Political Science Commons^™

Mental Health In Massachusetts Prisons, Jeffrey Yung

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

In November of last year, former Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division released the findings of an investigation of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections (MDOC). They found several violations of prisoner’ constitutionals rights for mental health cases under the Eighth Amendment. The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishments for criminal defendants. The findings reveal a lack of structured mental health care for MDOC prisoners, untrained employees, and unnecessary abuse of restrictive housing for prisoners designated under a mental health watch program.

The Curvilinear Relationship Between Political Terror And Internal Armed Conflict, Lilian A. Morrell

Student Publications

I examine the relationship between political terror and the annual incidence of internal armed conflict. Studies have found that other factors associated with violence have a curvilinear relationship to internal conflict, including regime type, GDP, and ethnic fractionalization. I seek to find if political terror has a significant impact on instances of conflict and, more particularly, whether a curvilinear relationship exists between these two variables. I hypothesize that the relationship will be significant and in the shape of an inverse U. If a country uses no political terror, or extensive political terror, then the number of internal armed conflicts will …

The Impact Of Women And Intersectionality On Bill Success In State Legislatures, Maggie Lowrey

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Thousands of bills are introduced in state legislatures every year and there are a multitude of reasons as to why some of those bills become law and some do not. Female sponsorship and the intersectionality of female sponsors are the focus of my research. Previous research has found variable impact of these characteristics; however, little work has been done on the combined effects of race, gender, and partisanship on bill passage rate. I tested these ideas on bills that were introduced to state legislatures of forty states in 2015 from the Harvard Dataverse¹. By applying differing factors of …

The Dilemma Of Banned Books: Questioning The Ethics Of Censoring Literature In Schools, Kyle King

Augustana Center for the Study of Ethics Essay Contest

Literature, specifically in the form of novels, has been a vital organ of the public education system within the United States. Not only does reading such works transform us into better close readers and strengthen our vocabulary, but the texts at hand can be very essential to analyze specific contexts or issues that might have existed either throughout history or even in the present day. In today’s country, the issue of banning certain books from school curricula has become as prevalent as ever, where mostly Southern Republican officials are calling for lists of books to be restricted from teaching due …

A Document Analysis Of Political Rhetoric In 2021-22 South Dakota Higher Education, Carson M. Sehr

Honors Thesis

This study is a document analysis in an attempt to understand political rhetoric from four main players from the end of the 2021 South Dakota Legislative Session to the end of the 2022 Legislative Session. These four players are 1) Governor Noem, 2) the Board of Regents, 3) the South Dakota Legislature, and 4) the Argus Leader. One-hundred eight documents from these sources were analyzed, and deemed “rhetorically political” by presence of the phrases “fairness in women’s sports,” “critical race theory,” or “opportunity center,” or deemed “rhetorically apolitical” by the absence of these phrases. The rates of rhetorically political documents, …

Implications Of Youth Education On Intrastate Conflict: The Relevance Of Postmaterialism, Anthony (Sungho) Choi

Student Publications

The concept of postmaterialism posits that individuals who are born in an economically and socially secure environment tend to be more open to changes in their societies and accepting of different values among individuals compared to those who are materialists (i.e., individuals who tend to value security, affluence, and strong law and order more in comparison to postmaterialists). Postmaterialism is associated with individuals who are more educated and have access to different educational opportunities, given the existence of economic stability in postmaterialist societies. Focusing on the role of postmaterialist values, I analyze the relationship between educational attainment among youths and …

Young Unemployed People Rebel: A Political Economy Law Or Assumption?, Lacey L. Weynand

Student Publications

In this paper, I investigate the validity of the widely held assumption that high rates of youth unemployment will lead a state to experience internal armed conflict. I hypothesize that as youth unemployment rates increase, a state will have a larger number of internal armed conflicts occur annually. This can happen via three causal mechanisms: 1) opportunity cost calculations; 2) private frustrations, resentment, and feelings of stagnation turning into public grievances; 3) and emotional and psychological triggers leading to participation in violent insurgent activities. I find that while youth unemployment does have a statistically significant influence on the number of …

The Relationship Between State Capacity And Internal Armed Conflict, Rodrigo L. Cotto-Abreu

Student Publications

This paper seeks to evaluate the impact that state capacity has had on the annual incidences of internal armed conflicts in the post-WWII period. This paper proposes that the state’s coercive, administrative, and extractive capabilities are the most effective tools at its disposal when attempting to decrease the likelihood of the onset of internal civil conflict. This paper hypothesizes that the higher the level of state capacity in a given nation-state is, the lower the number or occurrences of internal armed conflict will be. The key finding this paper presents is a statistically significant result linking state capacity to the …

“One Brick Will Do The Trick:” A Structural Analysis Of The May 1970 Student Uprising At The University Of South Carolina, Ian Grenier

Senior Theses

In May 1970, the University of South Carolina's campus erupted. Students protesting the Vietnam War, police presence on campus, the shooting of student protestors at Kent State, and restrictive campus rules stormed campus buildings and faced off with National Guardsmen in the streets of Columbia. This thesis examines the political context and structures at USC in the late 1960s which enabled this explosive but short-lived period of the university's history. Assessing USC activists’ levels of campus coalition building, their place in the political context of the late 1960s, the openness of the school’s political structure, and the forces acting on …

Compulsory Voting And Corruption In Latin America, Jonathan Dumdei

Senior Honors Theses

Among modern democracies, compulsory voting (CV) is institutionalized most prevalently in Latin America. Latin American politics have a long, turbulent history, and governments in the region have some of the highest rates of political corruption in the world among democracies, especially electoral fraud. This study investigates the connection between these two phenomena. Secondary empirical quantitative and qualitative research of political and cultural behavior are analyzed according to a rational choice theory decision paradigm. Demographic, experimental, and theoretical data regarding the effects of CV laws are considered in light of possible incentives and disincentives for engaging in vote-buying. This study inductively …

An Evaluation Of The Marxist Paradigm In Comparison To A Biblical Worldview: The Case Of Venezuela, Jonathan Riddick

Senior Honors Theses

This research was conducted to address the pressing paradigmatic split in modern American society between Marxism and Christian governing principles. The prevailing concept that governed this research is that Marxism degrades governments and societies and is inherently destructive. The exposition of Marxism’s deconstructive character transpires in this research by comparing the implementation of Marxist principles in Venezuela to the application of biblical principles in the United States. A brief historical context of Marxism and Christianity is considered alongside each worldview’s values and implementation of such values. Each worldview’s foundation is then evaluated by an investigation into Venezuela’s utilization of Marxist …

Women's Representation And Its Impact On Global Female Physical Security, Sydnee D. Pottebaum

Honors Thesis

The historic marginalization of women has left gaps in women’s representation and has damaged the level of protection afforded to women around the world. By examining the origins of female marginalization inside and outside of politics and female legislative behavior and style, I argue that the percentage of seats held by women in government conditionally impacts global female physical security. This study examines the impact of the percentage of seats held by women in the lower house (or single house) of government in 2010 on physical security. Physical security is operationalized into six dependent variables: the homicide rate among females, …

2nd Place Contest Entry: Student Governance During The Free Speech Movement, Philip Goodrich

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

This is Philip Goodrich's submission for the 2022 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize, which won second place. It contains their essay on using library resources, their bibliography, and a summary of their research project on student governance during the free speech movement.

Philip is a fourth-year student at Chapman University, majoring in History and Political Science. Their faculty mentor is Dr. Alexander Bay.

Ukrainian Women: Victims Of Putin's War And Sex Industry Predators, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Žene Iz Ukrajine: Žrtve Putinovog Rata I Predatora Seks-Industrije, Dona M. Hjuz

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

The Politics Of Temporary Protection Schemes: The Role Of Mexico’S Tvrh In Reproducing Precarity Among Central American Migrants, Carla Angulo-Pasel

Political Science Faculty Publications

Using Mexico’s Tarjeta de Visitante por Razones Humanitarias (TVRH) as a primary case study, this article examines how states can use temporary protection schemes as border security measures while claiming to provide protection. Although the TVRH offers a legal pathway and status to move within Mexico, it equally restricts certain rights due to its temporary nature. It becomes a form of differential inclusion by which the state has the right to be able to “exclude and define the limits” of a particular population but also claim inclusion on humanitarian grounds. Despite the claim of protecting migrants, the application of this …

"Courts And State-Building: The Welsh Marcher Lordships And The Somali Union Of Islamic Courts," Polity 54(2): 197--25., Zachary C. Shirkey

Publications and Research

This article examines the roles of courts in state-building and aims to bring the state-building literature into deeper conversation with institutional approaches to the study of courts. Doing so highlights that courts can play important roles in state-building including extracting revenue, coercing subjects, and generating legitimacy for the state by justly adjudicating disputes. Of these, courts’ extractive role has been especially understudied. Yet, courts can raise significant sums through fees, fines, and confiscating property, particularly in less-developed states. These three roles of courts in state-building are explored in two highly disparate cases: the medieval Welsh Marcher lordships and the Union …

The Influence Of The Thirty-Six Stratagems On Chinese Strategy In The Diaoyu Islands, Brent Schuliger

Senior Honors Theses

The Diaoyu Islands are a small, uninhabited archipelago in the East China Sea which has begun increasing in strategic significance due to its advantageous location near Taiwan and along the First Island Chain. The islands are currently under Japanese administration, but the People’s Republic of China considers them historically Chinese and contests Japan’s claim to the islands. A careful examination of China’s actions in challenging Japan’s rule over the Diaoyus reveals the influence of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, a tome of ancient Chinese military wisdom which provides a framework onto which China’s current strategy corresponds. This thesis examines the historical …

The Effect Of Gendered Scandals On The Passage Of Women’S Issues Legislation: Louisiana State University Title Ix Failures And The Elimination Of The Pink Tax, Rebecca Norton

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Unofficial Torturers And Helpless Victims: Applying The Convention Against Torture To Organized Criminal Groups, Emmanuel Orozco Castellanos

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Since its inception, the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT) conceived torture as a state crime. The Convention established a so-called “state-nexus” that effectively excludes torture committed by non-state actors. The Committee Against Torture as well as the world’s major anti-torture NGOs have almost exclusively focused on ill-treatment perpetrated by state entities. Yet, there have been efforts to extend the definition to private actors, including the “de facto authority” approach, and the due diligence doctrine. This article explores the effectiveness of these efforts to expand the scope of the UNCAT when applied to organized criminal organization such as gangs and …