Political Science Commons^™

We Need Our Fathers: How Welfare Policies Impact Fathers, Lily Nwanesi

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Fathers hold key roles in the lives of their children. Children who grow up with fathers in the home tend to remain in school, participate less in delinquent behavior, and have good emotional development. However, federal policies, such as the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Act (1935) and child support legislation before 1996, have indirectly (and perhaps unintentionally) led to a decrease of fathers in the home. Recently, the federal government created the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (1996) to reform these programs. From this policy, programs such as the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program …

Evaluating Constituent Representation Among Southern Members Of Congress: The Cases Of Georgia And Kentucky, Mary Adams

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This study examines the factors that influence the representative relationship between members of Congress and their constituents. Given the foundational nature of representation in democratic republics, research on the communication between citizens and their representatives is needed. Because the relationship between constituents and their representatives is most frequently studied in the electoral context, studies on the factors that impact constituent representation by their members of Congress are lacking. Using a mixed methodology of quantitative logistic regression analysis and qualitative interviews, I examine constituent-initiated contact of the office of their member of Congress and interpersonal interactions between representatives and their constituents …

Education Tax Credits: A Different Trajectory For Federal Funding Of Higher Education And Remediation For Effectual Policymaking, Anna C. Bartel

Journal of Student Financial Aid

Education tax credits provide federal financial aid to a wide expanse of American taxpayers; however, little research or analysis has been done on these costly programs. There has been little evidence of its link to college enrollment growth. This descriptive paper outlines the establishment of education tax credits, their original intent, and the lack of evidence of effectual federal policy over the past two decades. Thus, the purpose of this article is to assess how the federal government has reached an $18.9 billion annual expenditure for education tax credits with little to show in returns on investment. Further, this paper …

The Trump Administration: Government Secrecy, Bureaucracy, And Democracy, Logan J. Santel

Graduate Research Papers

Like most Americans I spent the evening of November 8th, 2016 tuned into the election night news. I was attending Kansas State University at the time, a predominantly conservative school in a predominantly conservative state. In the weeks leading up to election night, students, faculty, and staff at the University lived with strong feelings of anticipation. The two candidates stood in stark contrast to one another. Hillary Clinton stood as a franchisee candidate with political experience and an establishment feel. Donald Trump was the businessman out to drain the political “swamp” of Washington. Their divisive nature and heated political debates …

Letter From The Department Chair, Greg M. Shaw

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Public V. Private Organizations, Oscar Romero

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

People always hear on the news politicians arguing with each other on the effectiveness of government. They both agree that government agencies can do a lot better than what they are doing right now, but disagree on how to resolve it. The left argues for providing more funding to these public agencies to have better performance; however, that will require an increase in taxes which most Americans do not want. The right argues for privatizing these public agencies so that there is no bureaucratic involvement in the procedure, as well as this, will determine which agencies succeed and which ones …

Vox Populi Non Est Vox Dei, Oscar Romero

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

When determining where the meaning of truth lies in this world, the first question to ask is this: what truth is the world looking for? For medical scientists, they look for the truth to longevity. For philosophers, they look for moral truths. For political scientists, they look for the truth of power. What does power do, and how is it used are questions to ponder when investigating this truth; however, one must first answer the question of where does power lie. Some political scientists, such as Francis Lieber, reminds us how history relates the concept of power with God, the …

Beyond The Year Of The Woman, Pooja Patil

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

Women make up about 50% of the American population but currently only 24% of Congress. This persistent underrepresentation is a matter of concern because Congress often votes on issues that disproportionately affect women. Prior research has established a consistent set of variables that factor into the supply of and demand for women in elected offices, namely incumbency, party, district characteristics, candidate characteristics and voter stereotypes. In 1992, deemed the “Year of the Woman” where a record number of women won seats in Congress, an increased number of those candidates embraced stereotypically female strengths and employed those in their campaign strategies. …

The Impact Of A Candidates [Sic] Race On Voter Opinion, Yssis Patterson

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

INTRODUCTION: Race has always played a significant role in politics. Identifying what degree race and/or political party identification has will help to further determine and explain the outsized significance of these factors in modern American politics.

HYPOTHESIS: We hypothesized that a candidate's race would have a significant impact on the way that a voter votes. Based on a candidate’s initial appearance and biographer, a voter may prefer one candidate over another simply based on an isolated variable.

METHODS: For this study, we conducted two surveys through Amazon M Turk. We asked a series of questions based on two candidates of …

Motivated Viewing: Selective Exposure To Political Images When Reasoning Is Not Involved, Clarisse Warren, Stephen Schneider, Kevin Smith, John Hibbing

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Motivated reasoning is an important element of politics especially in these highly polarized times. People selectively expose themselves to information in a fashion that makes it possible to embrace arguments consistent with their existing biases and ignore arguments inconsistent with those biases. Often overlooked in the research on motivated reasoning and selective exposure to information, however, is that a substantial portion of politics is about affective responses—that which makes people feel good and that which makes people feel bad. In this paper, we introduce a novel indicator of people's tendency to prolong exposure to favored political images or to truncate …

Ideological Asymmetries In Social Psychological Research: Rethinking The Impact Of Political Context On Ideological Epistemology, Ingrid J. Haas

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Ideological asymmetries in social psychological research: rethinking the impact of political context on ideological epistemology.

Conclusion

In sum, while I agree with many of the arguments raised by Clark and Winegard (this issue), we should continue to de-bate the degree to which liberals and conservatives are equally motivated by tribalism, especially in the context of contemporary American politics. While there is no doubt that personal political views influence the questions that scientists deem important, I do wonder to what extent the ideological biases recently observed in the field of social psychology generalize to the social sciences as a whole (and …

Samuel Huntington's Clash Of Civilizations And Its Allure For The Past Thirty Years, Michaela Munda

Departmental Honors Projects

Political scientist Samuel P. Huntington wrote, taught, and advised on United States defense and foreign policy for over fifty years. The 1996 book, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, is by far the most prominent of Huntington’s works. Though the work pertained to the world order following the collapse of the Soviet Union, his urging to understand factors that would set up the next stages of world conflict seem to hold truth throughout the last thirty years, and even in the present. Huntington argues that culture and identity will be at the forefront of global conflict. …

Sculpting The Public Land Base Of Northern Minnesota: Past, Present And Future, Lori A. Dowling-Hanson Dr

School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations

Sculpting the Public Land Base in Northern Minnesota Counties: Past, Present and Future. This 3-article dissertation addresses the large public land base in the Arrowhead Region of Northern Minnesota. One fourth of all lands in the state are public lands, with the overwhelming majority located in the Arrowhead Region. These counties have anywhere from 30% to 92% public lands. The region relies heavily on a natural resource economy. Methodology for research includes secondary data analysis from several preexisting research projects and studies. Data was acquired from state auditor government costs of maintaining and managing public lands. Data was also collected …

Right To Counsel: Improving Access To Justice In Us Indigent Defense Systems, Travis Hartman

Capstone Showcase

The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to counsel for indigent defendants. Even though a constitutional right, indigent defense in the US suffers from significant problems. While scholars have attempted to provide solutions to the problems, a question persists, How are Indigent Defense Systems impacting how Access to Justice is being provided in the United States? To answer this question, a structured, focused comparison method was utilized to evaluate US indigent defense systems. Case studies were chosen based upon the delivery and majority of funding for indigent defense coming from counties. Right to counsel for Access to Justice was defined by …

"Your Enemy Is Anyone Who Opposes The Fourteen Words" Murdoch Murdoch: A Case Study In Presentations Of Threats To Ontological Security In Far Right Propaganda, Julian Morein

Capstone Showcase

Adapting the Ethnographic Discourse Analysis method developed by Stanton Wortham and Angela Reyes this thesis traces the language employed in the ethno-nationalist web series Murdoch Murdoch. While not as widely known as other examples of the burgeoning landscape of far-right internet content such as news sites like InfoWars or Brietbart, Murdoch Murdoch can still reveal crucial details about how far right propaganda seeks to radicalize its viewers. This thesis argues that Murdoch Murdoch uses its visual and discursive indexicals to present a near absolute dichotomy between a Positive Self that consists of white ethno-nationalism, and a Negative Other that …

Understanding Universal Coverage: An Overview Of Universal Health Care & Studies Of Real-World Implementations, Amanda Dombroski

Capstone Showcase

The purpose of this project is to dispel the confusion and misunderstandings surrounding universal health care coverage. To do this, I will identify the four models of universal health care identified by scholars - Beveridge, Bismarck, National Health Insurance, and Out-of-Pocket - and provided real-world examples of these health care systems in practice through analyses of health care in the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada. The Out-of-Pocket model is not analyzed in practice, given it does not allow for equal access for all to health care. Through the identification and evaluation of the four forms of universal health care coverage, I …

Cosmopolitan Continuities: The Re-Framing Of Historic Architecture And Urban Space In Contemporary Morocco (1990-Present), Simon Fader Idelson

Honors Papers

What is the political and economic significance of old buildings, neighborhoods, and monuments in contemporary Moroccan cities? I address this question by studying historic preservation efforts of state and non-state actors in two Moroccan cities: Tetouan and Rabat. In this study, I argue that two separate elite coalitions of state officials, architects, artists, academics, and activists in the Moroccan cities of Tetouan and Rabat frame their historic architecture and urban spaces (from before Moroccan independence) as demonstrating the city and nation’s enduring cosmopolitanism. By framing their urban heritage, and subsequently their history as cosmopolitan, this elite coalition asserts that Morocco …

Neoliberalism, Rationality, And The Politics Of Congestion Pricing In New York City, Max Finkelpearl

Honors Papers

Elected officials in the United States currently face a difficult and growing challenge: how to finance the estimated $4.5 trillion needed to bring the United States’ public infrastructure back to a state of good repair. Amidst the uncertainty of financing public services through tax revenues, policymakers in several cities around the world have been advocating for and implementing an urban policy solution called congestion pricing. In this study, against the background of theories of political decision making, I analyze two cases in New York (2007-2008 and 2017-2019) to demonstrate why congestion pricing became the policy of choice by elected leaders …

The Economic Impact Of Access To Reproductive Healthcare: A New Constitutional Argument, Niyati Narang

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis attempts to offer an alternative constitutional argument to Roe v Wade by focusing on the economic liberties granted by the 14th Amendment. By highlighting the connection between reproductive healthcare (abortion access, the pill) and women's economic development, this thesis presents an alternative argument to Roe.

Militant Antifascism | A Discussion With Daryle Lamont Jenkins, Students Of Risd, Risd Archives

Politics

One Peoples Project (OPP) and Providence iww General Defense Committee poster advertising an event with OPP founder Daryle Lamont Jenkins discussing how to build up anti-fascist structures in New England.