Comparative Politics Commons^™

Embody The Cause: Subaltern Body Protests As Resistance Tactics, Dipakshi Sarma

Political Science Honors Projects

Gendered, classed, and racialized bodies differentially experience state-sanctioned violence and societal norms. Body protests — when the body manifests the political messages by drawing attention to itself — manifest in these intersections. Women engaging in body protests garner more attention; a body that is sexualized, controlled, and subjugated draws attention to itself as a political act. To understand this, I ask, what explains the specific tactics that women employ in acts of political resistance? By employing subaltern agency and feminist social movement theories, I use process tracing and comparative analysis of three body protest cases: the incarcerated Armagh women in …

Data To Disinformation Navigating Fake News & Statistical Manipulation On Social Media, Mason Mcilwain

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

Over the past decade, concerns about "fake news" and information accuracy have surged. Social media has become a primary source of news and information, especially among younger demographics. While offering numerous advantages, these platforms are often filled with errors and present information through personalized lenses, highlighting the need for conscious consumption and critical thinking when interpreting the meaning of a post. This lesson will utilize lectures, case studies, think pair share, and Socratic discussions.

This lesson can be a stand-alone lesson to increase student awareness of news consumption on social media.

It could also be part of a broader curriculum …

Fourth-Branch Institutions And Political Oppositions, Hernán Gómez Yuri, Fernando Loayza Jordán

Scholarly Articles

Fourth-branch accountability can be characterized as a constitutional trust-type mandate to provide intrastate nonpartisan accountability with a broad repertoire of institutional capacities. Fourth-branch institutions play a significant role in protecting constitutional democracies, and their role in the system of political accountability becomes especially apparent when political oppositions are unwilling or unable to perform a partisan check. These institutions partly emerge from distrust in the political branches’ ability to ensure accountability in a partisan world. Thus, they are designed to be insulated from partisan pressures and anchored to the core principles of legality and impartiality. However, fourth-branch institutions do not exist …

Identifying Youth Appeals In Alcohol Alternative Social Media Content Through Framing, Melina Oneal

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Proposed regulations for alcohol advertising prevent beverage companies from targeting people under the legal drinking age. However, similar regulations for alcohol alternative beverages are less explored, which could allow alcohol alternative products to create awareness for alcoholic beverages among youth. Alcohol alternatives beverages, including no-alcohol and low-alcohol products, are increasing in popularity and can function as compliments to alcoholic products to decrease the total alcohol volume consumed or as substitutes for alcoholic products. Framing theory can be operationalized through the Content Appealing to Youth Index, an index of content elements found in research literature to be appealing to youth, to …

The Female Force: Gender Salience And Political Interests In The 2011 Tunisian Revolution, Katherine Meagor

Scripps Senior Theses

To acknowledge the role of women and their rights in Tunisian society, the 2011 Tunisian Revolution offers a case study for the multi-faceted dimensions of political movements that affect civil society. With the understanding that women exercised political agency differently and were affected by the changing political opportunity structure, this study aims to address the following questions: how did women navigate their female gender identity and political interests during the 2011 Tunisian Revolution? How did gender identity affect female participation during the Revolution? How did the Revolution prompt activism among women? How did the intersection of various identities contribute to …

Exploring The Factors That Influence Female Offending In The U.S. And Mexico, Dana Villasenor

CMC Senior Theses

Hollywood has painted a picture of the criminal woman as a sexy, sneaky, and often psychotic female fatale. This is because men run Hollywood. Much like movies, research on why women offend had historically focused on men as their stellar. However, towards the turn of the century and with the disproportionate rise in female incarceration, literature caught up to the fact that women and men do not experience the same socialization, standards, or reality and, therefore, have different reasons for and ways of offending. This research explores those reasons for women in the U.S. and Mexico and paints the picture …

Emerging From Behind The Curtain: A Comparative Analysis Of Polish And Czech Reforms Based On Quality Of Life Improvements, Summer Ellis

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the economic reforms undertaken by Poland and the Czech Republic during the 1990s transition period. It seeks to ultimately differentiate reform quality between the Czech Republic and Poland in terms of well-being. The basis of reform success is determined using a quality of life scale that spans economic, health, and environmental indicators. Reform quality is then assessed based on improvements in well-being, instead of high-level economic metrics that often evaluate in a manner that fails to capture individual citizen sentiment. From this point, it is possible to determine which transitioning country underwent the most optimal reform process …

The State Of Our Republic: State Constitutions’ Role In Creating A More Perfect Union, Caroline Bullock

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis situates state constitutionalism in the modern context of federal constitutional paralysis. By tracing patterns of state constitutional development, we find that states were always the fundamental setting of democracy, and there has always been critical action happening at state legislatures, in state courts, and through state constitutional change. State constitutions provide an active means to achieve progress and protect rights not federally enshrined (and thus, endangered by the political process). The use of state constitutions to prescribe ways of life, protect individual and specialized rights, and to limit local governments has always occurred, but with the current federal …

Health Politics, Covid-19, And The Vaccine: A Comparison Of How Germany And The U.S. Cultivated Public Trust During The Covid-19 Pandemic., Kai Gundlach

CMC Senior Theses

Public trust is important during an ongoing crisis as it determines people’s compliance with government mandates and laws. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Germany and the U.S. operated with different levels of public trust and people placed their trust in different public institutions. My thesis examines how political tactics such as fear, use of science, and expert pronouncements impacted public trust and the COVID-19 response in both countries.

The Trilateral Challenge: The Impact Of Russian And Chinese Nuclear Threats On U.S. Strategy, Catherine Murphy

CMC Senior Theses

The article explores the United States’ nuclear deterrence strategy in the context of rising nuclear threats from Russia and China. The U.S. arsenal has 1,770 deployed warheads across intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and bombers. A posture set by the presidential administration continues to reject a No First Use policy, focusing on modernization and renewed arms control with Russia and China. Russia, with 1,674 deployed warheads, suspended the New START Treaty following its invasion of Ukraine. China’s secretive nuclear program estimates 500 warheads, projecting growth and emphasizing its ICBM stockpile. The China-Russia partnership poses a significant risk …

From The Barrel To The Border: Exploring The Roots And Ramifications Of Gun Trafficking From The United States To Mexico, Alexandra Punishill

CMC Senior Theses

Nowhere is the discussion surrounding gun violence more prominent than in the United States, with the impacts of our gun-friendly culture being felt around the world. This thesis analyzes the dynamics of gun trafficking from the United States to Mexico and sheds light on its role in fueling the epidemic of gun violence south of the border. It is argued that the particular system of federalism adopted by the United States has led to a variety of state-level gun regulations that have shaped domestic gun policy and have had an international impact. Despite Mexico’s persistent efforts to combat the gun …

Pathways For Recognition: Indigenous Land Rights In Panamá, Caruna Gillespie, William Ascher

CMC Senior Theses

Indigenous communities in Panamá face the same challenge that many Indigenous communities experience around the globe: a lack of recognition of their land rights. Over the last several decades, the Panamanian government has developed policies and ratified international agreements that recognize Indigenous rights. The comarcas that institutionalize these rights have had some success. However, despite a seemingly progressive framework for recognition, Indigenous communities across the country continuously have their rights violated by conservation projects and resource extraction efforts in the name of economic development. The Panamanian government crafts recognition policies using loopholes, exceptions, and ambiguous language that allow for them …

Rhetorical Demagoguery: An Exploration Of Trump’S And Hitler’S Rise To Power, Tanner Horne

Undergraduate Honors Theses

While many scholars have examined the rhetoric of President Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler individually, there is a void of scholarly work that highlights the similarities between the two leaders’ use of grandiloquent language to stoke the passions of their perspective nations. In the past one hundred years, rhetoric and propaganda have been employed to push political agendas that are divisive and dangerous. Trump’s incendiary vocabulary–“enemy of the people,” “vermin,” “retribution,” etc., employed frequently throughout his campaign and presidency, in many ways echoes Hitler's speeches and declarations. While their political strategies ultimately differed greatly, a close analysis of their speeches, …

What Factors Limit American Study Abroad Student’S Ability To Adapt To Host Countries Outside North America & Western Europe, And How Can Institutions Help Students Adjust?, Aidan E. Keller

Capstone Showcase

Ever since the turn of the 21st century, the amount of American students studying abroad has increased tremendously. Western Europe in particular had been the hub of American study abroad programs, with high-quality teaching, rich culture, a remarkable ease of travel, various sights to see, and more. Despite this, students began flocking to destinations all across the globe, from Asia to South America to Africa in unprecedented numbers. Student preferences on where they wanted to learn and experience the world had changed forever.

The American study abroad community have begun to desire unique curriculums not found in North America & …

The Populist Wave: Unpacking The Global Drivers Of 21st Century Right-Wing Populist Support, Ellie Fallon

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the underlying causes of the global rise in right-wing populism support in the twenty-first century. I will examine both the origins of these shifts in public opinion and their consequences for political systems and global interactions. My analyses will take two forms: (1) a cross-national analysis of the rise in right-wing populism in 34 of the 38 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to explore the demographic factors that exhibit a relationship with populist attitudes and (2) case studies of right-wing populism in the contemporary United States (with particular attention to former …

Policy Dynamics In Young Democracies: Attention, Electoral Change, And Responsiveness In Ghana And South Africa, Christiana Bugri

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

My dissertation is a collection of three essays that assess the nature of government attention in young democracies. Theories of the policy process focus on policy dynamics in Western democracies with little application to non-Western democracies. This dissertation bridges this gap by studying policy dynamics in the neopatrimonial democracies of Ghana and South Africa. The dissertation sheds light on how the unique features of young democracies (centralization, clientelism, and powerful executives) shape government attention, responsiveness to public opinion, and the importance of elections in policy change. The first essay examines the dynamics of government attention and how the neopatrimonial nature …

Bridges And Brigades: Balancing Hard And Soft Power In Global Affinity Towards China, Zachary R. Levinson

Honors Undergraduate Theses

As the People’s Republic of China continues its attempt to match the United States as a global hegemon, it has put forth significant efforts to build influence and gain the support of smaller countries around the globe utilizing both hard and soft power. However, the question remains whether these efforts have resulted in greater favorability toward China. This study seeks to answer this question. I use a Bayesian Item Response Theory (IRT) model to generate latent measures of Chinese hard and soft power around the globe using data on Chinese economic aid, alliances, diplomatic exchanges, and security assistance. This is …

Intent, Content, And State Specific Circumstances 25 Years Later: A Comparative Analysis Of Contemporary Protections For Women Refugees Among Beijing Declaration Signatory Countries, Grace Bennett

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Women refugees suffer from high levels of abuse, discrimination, and sexual and gender-based violence. This paper aims to determine what factors account for different levels of state commitment to protections for women refugees. Existing literature suggests a connection between states’ concern for gender equality and ethical treatment of women, and their commitment towards the protection of women refugees. A content analysis of the Beijing Declaration 25+ national reports, along with the World Health Organization, United Nations, and other similar reports, seeks to further explore this connection. In doing so, this study examines three categories: states’ stated intentions or concerns, state …

Why Do Populists (Promise To) Close Borders? Contemporary Populism And Immigration Control In Net Migration Countries, Tyler J. Rapisarda

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Populism has become prevalent worldwide as more politicians embrace it. My thesis aims to study the campaign promises of populists worldwide, regarding a reduction of immigration, and to see if they followed through on those promises. I focused on populists from Europe and the United States. A comparative analysis of Hungary, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Slovakia revealed that populist candidates who had promised closing borders or otherwise reduce immigration, did so, once elected. My research reveals different approaches, methods and strategies in border and migration control, across all countries studied.

Religious Symbolism In Rhetoric Of Right Populist Parties, Serhii Kostiuchkov, Dmytro Garaschuk, Viacheslav Serhieiev, Kateryna Volkova

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article explores the use of religious symbolism in the populist rhetoric of Poland's Law and Justice (PiS) party and Hungary's Fidesz party. Both parties leverage historical and cultural narratives emphasizing Christianity's role in their national identities to legitimize their political agendas and mobilize support. The study examines how these populist leaders incorporate religious imagery and language to create a moral dichotomy between the “righteous people” and the “corrupt elite,” thereby deepening societal divisions and undermining democratic governance. In Poland, the PiS party's close alignment with the Catholic Church reinforces its nationalist and anti-EU stance, while in Hungary, Fidesz employs …