American Politics Commons^™

Camden, Johnson Newlon, Jr., 1865-1942 (Sc 2520), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2520. Letter, 25 June 1914, from Johnson N. Camden, U.S. Senator (Democrat) from Kentucky, in Washington, D.C. to Cicero Coleman, Lexington, Kentucky, asking for support in the upcoming election. Camden filled a vacancy caused by the death of William O. Bradley

Brown, Eugene Scott, 1846-1892 - Letters To (Sc 2519), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2519. Letters of a political nature addressed to Eugene Scott Brown, a prominent attorney and Republican from Scottsville, Allen County, Kentucky. Several contain precinct election results for Allen and contiguous counties.

James, Addison Davis, 1849-1910 (Mss 400), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Mansucripts Collection 400. Photocopy of a letter press book kept by Addison Davis James during the time he was U.S. Marshal for Western Kentucky. James was a physician and a prominent Republican from Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.

Teaching And Service Partnerships At The Center For Community Democracy And Democratic Literacy, Judith Kurland, Center For Community Democracy And Democratic Literacy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The initial work of this McCormack Graduate School center focuses on the seven major placed-based initiatives within Boston, creating a Community of Practice to extend and expand best practices throughout the city; and provides expert strategic, design, policy and program advice in the creation of the Boston Promise Initiative led by the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI), one of the initial twenty-one projects in the nation awarded by the Obama administration.

Civility And American Democracy: A National Forum, Barbara L. Graceffa, Center For Civil Discourse, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

At a time when political discourse seems to be on the path to paralysis, this forum brought together prominent humanities scholars, political thinkers, and journalists to explore the meaning of civility and its role in American democracy. The forum holds the following sessions: Civility in American History; Civility and Morality; Civility and Culture; Civility, Politics, and the Media.

A Voter's Guide To Voting, Scott Borling, Sarah Murphy, Thomas S. Mach

Alumni Publications

No abstract provided.

A Push For States Rights Laws To Create A New Articles Of Confederation System Of Government In America: Eliminating The Middle-Class By Enacting Right To Work Laws And Voter I.D. Laws, Scott H. Jenkins

Continuing Education (CAPSTONE)

This case study seeks to discover if there is a relationship between underlying racism and a push for total governmental control by elected Tea Party officials and conservative Supreme Court Justices affecting the increase of sovereign states’ rights laws which are being manifested through right-to-work laws and voter identification laws. The question that will be asked is: whether resentful southern conservatives and Tea Party Republicans are “waging a war with the Federal Government”, unions and voters in an attempt to return the American Constitution to the Articles of Confederation by strengthening states’ rights laws while weakening federal powers (Pilkingtoni, 2010). …

Integrating Gender Into The Political Science Core Curriculum, E. C. Cassese, Angela L. Bos, L. E. Duncan

All Faculty Articles

The New Research on Gender in Political Psychology Conference brought together new and experienced teachers with interests in gender politics. The conference session Teaching Gender throughout the Curriculum generated a great deal of discussion concerning the pedagogical practice of gender mainstreaming. Gender mainstreaming-the integration of gendered content into courses required for a major-was recognized as one of 11 recommendations for reforming the undergraduate political science curriculum in the 1991 APSA report Liberal Learning an The Political Science Major: A Report to the Profession (popularly referred to as the Wahlke Report). Little information is available on the prevalence of gender courses …

The Organization Of American States (Oas) In Rhetoric And Reality, Elizabeth Marie Moore

Philosophy Student Scholarship

The purpose of this study is to examine how well the countries in the Western Hemisphere translate Organization of American States’ (OAS) resolutions into actual meaningful legislation, and how international discourse influences, or does not, domestic policy. This study will utilize the data program QDA Miner in order to better analyze texts of agreements and treaties put forth by the OAS, and to highlight the correlation between different types of rhetoric and meaningful member state action. Data will be gathered primarily from the OAS’ own data bases and compiled into the QDA software for analysis. This analysis will allow the …

The Staffing Of Presidential Assistants: Their Effects On Presidential Success In The House Of Representatives, Nicholas R. Jesteadt

Student Publications

This paper examines the Congressional success of United States Presidents based on the reported Congressional Quarterly Presidential Box Scores. Their individual success is examined as an effect of the senior staff member a President chooses and whether they are chosen from the campaign, personal experience, or previous administrations. It is important for a President to consider the origins of these staffers as these Assistants to the President act as the body of the President’s administration. The econometric analysis presented reveals several interesting results. First, the predominance of a President to choose staff members from his campaign shows no significant impact …

The Politics Of H-1b Visa Limits, Fang Fang

Political Science Theses and Capstones

In recent years, the number of H-1B Visa (Temporary Work Visa) issued has increased tremendously. Various lobbying groups are devoted to persuading Congress to revise immigration laws and to increase the work visa issuance cap. The purpose of my study is to find out the how the H-1B Visa policy is effected by analyzing the lobbying expenditures of different economic sectors. Although there are abundant studies on the factors that affect immigration policies, there are few studies that concentrate specifically on the H-1B Visa. I combined campaign finance data and annual work visa data to assess the relationship between lobbying …

Unemployed Veterans During A Recession: Factors Affecting The Completion Rate Of The Vocational Rehabilitation And Employment Program, Chris Witt

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The purpose of my research is to determine what factors affect the outcome of the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program. Previous literature examines individuals from each state in various stages of the program to determine which factors cause their individual outcome. Although previous research covered a broad spectrum of factors there still remains a lack of significant evidence to determine the observed outcome. I added state expenditures to the previous data to attempt to determine whether or not there is a correlation between funding and the completion of the program. I used the Department of Veteran Affairs 2007 Veterans Employability …

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 …

Facebook Changing The Face Of Voting: How The Internet And Social Networking Sites Affected Youth Voting Behaviors In The 2008 Election, Aleesha M. Larsen

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Since the eligible voting age was changed in 1972 to include 18-21 year-olds, turnout has been historically low for the youngest group of American voters. But, the 2008 election got young people to swarm the polls, resulting in one of the highest turnout rates, among the youngest age cohort, in history. The Obama campaign was the first to successfully use social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter, to help mobilize and persuade young voters. In this study, I attempted to find how significant of a role in the Internet played in convincing voters aged 18-24 to vote in 2008, especially …

A Forecast For The Middle East: The Reemergence Of An Islamic Caliphate In The Midst Of The Arab Spring, Jennifer M. Basselgia

Senior Honors Theses

The Middle East region is inherently volatile and associated with radical religious behavior. Beginning in December of 2010, a Tunisian street vendor inspired a wave of revolutions and protests launched by the people of many Middle Eastern countries, demanding regime change and democratic ideals. This season of revolution, dubbed the Arab Spring, has been characterized as both a period of Enlightenment in the Arab world and a cause for concern for Western powers.

This thesis will approach the Arab Spring in light of the ideologies and influences swarming into the power vacuum left by the recently deposed governments. It will …

Autism Insurance Coverage : Which State Policies Work And Why?, Elizabeth Ivy Homan

Honors Theses

In the spring of 2011, Virginia's legislature passed its first autism insurance mandate via Senate Bill 1062 and House Bill 2467. As a legislative intern for Senator Janet Howell - the primary sponsor of SB 1062 - I was able to track the mandate from beginning to end. I observed conferences between Senator Howell and representatives from autism advocacy groups, I sat in on various Senate and House committee meetings, I carefully reviewed changes in the mandate's text when Senator Howell compressed her two original autism bills into one new bill in order to match Delegate Greason's HB 2467, and …

Reluctance Or Power Hunger: Whom Do Voters Prefer? A Test Of The Wary Cooperator Theory And Evolutionary Political Behavior, Timothy Collins

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Do voters prefer political candidates who express reluctance to seek office, or do voters prefer candidates who express great ambition and an implicit hunger for power? This study uses an experimental design to test overall support of reluctant or power-hungry candidates, and discusses which people would select which candidate and why. While limited by the survey design, the evidence suggests that there is no significant overall mean difference for overall support of either candidate. However, personality traits and the degree to which participants perceived certain descriptive attributes of the candidates both play a role in vote likelihood and candidate favorability …

How Blacks Became Blue: The 1936 African American Voting Shift From The Party Of Lincoln To The New Deal Coalition, Daphney Daniel

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Despite the vast research done on the African American influence in the Democratic Party, comparably little has been done on what led them to become part of the Democratic Party in the first place. This study offers an overview of the rich political history of the African American experience from the 15th Amendment’s ratification in 1870 to the 1936 presidential election. My research will reveal how Republican apathy, depression era desperation and Roosevelt’s charismatic message of relief and hope played a vital role to the historical shift of the African American voting bloc from the Republican to the Democratic Party.

Our Covenant Constitution: The Covenantal Nature Of The United States Constitution, William T. Crabtree

Senior Honors Theses

The problem with the national government and politics in the United States today is that citizens and politicians have both forgotten, ignored, and undermined the nature and significance of the U.S. Constitution as a civil covenant based on civil and religious liberty and limited government. This thesis proposes to analyze the nature of the Constitution as a civil covenant and how a proper interpretation and application of it as such can solve many of today’s most pressing political problems. It will discuss the nature and history of civil covenants, examine the mechanics of the Constitution in the creation of a …

Delegitimizing Al-Qaeda: A Jihad-Realist Approach, Paul Kamolnick

ETSU Authors Bookshelf

Disrupting, dismantling, and ultimately defeating al-Qaeda based and inspired terrorism is a declared policy of the U.S. Government. Three key strategic objectives have been identified for accomplishing this: attacking al-Qaeda’s terror network, undermining radicalization and recruitment, and hardening homeland defense. The present monograph proposes a distinct "jihad-realist" approach for undermining radicalization and recruitment to al-Qaeda. First, a brief discussion of six means for ending terrorist organizations is provided. Second, the premises of a jihad-realist approach are described. Third, a jihad-realist shari’a case against al-Qaeda’s terrorism is presented. In conclusion, key assertions are summarized, and several specific policy recommendations offered for …