Political Science Commons^™

Reading Between The Lines, Conor P. Brooks

SURGE

“Why do so many people come to our country? They come here and they take pictures, and then they go home and use them to show that we are a terrible place. Why do you do this?”

This question was posed to me by a sixteen-year old boy in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti while I was visiting his school on a post-earthquake relief trip in 2012. [excerpt]

The Evolution Of Statesmanship In The United States: How The Democratization Of Civic Education And Presidential Selection Transformed The American Executive, Andrew Depasquale

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Business and Public Affairs at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Government by Andrew DePasquale on December 6, 2013.

Clinton, William Jefferson, B. 1946 (Sc 1267), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1267. Letter written to Bowling Green, Kentucky dentist Michael W. Howell by President Bill Clinton in response to Howell’s letter expressing concerns about Social Security.

Metcalfe County, Kentucky - Elections And Election Campaigns (Sc 1268), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1268. Unsigned letter, 5 November 1909, written to Bruce Taylor, East Fork, Kentucky, asking repayment of money loaned to Taylor for his unsuccessful political campaign.

Autographs - Political (Sc 1234), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1234. Autographs of Robert T. Lincoln as U.S. Secretary of War and Frederick T. Frelinghuysen as U.S. Secretary of State.

Reflections On Community Planning In San Francisco, Rachel Brahinsky, Miriam Chion, Lisa Feldstein

Politics

This paper builds on a dialogue between barrio planners and municipal planners on spatial and economic changes in San Francisco’s Mission District. The Mission is a predominantly Latino neighborhood with vibrant streets that have reflected and been transformed by the investments and displacement of recent decades. Though the Mission has seen tremendous upheaval with the influx of new capital and communities, this paper contends that efforts of community members shaped the development of the neighborhood with street-level planning expertise. We find that an attempt by community members to define their own development proposals and engage in land use decisions– rather …

John R. Visser: The Crossroads Of Poverty And Prosperity Study Guide, 2013, Steven Alan Samson

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Kennedy Campaign Comes To Bowling Green In October 1960, Jonathan Jeffrey

SCL Faculty and Staff Publications

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) campaigned for the presidency in the small town of Bowling Green, Kentucky, on October 8, 1960. This article discusses the motivation, logistics and results of the political rally held at City Hall.

The Violent Overthrow Of Personalist Regimes Compared To The Peaceful Collapse Of Single Party Regimes, Victoria Austin

HIM 1990-2015

Personalist regimes tend to be violently overthrown while single party states tend to nonviolently collapse from within. This paper analyzes Libya under Qaddafi as a personalist regime, and USSR under Gorbachev as a single party state, and seeks to ascertain through case studies and process tracing the reasons for the violent overthrow of personalist regimes compared to the peaceful collapse of single party regimes. Both regime types create the problems that result in their downfall, and both kinds of downfall are accelerated by the public appearance of weakness.

The Politics Of Denying Communion To Catholic Elected Officials, William D. Blake, Amanda Friesen

Political Science Publications

In his 2004 presidential campaign, John Kerry, a Catholic, was threatened with being denied Holy Communion because of his pro-choice voting record. This article investigates the extent to which communion denial impacted Catholic elected officials and analyzes public attitudes regarding communion denial for Kerry. The results of our analysis suggest that, despite heavy media coverage, few bishops endorsed the communion denial and few pro-choice Catholic officials were threatened. While the data also indicate there are meaningful political implications for public attitudes on communion denial, the tactic does not command support from many Catholics.

Robert D. Kaplan: The Revenge Of Geography Study Guide, 2013, Steven Alan Samson

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Jim Crow 2.0?: Why States Consider And Adopt Restrictive Voter Access Policies, Keith Gunnar Bentele, Erin E. O'Brien

Sociology Faculty Publication Series

In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in state legislation likely to reduce access for some voters, including photo identification and proof of citizenship requirements, registration restrictions, absentee ballot voting restrictions, and reductions in early voting. Political operatives often ascribe malicious motives when their opponents either endorse or oppose such legislation. In an effort to bring empirical clarity and epistemological standards to what has been a deeply charged, partisan and frequently anecdotal debate, this paper uses multiple specialized regression approaches to examine factors associated with both the proposal and adoption of restrictive voter access legislation from 2006-11. Our …

The Evolving Executive: Provisional Decrees And Their Impact On Brazil's Executive-Legislative Relationship, Lance L. Arberry

Honors College Theses

Comparatively, the lawmaking process in presidential systems is often comprised of negotiations between a legislative body, tasked with authoring and legislating laws, and an executive, who must authorize and administer the enactment of the law. While executives are often empowered with certain constitutional powers to help influence the lawmaking process, these powers are typically constrained and supervisory in nature. Presidents are rarely given broad-and-discretionary legislative powers, since lawmaking is ultimately the responsibility of the legislative body; however, this does not hold true for the case of Brazil. Following the adoption of Brazil’s 1988 Constitution, Presidents were empowered with the power …

Is Turkey’S Foreign Policy Moving East?, James Brodie Leblue

Senior Honors Theses

The Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) of Turkey has reoriented its country's historical Westward-looking foreign policy towards the Middle East because of a freeze in European Union accession, trans-national security issues resulting from the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), and the expansion of its economic interests into the region. The United States should take careful note of these changes in an effort to mitigate any opposition to the AKP’s policies, as well as to better utilize Turkey’s growing clout in the region.

Defining Scavenger-Actors: Understanding A Global Menace, James Harrold

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This article introduces a new international actor, the 'scavenger-actor', as a replacement for warlords and pirate gangs. The article first reviews literature on both piracy and warlordism in historical and modern contexts in order to provide a basis for its argument of a new definitional term encompassing both groups. A negative binomial regression model is then applied to data on pirate attacks and measurements of state health to show that piracy is as closely tied to state failure as is warlordism. Finally, the article presents its argument for the new term, 'scavenger-actor', as a needed reform to political science discourse, …

The Effects Of Federalism On Women's Political Representation: A Case Study Of German Federalism, Christine M. Comfort

HIM 1990-2015

This thesis analyzes the effects of federalism on promoting gender representation in parliaments using the case of Germany. There is no country in the world where women and men are equally represented in politics. Discrepancies in representation may stem from historical, cultural, institutional, or structural facets. One little discussed possibility is that of governmental institutions, particularly, the federalist structure of government. Theoretically, federalism should encourage minorities, including women, to be elected to parliaments at a higher rate than in unitary states because it allows additional layer of access to and entry into elected office. By investigating the proportions of women …

Predatory War: A History Of Violence, John Chapman

HIM 1990-2015

This thesis attempts to explain the reasons states choose to prey on other states or territories. A way of testing significance was devised and three variables were produced: Proclivity to violence, winning coalition size, and whether or not a war of conquest took place. The scope for this project was the time period of 1900-1950 and the location was Europe. The European countries were then refined down to a list of 10 states based on power ratings used in the Correlates of War. Then the leaders of each of these states were rated on a scale of 1 – 5 …

At The Frontlines Of The Kulturkampf: Social Policy Positions Of Undergraduate Students At A Large University In The Southeastern United States, Julio Montanez

HIM 1990-2015

Social policy concerns groups. Specifically, social policies have been implemented as a means to affect the well-being of sexual and gender minorities, including areas such as health, employment, violence, and many others. Undergraduate student opinions on such policies are an understudied area of survey research. Possible correlates of support for such policy areas include, but are not limited to, sexual prejudice, attributions, increased contact with the minority group, gender, Para-social contact, and many others. This research administered a 55-item survey to undergraduate students at the University of Central Florida. With a sample of 210 individuals, this study aimed to answer …

Presidential Versus Vice Presidential Home State Advantage: A Comparative Analysis Of Electoral Significance, Causes, And Processes, 1884-2008, Christopher J. Devine, Kyle C. Kopko

Political Science Faculty Publications

This article compares the electoral significance, causes, and processes associated with presidential versus vice presidential home state advantages. Our analysis of presidential election returns from 1884 through 2008 demonstrates that presidential candidates generally receive a large, statistically significant home state advantage. However, vice presidential home state advantages are statistically negligible and conditioned on the interactive effect of political experience and state population. Furthermore, the results indicate that the mobilization of new voters primarily accounts for presidential home state advantage, while vice presidential home state advantage is mainly due to the conversion of existing voters. Although home state advantages do occur …

Building Women’S Solidarity To Advance Women’S Rights In Bolivia, Luzdary Hammad

Master's Theses

This paper takes a historical look at the deep-seated ethnic and class divisions between women in Bolivia. It also examines the cultural challenges that help explain the status of women in Bolivia and the obstacles women face to become politically active. It provides the theories of decolonization and depatriachalization as practical ways Bolivia can move past their colonial and patriarchal history. It also looks into what feminism means overall in Latin America and what strategies Latin American women have used to make change for women. It then provides a political history of Bolivia from 1994 to the present giving the …