political economy model to explain these changes in terms of the shifting constituency interests represented by members of the U.S. Congress. As the distribution of patenting became less skewed in the 1980s, more members represented constituencies likely to benefit from inefficient patent policy. But as the distribution of patent holding became more skewed once again in the later 1990s, support …

Introduction, Barbara Lewis

Trotter Review

What is the political valence of blackness at the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first century; has it waxed or waned? Is it headed to greater potency or back into the dark days of the past when complexion determined the worth of character? Major political advances have been achieved nationally in the last ten years, most significantly in the election of the nation’s first African American president. Yet a resistant status quo remains. The push to unseat President Obama is virulent, and it is hard to imagine that all of the motivation to do so is tied only …

A Wolf In Military Clothing: A Case Study Examination Of Lone Wolf Terrorism And The Roles And Responsibilities Of Government Agencies, Peter Bandel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the fall of September, 2011, there has been a major increase in awareness and study of global terrorism. Academia, the media, politicians, and the average citizen all have varying definitions, ideas, and concerns about terrorism. The focus has mainly been on international terrorism. Terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda have permeated the discussion. However, there is a growing concern of the "lone wolf terrorist." A lone wolf terrorist acts without a terrorist organization and is capable of having his/her own radical agenda with the audacity and simplicity to carry it out solely and enact great damage. The focus in the …

Religion And The Prospects For “Thin” Politics, Aaron Stuvland

Faculty Publications - Department of History and Politics

Religion is a common source of “thick” morality and therefore a common obstacle to public policy consensus in pluralistic societies. But religion also adapts its thick moral commitments to prevailing social, cultural, and procedural dispositions. Engaging the model of “thick moralities and thin politics” proposed by Benjamin Gregg (), I explore the process by which religion adapts to the demands of normatively “thin” politics. To conceptualize this, I survey how American Christianity is negotiating aspects of postmodernism and how this negotiation offers one way to understand religion’s increased engagement with politics at the level of thin normativity. Thus, I would …

Latino Voters 2012 And Beyond: Will The Fastest Growing And Evolving Electoral Group Shape U.S. Politics?, Sylvia R. Lazos

Scholarly Works

The author reviews two recent books, Marisa A. Abrajano’s Campaigning to the New American Electorate: Advertising to Latino Voters (2010) and Marisa A. Abrajano’s and R. Michael Alvarez’s New Faces New Voices: The Hispanic Electorate in America (2010). These books are part of a growing literature that scientifically studies the evolving Latino electorate, and attempts to answer difficult questions about this ethnic group’s electorate cohesiveness and how candidates might be able to influence the Latino electorate. A careful read of Abrajano’s recent books brings additional understanding to Latino voter behavior, and by implication, how this key group will influence the …

Addressing The Learning Needs At Occupy Dc, Andrew J. Batcher

Capstone Collection

The purpose of this paper is to examine how learning can help the Occupy movement in Washington DC. It explores three questions. What are the learning needs of the movement? What educational content can help meet those needs? And how can education be practiced in a way that most effectively addresses the learning needs within the real world circumstances of the movement? Research methods include participant observation, surveys, interviews, focus groups, literature review, and primary document review. Data was coded into 11 outcome oriented learning needs and 3 educational orientations which are geared towards meeting those needs. This paper is …

We're "Fed" Up And Tea'd Off: Frame Analysis Of The Tea Party Movement, Daniel Peter Flaaen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

There is a new wave sweeping American politics. Beginning in 2009 as the people's movement, the Tea Party is taking American politics by storm. Hoping to change the way the American public thinks about American politics, the Tea Party is using some innovative tactics. Utilizing the only official Tea Party publication, an analysis of the publication's first year was done to identify the frames that were being put forth by the organization to gain support. By using the cross over frame, the us vs. them frame and the threat frame, the Tea Party hoped to resonate with a large population …

The Third World War: American Hegemony In Latin America And The Overthrow Of Salvador Allende, Samuel Mitchell

CMC Senior Theses

Why has the United States frequently intervened in the affairs of Latin American governments? How have the motivations changed over time, and how have they stayed the same? Are American Presidents more motivated by economic or political threats to hegemony? What methods has the United States used to maintain its dominance over the Western Hemisphere, and how have they changed?

This paper seeks to address all of these questions, using a full historical examination as well as the case study of Salvador Allende's Chile. Drawing upon numerous scholars' work as well as individual research and investigation, this paper seeks to …

The Federal Judicial Vacancy Crisis: Origins And Solutions, Ryan Shaffer

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines the causes of the rise in vacancies on the federal courts in recent decades. Under President Barack Obama, the number of vacancies on the federal courts has sharply jumped. This is due to firm opposition by Senate Republicans, who have used the various procedural tools of that body to make it difficult for nominees to get confirmation. This antagonism is the result of a shift in how the parties view the courts and their role in the American political process. The Warren Court's expansion of substantive due process rights increased the Court's powers to the chagrin of …

Deinstitutionalization And Its Discontents: American Mental Health Policy Reform, Olga Loraine Kofman

CMC Senior Theses

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the Mental Retardation and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act, establishing the beginnings of deinstitutionalization in the United States. By some counts, this Act was a stupendous policy success—by others, a dismal failure. 50 years later, no cohesive national mental health care policy has emerged to deal with increased rates of mental illness among the homeless and the incarcerated. However, California has made enormous strides to create a state policy which provides adequate services to the mildly, moderately, and severely mentally ill as well as adequate funding for those services through Proposition 63, …

The Politics Of Physical Education Reform, Ari Zyskind

CMC Senior Theses

The purpose of the paper is to determine why today's youth are so physically inactive by examining the role and efforts of physical education, and the state and federal governments responsibility in supporting these programs, in fighting today's obesity epidemic by creating generations of healthy and physically active children. Research led to the determination that states have failed to maintain and improve physical education resulting in a physically inactive youth. Therefore, the nation should look to federal legislation to support state-led physical education, which this paper found to be constitutional if the enactments followed the provisions established in South Dakota …