Political Science Commons^™

Leveraging Trade Agreements To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions In Accordance With The Paris Agreement, Sam Becker

CMC Senior Theses

Climate change is the most obvious and pressing impairment of the biological, physical, and chemical systems. To help mitigate this unprecedented problem, I present heads of state, policymakers, and members of civil society with a set of new provisions that they can include in their trade agreements to drive emissions reduction from countries inside and outside of their trade agreements, maintain their ability to compete in an increasingly globalized world, and comply with international trading rules. Ultimately, I seek to demonstrate the untapped potential for leveraging trade agreements to reduce emissions in the midst of an international system that lacks …

The Catastrophe Artists: Understanding America’S Unaccountable Foreign Policy Elite, Samuel Fraser

CMC Senior Theses

The 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq was a foreign policy action that violated international law, was based on false premises, and came to represent a clear and costly political disaster for the United States and Iraq. Why then, did none of the top policymakers responsible for the decision to invade face meaningful consequences – be they professional consequences, or legal ones? Why too have so many of the media figures who helped sell this war to the American public remained in their prestigious positions, with massive platforms to influence the American people?

This paper argues that the above groups, referred …

The Rise Of Populism In 21st Century France: Normalizing Islamophobia, Evan Boyer

CMC Senior Theses

The Twenty-First Century has seen increasing support for far-right authoritarian policies across Europe, particularly in France. This paper identifies and explains the connection between the rising power of France’s far-right, populist party and the pervasive sentiments of Islamophobia through an examination of major theories, anxiety-producing events, and reactionary legal actions in France pertaining to the oppression of Muslims. It begins with an analysis of France’s colonial history and its lasting implications concerning the legitimacy of anti-Muslim rhetoric. Next, the paper analyzes the usage of terrorism as a framed threat by far-right politicians to promote authoritarian agendas. It then examines France’s …

A Comparative Analysis To Understand The Subnational Motivations For Renewable Energy Development In India, William Cullen

CMC Senior Theses

Providing energy security and diversifying the energy production in India align with the country’s rising power ambitions and policy goals to industrialize. Renewable energy provides a useful tool for the state to meet these policy goals without producing more air pollution and additional environmental degradation. The Central Government has international ambitions of with becoming a rising responsible power; these aspirations have created new resources, incentives, and policy ideas for the subnational states in India. The purpose of this thesis is to map out the motivations, interests, and incentives of subnational elites in devising policies to promote renewable energy development in …

Impact Of Mandatory Sentencing Policies On Alabama's Prison Populations, Stephanie Elaine Stewart

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

State prison systems, particularly in the Southern US, have been overpopulated for decades with unlikely support for building new prisons which has led to overcrowding. Policy makers, however, have adopted mandatory minimum policies that include harsher sanctions for habitual offenders which exacerbated the problem of overcrowding, yet little is understood about how sentencing reform is associated with overpopulation. Using Clear and Schrantz conceptualization of prison population change, the purpose of this quantitative descriptive study was to understand how one prison system in a southern state was impacted over a 10-year period by the implementation of mandatory minimum sentencing requirements. Data …

Putting Human Rights Up Front: Implications For Impartiality And The Politics Of Un Peacekeeping, Emily Paddon Rhoads

Political Science Faculty Works

This article traces the origins, development and implications of Human Rights Up Front (HRuF), a bold and visionary initiative launched by former Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in 2013. While HRuF is part of a broader continuum of human rights-related reforms, its scope and focus is distinctive. HRuF puts the imperative to protect people from serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law at the core of the UN’s strategy and operational activities, and obliges staff to speak out about abuses and looming crises. Using the case study of South Sudan and drawing on over 150 interviews conducted in-country, this article …

S02, E02: Eviction Part 2 – The Longer Take, Nia Rodgers, Katheryn Howell, Benjamin Teresa, Donna Coghill

Civil Discourse Podcast

This podcast is a continuation of the podcast Eviction Part 1. It discusses cases of eviction, how the instability of housing impacts individuals and neighborhoods, section eight and how eviction is just the latest form of dispossession of people. It looks at neighborhoods in Richmond that have seen instability in some form over the last 100 years.

Using Drawings To Understand Perceptions Of Civic Engagement Across Disciplines: ‘Seeing Is Understanding’, Sharon Feeney, John Hogan

Articles

In this article, we wish to investigate if disciplinary differences exist among students when considering the topic of civic engagement. We use freehand drawing to create a learning environment in the classroom wherein students can seek to develop meaningful associations with civic engagement. The drawings examined here, produced by three different class groups, provide insights into how young adults perceive their society and their place in it, and thus communicate their understanding of civic engagement. Freehand drawing, in bypassing cognitive verbal processing routes, leads students to produce clearer and more holistic images. It allows them to put into visuals a …

Effect Of Religious Legislation On Religious Behavior: The Ramadan Fast, Hannah M. Ridge

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

State laws compelling citizens to comply with elements of religious law – also known as religious legislation – are globally pervasive. Previous research has well documented the incidence of myriad examples of religious legislation. These laws’ practical effect on citizens’ behavior, however, has been less examined. This article looks at the effect of one piece of religious legislation: state laws enforcing the Ramadan fast. It demonstrates that the use of state power to sanction violations of religious law significantly increases citizens’ compliance with this religious law.

Records Of The Institute On Religion And Democracy Presidential Papers Of Diane Knippers Arc2016-001 - Finding Aid, Ats Special Collections And Archives

Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

The New Horizons Of Ideal Womanhood In Antebellum America: Christine Elliot And Linda Brent, Elizabeth (Katy) Lewis

Scripps Senior Theses

With Christine Elliot and Linda Brent, we have two types of the supposed ungendering of women: in Christine, public lecturing and the self-propulsion of one young woman into the public, male sphere, and the ungendering through objectification and dehumanization of Linda Brent in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, published in 1861. We’ll see both young women reject the accusations that they are being de-femininized by engaging in the work or survival modes that they are utilizing. We’ll see both characters assert that femininity can encompass their transgressions, that femininity is more resilient, and that women’s rightful …

A Rhetorical Analysis Of President Bill Clinton's First Term Presidential Rhetoric, Ireland Hill

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Bill Clinton was the United States of America’s (U.S.) 42nd President, and his rhetoric set the tone of U.S. political climate for years following his presidency. Due to the power that a president possesses, a president’s presence and statements are frequently analyzed. It is clear, however, that there is a lack of research completed on presidential rhetoric. Upon this realization, I reflected on my previous areas of research; one of those areas was the first term presidential rhetoric of Clinton. As a result, I decided that a rhetorical analysis of some of the major rhetoric that contributed to Clinton’s first …

Start Where You Are: How American Youth Are Finding Fulfillment Through Nontraditional Forms Of Political Involvement, Johnathan Alfonzo Coleman

Honors Theses

Young people involvement in the political system has long been viewed through the negative lens of claims that the younger generation is not participating enough. Political scientists, strategists, and older citizens assert that the youth is uninvolved and uninterested. In this thesis, I sought to examine how, in 2019, young people are viewing their involvement within the political system. This was done in an effort to claim that young people are participating, but not through the traditional processes. My hypothesis is that young people are finding more fulfillment in participating in nontraditional modes of political involvement, the reasoning behind the …

Editors' Introduction, Gaoming Zhu, Ben Nielsen, Ann Crumbaugh

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

The Sizzle Or The Steak? How Individuals Process Political Cues, Ben Nielsen

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

The majority of the American electorate is uninformed with regards to politics, and to compensate for their lack of knowledge, they take political cues from perceived experts. This study examines the impact of political cues from various sources, and considers how individuals analyze source credibility and framing. The study was conducted on Illinois Wesleyan University’s campus, via survey collection. Post data analysis, the surveys proved cues given by perceived experts were more compelling than non-perceived experts, and emotional cues were more compelling than rational cues. These findings confirm individuals use peripheral route processing more frequently than central route processing , …

The Role Of Citizenship Status And Its Impact On Latino’ Civic Engagement In The United States, Veronica Torres Luna

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper discusses the way in which U.S. citizenship status and legal permanent resident status impacts the likelihood of involvement in civic engagement activities among Latinos in the United States. Past research has looked into various variables such as group consciousness, Spanish-media language, and importance of issues; however, specific research on citizenship status is limited. This paper analyzes data from the Pew Research Center and data obtained from individual interviews in the Midwest. The results show that citizens are more likely than residents to be involved in the community and politics. These findings have important implications in how policies are …

Polarized China: The Effect Of Media Censorship On People's Ideology, Gaoming Zhu

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

Ideological polarization is not a unique product of western politics. A national survey (2007-2014)⁶ revealed that the overarching division in Chinese society is split between nationalism and cultural liberalism. Why does polarization happen in society where state ideology dominates the political apparatuses? This paper approaches this puzzle by examining the relationship between individuals’ media diet facilitated by media censorship policies and their ideology in China. The findings suggest that polarization as an outcome is caused by nationalists adhering to heavily state-controlled media, while liberals seek less censored resources. The findings also suggest that polarization as a process is due …

Colombia's Post Conflict: A Grassroots Approach To The Implementation Of The Peace Accords As A Necessary Element To Build A Long Lasting Peace, Maria Paula Perdomo Garcia

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Friends, Relatives, Sanity, And Health: The Costs Of Politics, Kevin Smith, Matthew V. Hibbing, John R. Hibbing

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Political scientists have long known that political involvement exacts costs but they have typically defined these costs in relatively narrow, largely economic terms. Though anecdotal evidence suggests that the costs of politics may in fact extend beyond economics to frayed personal relationships, compromised emotional stability, and even physical problems, no systematic evidence on these broader costs exists. We construct and validate batteries of survey items that delineate the physical, social, and emotional costs of political engagement and administer these items to a demographically representative sample of U.S. adults. The results suggest that a large number of Americans believe their physical …

Do People Really Become More Conservative As They Age?, Johnathan C. Peterson, Kevin Smith, John Hibbing

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Folk wisdom has long held that people become more politically conservative as they grow older, although several empirical studies suggest political attitudes are stable across time. Using data from the Michigan Youth-Parent So- cialization Panel Study, we analyze attitudinal change over a major portion of the adult life span. We document changes in party identification, self-reported ideology, and selected issue positions over this time period and place these changes in context by comparing them with contemporaneous national averages. Consistent with previous research but con- trary to folk wisdom, our results indicate that political attitudes are remarkably stable over the long …