Political Science Commons^™

Global Markets And Inequalities: Changes In The Cuban Society, Melissa Dreffs

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The relationship that Cuba has with the United States and global markets is shifting. This project will address the changing mindset of Cuban society in regards to the global markets and internal changes that have already drastically affected the island and will continue to do so. The structure of employment in Cuba has changed, allowing the private and self-employed sectors to grow, while attracting fewer and fewer state employees. Additional analysis of the changing economic system in Cuba shows the increase in foreign investment, both by states and private corporations. This increase affects both national sovereignty and the role of …

Beyond Shelby County, Anthony Gonzalez

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

In the aftermath of the 2016 elections there is ample data to examine trends in voter turnout across the states. This election cycle also provided the first national election in fifty years without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Previously covered states and jurisdictions were no longer required to obtain preclearance in the enactment of voting legislation. This thesis will seek to answer which interest was being served by the new voting laws in several states and whether the gutting of the Voting Rights Act by the U.S. Supreme Court had an impact on voter turnout. It …

Disillusionment And Disaggregation: Why Did Asian Americans Vote For Trump?, Catalina Huamei Huang

CMC Senior Theses

In one of the most controversial and interesting election cycles in American history, Republican nominee, Donald Trump prevailed over his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. To many, his victory was shocking, if not completely unexpected, yet the circumstances that catalyzed such a defeat lie in the characteristics of his supporters, made up of several classes, races, and identities. Among them are the multifaceted Asian American population – diverse ethnically and politically. This thesis aims to unravel the reasons for which many Asian Americans gave their vote to Trump on November 8, 2016 through distinctions between their ethnic groups and demographics. It …

The Political Personality Of Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, Aubrey Immelman, Joseph V. Trenzeluk

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of Vladimir Putin, president of the Russian Federation, from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Psychodiagnostically relevant data regarding President Putin were extracted from open-source intelligence and synthesized into a personality profile using the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM-IV.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed on the basis of interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of Personality Styles manuals. Putin’s primary personality patterns were found …

The Obama Pivot To Asia: An Analysis Of The Fundamentals, Christopher Willis

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Obama Administration’s Pivot to Asia policy was a grand shift in focus for U.S. foreign policy and sought to lay the foundation of U.S. policy in the region for the future. This paper derives three fundamental assumptions that the Pivot policy was based upon, from the articulations of the main architects of the Pivot Policy: former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former National Security Advisor Tom Donilon. These assumptions are as follows, pivoting to the Asia-Pacific will be beneficial to the U.S., engagement with China is central to the Pivot policy and the policy is not an effort …

Wealth Inequality And Activism: Perceiving Injustice Galvanizes Social Change But Perceptions Depend On Political Ideologies, Crystal L. Hoyt, Aaron J. Moss, Jeni L. Burnette, Annette Schieffelin, Abigail Goethals

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

What motivates people to engage in activism against wealth inequality? The simple answer is, perceiving injustice. However, the current work demonstrates that these perceptions depend on political ideologies. More specifically, for political liberals who frequently question the fairness of the economic system, messages simply describing the extent of the inequality (distributive injustice) are enough to motivate activism (Study 1). For political conservatives, who are inclined to believe that inequality results from fair procedures, messages must also detail how the system of economic forces is unjust (procedural injustice; Studies 2 and 3). Together, these studies suggest perceiving injustice can galvanize social …

Trump’S Electoral Speeches And His Appeal To The American White Working Class, Michele Lamont, Bo Yun Park, Elena Ayala-Hurtado

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This paper contributes to the study of social change by considering boundary work as a dimension of cultural change. Drawing on the computer-assisted qualitative analysis of 73 formal speeches made by Donald Trump during the 2016 electoral campaign, we argue that his political rhetoric, which led to his presidential victory, addressed the white working class’s concern with their declining position in the national pecking order. He addressed this group’s concern by raising their moral status, that is, by (1) emphatically describing them as hard-working Americans who are victims of globalization; (2) voicing their concerns about ‘people above’ (professionals, the rich, …

"A Babe In The Woods?": Billy Graham, Anticommunism, And Vietnam, Daniel Alexander Hays

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on famous evangelist Billy Graham's role in the Vietnam War, both as a public supporter and private advisor. It argues that, contrary to his self-depiction, he was no "babe in the woods," no mere neophyte or bystander. Rather, America's most famous preacher was an active participant in promoting and even planning the war. Graham's evangelical theology, with his premillennialist beliefs, led to his intensely anticommunist worldview, where communism was the Antichrist. His public support buttressed the presidents prior to and during the Vietnam War and, sometimes, Graham even delved into policy recommendations for the war.

Graham's role …

Determinants Of Terrorist Target Selection: A Quantitative Analysis, Taylor Haywood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Existing research on the subject of terrorism is vast, spanning causes of terrorism, the membership of terrorist groups, types of terrorist attacks, and more. One area of terrorism research, though, has received only limited consideration: terrorist target selection. What research does exist explains target selection almost exclusively as a function of ideology (Asal et al. 2009, 270 and 274; Drake 1998b, 54-56 and 58). However, such a limited causal focus obscures other possible, and probable, explanations of terrorist target selection. This paper proposes an alternative explanation of terrorist target selection that includes ideological and terrorist group capability variables, as well …

A Narrative Study Of Chaldean Refugees And The Myth Of Return: From Chaldean Babylon To The New World, Joseph James Byle

Wayne State University Dissertations

With the removal of Saddam following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, life for all Iraqis changed for the worse, especially for minorities such as Christians, including Chaldeans. Considering the powerful push factors that have compelled Chaldean Refugees in the Detroit area to leave Iraq, the idea of returning to the homeland would seem like a remote possibility, however, these Chaldeans present an intriguing case, due to the fact that they are among the indigenous people in Iraq. Do their deep rooted ties to the homeland contribute to a desire to return? This research examines this possibility through an in-depth …

Letter From The Editor

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

To Vote Or Not To Vote: The Effect Of Using All-Mail Election On Probability Of Voting, Rehtaeh Beers

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

Arend Lijphart (1997) said, "Voting is less unequal than other forms of participations but it is far from unbiased." While democracy is considered to be a form of government for the people and by the people, holding true to this reputation requires that some measure of the citizenry's opinion guide elections and decisions in government. The most common way to measure the opinions within the citizenry is through the voting process. Thus, it is understandable that in democracies voter abstention is generally considered to result in a less representative government. To address the issue of voter abstention, governments have implemented …

United States Public Opinion And The War In Iraq: Understanding Analysis Polling Trends Through Discourse, Sam Williams

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

War is often thought to be a cause-and-effect dichotomy. Rather than taking a holistic view of war through examination of short-term fluctuations against macrolevel trends, historians often instead define armed conflict by a singular, decisive event and the differing responses and ramifications which stem from it. It is tempting, then, to do the same with public opinion about war: If the nature and ultimate result of a conflict stems from a collection of individual pivotal events, it is natural to think there would also be critical shifts in public opinion corresponding to these decisive events. U.S. military campaigns that are …

Electoral Competitiveness And Legislative Productivity, Soren J. Schmidt, Matthew B. Young

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

On 10 October 2016, the two major-party candidates for U.S. Representative of Utah's 4th Congressional district held a publicly televised debate. Incumbent Mia Love represented the Republican Party, and challenger Doug Owens was the Democratic nominee. During that debate, Representative Love made seven references to legislation she had supported during her last term. When asked what she would do to make higher education affordable, for example, her response focused on her legislative accomplishments, repeating twice that "I have introduced three bills to do that" (C-SPAN 2016). Her choice of emphasis reflected her efficient legislative record: In the previous term (her …

The Effect Of Making Election Day A Holiday: An Original Survey And A Case Study Of French Presidential Elections Applied To The U.S. Voting System, Caitlyn Bradfield, Paul Johnson

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

Voter turnout in the U.S. has lagged behind other developed democracies for decades. Exactly what causes this discrepancy has been an issue of debate. Ironically, "voters [in the United States] are more politically aware and involved than citizens in any other democracy, yet the levels of voter turnout are consistently far below the democratic average" (Powell 1986, 17).

The Tea Party Versus Planning: A Study Of Tea Party Activism And Its Impact On Local Government Planning, Spencer A. Norman

Theses and Dissertations

The Tea Party movement’s effect on local and regional planning in Virginia has received little study. This work identifies how conservative political activism has impacted planning in the Commonwealth and how planners have responded. The study relies on a qualitative approach involving 22 semi-structured interviews with activists, planners, and citizens, as well as textual analyses of planning documents, local and regional news reports, and Tea Party social media. The resultant findings show that Tea Party activism is rooted in deep seated ideals about private property rights and individualism. It also reveals that planning processes that increased the amount of public …

Welcome The Stranger? Recent History Of American Christianity And Refugee Policy, Brenda Edith Cuellar

Masters Theses

Immigration is a controversial and complex issue. The United States has a history of welcoming millions of immigrants and refugees. Recent political rhetoric surrounding immigration has been negative and associated with danger and terrorism. Religious leaders along with their congregations have a history of advocating on behalf of the marginalized as well as combating against a broken immigration system that leaves eleven million people undocumented. This research paper uses a case study to explore the Sanctuary movement, a religious and political campaign that provided shelter for thousands of Central American refugees fleeing war. Interviews with seven religious leaders in Arizona …

The Power Of The Periphery: Aid, Mutuality And Cold War U.S-Ghana Relations, 1957-1966, Moses Allor Awinsong

Masters Theses

This project interrogates how economic self interest motivated periphery states such as Ghana to use foreign policy as a vehicle to attract improved development assistance from superpowers, in this case the United States. While the United States viewed its aid program in Ghana in stringently Cold War terms, Kwame Nkrumah and his advisors were less inclined to get deeply concerned about Cold War ideology. This project shows that Ghanaian agency was manifested in the Cold War through the new state's construction of a foreign policy image that made it a prominent African voice globally. It then examines how that image …

Nsst 475: Security In The 21st Century—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Tyler R. White

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This benchmark course portfolio is the culmination of a year’s long planning and execution process to improve an existing capstone course NSST 475. This course has two goals: to teach students about subject matter and to expose them to structured analytic techniques (SATs) before they graduate. This course is a minor capstone which means that the students come from a diverse set of disciplinary backgrounds. I targeted two course objectives to examine for this project with the intention of employing backward course design to think through what students should be learning and how I can improve that process. This portfolio …