Political Science Commons^™

Understanding Women’S Political Empowerment In A Globalized World, Jenna M. Thoretz

Student Publications

Although women comprise over half of the world’s population, there is still a considerable gap in the scholarly literature, as well as in policymaking communities, regarding the impact globalization has had on women. While scholars have attempted to examine the relationship between globalization and women’s rights and empowerment, there is little consensus on whether globalization harms or benefits women. Through my research, I seek to clarify the relationship between globalization and women’s empowerment, specifically women’s political empowerment. I divide this paper into six sections. I first evaluate the existing literature on the relationship between globalization and women’s empowerment, identifying arguments …

Feminism, Religion, And Work In The United States, Margaret R. Halpin

Student Publications

Feminism in the contemporary United States is a diverse field of thought with several strains of ideological leanings, including liberal, neoliberal, and the contested conservative feminism. Each is uniquely situated in the American context due to the heavy influence of American values and culture-specific definitions of justice, success, and progress. Entrenched in the Western conceptions of secularism and advancement, “modern” feminism in the United States prides itself as the example of peak progressivism, yet does so without critically engaging with its definition of modernity or secularism. In particular, the relationship between religion and feminism is complicated in the U.S., with …

The Politics Of Dissent: How Living Within The Truth Threatens Autocracy And Catalyzes Democratic Progress, Carter A. Hanson

Student Publications

This article examines Václav Havel’s The Power of the Powerless in the context of a broader ideation of dissent, primarily using Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism and William Connolly’s The Fragility of Things as supplements. Havel’s argument remains relevant over thirty years after its initial publication, and his ideas regarding dissent as a fundamental challenge to authoritarian untruth are valuable and deserve further exploration. From this conceptualization, a “politics of dissent” is proposed as a means to express dissatisfaction with authoritarian government and to reevaluate democratic social and political discourse.

For Life Or Choice: Abortion Views In America, Alyssa C. Ritchie

Student Publications

Abortion is one of the most controversial political topics in the United States of America at any point in time. In an election year, it is even more so. Countless Americans choose who to vote for based on whether or not the politician is pro-life or pro-choice. But why do some Americans vote pro-choice or pro-life? What variables affect their beliefs on abortion and how strong are those variables in relation to others? This paper dives into the ways in which education and religion affect abortion opinions and researches the strength of those variables in relation to one another. In …

Contextual Support Of Environmental Protection, Emma R. Groff

Student Publications

Environmental regulation is often viewed as conflicting with economic needs. This paper examines under what personal and contextual economic conditions individuals support increased environmental protection efforts. Data from the 2017 World Values Survey is analyzed to determine the probability that an individual will prioritize environmental protection over economic growth at varying levels of household income with a comparison between the context of an economically secure country and an economically insecure country. The results indicate that, across all income levels, individuals in economically secure countries are more likely to prioritize the environment than those in economically insecure countries. In a comparison …

Boroughs And The Badge: Local Contexts And Confidence In Police, Henry F. Goodson

Student Publications

As citizens interact with the police more than most civil servants, increasing the citizenry’s confidence in police is key to helping maintain rule of law and internal stability within a state. One of the key areas to be investigated in the pursuit of better police-community relations is on the impact of public services and housing on police legitimacy. Historically, American cities have been widely segregated based on race and income, especially in urban areas, which in turn alters the services available in those areas. The public services and the neighborhoods in which they are delivered are key parts of many …

Along Ideological Lines: Examining Support For Black Lives Matter, Caden E. Giordano

Student Publications

In this paper, support for the Black Lives Matter is examined through different identity frames: feminism, support for the LGBTQ+ community, and who the respondent voted for in 2016. An interaction variable was created to see how race influenced these categories. For example, whether a white feminist might support Black Lives Matter more or less than a Black feminist or a white non-feminist. Race is the main determinant of support for Black Lives Matter.

Energy Demand And Economic Growth: Public Opinion And Mutual Exclusivity, Nicholas L. Silvis

Student Publications

The world is currently undergoing an energy transition from primarily fossil fuels to cleaner energy. The developing world is becoming more advanced, spawning relentless economic growth and an increase in energy consumption. Energy demand and economic growth are inextricably linked which poses a paradoxical question about future economic growth during a period of energy transition. Unfortunately, the transition requires large upfront costs with no guaranteed net benefit. A multitude of studies depict the impact of education, party identification, and age on how individuals perceive alternative energy. This study shows that views on governmental spending and party membership have a paradoxical …

Women Against "Women's Rights": Pro-Life Women, Jenna L. Vadinsky

Student Publications

The issue of abortion in the political arena became escapable after the 1973 ruling of Roe v. Wade. Nearly 50 years later, the issue of abortion continues to influence voting in all levels of government elections - from President to state governor. Although the restriction of legal abortion access disproportionally affects women, women are generally just as likely to support abortion as men. To research the phenomena of women voting and advocating against their own rights, I turned to religion - measured by how often a female attends religious ceremonies - as a possible explanation. In this paper, I delve …

The Trump Doctrine: America First, Not American Exceptionalism, Katelyn Oglesby

Student Publications

President Donald Trump’s foreign policy has developed out of an “America First” ideology that comprises both isolationism and interventionism depending on the situation. This differs from President Barack Obama’s preference for the ideology of American Exceptionalism, which placed America on an equal playing field with other nations and utilized international organizations, such as the United Nations and trade organizations. Most of the Trump Doctrine has arisen out of an intentional shift from “typical” foreign policy of Obama and previous, even Republican, presidents. While Trump is influenced by his White House advisers, he has sidelined the State Department and tends to …

Potentially Terminal Conditions: Economic Globalization And Ecological Footprint, Raymond A. Wiseley

Student Publications

This paper studies the relationship between economic globalization and environmental footprint. It hypothesizes that economic globalization will increase the negative environmental impact. The study covers theories for and against this argument, focusing especially on the validity of an environmental Kuznets curve, market-based solutions, and other suggested policies. It then gathers data and tests the relationship using a regression analysis. The results show a statistically significant positive relationship between economic globalization and ecological impact. The study concludes by discussing these results and proposing future steps.

The Other China Model: Daoism, Pluralism, And Political Liberalism, Devin K. Joshi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

While scholars often portray Chinese political thought and tradition as standing in opposition to Western notions of political liberalism, little consideration has been given to compatibility between liberalism and Daoism, a prominent religion and long-standing alternative school of thought among Chinese peoples. Addressing this gap in the literature, this study in comparative political thought compares Laozi’s Dao De Jing with John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty to illustrate certain core political ideas in the Dao De Jing and their treatment in Mill’s landmark text on political liberalism. Although the two texts diverge in terms of advocacy of popular representation, public contestation, …

Agent-Based Modelling Of Values: The Case Of Value Sensitive Design For Refugee Logistics, Christine Boshuijzen-Van Burken, Ross J. Gore, Frank Dignum, Lamber Royakkers, Phillip Wozny, F. Leron Shults

VMASC Publications

We have used value sensitive design as a method to develop an agent-based model of values in humanitarian logistics for refugees. Schwartz’s theory of universal values is implemented in the model in such a way that agents can make value trade-offs, which are operationalized into a measure of refugee wellbeing and a measure of public opinion about how the refugee logistics is being handled. By trying out different ‘value scenarios’, stakeholders who are responsible for, or involved in refugee logistics can have insights into the effects of various value choices. The model is visualized and made usable as a platform …

David Versus Godzilla: Bigger Stones, Jerry Ellig, Richard Williams

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

For four decades, U.S. Presidents have issued executive orders requiring agencies to conduct comprehensive regulatory impact analysis (RIA) for significant regulations to ensure that regulatory decisions solve social problems in a cost-beneficial manner. Yet experience demonstrates that agency RIAs often fail to live up to the standards enunciated in executive orders and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) oversees agency compliance with the executive orders, but OIRA is about half the size it was when it was established in 1980. Regulatory agency staff outnumber OIRA staff by a ratio of 3600 …

The South, The West, And The Meanings Of Humanitarian Intervention In History, Patrick Quinton-Brown

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

As it has been written, the history of humanitarian intervention is all too Whiggish and all too white. By conceptualising humanitarian intervention in the way that they do, orthodox histories should be seen as entangled in debates about the origins of human rights but also, perhaps more crucially, debates about the various formations and reinventions of human rights. Alternative codifications of rights reveal the historical possibility of a Southern practice of what we would almost certainly call ‘humanitarian intervention’. The record of a radical Third World practice to save strangers from the atrocities of colonialism and extreme racism is also …

Kansas Speaks Fall 2020 Statewide Public Opinion Survey, Brett Zollinger Ph.D., Jian Sun Ph.D., Michael Walker M.S., Luis Montelongo M.B.A.

Docking Institute of Public Affairs

The 2020 Kansas Speaks fall survey were conducted from September 21 to October 1. A panel of 417 adult residents of Kansas age 18 and older were surveyed online to assess their attitudes and opinions regarding various issues of interest to Kansas citizens.

It Is Time To Get Back To Basics On The Border, Donna Coltharp

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Gov 1101: American Government, Fall 2020, Peter Parides

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Liberalization First, Democratization Later: The Linkage Between Income Inequality, Economic Development, And Democratization, Yi-Tzu Lin

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation proposes a model of two-stage process of democratization. In the first stage, income inequality is associated with political liberalization, but this association is conditional on economic development. In the second stage, political liberalization is associated with democratization. By looking at 125 authoritarian regimes from 1960 to 2010, I find that in rich countries, high income inequality is associated with low political liberalization, which may stabilize autocratic regimes; while low income inequality is associated with high political liberalization. In poor countries, high income inequality is associated with political liberalization, while low inequality has no effect.

In the second stage, …

Border Security And Immigration Policy Management In South Texas By The Numbers: Perception, Stories And The Knowledge Analytic, Terence Garrett

Political Science Faculty Publications

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), primarily the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Agency, will be analyzed through the lens of the knowledge analytic (KA) developed in earlier work (Garrett 2001; 2004; 2010, and Hummel 2006). Stories told by managers (Hummel 1991) and others in organizations are important for understanding the modern organizational pyramid and the differences between knowledges with regard to border security operatives and their attitudes towards migration policy and other issues along the U.S.-Mexico border. DHS and subordinate agencies rank perennially at or near the bottom of the federal government in terms of the Federal Employees Viewpoint …