Political Science Dissertations and Theses

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  • Publication
    Islamic political thought : the case of Pakistan
    (University of Kansas, 1963-08-31) Naib, Raja Mohammed
    The purpose of this study is to examine the major problems of Islamic Political philosophy as reflected in the development of Pakistan against the backdrop of the historic development of Islam. Since Pakistan fell partial heir to the British democratic tradition, a study of Pakistani political thought will of necessity be in part a study of the possibility of developing democratic institutions in Muslim countries. In conclusion, therefore, it is suggested that the traditional ways of thought will give way to modern outlook of life only in the wake of an accelerated pace of industrialization and increased economic opportunities and, therefore, greater independence of mind. The crux of the ethical problem is not only to live but live well. Independence of originality and, therefore, dissent: these words are the signs of progress. They determine the character of the society and the individuals in it. Any religious or ethical system that discourages these virtues undermines the sense of honor, dignity, and tolerance which are the indispensable prerequisites of a free and democratic life. .
  • Publication
    A study of the philosophy of international law as seen in works of Latin American writers
    (University of Kansas, 1951-08-31) Jacobini, Horace B.
  • Publication
    Collusion or Representation?: The Cartel Party Theory Reexamined
    (University of Kansas, 2019-05-31) Miller, Sara Laren
    Political discontent appears to be growing across the aging democratic world, with an increase in popular support in many nations for niche or populist parties. Although often connected to this declining support for mainstream parties and the rise of these competitors, it is unclear precisely what is contributing to this diminishing political trust across varying electorates. This dissertation suggests that political discontent may be driven by parties failing to represent voters, a possibly long standing behavior, first envisaged by Katz and Mair (1995) in the form of the cartel party theory. The cartel party theory suggests that as party systems mature, party behavior ultimately undermines representative connections with voters, with parties becoming increasingly reliant on their relationship with the state and their rivals to maintain their positions in government. If cartelistic behaviors have emerged, it is expected that parties will show broken voter-party linkages and increased collusive relationships with rival parties, thus limiting competition, while undermining representation. Furthermore, the issues that are presented to voters across elections should show signs of manipulation, meaning that parties should fail to respond to voters while coordinating to manipulate their issue positions with their rivals. These two central expectations have guided the following research, testing whether parties appear to be colluding with their rivals and disregarding voter sentiments and if the issue spaces that are presented to voters remains representative or manipulated, as suggested by the cartel party theory. Using data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), the European Social Survey (ESS) and the Comparative Manifesto Project (CMP), this work tests whether voter-party linkages appear intact across the left/right issue dimension, multidimensional issues, and party types. The findings suggest that mainstream parties are colluding with their rivals to limit inter-party competition, while presenting increasingly manipulated issue spaces to voters, suggesting that deepening discontent across advanced democracies may be connected to representative failures of parties participating in cartelistic collusion. rivals to limit inter-party competition, while presenting increasingly manipulated issue spaces to voters, suggesting that the increasing discontent across advanced democra- cies may be connected to representative failures of parties participating in cartelistic collusion.
  • Publication
    Female Firepower: Exploring the Politics of Gun Ownership and Gender
    (University of Kansas, 2019-05-31) Middlewood, Alexandra T
    Pro-gun organizations have made great strides in mobilizing women and have been successful in inculcating women into gun culture. This raises questions about the intersection of gun ownership, an emerging political identity, and gender. Thus, this dissertation explores the cross pressures women face from their gun ownership status and the political consequences of such cleavages using an intersectional approach. First, I examine the effect of gun ownership on women’s political participation and engagement. I find gun owning women to be more engaged and participatory than non-owning women, and find them to be particularly motivated by gun issues. Second, I study the effect of gun ownership on women’s feelings of safety in public spaces where firearms are present. Women often feel empowered by owning a gun, and I find gun owning women to be much less averse to firearms than non-owning women. Furthermore, in some cases, women owners were even less averse than their male counterparts. Lastly, I examine the effect of gun ownership on women’s attitudes about use of force policies, namely the death penalty and the use military force. Here, gun owning women are more supportive of such policies than non-owners, and gun ownership is found to mitigate the expected gender gap in attitudes on these issues. I conclude by addressing the importance of these findings for the literature and for politics, the limitations of these studies, and avenues for future research.
  • Publication
    Demobilization in Morocco: The Case of The February 20 Movement
    (University of Kansas, 2018-08-31) Badran, Sammy Z
    This dissertation aims to understand why protests lessen when they do by investigating how and why social movements demobilize. I do this by questioning the causal link between consistent state polices (concessions or repression) and social movement demobilization. My interviews with the February 20 Movement, the main organizer of mass protests in Morocco during the Arab Spring, reveals how ideological differences between leftist and Islamist participants led to the group’s eventual halt of protests. During my fieldwork, I conducted 46 semi-structured elite interviews with civil society activists, political party leaders, MPs, and independent activists throughout Morocco. My interviews demonstrate that the February 20 Movement was initially united, but that this incrementally changed following the King’s mixed-policy of concessions and repression. The King’s concessionary policies convinced society that demands were being met and therefore led to the perception that the February 20 Movement was no longer needed, while repression highlighted internal divides. The King’s calculated mixed-policy approach killed this social movement by delegitimizing it, in addition to internally fracturing it. This dissertation will show how the February 20 Movement became a divided movement that could not uniformly respond to a series of concessions and repression.
  • Publication
    Political Participation and Political Violence in Advanced Democracies
    (University of Kansas, 2018-12-31) Hatungimana, William
    I take a cross-national analysis of advanced democracies to examine the cause of political violence in advance democracies in order to understand representation. I mainly look at the effect of political participation on political violence. I test a preliminary and the main hypothesis. The preliminary hypothesis confirms an institutional argument that inclusive institutions—that facilitate impartial political participation for the public provide proper avenues for political participation, therefore, mitigating political violence. I expect to see a negative relationship between political violence and regulation of participation. In the second part of the paper, I develop an argument consistent with the existing literature contesting that high voter turnout shows satisfaction with institutions, nonetheless by employing the median voter theorem I take the argument further and demonstrate that higher voter turnout will have a positive relationship with political violence—dissatisfied extremist groups in the margins rejecting the ballot box and opting for political violence. That is, as the majority gives legitimacy to the institutions through voting, extremists, who identify as the political minority, will try to make themselves relevant through political violence. They believe they are being squeezed out of the political space and react by resorting to political violence. I present two cases studies of Germany and Nigeria to develop my main argument. I confirm that inclusive institutions have a negative relationship with political violence and voter turnout do really increase political violence.
  • Publication
    Prejudice and Pistols: Gun Owner Identity, Racial Resentment and Subsequent Attitudes toward Guns
    (University of Kansas, 2018-12-31) Vegter, Abigail Vegter
    The national debate surrounding gun ownership and racial attitudes has only intensified over the last several years. Using social identity theory and racial resentment theory, I argue a distinct, gun owner identity exists and is associated with racial attitudes. In particular, I hypothesize that when gun owner identity is high, so too are levels of racial resentment. I further hypothesize that when gun owners are primed to think about race, they express attitudes regarding gun control contradictory to that which we would expect; in ways that seem contrary to their self-interest. Through an analysis of a University of Kansas survey, I develop an innovative measure of gun owner identity. I then use both traditional measures of racial resentment and an embedded experiment within a survey to test my hypotheses. My results suggest that gun owners, and gun owners with higher gun owner identities, are indeed more likely to be racially resentful. Additionally, when primed to think about race, gun owners will exhibit discrimination toward minority gun owners and display policy attitudes opposite to those expressed when they are not primed to think about race. I conclude with a discussion of the implications these results hold for public policy and broader American culture.
  • Publication
    Women Who Only Serve Chai: Gender Reservations and Autonomy in India
    (University of Kansas, 2018-08-31) Turnbull, Brian Joseph
    This dissertation investigates the experiences of women city councilors in Jaipur, in the northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan. These women, brought into office through a gender quota instituted over two decades ago, have overcome significant barriers in an enduringly patriarchal environment. Even in office, women continue to face stigma and normative restrictions imposed by a society not entirely willing to accept them in such a public and independent position. This standard enables men, technically blocked by the gender quota from holding office themselves, to continue to exert control and influence over women office-holders, even sidelining them in many cases. The narratives of these women demonstrate the persisting power of patriarchal norms, and the inability of corrective democratic institutions to completely exclude their influence. However, their stories also force reconsideration of democratic ideals and requirements, most of which have been conceptualized from a firm Western mooring in individualism, with little regard for the alternatives posed by developing democracies rooted in more communal societies. These findings are based on 41 semi-structured elite interviews with elected members of the Jaipur Municipal Corporation, and eight additional semi-structured interviews with journalists, women’s rights activists, and student political leaders in Jaipur.
  • Publication
    Public Opinion, Policy, and Evangelicals: How Religion Continues to Impact Life in America
    (University of Kansas, 2018-08-31) Herrera, Bronson
    Abstract: Understanding the determinants that shape public opinion and policy preference requires a thoughtful examination of social identity. In the United States, religion has not only been a power force for group formation, but has had a consistent impact on individual opinion. To explore the role of social identity on public opinion, I primarily examine the policy preferences of Evangelicals. First, I examine whether Evangelicals and gun owners are more punitive and aggressive in their attitudes towards the death penalty and the use of military force against militant Muslim groups. Second, I explore if Evangelicals perceive discrimination against Christians, their support for the religious rights frame, and policy preferences for out-groups. Finally, using the policy diffusion framework, I examine whether or not the number of Evangelicals affects the passage of Religious Freedom Restoration Acts across the states. My findings suggest that social identity does impact public opinion and policy preference. Furthermore, religious social identity still impacts life in American.
  • Publication
    Starving the Beast: the Effects of China and the United Nations’ Sanctions on North Korean Rason City’s Rice Prices.
    (University of Kansas, 2018-05-31) Wang, YaoHui
    Do economic sanctions targeting authoritarian regimes have effects on non-sanctioned goods, especially food commodities? Although there is a large and increasing amount of literature written on the effects of economic sanctions on authoritarian countries, only a handful of them have delved into the collateral damage of economic sanctions. Among these handful of studies, few studies have proposed a clear mechanism of how non-sanctioned goods could also be influenced by economic sanctions targeting authoritarian regimes with relatively isolated economies. In this article, by using of a unique quantitative data set consisting of daily food commodities prices sourced from North Korea Rason City’s black and gray markets along with ten qualitative interviews with Chinese formal and informal business people in October and November 2017, I found that depending on the relationship between the targeted country and its ally which could potentially serve as its sanction buster country, economic sanctions targeting authoritarian countries could have larger negative influence on non-sanctioned goods, especially food commodities, even on countries that have relatively isolated economies. I also found that as for authoritarian countries with isolated economies such as North Korea, foreign goods could flow into the targeted country through both formal and informal (smuggling and illicit trade) trade channels. When sanctions are imposed, the higher demand for foreign goods stimulates the flourish of underground channels, which facilitates the inflow of both non-sanctioned and sanctioned goods into the targeted country’s domestic market from the targeted country’s sanction buster country. However, when the targeted country’s sanction buster country which is economically connected to the targeted country through both formal and informal trade channels also participates in the international community to impose economic sanctions on the targeted country, economic sanctions from the targeted country’s sanction buster country could have negative effects on even non-sanctioned goods because the previous underground channels could be cut (formal channels are also likely to diminish due to economic pressure), hence the inflow of both sanctioned and non-sanctioned goods could be prohibited. Combined these findings, I propose a unique method to study and measure the effects of economic sanctions on authoritarian regimes with isolated economies: by looking at the effects of economic sanctions on non-sanctioned goods, especially food commodities. Because when economic sanctions are imposed on authoritarian regimes with isolated economies, non-sanctioned goods could follow the flow of sanctioned goods into the targeted country through informal trade channels, hence we can monitor whether economic sanctions do have negative effects on sanctioned goods or not by looking at sanctions’ effects on non-sanctioned goods: if non-sanctioned goods are in fact immune to economic sanctions and remain non-influenced by economic sanctions, then it is likely that underground channels still remain active, which provides potential valid opportunities for informal traders to smuggle sanctioned goods into the targeted country, and hence eventually bust sanctions. On the other hand, if economic sanctions are proved to have larger effects even on non-sanctioned goods, then this phenomenon suggests that underground channels have already been cut and hence the underground flow of sanctioned goods are likely to have been sufficiently prohibited.
  • Publication
    Repression, Elections, and Competitiveness in Competitive Authoritarian Regimes
    (University of Kansas, 2018-05-31) Finnell, Rachel Elizabeth
    Competitive authoritarian regimes are identified as a Post-Cold War phenomenon that utilize democratic institutions, but cling to authoritarian tendencies to remain in power. I posit that these authoritarian tendencies towards repression are limited by the competitive nature of the regimes. Examining competitive authoritarian regimes from 1990 to 2008, I use data from the Varieties of Democracy, Quality of Government, and Mass Mobilization datasets to examine repression of civil liberties. Both comparative case studies and OLS regression are used to investigate repression levels over time. I observe from the comparative case studies that repression is not a tool often used by these competitive authoritarian regime incumbents. This observation is further reinforced by the OLS regression results presented. The competitiveness of elections are the critical component that is resulting in increased civil liberties within these regimes. Given these results, it can be inferred that these authoritarian leaders have choices regarding political reform. If the election is competitive, the incumbent can be voted out of office. However, while these incumbents may be voted out of office, there is still a likelihood that they may regain power in the future. The competitiveness, while a way in which these incumbents can be voted out of office, also allows for these incumbents to regain power in the future. Ultimately, this is likely the reason that competitiveness is critical within these regimes.
  • Publication
    A Study on the Applicability of the Punctuated Equilibrium Theory on Welfare Policy among Emerging Democracies: Focused on Central and Eastern Europe
    (University of Kansas, 2018-05-31) Chu, Hyoungrohk
    This study attempts to examine if the pattern suggested by the Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET) is observed in the Central and Eastern Europe countries’ (CEECs) welfare policy. This study has three distinct findings. First, the PET can be extended to emerging democracies, while most existing PET literature focuses almost exclusively on established ones. Second, the PET is a more comprehensive approach in the welfare literature than the previously dominant theories, in the sense that the PET captures both incremental and non-incremental changes in a more coherent way that the traditional theories fail to. Third, the extent of punctuatedness can differ depending on the degree of institutionalization, institutional friction, and the property of welfare program: 1) It is bigger in CEECs than in old democracies because CEECs have not experienced enough institutionalization. 2) It is ambiguous whether more institutional friction does lead to an increase in the extent of punctuatedness, which challenges the established PET evidence. Rather, it appears that, at least surrounding welfare policy, less institutional friction is linked to higher level of punctuatedness both in mature welfare states and in CEECs. 3) Even though all three welfare programs surely shape the pattern of the PET, old-age pensions remain relatively more stable than unemployment and sick pay insurance.
  • Publication
    Party and Group Dynamics on the Topic of Immigration in Western Europe
    (University of Kansas, 2018-05-31) Youngblood, Kristina Lynne
    The predictive ability of voter behavior theories is based on their reflection of reality. Currently, research on voting behavior does not account for the distinct differences between partisans and independent voters; this is a significant failing. The image of the average voter as a strong partisan with attitudes that are congruent with the traditional left-right spectrum is disappearing; increasingly they are independent, issue voters who favor issues that do not align with the traditional party and left-right ideological structures. Instead of drawing on a partisan lens to filter new information, independent voters must form opinions from the political environment and personal experiences about ‘hot button issues'. Parties themselves must determine which issues to engage during the campaign in order to entice independent voters, while not alienating partisans. I argue that theories of voting behavior must take into account the differences between partisans and independents because they are two distinct groups of voters with different reference points for issue evaluation and psychological mechanisms for attitude formation. Using the topic of immigration as an example of a prototypical 'hot button issue' this project explores the role that 'hot button issues' play on attitude formation and issue congruence in Western Europe for partisans and non-partisans. The changing nature of politics influences how different voter groups behave in the political environment, and as scholars we need to evaluate theories of voter behavior with this in mind if we are to understand the new political environment.
  • Publication
    Campaigning in Context: A Practical Statewide Study of Correlations between Campaign Contact Methods, Partisanship, Timing, Frequency, Population Density, and Regionalism on Voter Turnout
    (University of Kansas, 2018-05-31) Williamson, Marcus
    Studies of campaign influence on individual voter turnout typically analyze responses from a single door-to-door, telephonic, or mail interaction involving a non-partisan source contacting individuals in a localized urban area. I argue these investigations are unsatisfying. They do not consider hyperpartisanship, campaign micro-targeting strategy developed from large data collection, regional diversity, and repeated contact attempts. This study examined partisan campaign contact correlation with voter turnout utilizing a “real-world” statewide dataset created from a coordinated partisan get out the vote (GOTV) effort during the 2014 election cycle. Four traditional GOTV methods were investigated: volunteer door-to-door, volunteer telephone call, postal mail, and professional interactions. Treatment and control groups were empirically tested against a dependent variable of whether or not a voter cast a ballot following the attempted partisan contact. This large data set allowed for an analysis of several conditions supporting my argument. These included a voter’s partisan affiliation, when the contact occurred, how often a voter was contacted, the region where the contacted voter lives, and local population density. The results presented many findings distinctive from previous scholarship. Partisan volunteer door-to-door contact was not always the best method to increase voter turnout. Different contact methods show stronger correlations with voting among various partisan groups. Turnout among the treatment groups was higher or lower dependent upon when contact occurred. Any campaign contact closer to Election Day generally improved voting likelihood among aligned partisans, but not with voters registered as unaffiliated or anti-partisan. Additionally, contact frequency resulted in dissimilar turnout levels among treatment groups dependent on contact method and partisan affiliation. The data also showed unique reactions to each contact method contingent on the voter’s congressional district or local population density. These results have implications on our understanding of individual voter behavior, partisanship, contact timing and frequency correlation with turnout, large-district campaign strategy, and regional GOTV efforts.
  • Publication
    Religion and Ideology as Determinants of Contentious Politics: Terrorism and Beyond
    (University of Kansas, 2017-05-31) Ahmed, Ranya
    This dissertation includes three independent studies that jointly consider the role of non-material factors, such as ideology and religion, in operational decisions of individuals and groups. It seeks to contribute to the vast scholarship on political contestation, which this dissertation conceptualizes broadly to include various forms of peaceful and violent political activism. The first two articles focus on terrorism as a violent form of political contestation. In the first study, I introduce a new dataset that includes over 25,000 observations and categorizes terrorist groups based on their ideology. I examine the impact of ideology on the terrorist groups’ tactic choices controlling for group age and the waves of terrorism, as theorized by Rapoport (2002). Using the same dataset, the second study examines the role of ideology on the terrorist groups’ target choice. Finally, the third study focuses on the role of religion and religiosity on various forms of peaceful political contestation. This dissertation finds evidence that tactic and target choices do vary by the ideology of the perpetrating group. It also finds that religions vary in their influence on the forms of political participation considered.
  • Publication
    A study of the Sanitation Department in Lawrence
    (University of Kansas, 1962-05) Thelen, Alan A.
  • Publication
    Congressional Influence on Defense Policy (1993-2012)
    (University of Kansas, 2012-05-12) Ahn, KeeHyun
    Defense policy has two fronts to deal with: one for external threats and the other for its domestic foundations. Traditionally, defense policy has been developed to protect the United States from the threats from the outside and this part of defense policy is controlled by the executive branch. However, its institutional and organizational foundations are based on its citizens, industries and economy. This part of defense policy has been influenced by Congress, the representatives of citizens. Specifically, the defense budget is a key area that can be controlled by Congress. In this thesis, I analyzed the Congressional influence on defense policy using three factors such as party unity, accuracy of vote prediction based on ideology, and cost of amendment. I attempt to consider an amendment as the unit of the analysis and examine the effect of the factors on passage of amendment. I also compare the authorization process and the appropriation process. As the result of the analysis, I find that the authorization process is quite different from the appropriation process even though these two processes are dealing with the same subject - defense budget. The authorization process is more policy oriented while the appropriation process is more budget related. Amendments in authorization bills are more predictable than those in appropriation bills. In the authorization process, majority party unity and accuracy of vote prediction by ideology have positive effects on passage of amendment, and cost of amendment has negative effect on it. In appropriations, all three factors do not show statistical significance and it is necessary to analyze amendments case by case.
  • Publication
    Attributional Differences Amongst the Politically Knowledgeable: How Political Knowledge Impacts the Causal Determination of Mass Shootings
    (University of Kansas, 2017-12-31) Herrera, Bronson
    We know a lot about the underlying characteristics which effect the causal attributions individuals make. The current literature emphasizes the effect partisanship has on whether people make internal or external attributions. However, most of this literature ignores individual differences within parties. As such, the literature finds that Democrats are more likely to give external attributions while Republicans are driven by internal ones. Most argue that this partisan distinction leads to differing policy positions. This paper uses logistic regression on national survey data to show how political knowledge changes the likelihood of partisan attributional belief. The more knowledgeable partisans are, the more likely they are to make casual attributions which reinforce their policy preferences.
  • Publication
    Procuring the Cross of Iron: The Effect of Congressional Approval on the U.S. Defense Budget
    (University of Kansas, 2017-05-31) Higginbotham, Chris
    Understanding why we spend is an essential step in controlling and justifying the U.S. defense budget. Renewed study may grant perspective on the journey U.S. defense spending has taken over the last 40 years, and provide clues to what lies ahead. This dissertation examines the impact of congressional approval on U.S. defense spending through time series analysis of the period 1970 - 2015. The interaction between public approval and congressional action is viewed through the lens of Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (Jones, 2001) and is a departure from classical incrementalism (Key, 1940; Wildavsky, 1964, 1975, 2004) traditionally associated with budgets. Other key drivers, such as public opinion on the sufficiency of the defense budget, the presence of war and economic health are included in the model to isolate causation and interaction, but the focus is on the significant impact of congressional approval to punctuations in defense spending both during and outside periods of war and severe economic turmoil. The defense budget represents over half of all discretionary spending, and produces economic impacts in every state and virtually every congressional district. The scale, salience and extensibility of the defense budget offer a tempting target for Congress to provide quick stimulus to the electorate on a scale impossible with any other single appropriation. Whether motivated by fear of potential foreign enemies, nationalistic pride, concern for service members, or economic advantage, the defense budget is as close to a bipartisan priority as can be found in U.S. society. The defense budget is a useful tool for Members of Congress to influence individual and institutional public approval and one that is regularly utilized both within and without time of war or economic extremis to garner constituency support.