Political Science Commons^™

Divided We Fear: The Politics Behind America's Economic Anxiety, Yadira Flores Hernandez

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Imagine waking up to headlines announcing a market crash. Some picture an end to stability; others see a nonpermanent storm. What separates these reactions is far more than just perspective; it is politics. Using the 2025 Chapman Survey of American Fears, a representative sample of U.S. national adults, I will study the patterns of fears regarding economic collapse across and beyond political lines. Furthermore, I will examine how partisanship shapes perceptions of such collapse, adding layers of analysis with media and personal economic fears. My findings support the hypothesis that Democrats appear to express higher levels of concern about an …

18 To Buy, Any Age To Die: Why Do Americans Fear Gun Control Amidst Rampant Gun Violence?, Taylor Gadsden-Deterville

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In the first 303 days of 2025, there were 350+ mass shootings in the United States. Recent research has shown mass shootings are one of the primary fears among Americans, and if unaddressed, could continue to cause political and social division. Using the Chapman University Survey on American Fears (CSAF), a national representative sample of American adults, my research highlights the influence of primary factors such as gender, political orientation, and media intake. This research will examine the correlation between gun violence and opposition to weapon regulation. Mass shootings have become rampant in spaces that should be safe, like schools, …

The Erosion Of Credibility: How Government Control Shapes Distrust In Journalism, Ellie Bickelhaupt

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In the past few months, talk show hosts have been canceled for speaking out against the president, deepfakes and AI have become more accessible, there has been an increase in propaganda and state-sponsored media, and through all this, we have seen a continuous increase in government control. All of these factors offer potential explanations as to why there has been an increased distrust and loss of respect regarding journalism throughout the United States in recent years. This research aims to demonstrate that when the government heavily monitors and controls the country, Americans are less likely to trust the media and …

Nativism As The Engine Of Fear Toward “Illegal” Immigrants, Amilie Cai

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Contemporary concerns about “illegal” immigration reveal deep-seated anxieties about race, cultural, and national identity in the United States. In this paper, I examine how xenophobia, media consumption, and Christian nationalism collectively shape fear of illegal immigrants. I build upon previous literature, such as the Group Threat Theory, which posits that dominant groups mobilize to preserve social hierarchies when their status is threatened, and the Agenda-Setting Theory, which emphasizes the media’s power to shape public perceptions. Using Wave 11 of the Chapman Survey of American Fears–a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults collected in 2025–I provide a comparative analysis of these …

Loneliness And Support For Political Violence Within The United States, Kellen Downey

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Although loneliness is a growing public health issue in the United States, its political effects remain understudied. This paper seeks to understand the relationship between loneliness and the support of political violence by utilizing the Chapman Survey of American Fears (CSAF Wave 11). This survey, which is a component of the 2025 Chapman Survey of American Fears, includes the three-item UCLA Loneliness Scale, as well as two separate items specifically measuring political violence. Using a national survey (N=1,015), I address the following questions: (1) Are lonely individuals more likely to support violence on political grounds? (2) Does strongly identifying with …

How Do People Talk About The Political Parties?, Carol Anne Bredeson, Cassandra Smith, Meghan Rentner

Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Performance As Political Resistance: Looking At Theatrical Approaches To Advocacy/Public Policy Through The Lens Of The Aids Crisis, Abby Campion

Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Bloody Sunday: The March For Voters' Freedom, Gioia Casella

Student Zines

This zine was created for the the class ENG 120, taught by Prof. Steven Bookman. It discusses the events of "Bloody Sunday," March 7, 1965, when civil rights protesters were attacked by state troopers on the Edmund Pettus bridge.

Mass Higher Education And Voter Turnout In The U.S, Eric R. Hansen

Political Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Have turnout rates in the U.S. risen as more Americans have attained college degrees? Educational attainment is associated with a higher likelihood of voting among individuals, but scholars remain skeptical that increases in mass education levels are associated with higher turnout in populations. I argue that higher rates of college degree attainment not only raise turnout rates among graduates themselves but have positive externalities for turnout in graduates’ communities. To test the relationship at the aggregate level in the U.S., I turn to data from the 50 states and the District of Columbia from 1980 to 2020, when college education …

Finding Utopia: An Examination Of Pedagogical Approaches To Teaching Utopianism In U.S. College Classrooms, Brittany Page Brake

Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how, and if, utopianism is being taught in college classrooms across the United States. Long considered impractical, overly idealistic, and/or politically dangerous, utopianism has been largely marginalized in political science and American culture. However, this project finds that there are instructors teaching utopianism and they are using the concept to challenge students to think differently about governance, justice, and institutional design. Drawing from political theory literature, course syllabi submitted by faculty from different U.S. universities, interviews with instructors, and personal case studies of my own courses at Central State University and Manchester University, I explore how utopian …

Taming The Wicked Problem: Transparency, Civic Apathy, And The Challenge Of Rebuilding Trust In Local Government, Austin N. Kaiser

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Since the 1960s, the United States has experienced a persistent decline in public trust in government. The Founders believed that government could only function with the consent of the governed, making this erosion of trust a significant concern for democratic legitimacy. In response, many scholars and practitioners have championed transparency as a pillar of sound governance and a potential remedy for rebuilding trust. However, the solution may not be as simple as improving openness. Public officials increasingly recognize that transparency alone may have limited or even unintended consequences, especially when public participation is low or administrative resources are strained.

This …

The Birth Of A City: The Politics Leading To The Incorporation Of The City Of El Paso, Michael Britt

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

While the history of the Civil War and Reconstruction-era focuses on the eastern United States, those events rippled across the country and affected the development of places far from the national capital and sites of the major battles. Most histories of El Paso, Texas focus on the era after the arrival of the railroad and growth of Fort Bliss as a major military installation. The region that now encompasses El Paso County, Texas experienced European migration centuries before the United States developed, and its Spanish and, later, Mexican background would impact how the area integrated with the United States. Texas …

Table Of Contents, Rory J. Conces Prof.

International Dialogue

No abstract provided.

Notes From The Editor, Rory J. Conces Prof.

International Dialogue

No abstract provided.

Works Of Love From Russia, Alisa Gorshenina

International Dialogue

This reflective artist’s statement by Alisa Gorshenina (Alice Hualice) intertwines autobiographical narrative with the creative context of four works produced during and after her politically forced displacement from Russia. Gorshenina recounts a lifelong pattern of resisting external pressures—from expectations to relocate for education and career advancement to demands that she flee Russia following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. She frames her continued desire to live in her hometown of Nizhny Tagil as an act of personal agency and a “new language of resistance,” grounded not in state loyalty but in an authentic, non-nationalistic love of place. Increasing censorship, denunciations, canceled …

Introduction And Letter To Firas And Ali, Joanna Zabielska

International Dialogue

In this deeply personal and politically charged epistolary essay, Joanna Zabielska reflects on the intersecting forms of erasure occurring within European cultural institutions and at the continent’s militarized borders. Framed as a letter to two men—Firas and Ali—whom the author met during the humanitarian crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border, the piece recounts their experiences of pushbacks, violence, detention, and survival, contextualizing their stories within a broader critique of European migration regimes. Zabielska juxtaposes this with her account of institutional censorship in Austria, where the names of the two men were removed from her VR installation Über das Neue at Belvedere …

Fragments, Najlaa Attaallah

International Dialogue

In Fragments (شظايا), Najlaa Attaallah offers a poetic, intimate, and devastating meditation on exile, trauma, and the unrelenting violence endured by Palestinians in Gaza. Written from Reykjavík yet emotionally tethered to her homeland, Attaallah narrates the psychic rupture caused by witnessing war from afar—the guilt of safety, the suffocating pull of memory, and the sense of existing as “a body without certainty.” Across lyrical vignettes, she explores the collapse of ordinary life under the weight of collective horror: sleeplessness, paralysis, obsessive monitoring of news, and the disintegration of routine maternal roles. The text moves between present anguish and childhood …

Political Discoveries In A Žižek Substack Project Critical Digital Studies, Edward Sankowski, Betty J. Harris

International Dialogue

This review essay analyzes Slavoj Žižek’s recent turn to Substack as a publishing platform, examining both his motivations and the philosophical and political implications of this medium for contemporary critical theory. Sankowski and Harris argue that Žižek’s Substack writings continue long-standing themes in his work—anti-capitalism, ecological crisis, updated Communism, and the cultural dimensions of ideology—while also revealing notable shifts, including heightened pessimism about historical progress and new reflections on environmental catastrophe. The authors assess the advantages and pitfalls of Substack for intellectual discourse, including its circumvention of traditional editorial “censorship,” its contribution to information glut, and its role in fostering …

Of The Freedom Famine In Palestine, Ibtisam Barakat

International Dialogue

In this searing essay, poet and author Ibtisam Barakat bears witness to what she names the “Freedom Famine” in Gaza—a deliberate, decades-long deprivation of basic human rights culminating in the catastrophic conditions of 2025. Writing from the United States while in conversation with Gazan author Omar Hammash, Barakat juxtaposes their drastically unequal realities: her safety and his daily encounters with death, displacement, and starvation. Through Hammash’s testimony—delivered amid constant bombardment and interrupted by news of a friend’s killing—Barakat documents the collapse of Gaza’s infrastructure, the mass targeting of aid workers, the lethal failures of international relief, and the killing of …

Dear Belvedere, Rabbya Naseer

International Dialogue

In this powerful open letter—originally delivered as a video message—artist Rabbya Naseer explains her decision to cancel her 2025 solo exhibition at Belvedere 21 after the museum refused to allow her proposed works addressing Palestine, colonialism, and contemporary violence. Framed as both personal testimony and institutional critique, the letter meditates on the ethics of waiting, perseverance (sabr), and the responsibility of artists amid geopolitical crisis. Naseer recounts months of stalled communication and escalating curatorial restrictions that ultimately rendered any engagement with the Israel–Palestine conflict “not possible.” Rejecting the museum’s demands for neutrality, depoliticization, and the substitution of existing …