Political Science Commons^™

The Prime Minister’S Dilemma: The Strategies For The Game Prisoner’S Dilemma Contain Useful Lessons For Those Playing The Diplomatic Game, Including Our Prime Minister, Erika Simpson

Political Science Publications

In her analysis using game theory's Prisoner's Dilemma, Erika Simpson explores strategic lessons for diplomacy, focusing on the Tit for Tat (TFT) strategy. TFT, which starts with cooperation and responds in kind to the opponent's previous move, proves effective in fostering stable, long-term relations. Drawing parallels with Canada's interactions with Saudi Arabia and the U.S. under Trump, Simpson argues for diplomatic approaches emphasizing reciprocity, cooperation, measured retaliation, and forgiveness. These principles, derived from game theory, suggest that in navigating international relations, strategies promoting trust and stability can mitigate conflict and enhance mutual benefit over time.

A Nordic Anomaly: Examining The Establishment Of An Anti-Immigrant Party In Sweden, Louise Paulsen

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines the establishment of an anti-immigrant party (AIP) in Sweden. Until recently, Sweden was known as the Nordic anomaly with no AIP in spite of high levels of immigration and high rates of right-wing violence. This has now changed, and the AIP, Sweden Democrats, are rising to popularity in high speed. I examine the causes given for the anomaly up until 2006 and show that a change in these has since created a favorable environment for an AIP to become successful. First, socio-economic cleavages have become less salient through decreasing party loyalty and increasing numbers of party switchers. …

Beyond Keeping The Peace: Can Peacekeepers Reduce Ethnic Divisions After Violence?, Douglas D. Page, Sam Whitt

Political Science Faculty Publications

Existing research suggests that international peacekeeping contributes to conflict resolution and helps sustain peace, often in locations with hostile ethnic divisions. However, it is unclear whether the presence of peacekeepers actually reduces underlying ethnocentric views and parochial behaviors that sustain those divisions. We examine the effects of NATO peacekeeper deployments on ethnocentrism in postwar Bosnia. While peacekeepers were not randomly deployed in Bosnia, we find that highly ethnocentric attitudes were common across Bosnia at the onset of peacekeeper deployments, reducing endogeneity concerns. To measure ethnocentrism, we employ a variety of survey instruments as well as a behavioral experiment (the dictator …

Tortured Policies On Torture: Notes From The House Of The Dead?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes issues needing to be resolved before policies on the use of enhanced interrogation techniques including torture are developed, implemented, and assessed.

American Creed, William R. Tharp

Agora

This essay examines the American Founders’ convictions about government as expressed through key documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, and the Constitution. The goal of this paper is to answer two fundamental questions on behalf of the architects of the American state: Who should rule and what is the main purpose of government? In answering these questions, this analysis also probes into the unique amalgam of both ancient and contemporary political theory that influenced the decisions and opinions of the Founders. Ultimately, this essay highlights their support of a limited republican government run by the …

Introduction – Exploring And Expanding The Political World Pioneered By Don T. Nakanishi, Andrew Aoki, Pei-Te Lien

Faculty Authored Articles

This essay provides an introduction to the late Don T. Nakanishi of UCLA, commenting on his legacy in the founding and development of Asian American politics as a field. It also offers an overview of the articles and dialogue essays included in this special PGI issue on Asian Pacific American Politics, the first of its kind in the nation.

Rwu/Wpri 12 Poll Shows R.I. Governor's Race A Dead Heat, Edward Fitzpatrick

Featured News Story

Poll finds 77 percent of Rhode Islanders consider housing costs a "very serious" or "somewhat serious" problem.

Counterterrorist Profiling, The Self, And The Problem Of Open And Quiet Skies, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

Psychological profiling supporting counterterrorism may be based on an invalid presumption.

Local Vs. National: How Twitter Reflects News Coverage Of Colin Kaepernick Protests, Jared Paul Joseph

LSU Master's Theses

Local and national media dedicate different levels of coverage to issues depending on its relevancy to their audiences. This study uses news outlets’ social media activity to show that coverage discrepancies occurred with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s National Anthem protest. Because his protest reached national headlines, Kaepernick suffered the same fate of many protesting athletes in the past. This study will show how national media carried his story to national headlines and framed his protest negatively. The findings show that local media were the least active among the three media levels, local, regional and national, in covering the Kaepernick …

Madness And Lived Experience: An Analysis Of The Icarus Project, Alyson Young

Social Justice and Community Engagement

Psychiatric frameworks are used as the primary lens in the Western world to understand, define, describe, and categorize the experience of mental distress in individuals. The Icarus Project is a community mental health organization that has a focus on intersectionality and uses a social justice lens to look at experiences of mental distress. Members of The Icarus Project believe that they possess knowledge about the potential benefits that exist in the space between brilliance and madness as a community of individuals with lived experience of mental distress. Members believe that, through this knowledge, they can instill a sense of hope …

Race And Participant Perceptions: A Case Study Of Canadian International Service Learning Students In El Salvador, Kenzie Pulsifer

Social Justice and Community Engagement

International service learning – ISL after this, has grown in volume and interest across the post-secondary educational landscape in the last two decades in the ‘North’. In attendance with this growth, has been an increasing concern regarding its capacity to be an effective and progressive set of learning and engagement practices. Most broadly, are the concerns with the neo-colonial character and legacy associated with current ISL presence in the South – the content of participant values and beliefs – how they perceive and practice their roles in these experiences. This research investigates most specifically, a concern associated with these North-South …

Moving Women Of Color From Reliable Voters To Candidates For Public Office, Christina Bejarano, Wendy Smooth

Latino Public Policy

In recent presidential elections, women, people of color, millennials, and new immigrants shaped the outcomes of those elections. Women of color standing at the nexus of two underrepresented groups in politics- racial minorities and women- demonstrated their commitments to democracy by maintaining their traditions as reliable voters, far exceeding expectations. In this project, we ask what is necessary to move these women of color from reliable voters to candidates for political office and locate our answer with women of color. They are doing much of the work to deepen democratic engagement in communities of color, namely mobilizing voters and political …

Help Or Hindrance? Outside Group Advertising Expenditures In House Races, Anne E. Baker

Political Science

Super PACs, 501(c)4 social welfare organizations, and 501(c)6 professional associations are now major spenders in House elections. What remains unclear is how the strategic expenditure choices of these respective outside interest groups impact the competitive position of non-incumbent candidates running for the House – specifically do their advertising expenditures undermine or augment the expenditures made by the campaign. Using the Wesleyan Media Project datasets of 2012 and 2014 in combination with campaign finance data in a series of models, I find early television advertising expenditures by the aforementioned 501(c) dark money organizations diminish the effectiveness of non-incumbents’ campaign expenditures – …

Institute For Public Policy National Poll - August 2018, Institute For Public Policy

Public Policy Poll Results

The Sacred Heart University Institute for Public Policy leveraged quantitative research through a telephonic methodology to address the following areas of investigation:

• Voter preferences regarding the 2018 CT Gubernatorial Race
• Voter preferences regarding the 2018 election for the U.S. House of Representatives
• Impressions of Democratic and Republic Candidates for Governor
• Presidential Job Approval
• Gubernatorial Job Approval
• Issues facing the State of Connecticut
• Demographic profiles of respondents

Democratic Consolidation: A Theory Of Territorial Consolidation, Kelly Mcmann, Matthew Maguire

Faculty Publications, School of Management

How does democracy develop throughout a country once leaders in the national capital introduce or expand civil liberties and hold competitive elections—in other words, after democratic transition? The subnational democracy literature has shown that non-democratic subnational political regimes can endure within countries even after democratic transition. Yet, the democratic consolidation literature has not addressed how these enclaves are eliminated throughout the country or the territorial consolidation of democracy. This paper offers an explanation for the territorial consolidation of democracy. We argue that greater corruption control, a shift toward a unitary system of government, and a move toward centralized candidate selection …

Exit, Voice, And Public Reason, Kevin Vallier

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Public reason liberals appeal to public deliberation to ensure that a legal order can be publicly justified to its citizens. I argue that this voice mechanism should be supplemented by exit mechanisms. By allowing citizens to exit legal orders they believe cannot be publicly justified, citizens can pressure states to change their laws. This exit pressure is sometimes more effective than deliberation. I explore federalism as an exit mechanism that can help public deliberation establish a publicly justified polity.

Will Trump's Space Force Lead To The Militarization Of Space?, Erika Simpson

Political Science Publications

No abstract provided.

Perspective Taking, Multicultural Course Completion, And Political Ideology Affiliation Effects On Zero-Sum Belief Endorsement By White Counseling Trainees, Lindsay A. Okonowsky

Dissertations

Research suggests many Whites tend to see racism as a zero-sum game, which means they believe gains for one group necessitate losses for another group (Wilkins, Wellman, Babbitt, Toosi, & Schad, 2015). Given the theoretical underpinnings of multicultural competence, and the notion that beliefs drive actions, adherence to zero-sum game-oriented beliefs may interfere with individuals in helping professions’ abilities to provide multiculturally competent services to their clients. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the effects of perspective taking and multicultural course completion as interventions with White, master’s level, counseling trainees’ endorsements of zero-sum beliefs (ZSBs). A secondary …

Beyond Bribery: An Exploration Into Lobbying And International Corporate Influence In The Middle East, Polly D. Roark

Political Science Theses - Archive

Qualitative evidence suggests that corporations lobby within countries with informal structures abroad. While political science research on Western lobbying is robust, it falls short in understanding how multinational businesses operate in countries that do not possess regulated lobbying arenas. Given this, my research findings help fill a theoretical gap in political science literature by identifying how multinationals lobby within informal (unregulated) structures the same as they do within formal (regulated) arenas, like the US and EU. I argue that US multinational companies who engage the American lobbying arena are more likely to lobby within informal structures to ensure strategic goals. …

Extraversion, Trust In Institutions And Support For Eu Membership, Ardit Arifi

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis contributes to the growing literature that calls upon psychology traits and belief

systems to explain people’s attitudes toward their country’s EU membership. By relying on trust in politicians and institutions as well as self-reported extraversion, it argues for a positive association of such traits with people’s support for EU membership. I test my hypothesis with a probability simple random sample that I helped to collect in Albania during summer 2017. I find evidence that people’s trust in country’s politicians, EU politicians, and EU judiciary predict more support for Albania’s EU membership. However, I was not able to find …