Political Science Commons^™

Trust In Government: How Sex, Race, And Ideology Shape Confidence In State And National Officials, Holden A. Mattison

Honors Theses

This research examines how sex, race, and political ideology shape individual trust in state and national government officials, with a particular focus on Mississippi as a case study. Drawing on data from the Mississippi Poll (2010-2014) and the 2024 American National Election Study (ANES), the research analyzes both bivariate and multivariate relationships to assess how demographic and ideological factors influence political trust across institutional levels. The findings reveal that race and ideology are significant predictors of trust at the state level, while sex has little effect. Whites and conservatives are generally more likely to express trust in state officials, whereas …

The Use Of Cognitive Biases In Russian Cyber Operations, Emma Manning

Honors Theses

This thesis examines how Russia has employed reflexive control through cyber operations to influence decision-making in foreign states, focusing on disinformation campaigns during the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Reflexive control, a concept rooted in Russian military doctrine, seeks to shape an adversary's perceptions and decision-making by providing carefully crafted information that leads targets to make choices favorable to the initiator. This research argues that while the fundamental objectives of reflexive control have remained consistent, technological advances have significantly expanded Russia's ability to conduct operations in developing cyber domains.

Using qualitative analysis of open-source intelligence, …

Covid Minds: A Thematic Review Of The Pandemic On Neural Mechanisms And Political Polarization, Madison Jeffries

Honors Projects

This paper analyzes how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced political polarization in the United States by examining the interactions between social system disruption, psychological stress, and underlying neurological behaviors. While previous research has extensively discussed pandemic's influence on public health and societal breakdowns, studies fail to examine how these disruptions shaped political divisions. This study synthesizes interdisciplinary literature on pandemic-induced stressors and analyzes factors, including institutional mistrust and social isolation, and how these experiences shape political behavior and perspectives. Applying research from psychology and neuroscience, the paper argues that prolonged exposure to pandemic-related stressors changed neurological and behavioral patterns in response …

Three Essays In Political Economy, Thomas Ryan Johnson

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Markets, institutions, and borders shape political behavior. Geography influences why markets form, how institutions flourish, and where nations draw borders. As a consequence, empirical studies of political behavior frequently struggle to disentangle spatial effects from quantities of interest. This dissertation makes a methodological advancement in this problem area and conducts a spatial study with these concerns in mind. The dissertation studies bias in spatial regressions, how natural disasters impact political participation, and the political economy of espionage. It introduces a flexible machine learning methodology to mitigate bias in spatial regressions, it identifies spatial and demographic factors associated with changes to …

Governing Addiction: An Anthropological Comparison Of Care In The United States And The Netherlands, Kiren K. Bagga

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

This article examines addiction care as a form of moral governance through a comparative anthropological analysis of the United States and the Netherlands. Drawing on a Foucauldian theory of biopolitics alongside this study argues that approaches to addiction treatment reveal how states differentially value life, citizenship, and vulnerability. Joan Tronto's relational definition of ethical care is used to move beyond a solely moral context, towards an ethical understanding of both caretakers and those who require care. In the United States, addiction policy has historically functioned as a punitive and moralizing project, shaped by racialized drug criminalization, neoliberal ideals of individual …

Exploring Health Policy As A Critical Mechanism Of Expression Of Right-Wing Government Policy, Aleisha Martinez Sandoval

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

Global health policy has long been viewed as a “softer” arena of politics, driven by cooperation rather than competition. Unlike economics or defense, nations in this sphere have often set aside ideological differences to improve human well-being. Yet right-wing governments (RWGs) are increasingly redefining this space, transforming it from an international project of solidarity into a strategic platform for advancing core ideological commitments. In this thesis, I examine how healthcare has become a critical site where the foundational tenets of RWGs—hierarchy, tradition, market liberalism, sovereignty, law and order, and populist nativism—are vividly enacted and reinforced. What was once a domain …

Executive Retrenchment: An Exploration Of Gender Identity Policy In The Second Trump Administration, Robert H. Cropp

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

President Trump’s use of executive orders to influence federal policy regarding gender identity has primarily sought to undo existing rights and protections of transgender and gender non-conforming Americans put in place by previous Democratic administrations. These policies have been variably successful in their aims despite widespread resistance from interests supporting those existing policies. Scholars have discussed the role of institutional resistance in cases of policy retrenchment primarily through electoral mechanisms, but such discussions do not consider the role of the executive branch in policy retrenchment and its unique insulation from electoral feedback. This thesis centers those considerations in the case …

Donald Trump’S Use Of Race-Based Immigration Discourse In His First Presidency: A Revival Of Rhetoric From The Era Of Chinese Exclusion, Maggie Zeiger

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

This paper analyzes race-based rhetoric in Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and subsequent presidency, arguing it represents a return to racialized language not seen in mainstream politics since the era of the Chinese Exclusion Act. With his use of exclusionary discourse, Trump breaks from the precedent set by his modern Republican predecessors, who saw immigration as not only an economic asset but a crucial part of the American tradition. An investigation into Trump’s tweets containing the word “immigration” identifies recurring themes of invasion, criminality, and dehumanization. This vocabulary more closely mirrors themes from the years when politicians were responding to—and creating—hysteria …

Female Genital Cutting In American Foreign Policy – Proposal For Harm Reduction, Charlotte Racine

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

Female Genital Cutting/Mutilation (FGC/M) has gained international attention as an issue of human rights and violence against women and girls. The United States, as a leading world power, has openly opposed its practice and actively condemns it in communities and countries of the Global South, yet it fails to oppose or condemn as staunchly identical procedures within its borders. The simultaneous condemnation of FGC when it occurs in “undeveloped” countries and acceptance of American procedures like cosmetic genital modification surgeries, male circumcision, and “corrective” surgeries on intersex infants produces a narrative of cultural superiority and imperialism that harms the international …

Education And Voter Turnout: Absolute Vs. Relative Effects In 2020, Maya A. Welland

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

This study examines whether absolute or relative education more strongly predicts individual-level voter turnout in the November 2020 presidential election. Absolute education is measured as total educational attainment, while relative education captures an individual’s educational rank among their birth cohort. Using data from the 2020 Current Population Survey Voting and Registration Supplement, I construct both measures and estimate bivariate and multivariate linear regression models for U.S. citizens aged 25 and older. The results show that increases in both absolute and relative education are positively and significantly associated with voting. However, when included in the same multivariate model, absolute education remains …

Money And State Politics: State Legislature Partisan Dynamics And Ideology Outcomes Following Citizens United V. Fec, Jillian E. Pastore

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

What effect has Citizens United v. FEC had on state-level partisanship and the policy outcomes that follow from it? Scholarship on the influence of corporate and union spending in political campaigns has largely centered on federal elections. In this paper, I extend the analysis to the state level, leveraging the fact that Citizens United created a natural experiment across the states. Prior to the Supreme Court ruling, roughly half of the states prohibited corporate and union independent expenditures in state elections (including for governor, state senate, state house, and state supreme court races). The Citizens United decision effectively nullified these …

Prosecutorial Discretion: The Effect Of Social Dominance Orientation (Sdo) And Right-Wing Authoritarianism (Rwa) On Understanding And Support Among Americans, Jamie Shelton

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

The U.S. prison system is plagued by an overrepresentation of the country’s residents, at twenty percent of the world’s prison population. The discretion of prosecutors to determine when and which charges to file has been linked to the immense prison growth of the U.S. since the late 1970s, especially given their lack of judicial and public oversight. In this study, participants were asked to answer survey questions made up of four scales: knowledge of the prosecutorial role (Prosecutor Knowledge), support for policy curtailing prosecutorial discretion (Policy Support), Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), and Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA). Findings included significant results for …

Where India Sits In International Political Economy, Sophia Usmani

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

This paper observes the scholarship of international political economy regarding the involvement and consideration of the Global South, focusing on India. It focuses on India's historic involvement in the global economy, and how that role has changed and adapted over time. This paper aims to bring India into the foreground of discussions on international political economy, and address the historic contributions and major political and economic events in the country.

Economic Security And Strategic Rivalry: Industrial Policy And The U.S.–China Security Dilemma, Nurielle Rahav

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

In an era of geopolitical competition and technological dominance, industrial policy has reemerged as a crucial tool of economic strategy in both the United States and China. Industrial policies, particularly in the advanced manufacturing sector, were formerly understood as tools for strengthening the domestic economy. However, against the backdrop of the U.S.–China trade war, new industrial policies carry significant geopolitical implications. This paper argues that industrial policy intensifies the U.S.–China security dilemma, as both governments increasingly interpret economic self-sufficiency in advanced manufacturing as a matter of national security. Through an analysis of two cases, the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act …

Advancing Sdg 7.2: China's Global Renewable Energy Transition, Maria Clara Machado Corrêa

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

In light of China's dominance in the renewable energy sector, this article analyzes the extent to which Chinese investments are increasing the global share of renewable energy, achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 7, target 2. It assesses two modes of intervention: the development of the Chinese renewable energy industries domestically, its impact in emerging economies, and the extent to which the manufacturing of electric vehicles further supports Beijing's energy transition. It concludes that China has rapidly scaled clean energy by utilizing a centralized state-led and top-down approach, driven by the need to guarantee its own energy security, while disproportionately impacting …

Kissing Up, Kicking Down: How Brics Enables South African Sub-Imperialism, Karan Kuppa-Apte

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

South Africa has framed its BRICS membership as a strategic pivot from the West to the Global South. However, the country remains close to the Western-led order and reproduces unequal economic relations with its regional neighbors. This paper argues that South Africa's inability to break its dependency on the West and reorient itself towards BRICS is caused by an elite-driven approach to IPE that deepens longstanding dependencies, feeds into corruption, and encourages accumulation by dispossession. After establishing a theoretical framework based on dependency theory, world systems theory, and sub-imperialism, this paper identifies the minerals-energy complex (MEC), neoliberal post-apartheid reforms, and …

Weaknesses Of Opponents, Strengths Of The Taliban: The Success Of The Taliban Insurgency, Isabella Ryan

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

How did the Taliban insurgency succeed in gaining control of the Afghan state in 2021 following the collapse of the Taliban regime in 2001? This paper argues that the Taliban’s success resulted from two key dynamics: the weaknesses of opponents and strengths of the Taliban. The Afghan State was undermined by governance failures including the 2004 Constitution, overcentralization, lack of rural governance, corruption, and a dependence on foreign aid. These internal weaknesses were compounded by international policy failures, including the Bonn Agreement, inconsistent counterinsurgency (COIN) and counterterrorism (CT) strategies, the failed peace process design embedded in the Doha Agreement, and …

The Costs Of Selective Intervention: Why The Obama Administration Chose To Intervene In Libya Over Syria, Rayanne Attar

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

This paper examines the Obama administration’s selective military intervention during the Arab Spring, comparing case studies of Libya and Syria. I argue that the decision for the Obama administration to militarily intervene in Libya but not Syria was justified because intervention in Syria was far more costly in terms of risks. In Libya, Qaddafi’s regime lacked strong external support, relied on dated military systems, and faced a fragmented opposition, making intervention politically feasible. In contrast, in Syria, Assad’s alliance with Russia and Iran, threatening air defense capabilities, and internal sociopolitical divisions made military action highly risky and unlikely to produce …

Guerillas, Manpads, And How To Shift A Conflict In Favor Of The Weaker Side, Augustus Mfxu Giller

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

The Soviet Afghan War has emerged in popular culture and scholarship as a quintessential case of an innovative and superior technology being able to foil an enemy that would have otherwise emerged as the victor of a conflict. This is almost always in reference to the Afghan Mujahedin being able to counter technologically superior Soviet MI-24 Gunship Helicopters with American heat-seeking missiles. However, this assumption is largely shortsighted to the actual dynamics present in the Soviet Afghan conflict. Specifically, the failure to understand how an unconventional conflict like the Soviet Afghan war is fought, and an ineffective assessment of the …

Everybody Wants To Rule The World: How Ballistic Missile Defenses Can Reduce The Risk Of War, Aanya Ghosh

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

Debates over ballistic missile defense often assume that defensive capability inherently destabilizes deterrence by eroding mutual vulnerability. This article challenges that assumption by arguing that the strategic effects of missile defense are neither predetermined nor uniform. Limited and layered defensive systems generate two simultaneous pressures: stabilizing deterrence-by-denial effects against limited coercive threats and destabilizing uncertainty regarding long-term retaliatory viability. Which mechanism prevails depends not on defensive technology alone, but on policy design—specifically system scale, doctrinal framing, and integration within the broader offense-defense relationship. Drawing on classical deterrence theory, offense-defense scholarship, and contemporary analyses by Roberts, Wilkening, and Daalder, Goldgeier, and …