College of Behavioral & Social Sciences
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item UNAFFORDABLE OUTCOMES: THE WEALTH GAP, BLACK POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND PUBLIC POLICY OUTCOMES IN THE BLACK INTERESTS(2009) Whitt, Christopher Matthew; Morris, Irwin; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study investigates whether, and if so, how the racial wealth gap in the United States influences political participation and public policy proposals and outcomes in the interests of Blacks. There are many factors attributed to failures and successes in the representation of Black interests in the public policy arena. This project focuses on one prominent factor: the influence of economic disparities on political participation and thus, public policy decisions made by the members of Congress representing these populations. Using Census data and other data on campaign contributions and voting, two forms of political participation will be featured and placed into: voting and campaign contributions. This dissertation will bridge some of the gaps among various areas of social science pertaining to the study of wealth, participation and public policy formulation. Building these bridges is a substantial goal in this dissertation. Many of the approaches used will also serve to reach across divides within political science. Techniques common in American Politics, Comparative Politics and even Political Theory will be used. Correlations, various hypotheses tests, case studies, interviews and extensive literature reviews will be keys to success in this project. The first part of the research will focus on the existence of the racial wealth gap. The second part will show how the wealth gap influences political participation in the form of voting and contributing to campaigns. The third part will draw connections between political participation and public policy outcomes. Overall, this project should paint a clearer picture of how the possession of or lack of wealth can help or hinder the political power of a selected group.Item The Welfare-Warfare State: Perpetuating the U.S. Military Economy(2009) Thorpe, Rebecca Urkov; Lee, Frances E; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation examines the institutional processes that led a country founded on a grave distrust of standing armies and centralized power to develop and maintain the most powerful military in history. I theorize that, after World War II, the importance of the defense sector of the economy to defense industries, Department of Defense personnel and key members of Congress created strong incentives to perpetuate and expand the U.S. military industry. Using a multi-method approach–including quantitative methods, mapping techniques, archival research and qualitative analysis–I find that overlapping institutional interests encourage policymakers to extend defense procurement expenditures independent of their national security goals. Analysis of an original database demonstrates that economic and political factors encourage military spending in more rural areas with less diverse economies–areas that are disproportionately reliant on the defense dollars that they receive. The extension of defense benefits to more economically dependent constituencies has coincided with policies that systematically reduce the public costs of war, including deficit financing, a growing use of private contractors, and an all-volunteer military. This gives key constituencies a disproportionate stake in the military economy and makes it easier for policymakers to maintain a defense establishment without fear of electoral reprisal. I argue that, as a consequence, expansive defense resources have allowed the president to act with greater independence from Congress. While the hierarchical structure of the executive branch encourages presidents to initiate military and foreign policy–which historically includes neutrality, diplomacy and military engagements–the administration's capacity to direct military actions without ongoing congressional cooperation depends largely on available resources and institutional authority. As long as congressional budgetary authorizations provide ongoing defense resources available for mobilization at any time, presidents enjoy increased flexibility in directing military engagements independently. Evidence suggests that political power concentrates when separate institutions find shared incentives to cooperate, regardless of institutional mechanisms designed to disperse power. Coinciding interests in defense sector expansion aggregate resources and authority in the executive branch, weakening the system of checks and balances.Item Partition as a Solution to Ethnic Civil War: Statehood, Demography, and the Role of Post-War Balance of Power for Peace(2009) Johnson, Carter Randolph; Lichbach, Mark I; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Partition has been proposed as a way to (i) end ethnic civil wars and to (ii) build a lasting peace after ethnic civil wars end. This dissertation builds on partition theory and the ethnic security dilemma in three ways, demonstrating empirical support for a novel theory of why violence recurs following the end of ethnic civil wars and how partition can be used to prevent such violence. The dissertation begins by introducing the puzzle of ethnic group concentration: the social sciences have demonstrated that concentrated ethnic groups produce both peace and violence. The first case study discredits the notion that ethnic group concentration produced during ethnic civil wars will produce an end to ethnic civil wars. I conducted detailed field research, producing a longitudinal study of ethnic migration and violence in the Georgia-Abkhaz civil war (1992-1993), which acts as a crucial case. I conclude that partitioning groups does not end ethnic war. This is the first accurate empirical test of the ethnic security dilemma. Next, the dissertation looks at partition's ability to build peace by concentrating ethnic groups in new homeland states, and I argue that post-partition violence is caused by weak states and the triadic political space endogenously created by partitions that do not separate ethnic groups completely. I call this the Third Generation Ethnic Security Dilemma, building on previous ethnic security dilemma research. I test this empirically by introducing an index measuring the degree to which partitions separate ethnic groups, and I compare all ethnic civil war terminations between 1945 and 2004, demonstrating that partitions which completely separate ethnic groups provide a better chance for peace. Third, I selected two cases (Moldova and Georgia) to examine the causal processes of post-war recurring violence. Georgia, which experienced post-partition violence, and Moldova, which did not, act as a structured case comparison. I conclude that mixed ethnic demography interacts with state-building to cause or avert renewed violence.Item ARISTOTLE'S TREATMENT OF THE SOCRATIC PARADOX IN THE NICOMACHEAN ETHICS(2009) McBrayer, Gregory A.; Butterworth, Charles E.; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation seeks to understand one of the most perplexing statements uttered by the Platonic Socrates, the so-called Socratic Paradox that no one voluntarily does wrong. In such dialogues as the Gorgias and the Protagoras, Socrates famously, or infamously, declared that all wrongdoing is a result of ignorance and is therefore not culpable. While the beginning point for this investigation is Socrates, this dissertation turns for the most part to Aristotle as the first and foremost commentator on the Platonic dialogues, guided by the belief that Aristotle can aid in the discovery of what Socrates' outlandish assertion means. In Books III and VII of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle takes up the questions on which the Socratic Paradox touches, submitting the so-called paradox to scrutiny in Book VII. While much research has focused on the Socratic Paradox, the contribution of this work is to exploit the intellectual genius Aristotle has brought to bear on this question. Turning to Aristotle will allow us to gain greater clarity into this central tenet of Socratic Political Philosophy.Item Brings the Politics Back in:Political Incentive and Policy Distortion in China(2009) Mei, Ciqi; Pearson, Margaret M.; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation explores why some commendable policy goals set by the central government of China have been left unmet at the local levels. Observing the significance of policy behaviors of local officials in producing policy outcomes in their jurisdictions, it attributes the apparent policy distortion to the "incorrect" incentives that local officials face now. Different from those focusing on the new economic incentive offered by the new decentralization arrangement during the reform era, this study looks into the nature of political incentives embedded in the oldtop-down cadre management system to see how local officials are "incentivized" politically to produce distorted policy outcomes. By investigating formal rules governing local chiefs' turnovers and actual past turnovers of the prefectural chiefs in Zhejiang and Hubei provinces during the reform era, this study finds out that the top-down political incentive is unbalanced by nature in that promotion criteria for local chiefs slant heavily to local chiefs' achievements (zhengji) in promoting local economic growth while their performance in other policy issues are neglected at large. It argues that such unbalanced nature of top-down political incentive has induced local officials to divert more efforts to pursue "mindless" economic growth at the cost of other commendable goals; policy distortion therefore emerges as the consequence of unbalanced political incentive. This dissertation continues to explain why the apparent policy distortion has persisted. By investigating five cases illustrating the way the center deals with local policy distortion, it argues that the central government is unwilling, unable and ineffective to sanction policy distortion because of the innate conflict between the indirect management tool the center uses and the multiple governance goals it desires for. The unbalanced nature of current top-down political incentive is therefore predetermined and policy distortion persists. This dissertation contributes to the general discussion on central-local dynamics in China by bringing back the top-down political incentives as the most important institutional cause for policy outcome. Policy implication of this study is clear: the problem of policy distortion could not be solved without reshuffling the top-down political incentive system.Item BUILD to WIN: Community Organizing, Power, and Participation in Local Governance(2009) Bullock, John Thomas; Kaufmann, Karen; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation focuses on community organizing and uses it as a mechanism to compare the political environments in Baltimore and Washington over the last three decades. By conducting comparison case studies, I identify the contextual circumstances that affect the ability of grassroots organizations to achieve desired ends. The fact that both cities have functioning Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) affiliates - Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) and the Washington Interfaith Network (WIN) - provides the opportunity to investigate the conditions that give rise to community organizing. Examining the interactions between BUILD/WIN and mayoral administrations over time sheds light on the varying temporal contexts while also explicating the different managerial styles of central political actors. By conducting these case studies, I highlight the optimal political conditions for the inclusion of grassroots organizations representing the interests of neglected neighborhoods.Item The Republic and its Problems: Alexander Hamilton and James Madison on the 18th Century Critique of Republics(2009) Evans, Michael Clinton; McIntosh, Wayne V.; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study offers a new interpretation of the theoretical basis of the political alliance and rupture between Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. The central thesis is that Madison was correct that his and Hamilton's disagreement was rooted in their different orientations toward republican versus monarchical governments. Although for the past century scholars have rejected Madison's claim that Hamilton harbored monarchical principles and intentions, this study argues that the textual record suggests that he did. More specifically, it is demonstrated that there is no evidence that Hamilton had a genuine principled commitment to republican government. Moreover, the evidence does indicate that he always believed America would be better served by emulating the British mixed regime, complete with a hereditary monarch, and that he sought to put the United States on a developmental path toward such a regime. This difference between Hamilton and Madison was based on both disparate political principles and differences in their prudential judgments about the possibility that the Americans could overcome what this study calls the "18th century critique of republics." This powerful tenet of Enlightenment political science claimed that two sociopolitical processes tended to transform republics into despotic or, at best, limited monarchical regimes. One of these processes, "the republican violent death," was thought to naturally lead republics into anarchy and eventually monarchy or despotism. The other process, "the republican security dilemma," consisted of several pressures placed on regimes by their external security environment to adopt policies and establish institutions that undermined the domestic requisites for republican liberty. The most salient implication of the 18th century critique of republics was that the British balanced constitution presented the best model for durable liberty under modern conditions. This study argues that Madison and Hamilton were united in taking this critique seriously and that they both believed the two processes could have led to despotic regimes throughout North America if something had not been done to curb what they perceived as the excessive democracy and sovereign pretensions of the State governments. Their principal prudential difference was that Madison, unlike Hamilton, believed he had found republican cures for these republican diseases.Item Terrorism's Communicative Dynamic: Leveraging the Terrorist-Audience Relationship to Assess Evolutionary Trajectories(2009) Gressang, Daniel Seidel; Lalman, David; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Terrorist groups do not operate in isolation. To survive in the face of counter-pressures from their opponents, the group must establish a beneficial relationship with a targeted audience, a presumed constituency, in order to generate the sympathy and support necessary for maintaining operational viability. Existing studies of terrorism, however, offer few insights into how this might be done. The most common approach revolves around assessments of terrorist messages, yet typically treats those messages as self-serving propaganda or media manipulation. This study takes a different approach, suggesting that terrorists use statements and communiqués in an effort to gain and maintain a supportive audience. Further, the intended audience for the messages infer meaning in terrorist violence, thus augmenting or reducing the impact of persuasive messaging by the terrorist. Understanding this process, in turn, may yield new insights into the dynamic processes of terrorism, offering new opportunities to assess a terrorist group's potential for positive evolutionary growth or greater relative fitness. Using Grunig's situational theory of publics, this study creates and evaluates a new metric, called expected affinity, for examining the terrorist group's effort to establish and strengthen bonds between itself and its targeted and presumptively supportive audience. Expected affinity combines sub-measures addressing problem recognition, expected and desired levels of involvement, and constraint recognition, coupled with an inferred meaning in the symbolism of violent acts in order to evaluate terrorist messages and attacks. The results suggest utility in the expected affinity metric and point to opportunities for making the measure more directly applicable to specific cases through incorporation of detailed case study data.Item THE POWER OF INFORMATION: THE INTERNET AND THE RISE OF SOFT POWER(2009) Shin, Yookyoung; Schreurs, Miranda A; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation explores how the Internet changes the concept of political power. It focuses on information as a source of political power, and the relationship between information and power. As a conceptual analysis of the impact of the Internet on political power shift, it argues that the Internet transforms the concept of power from hard to soft. This dissertation argues: (i) the Internet changes power sources from material, such as military or economic, to non-material, such as information or policies; (ii) the Internet promotes the rise of soft power in international relations. This dissertation aims to improve theoretical as well as empirical understanding of information as a source of political power, and to conceptualize political power from hard to soft. According to Nye, soft power is defined as "the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion." This study begins with an analysis of the concept of power in politics, and continues to analyze the impact of the Internet on the conceptualization of political power. This dissertation examines the Internet as a new form of communication media with particular emphasis on the political use of the Internet. Then, it explores digital divide, and discusses some implications of the changed concept of power for two Koreas and the U.S.Item Democracy and State Repression: What we Don't Know, Can Kill Us(2009) Armstrong II, David; Davenport, Christian; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)There is an overwhelming amount of empirical evidence that democracy makes states more pacific toward their citizens. This robust finding has left scholars working in this area confident that they know {\em why} democracy causes states to be more pacific. I argue this is not true for two reasons. First, the theories adopted to explain this relationship have not been properly tested. Second, when good faith efforts have been made to test theories, measurement of all key variables has not been treated rigorously. I solve both of these problems by revisiting the theories upon which the literature rests and using a rigorous measurement strategy that is as true as possible to the theories proposed. I show that while the theories are up to the task of explaining the relationship, often the data are the weak link. Often, there is relatively little variation on the dependent and key independent variables. Thus, I show that most of the results generated in the literature are of the between-country variety rather than the within-country variety.