Political Science Commons^™

Allied Paper Landfill, A Case Study Of Superfund, Kaitlin Braunschweig

Honors Theses

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (1980), more commonly known as Superfund, delegates the responsibility for cleanup of more than 1,300 hazardous waste sites to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This thesis is designed as a case study to investigate the Superfund program through the lens of the Allied Paper Landfill portion of the Kalamazoo River Superfund Site. Through interviews with key stakeholders an evaluation was completed based on the following research questions: 1) are the current goals of Superfund appropriate, 2) is the funding mechanism sufficient to fulfill the goals of Superfund, and 3) is the …

The Clean Power Plan: A Legal Analysis Of The E.P.A.'S Final Rule, Robert Paul

Honors Theses

The consensus among scientists is that climate change and its consequences are upon us as the result of human activity. The necessary reductions of emissions of greenhouse gases to mitigate these consequences have long been identified. The continued failure of the United States Congress to pass any national legislation directly addressing climate change has led President Obama to pursue executive action, through the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency, to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act section 111(d). Collectively known as the Clean Power Plan, the heart of this action is the carbon dioxide emissions Final Rule …

Erasing The Mark Of A Criminal Past: Ex-Offenders’ Expectations And Experiences With Record Clearance, Ericka Adams, Elsa Y. Chen, Rosella Chapman

Political Science

Through the process of record clearance, individuals can have certain minor convictions removed from their criminal records or designated as expunged. This study analyzes data gathered from semi-structured interviews with 40 persons with past criminal convictions to examine the expectations of individuals who seek record clearance and the extent to which completion of the process facilitates efforts to reintegrate into society and desist from crime. The analysis finds that record clearance benefits exoffenders through external effects, such as the reduction of barriers to employment, and internal processes, such as the facilitation of cognitive transformation and the affirmation of a new …

Global Paths To Enlightenment: A Foundation Scholar Study Abroad To The Dominican Republic, Tacy Allan

Honors Theses

There are many different ways for students to gain a multicultural awareness and a global focus, which are important tools for their lives. Study abroad opportunities are seen as one of the widest-reaching and best hands-on learning paths that can be taken to broaden the horizons of students. This proposal combines service learning, a social justice issue (clean water), and global impact; giving students the chance to learn what is here in Kalamazoo and what is in Dominican Republic, how those issues compare and contrast as well as how each location is dealing with these issues. This proposed class will …

Untying The Knot: Child Marriage In Situations Of Armed Conflict, Jolena Zabel

Political Science Honors Projects

Child marriage is one of the largest global human rights concerns today; one in three girls worldwide under age eighteen are married, negatively impacting their health, economic wellbeing, and education. While studies have been done on child marriage outside of conflict and, separately, on gender-based violence in armed conflict, little is known about what happens to child marriage in situations of armed conflict. This paper argues that child marriage in situations of armed conflict has both cultural and economic drivers, as is the case outside of conflict. Using the case of Syria, it shows that the effects of conflict, including …

Opium Eaters: Buddhism As Revolutionary Politics, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

There is no one, single answer to the question: What is or are ‘Buddhist politics’? Rather than seek general historical trends or broad tendencies, in this chapter I explore the meaning and implications of the modern, Western conception of ‘politics’ as understood in relation to key features of Buddhist doctrine. In particular, I pose the question of whether we might fruitfully conceive at least certain interpretations of Buddhism—or perhaps, of Dharma—as politics, rather than ‘religion’ or ‘philosophy.’ I argue that twentieth century progressive Buddhists Seno’o Girō (1889–1961) and B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956) were not so much in conflict with …

Only Christians Need Apply?, Jeff Taylor

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Should Christians only vote for Christians? Is it ever appropriate, or even beneficial, for us to vote for a candidate who is not a Christian?"

Posting about what to value in a political candidate from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/only-christians-need-apply/

Conceptualizing Congressional Organization: The Legacy Of Keith Krehbiel’S Informational Theory, Madalyn Browning-Perry

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

A small-scale replication of Keith Krehbiel’s original test on the 99th Congress is carried out in this paper. This replication consists of four committees in the 112th Congress selected because of their symptomatic distributive tendency. The aim in this paper is to characterize committees as diverse in composition with heterogeneous high demanding members who possess different bits of information. Furthermore, this heterogeneity of membership is associated with a higher percentage of closed rules assigned to the committee by the House Committee on Rules. Though evidence supports Krehbiel’s assessment of committee composition, there does not appear to be a relationship between …

Offline Student Political Activism: Supported Or Thwarted By Online Political Engagement?, Nicole M. Jovicevic

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

Social media is an integral part of everyday life for the current generation of college-age students. Researchers debate whether the time invested into these sites has a positive or negative influence on offline political activism. Drawing on an original survey of undergraduate students at Illinois Wesleyan University, this study finds that online political engagement has a significant, positive relationship with offline political activism, and this relationship holds even when controlling for the respondent’s political efficacy and natural political inclination. There is a positive relationship between online and offline political activism for students who believe that social media is an appropriate …

Belarus After Communism: Where To Now?, Preslav Mantchev

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper examines the political development of Belarus since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Attention is devoted to the country’s internal politics, along with its foreign relations. Especially scrutinized is the de-facto dictatorial rule of president Alexander Lukashenko, along with the deteriorated relations between Belarus and powerful European states including Russia. A thorough historical context is provided, which identifies political violence and demographic change as causal factors for the country’s current political environment.

Are Women Winning? Does Descriptive Representation Of Women In Parliament Lead To Woman-Friendly Policy In Sub-Saharan Africa?, Molly Willeford

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

Under what conditions will women’s presence in elective office promote woman-friendly policies? The research outlined here will examine this question through a comparison of six Sub-Saharan African democracies (Benin, Botswana, Lesotho, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania). Women have been elected into sub-Saharan African parliaments in record numbers, but is this leading to increased substantive representation, or the enactment of policies that focus on benefitting women? Following a Most Similar Systems design, this research develops an original composite scale to measure woman-friendly policy and finds that there is no clear relationship between descriptive and substantive representation. The remainder of the analysis …

When Equal Is Not Always Fair: Senate Malapportionment And Its Effect On Enacting Legislation, Lindsey Alpert

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

A brief and concise analysis on the current apportionment rules in the Senate and whether or not those rules affect enacted legislation. This was done to monitor whether the malapportioned Senate votes in accordance with the House. It is acknowledged in empirical literature that due to population variance some states are under-represented while others are over-represented. However, it has not been determined what effect, if any, this has on policy. The study was conducted by comparing pass rates of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate on enacted legislation over the last decade. I conclude that, on average, the …

The Happiest Xenophobes On Earth: Examining Anti-Immigrant Sentiments In The Nordic Countries, Maggie Zeisset

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland) are widely known as progressive, open and tolerant. However, in recent years these countries have witnessed growing intolerance towards immigrants, particularly Muslims. This intolerance is manifested in violent attacks against foreigners and the rise of far right, exclusionary populist parties. This paper seeks to understand what causes some citizens in these Nordic countries to embrace anti-immigrant xenophobic attitudes and other citizens to, not only reject, but to fight such views.

Authors’ Biographies

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Editors, Austin Aldag '15, Melissa Guzman '15

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Department Chair, Greg M. Shaw

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Title Page

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

The “World’S Greatest Deliberative Body” And The Decision To Invade Iraq: The Rhetoric Of Senatorial Debate On Senate Joint Resolution 46, Henry Castillo

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

On the issue of the Iraq invasion, many in the public view President George W. Bush as the primary actor in its execution. Yet Bush explicitly sought congressional approval before employing military force against the country and elevated Congress’ role in the Iraq crisis. A plethora of academic research exists on how Bush persuaded the public into supporting the invasion. However, a dearth of scholarship exists on how Congress, specifically the Senate, deliberated on this decision. As a chamber often labeled as the “World’s Greatest Deliberative Body,” as well as having constitutionally-unique responsibilities in matters of foreign affairs, this study …

Exploring Cross-National Differences In The Incarceration Of Women: A Conjunctive Analysis Approach, Breanna Boppre, Terance D. Miethe, Emily J. Salisbury

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

Cross-national studies of imprisonment rates have examined the social, political, and economic conditions associated with criminal punishments. However, because of the higher numbers of male incarcerated and the lack of national data disaggregated by gender, most previous research on imprisonment rates has focused directly or indirectly on the socio-economic predictors of male imprisonment rates. Using disaggregated data for 128 nations, the current study employs the method of conjunctive analysis to explore the unique and common effects of particular social conditions that underlie female incarceration rates. Measures of nations’ social development, violent crime rates, socio-economic inequality, and political instability are used …