American Politics Commons^™

Melting Arctic Ice Exposes Possible Conflict For Us, China, Russia, Madeleine Alder

Research on Capitol Hill

USU senior Maddie, a Salt Lake City native, is an Honors student, Peak Summer Research Fellow, and USU Institute of Land, Water and Air intern. She studies Political Science. Maddie’s research dissects how rising temperatures and the resulting polar ice caps on our planet might impact international relations for the US. The opening of additional shipping lanes in previously-frozen waters could cause conflict between key actors. Maddie has been involved in research for nearly all of her undergrad degree, and says, “I love learning and I get excited to discover new connections between topics I am interested in. I like …

Illegal Abortion: Truth Vs. Fiction, Andrew T. Looker Jr.

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

Numerous factual errors are made regarding the issue of abortion. These false claims are made in an attempt to scuttle efforts to restrict abortion. Some of the most frequent claims pertain to the effectiveness of pro-life laws themselves. One such claim is that thousands of women died from unsolicited abortions when the procedure was illegal, and that maternal deaths declined rapidly afterwards due to the legal availability of abortion. Another claim is that laws that either restrict or outlaw abortion are ineffective in reducing abortion rates. A comprehensive analysis of the best available data proves these assertions to be undeniably …

Opinion Regarding The Status Of Mineral Ownership Underlying The Missouri River Within The Boundaries Of The Fort Berthold Reservation (North Dakota), United States Department Of The Interior, Robert T. Anderson

US Government Documents Related to Indigenous Nations

This memorandum, dated February 4, 2022, from the United States (US) Department of the Interior (Office of the Solicitor) to the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of Land and Minerals Management, the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, and the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs rescinds the Solicitor’s May 26, 2020 opinion regarding mineral rights on the Fort Berthold Reservation which declared the state of North Dakota to be the owner of said rights. This memorandum reaffirms the January 17, 2017 opinion of Solicitor Hilary Tompkins that the rights belong to the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. …

Navigating The Multiple Streams: The Strategic Use Of Sunset Provisions, David F. Wall

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Despite its long standing and historical use, temporary legislation had been a legislative tool largely ignored by scholars for many years. For the most part, temporary legislation had been used to serve specific functions within American politics and, being used in such a limited role, had avoided scrutiny. This changed in the early 2000s, following an exponential increase in the use of temporary legislation in the form of sunset provisions during the G.W. Bush administration. Scholars would debate whether or not this increased use was a good thing or not, arguing for and against a preference of temporary legislation over …

Hudson Yards: Hybrid Capital's New Home, Massimo D. Scoditti

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis focuses on the material and metaphysical aspects of the Hudson Yards, the largest private development in US History. With its roots in the administration of Michael Bloomberg, the site is representative of neoliberal ideology. It is also one in which cultural production is central. This is in terms of the rationalization and mythos of the building of the space itself and the dreamworlds created to obscure the mechanisms of extraction and accumulation that make such a complex possible. The Hudson Yards is particularly interesting because, as Cindi Katz might suggest, topography lines connect it to transnational capital. And …

Texas Disenfranchisement Of Felons, Michelle Baker

Quest

Policy Research Project

Research in progress for GOVT 2306: Honors Texas Government

Faculty Mentor: Tiffany Cartwright, Ph.D.

Michelle Baker wrote the following research paper as an assignment for my online GOVT 2306: Honors Texas Government class during the Fall 2020 semester. The class assignment helps students begin to formulate a classic policy paper, in which alternative policy options are discussed and analyzed, ultimately leading to a preferred policy option. Students submitted just a few paragraphs of the paper at a time over the course of the fall semester before finally pulling everything together in one cohesive research paper. As Michelle’s …

Interest Groups, Local Politics, And Police Unions, Daniel Disalvo

Publications and Research

Police unions raise issues of great importance for political scientists. Yet, the field has neglected them. This essay argues that political scientists should see police unions as important interest groups, empowered by state collective bargaining laws, that are important players in local politics and shapers of the criminal justice system in America. The organizational properties that make police unions important interest groups are described. The important political questions that arise once we consider police union as interest groups are examined. The existing research on police unions—especially their impact on government costs and police behavior—is detailed. Ultimately, the study of collective …

The Influence Of Perceived Realistic And Symbolic Threat On College Students’ Attitudes Toward Immigrants And Immigration, Brook Shantel Spurlock

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Immigration has been one of the most dominant and salient political issues during recent presidential election. Unfortunately, the debates surrounding immigration often castigated Latin Americans as threatening, with the intent to spark fear among voters, while increasing the support for anti-immigration policies, such as the border wall and opposition to passage of a law granting citizenship to Dreamers. The purpose of this dissertation was to determine how realistic and symbolic threats influence college students’ attitudes on immigrants and immigration. Very few studies have been conducted on how realistic and symbolic threats influence immigration attitudes and opinions regarding a wide range …

Healing Racial Injustice With Mindfulness Research, Training, & Practice, Danielle "Danae" Laura

Mindfulness Studies Theses

This thesis offers a collection of authors and studies in support of improved research, training, and practice connecting mindfulness with racial justice through intergroup applications. The paper identifies barriers at work (e.g., colorblindness, spiritual bypass, white fragility, and implicit bias) in contemplative science, Western Buddhist communities, and secular mindfulness centers, which block the sizeable contributions possible in studying the intergroup application of mindfulness practice—specifically Lovingkindness Meditation, among others—when used as an intervention with anti-racist aims. Through secondary qualitative research, I reviewed six key works from Black authors on mindfulness and race, as well as six sample studies on the prosocial …

A Battleground No More: Cosmopolitanism, The Culture Wars, And The Urban-Rural Divide In Ohio Elections, 2004-2020, Colin D. Swearingen, Thomas Lindstrom

The Journal of Economics and Politics

Long a battleground state in presidential elections, Ohio trended toward the GOP in both 2016 and 2020. Despite losing the national popular vote, Trump secured the state’s electoral votes by comfortable margins in both elections, sparking the question of what explains this shift? We ground this question broadly in the realignment literature, testing two slightly overlapping theoretical viewpoints: geo-cultural and socioeconomic/cosmopolitanism. The geo-cultural viewpoint emphasizes the urban-rural divide in American politics, arguing that the culture is completely different on opposite ends of the urban-rural continuum, resulting in disparate election results. The socioeconomic/cosmopolitan viewpoint acknowledges that culture and social issues play …

The Populist Paradox: A Critical Framework Proposal, Megan Morrell, Seth Masket

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

Donald Trump’s presidency has undeniably reignited academic interest in understanding the populist phenomenon and its political implications. Trumpian politics are frequently considered to be a stark departure from status quo politics, in favor of a radical right populism. Yet, the Trump presidency and populist theory itself poses a key contradiction, namely a populist paradox. I will propose a critical framework to understand populism as a mechanism of political power by the liberal state. In What is Populism?, Jan-Werner Müller identifies a contradictory nature to populism, as it often perpetuates the same political problems that the populist politics sought to replace. …

Ballot Measures In The Tristate: An Examination Of Ohio, Indiana And Kentucky, Shauna Reilly

The Journal of Economics and Politics

This paper explores the development, use and challenges facing the use of direct democracy in the Tristate area. Specifically, we examine how ballot language suppresses participation in direct democracy measures.

The War On Drugs And Its Legal Effects On Black Americans, Alexia L. Howard-Mullins

2022 Symposium

The differences in treatment between Black and white Americans in the past fifty years has been a topic of thought in the minds of political and sociological scholars since the inception of the War on Drugs in 1971. These differences in treatment may lead to discrimination legally, resulting in longer prison sentences and a higher proportion of Black Americans in prison. This study analyzes the results of the War on Drugs that led to disproportionate imprisonment of Black Americans, including mandatory sentencing laws, drug classifications, and discrimination within law enforcement and the legal system. This study will use primary sources …

Explaining Nikki Fried's 2018 Victory For Florida Agricultural Commissioner, Caitlin Concannon

Honors Undergraduate Theses

What explains Nikki Fried's victory in 2018 for Florida Commissioner of Agriculture? What explains the difference between votes received by Commissioner Fried and fellow Democrat candidates on the ballot in four other Fl. statewide races in 2018 at the county level? Florida's unique plural executive branch and diverse demographics have led to competitive elections resulting in narrow vote margins with the victory more often tipping in favor of Republican candidates across state politics in the last two decades. The 2018 Florida midterm election provides an opportunity to analyze the margin-of-victory for a Democrat candidate in comparison to the vote margins …

Between Text And Sermon: Ephesians 6:10-20, Ekaputra Tupamahu

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

Gun violence is a serious problem in the United States. Mass shootings are now almost daily occurrences, and no one, not even Christians, seems to know how to stop them. Last year, the Pew Research Center found that although almost half (48%) of Americans consider gun violence as “a very big problem in the country today,” and about “40% of Americans live in a household with a gun.”1 People are divided on this issue along geographical and rural/urban lines, political ideologies, religious convictions, gender, and so on.

The Interactive Impact Of Social Identities On Voter Turnout In The 2012 Presidential Election, Karla M. Mendez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The first Black American president ran for re-election in the 2012 election, which saw record-breaking voter turnout. After this election, scholars sought to examine what social identities impacted voter turnout and, found that non-Hispanic Black voters played a critical role in shaping President Obama’s success. Although the effects of social identities on voter turnout are the focus of an extensive body of existing research, many scholars study the separate effects of characteristics, such as race/ethnicity, gender or party identification. Utilizing public opinion data from the 2016 General Survey Study (GSS), this paper seeks to examine the intersectional effects of race, …

Legal Strategies Used By Black Men During The Antebellum Period, A. D. Banse

Digital Legal Research Lab

AD Banse, "Legal Strategies Used by Black Men During the Antebellum Period" [Research Poster]

Digital Legal Research Lab REU Site, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2022

The Missouri Statute of 1807 existed as the primary act that somewhat ensured the freedom of those enslaved and pursuing their freedom. The act refuted laws such as the Futgitive Slave Clause of 1793 and 1850, and the Missouri Compromise, which were evidence that slaveholders held decisive political influence and could cast the Constitution in proslave terms (Baker 2012). These clauses essentially gave enslavers the right to seize enslaved people who escaped to free states deepening …

Habeas Corpus: Breaking Reservation Boundaries, Samantha Byrd

Digital Legal Research Lab

Dr. Katrina Jagodinsky’s Petitioning for Freedom examines marginalized peoples’ use of habeas corpus in the American West from 1812 to 1924. This project has uncovered Indigenous manipulation of the American legal system to counter the challenges of colonialism. Indigenous peoples used habeas to protest, and sometimes successfully mitigate boarding school experiences, forced removal, and confinement on reservations. This study aims to show how Indigenous peoples and other minorities had a complex understanding of the law and used it to their advantage.

Advisor: Katrina Jagodinsky

Life Of The Party: Social Networks, Public Attention, And The Importance Of Shocks In The Presidential Nomination Process, Elizabeth A. Stiles, Colin D. Swearingen, Linda Seiter

2022 Faculty Bibliography

We examine the effects of shocks on the invisible Presidential primary in the United States. First, we build on existing models using an algorithm simulating social network shocks. Findings show that positive shocks significantly aid the lead candidate’s chances of winning in the invisible primary. Negative shocks, however, are less detrimental to a lead candidate than positive shocks are helpful, as the leader is often able to survive a negative shock and still emerge victorious. Broad empirical tests demonstrate the importance of shocks as well. Beyond the importance of shocks, findings also suggest that Presidential candidate success in the invisible …

The Epic Journey Of Pepe The Frog: A Study In Post-Truth, Jaq Webb

[Archive] Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Abstract

The internet meme Pepe the Frog is an excellent avenue for exploring the relationship between post-truth politics, new media, and viral ideas. While memes as conceptualized by Richard Dawkins are essentially timeless components of human society, internet memes as exemplified by the hijacking of Pepe the Frog by the Alt-Right and the Trump campaign are a novel force with uniquely dark implications for liberal democracy. In this study, I attempt a leftist analysis of the best thinking about Post-Truth Trump-era politics and the communication tactics of the Alt-Right, which suggests that some of the same cultural and material forces …