Political Science Commons^™

Does The Message Matter? A Field Experiment On Political Party Recruitment, Jessica Robinson Preece

Faculty Publications

Do men and women respond to various party recruitment messages similarly? Working with the Utah County Republican Party, we designed a field experiment in which we invited over 11,600 male and female party activists to attend a free, party-sponsored “Prospective Candidate Information Seminar” by randomizing different invitation messages. We found that women were half as likely as men to respond to recruitment—log on to the seminar website for more information, register for the seminar, and attend the seminar. While we found some suggestive evidence about what recruitment messages may particularly motivate women or men vis-a-vis a control message, our findings …

A Functional Theory Of Congressional Standing, Jonathan R. Nash

Faculty Articles

The Supreme Court has offered scarce and inconsistent guidance on congressional standing—that is, when houses of Congress or members of Congress have Article III standing. The Court’s most recent foray into congressional standing has prompted lower courts to infuse analysis with separation-of-powers concerns in order to erect a high standard for congressional standing. It has also invited the Department of Justice to argue that Congress lacks standing to enforce subpoenas against executive branch actors.

Injury to congressional litigants should be defined by reference to Congress’s constitutional functions. Those functions include gathering relevant information, casting votes, and (even when no vote …

Preventing Balkanization Or Facilitating Racial Domination: A Critique Of The New Equal Protection, Darren L. Hutchinson

Faculty Articles

The Supreme Court requires that equal protection plaintiffs prove defendants acted with discriminatory intent. The intent rule has insulated from judicial invalidation numerous policies that harmfully impact racial and ethnic minorities. Court doctrine also mandates that state actors generally remain colorblind. The colorblindness doctrine has led to the judicial invalidation of policies designed to ameliorate the conditions of racial inequality. Taken together, these two equality doctrines facilitate racial domination. The Court justifies this outcome on the ground that the Constitution does not protect "group rights. "

Constitutional law theorists have criticized these aspects of equal protection doctrine. Recently, however, some …

Litigating State Interests: Attorneys General As Amici, Margaret H. Lemos, Kevin M. Quinn

Faculty Articles

An important strain of federalism scholarship locates the primary value of federalism in how it carves up the political landscape, allowing groups that are out of power at the national level to flourish—and, significantly, to govern—in the states. On that account, partisanship, rather than a commitment to state authority as such, motivates state actors to act as checks on federal power. Our study examines partisan motivation in one area where state actors can, and do, advocate on behalf of state power: the Supreme Court. We compiled data on state amicus filings in Supreme Court cases from the 1979–2013 Terms and …

The Death Of Deference And The Domestication Of Treaty Law, Harlan G. Cohen

Scholarly Works

How much deference do courts give to Executive branch views on treaty interpretation? The Restatement (Third) of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States tells us that courts “will give great weight to an interpretation made by the executive branch,” and earlier empirical studies suggested that deference to Executive in such cases was robust. But is that still the case? The Supreme Court’s rejection of the Executive’s view in a series of high profile cases including Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, BG Group PLC v. Republic of Argentina, and Bond v. United States should raise some doubts. This short article investigates, …

The Voting Rights In Winter: The Death Of A Superstatute, Guy-Uriel Charles, Luis Fuentes-Rohwer

Faculty Scholarship

The Voting Rights Act (“VRA”), the most successful civil rights statute in American history, is dying. In the recent Shelby County decision, the U.S. Supreme Court signaled that the anti-discrimination model, long understood as the basis for the VRA as originally enacted, is no longer the best way to understand today’s voting rights questions. As a result, voting rights activists need to face up to the fact that voting rights law and policy are at a critical moment of transition. It is likely the case that the superstatute we once knew as the VRA is no more and is never …

Untold Narratives: Refugee Experiences From Laos To Richmond, California, Laiseng Saechao

Scripps Senior Theses

Untold Narratives: A Refugee Experience from Laos to Richmond, California is focused on the Mien refugee experience from Laos to Richmond, California. This thesis highlights the ways Cold War politics, the Secret War, and heavy industrialization have impacted Mien communities who have been displaced from their homelands into refugee camps, and again through sponsorship into the United States. This thesis looks at political theories that discuss inequalities that exist, particularly through environmental degradation and negative health impacts that Mien refugees are experiencing in their resettlement into Richmond, California. Due to the limited scholarly articles and documented narratives that are available …

Coming Out Of The Margins: Lgbti Activists In Costa Rica And Nicaragua, Samantha Abelove

Scripps Senior Theses

For decades LGBTQ rights have been approached purely by a legal strategy, in particular advocating for the legalization of same-sex marriage. However, discrimination and violence against the LGBTQ community continues to be a major issue in Latin America because of cultural values such as Catholicism and machismo that uphold a standard of and, in turn, have control over people’s sexuality. Using a human rights approach towards the politics of sexuality, LGBTI activists in Costa Rican and Nicaragua have been successful in transforming public opinion about sexuality and more importantly, sexual diversity. As a result of their egalitarian framework and efforts …

Structural Realism And The New Cold War, Ka Ho Wong

Bachelor of Social Sciences – Senior Theses

The Cold War mentality such as misperception which is deep-rooted in the American and Russian government has triggered the revival of U.S.-Russian conflicts. The new Cold War would be a continuation from the past that operates with an action-and-reactions model. However, with the change of geopolitical situation, the new Cold War would be conducted in different means.

The structural constraints suggested by the structural realist would be an explanation for the emergence of new Cold War. The structural realism makes contributions of the idea of misperception，over-exaggeration, and balance of power that is a product of an anarchic international system. The …

New Models Of The Unilateral Presidency, Yu Ouyang

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

Though scholars have assessed the unilateral presidency with renewed interests, the literature remains weak in three important areas. What relation, if any, exists between the public and presidential unilateral actions? What impact does the judiciary have on unilateral presidential power? To what extent do presidents use the many tools in the unilateral policy toolchest? The three essays in this dissertation address each of these questions in term. Results have implications for both the unilateral presidency and broader works in executive decision-making and democratic governance.

When Security Dominates The Agenda: The Influence Of Interstate Rivalry On Women's Status, Theresa Schroeder

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

The overarching theme of my dissertation is the effect of interstate rivalries on women’s status. Specifically, I investigate the influence of rivalries on the election of women, the adoption of a gender quota, and the overall level of gender equality. National security is a prime concern in states involved in an interstate rivalry, which can influence women’s lives in a number of key ways. Through the actions of individual voters and rational parties, I find that being in an interstate rivalry leads to lower levels of female representation. In addition, I theorize that rivalries lessen societal pressure to increase female …

Structure Matters: How Organizational Characteristics Affect Military Efforts, Michael A. Morgan

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

Military organizations develop a unique set of practices and procedures in response to their particular political, economic, and social circumstances. The characteristics of these organizations shape standardized behaviors, methods of training personnel, and the degree of stratification within their bureaucratic hierarchies. This study examines how organizational characteristics influence battlefield effectiveness, patterns of alliance formation, and the security of United Nations peacekeepers.

Chapter 2 evaluates how differences in personnel sophistication and bureaucratic stratification influence battlefield efficacy. A military may devote substantial resources to develop war plans and procure advanced technology, but these assets are of limited consequence in the absence of …

The Effect Of The Oil Trade Network On Political Stability, Jungmoo Woo

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

My dissertation focuses on the impact of oil trade ties and network on political instability: democratization, civil war onset, and coups. Oil is an important resource to most states, while a few states, especially autocratic states, can produce and export it. This implies that the break of oil trade ties may strategically or economically damage oil-importing states more than oil-exporting states. In the three essays of my dissertation, I argue that oil trade ties allow oil-exporting states to resist to external pressures and encourage oil-importing states to support important oil exporters in order to avoid losing access to a much-needed …

The U.S. And Mexican Cooperation: The Merida Initiative And Beyond, Yasemin Tekin

Pepperdine Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Unanswered Questions: Modernizing The Us Nuclear Arsenal And Forces?, Todd C. Royal

Pepperdine Policy Review

The United State strategic nuclear triad, consisting of land-based heavy bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) has been the ultimate provider of security for the US and its allies since the end of World War II. But with decades of neglect it is time for the US government to decide what it wants too do with the triad where recent problems have put the nuclear arsenal in a national light. These new revelations and challenges the US faces for its nuclear forces will be analyzed.

Decentralization In Violent Conflict Zones: Views From The Periphery, Emmi Bevensee

Capstone Collection

This thesis looks at the question of, “How can nations on the periphery of global capitalism sustainably negotiate with nations in the center of global capitalist power in the process of governance decentralization in violent conflict zones?” Decentralization here describes the process of power transfer of fiscal, political, and administrative duties from higher and more centralized entities to lower and more localized divisions. The process of decentralization is employed to cultivate participatory democratization, minority advocacy, peacebuilding, and development. Because of the nature of these needs decentralization is often accompanied by international intervention that uses the justification of “failed statehood.” This …

Soft Power Played On The Hardwood: United States Diplomacy Through Basketball, Joseph Bertka Eyen

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis demonstrates the importance of basketball as a form of soft power and a diplomatic asset to better achieve American foreign policy, which is defined and referred to as basketball diplomacy. Basketball diplomacy is also a lens to observe the evolution of American power from 1893 through present day. Basketball connects and permeates foreign cultures and effectively disseminates American influence unlike any other form of soft power, which is most powerfully illustrated by the United States’ basketball relationship with China. American basketball diplomacy will become stronger and connect with more countries with greater influence, and exist without relevant competition, …

Iran-Saudi Dynamic Relations And The Role Of Oman As A Negotiator, Natalie I. Ikerd

HIM 1990-2015

This thesis analyzes Iran-Saudi relations in the context of growing regional hostility. This research encompasses the domestic and foreign policies enacted by both states since 1979, accompanying a discussion of the historical background of their ties. Moreover, the future prospects of their relations regarding the utilization of Oman as a neutral negotiator for regional conflicts are examined. The significant contributing factors of each state to such dynamic ties include: the leadership, national security, religion-politics connection, and their reaction to global instability indicators. Recently, Iran-Saudi hostility has been worsening due to their policies in the region in reaction to regional events. …

Democracy On Trial: Examining Argentina's Response To The 1994 Terrorist Attack On The Amia Jewish Community Center In Buenos Aires, Amy Crawford

HIM 1990-2015

On July 18, 1994, the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA), the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, was bombed in what has been called the worst terrorist attack on Argentina in history. The bombing killed an estimated 86 people and wounded over 200. The Argentine government began a judicial investigation and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. Twenty years later, the case remains unresolved. The investigation has been marked by inefficiency and allegations of corruption. The recent, suspicious death of the lead prosecutor of the case has further called into question the legitimacy of Argentina’s government and justice system. …

Perspectives On The Eurozone Crisis: Assessing The Effects On The Political Systems Of Germany, France, And The United Kingdom, Caitlyn J. Myerson

HIM 1990-2015

In 2010, the reverberations of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis had created a whole new crisis in Europe. Five Eurozone countries, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Cyprus all had requested financial aid packages, unable to repay their national debt. The crisis is ongoing in Europe ever since, becoming the greatest challenge presented to the Eurozone since the monetary union was formed. The intent of this thesis is to explore the effects of the Eurozone crisis on the political systems of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. This thesis will study the effects utilizing the most prominent perspectives in political economy: …