American Politics Commons^™

When The States Lost Their Senate: The Seventeenth Amendment, Katelyn King

Honors College Theses

To what extent has the Seventeenth Amendment impacted American federalism? The Seventeenth Amendment changed the way United States Senators are chosen from state legislature appointment to popular direct election. However, the framers of the U.S. Constitution established the original method for selecting U.S. Senators to safeguard an important principle in America’s government: federalism. If the Seventeenth Amendment decreased direct state influence in the federal government, it could have weakened federalism in America; consequently, the amendment may have altered how the American system of government is supposed to function. The U.S. Senate’s selection process was not only a safeguard for federalism …

Public Understanding Of Ai-Enabled Cyber Threats And Its Impact On Cybersecurity Governance In The United States, Charlotte M. Barbrick

LSU Master's Theses

Artificial intelligence is spreading quickly in workplaces and everyday life, and that fast growth is creating cybersecurity and privacy risks that current laws and organizational practices do not fully address. This thesis asks whether AI-specific knowledge shapes public support for cybersecurity governance of AI-enabled systems in the United States. Using nationally representative survey data from the Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP) Wave 119, fielded December 12--18, 2022, I estimate weighted regression models to test how objective AI knowledge shapes support for cybersecurity governance. I also test whether concern about data misuse helps explain that relationship and whether AI …

From Disaster To Decision: Spatial And Temporal Patterns In Disaster-Affected Voting, Jake L. Shaw

Dissertations

This dissertation examines how natural disasters shape electoral behavior in gubernatorial and presidential elections in the United States, with particular attention to geographic proximity, disaster severity, and partisan accountability. Using county-level gubernatorial and presidential election returns from 2016 to 2022, it analyzes the electoral effects of hurricanes, wildfires, and tornadoes through three frameworks: direct disaster impact, near-distance exposure, and disaster severity. Employing the difference-in-differences and fixed effects models across more than 31,000 county-year observations, the study finds that natural disasters can significantly reduce incumbent party vote share and voter turnout, particularly in gubernational elections. Results further demonstrate that electoral effects …

Protecting Free Speech And Promoting Civility: The Dueling Responsibilities Of American Colleges And Universities, Tara N. Parsons

International Journal on Responsibility

Freedom House estimates that 75% of the world’s population lives in countries that experienced a democratic decline in 2020. Even in long established democracies, liberal democratic values have been shaken. As democracy requires an enlightened citizenry cultivated by a college education, many American universities and colleges adopt civic instruction and engagement as a core responsibility and mission. However, growing anti-intellectualism has drawn increased scrutiny and suspicion towards the programming, curriculum, and core values of universities. Powerful political figures regularly accuse universities of stifling conservative voices and discouraging free speech. The tension between free speech and civic dialogue requires a reframing …

Law School News: Rwu Day Of Law And Justice Showcases Powerful Combinations At The Statehouse 4-9-2026, Jordan J. Phelan

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Organizing To Engage: A Framework For Conflict Strategy, Paul Mason Carpenter

Dissertations

Conflict strategy can be exceedingly complex. While many of the basics are simple, even the simple can be highly complicated to execute. The Schlieffen Plan in World War I appeared straight forward, but execution was a great deal more complex. It failed and the result was years of trench warfare.  In addition, leaders entering conflict may not fully appreciate the full context, its effect, and the need for a long term result--a better state of peace.

Strategy and tactics may be challenging to transform as an engagement evolves. In addition, strategists must often commit to courses of action within very …

"From Galaxies To Gloucester" Reday 2026 Undergraduate Panel, Slides 2, Tristan Hightower, Jonathan Holleran, Connor Patterson

Bryant REDay (Research and Engagement Day)

This panel showcases original undergraduate student research exploring how political institutions shape behavior, incentives, and outcomes across diverse contexts. The projects examine interest group theory as applied to the Star Wars universe, presidential rhetoric and congressional response, local political change in Gloucester, MA, and the relationship between senators’ committee assignments and financial interests. Despite varied empirical settings, they share a focus on how actors operate within institutional constraints, how power is exercised, and how political systems structure influence and accountability.

"From Galaxies To Gloucester" Reday 2026 Undergraduate Panel, Slides 1, Tristan M. Hightower, Christian Pereira, Nicholas Poulin

Bryant REDay (Research and Engagement Day)

This panel showcases original undergraduate student research exploring how political institutions shape behavior, incentives, and outcomes across diverse contexts. The projects examine interest group theory as applied to the Star Wars universe, presidential rhetoric and congressional response, local political change in Gloucester, MA, and the relationship between senators’ committee assignments and financial interests. Despite varied empirical settings, they share a focus on how actors operate within institutional constraints, how power is exercised, and how political systems structure influence and accountability.

The Hypocrisy Of The Wizards—A Proposal To Correct Incentives In Higher Education Loan Financing, Caden Benedict

School of Public Policy Capstones

This paper explores the origins of the student loan debt crisis and proposes tying university incentives to graduates' repayment plans and disclosing median earnings for degrees before students apply. Specifically, while there are numerous factors explaining why the price of education has increased dramatically since the 1970s, this paper proposes solutions that will specifically target university moral hazards by requiring universities fund: (1) the current subsidies to federal student loan repayments under income-driven plans as the House of Representatives intended before the Senate removed "risk-sharing," and (2) bankruptcy law discharge amounts. Moreover, requiring universities to disclose the median earnings of …

Silencing Liberty: Why Curtailing Noncitizens' Speech Is Un-American, Erin Gray

Immigration and Human Rights Law Review

Since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel thousands of students across the world protested Israel’s involvement in the war on Gaza. Many of these protests occurred at American universities. When President Trump returned to the White House in 2025, he publicly threatened to and deport noncitizen students who participated in these protests. Following through with his promise, President Trump revoked multiple students’ visas after they participated in some form of Pro-Palestine advocacy. This Article explores whether President Trump’s actions are constitutional under the First Amendment. Ultimately, this Article concludes that President Trump violated the First Amendment by targeting noncitizen …

Book Bans In U.S. Prisons: A Legacy Of The Prisoners' Rights Movement, Allison Jansen

Honors Projects

The 1950s-1970s saw an unprecedented spike in organized resistance by American prisoners. This long era of rebellion, along with thousands of judicial appeals, made up the “prisoners’ rights movement”-- a political, legal, and social struggle that challenged the conditions of American incarceration and its penological paradigm. The timeline of the movement is abstract and difficult to measure. Nonetheless, what is certain is that it lost its momentum by the 1980s due to overhauling policy changes that quelled prisoner activism without achieving meaningful progress. This research examines the evolution of prison censorship policies within that paradigm shift and how they sought …

Strategic Leadership Decision-Making At Power Four Aau Schools, Arthur Kraft, John Kraft

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Exogenous events have disrupted higher education and impacted the decision-making skills of university presidents. While all university presidents are affected, the problem is most acute at the thirty-six AAU members of the power four conferences. The exogenous events were the precipitous cancellation of federal research grants, the on again and off again restrictions on both new and current foreign students studying at US universities, the proposed 15% limit on indirect costs, the tax on university endowments, the changes in student loan programs, the annual $20.5 million NIL revenue sharing settlement for Division I (DI) athletes, and their share of the …

“Where Have All Our Children Gone?”: The Detrimental Evolution Of The Juvenile Justice System And The Reform Efforts To Restore Its Original Intent, Sofia Depasquale

Political Science Undergraduate Theses

No abstract provided.

Congressional Reform Project, Hanna Brant Ph.D.

School of Arts & Sciences

This assignment was developed by SUNY Geneseo Professor Hanna Brant during the spring 2026 semester.

Learning Objectives

• Describe and analyze the legislative process of the United State’s Congress;
• Identify the internal and external factors that influence legislative behavior;
• Critically analyze arguments concerning the appropriate role and powers of the legislature;
• Interpret social science research on the behavior of legislators;
• Evaluate policy strategies for advancing a legislative agenda; and
• Collaborate and communicate with peers on contemporary legislative issues and challenges.

Deportation And Death: Examining The Second Trump Administration’S Immigration Policy Through The Lens Of Just War Theory, Finley W. Snyder

Augustana Center for the Study of Ethics Essay Contest

From day one of the second Trump administration, the White House has treated illegal immigration as an invasion, both rhetorically and, to a lesser extent, legally. The administration has not shied away from the use of force in this campaign, leading to the notable killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti along with countless acts of violence across the nation. This essay seeks to evaluate the ethics of the second Trump administration's immigration policy from within this "war" framing through the lens of just war theory. While there has been considerable attention to just war theory in the context of …

The Missed Mark, Grace Hill

SPARK Symposium Presentations

The Missed Mark

This project is a collective literary analysis of the current research conducted on the efficacy of current political campaigns. This collection of works aims to identify methodologies that increase message salience among American constituents and promote civic engagement.

Based on the collected data on citizens' perceptions of trust and relatability regarding candidates' platforms and personas, recommendations for more effectively appealing to these values become clearer and more precise. Collected data suggest members of the community feel ostracized by the impersonal copy-and-paste model often adopted by modern political campaigns. (S. Erdem Aytaç, Susan C. Stokes. 2019) Instead of …

Women And Right-Wing Movements: Why Women Join, Ryland L. Adzich

The Dialogue

No abstract provided.

Writ And Roe: How And Why American Evangelicals Responded To Abortion And Roe V. Wade (1960-Present), Caiden Hooks

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

Beginning in 1925, evangelical Protestants largely left American politics. During the late 1960s, the pro-life movement was a largely liberal, Roman Catholic cause focused on reversing liberal state abortion laws. After the Supreme Court's ruling on abortion in Roe v. Wade (1973), the political landscape changed dramatically. Over the next decade-and-a-half, evangelicals, including Southern Baptists, re-entered American politics, eventually becoming the face of the pro-life movement and the conservative Religious Right. Southern Baptists in particular, were motivated to join the pro-life movement by statements and material put out by prominent evangelicals, including books, documentaries, and biblical commentary material that laid …

A National Security Strategy For The Middle East, Vanessa Rice, Rudy Torres, Addy Horgan, Joy Omosa, Mark Westfall

School of Public Policy Capstones

This National Security Strategy addresses the persistent national security challenges the United States faces in the Middle East, a region vital for global energy supply, economic connectivity, and a source of anti-American extremism. Recognizing the failures of past "haphazard experimentation," the strategy proposes a thoughtful, pragmatic plan prioritizing five distinct and congruent interest areas: Maintaining Regional Access, Supporting Regional Stability, Ensuring Energy Security, Defending American Citizens and Personnel, and Preserving and Protecting Western Ideals. The strategy outlines actions such as: countering Chinese and Russian influence through intelligence sharing and defense incentives; containing Iran via a new, permanent nuclear deal and …

"P" Is For Protest: How San Antonio Students Are Showing The Rise In Young Justice Advocates, Eliana Salinas

Posters - 2026

- Recent 2025-2026 legislation under the Trump administration specifically targets immigration and militarize Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

- Such actions have instilled fear in the general population, and encourage anti-immigration and biased rhetoric towards many, no matter their citizenship status.

- Specifically, adolescents have responded by taking matters into their own hands by walking out of school as a form of protest; a demonstration unique to their age group demographic.