Matching Items (20)
Description
The right to cast a meaningful vote, equal in value to other votes, is a fundamental tenet US elections. Despite the 1964 Supreme Court decision formally establishing the one person, one vote principle as a legal requirement of elections, our democracy consistently falls short of it. With mechanisms including the winner-take-all format in the Electoral College, disproportioned geographic allocation of senators, extreme partisan gerrymandering in the House of Representatives, and first-past-the-post elections, many voters experience severe vote dilution. <br/><br/>In order to legitimize our democratic structures, American elections should be reformed so every person’s vote has equal weight, ensuring that the election outcomes reflect the will of the people. Altering the current election structure to include more proportional structures including rank choice voting and population-based representation, will result in a democracy more compatible with the one person, one vote principle.
ContributorsSluga, Allison Leigh (Author) / Hinojosa, Magda (Thesis director) / Gartner, David (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor, Contributor, Contributor) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Why do religious organizations facilitate secular political activism in some settings and not others? This dissertation uses regional variation in political activism across Mexico to elucidate the relationship between religious organizations and political activism, as measured through associational activity and involvement in political protests. I utilize a quantitative analysis of 13,500 data observations collected from the nationally representative National Survey of Political Culture and Citizenship (ENCUP), supplemented by municipal and diocesan-level data from a variety of governmental and Church statistical databases, to test several theories describing religion's potential impact on political activism. I also utilize a qualitative comparative analysis examining the relationship between the Catholic Church and political mobilization in the Mexican States of Chiapas, Morelos, and Yucatán. I present an agent-based model developed to delineate the micro-level mechanisms linking Church institutional configurations and religion's pro-social effects to individual incentives to politically organize. The predictions of the agent-based model are assessed against my statistical dataset. The study finds where religious institutions devolve decision-making, monitoring, and sanctioning authority to the laity, individuals develop capacities to overcome collective action problems related to political activism. Religious ideology is also found to influence capacities for political activism.
ContributorsHale, Chris (Christopher) (Author) / Warner, Carolyn (Thesis advisor) / Hechter, Michael (Committee member) / Siroky, David (Committee member) / Hinojosa, Magda (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
DescriptionAbstract This thesis analyses the use of new media by the student movement group #YoSoy132 during the Mexican general elections of 2012. It evaluates the development of the group before speculating on its long term viability and the dependency on the media.
ContributorsMartinez, Andrea Garcia (Author) / Hinojosa, Magda (Thesis director) / Rodriguez, Rick (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
In September 1974, a guerrilla organization called the Montoneros captured Juan and Jorge Born, two Argentinean heirs to a massive food processing conglomerate, and held them for ransom. After months of negotiations between this radical political group and the brothers' family, the Montoneros received $61.5 million dollars for the brothers' re- lease. Other kidnappings followed, netting the revolutionaries close to $100 million dol- lars. Although their tactics initially brought them recognition, they also unleashed a vio- lent response. Through a military coup, General Jorge Videla assumed power and used counterinsurgency tactics against the radical left wing of the Peronist party members. The coming years of military repression put an end to the revolutionary efforts of the Mon- toneros and gave the military leaders a reputation of violators of human rights. Even the Argentine people called the repression the "Dirty War," and investigations estimate that 30,000 people, the Montoneros among them, disappeared.
ContributorsScarvie, Matthew (Author) / Stoner, Kathryn (Thesis director) / Hinojosa, Magda (Committee member) / Mitchell, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
The purpose of this thesis is to outline the different and often contentious arguments that surround the ideological outcome of the Cuban Revolution. Especially now that United States policy makers and diplomats are considering renegotiating trade and political agreements with Cuba, it is important to have a clearer idea as to whether Fidel Castro was an idealist or opportunist, and which of these profiles American diplomats should base their assumptions of Cuban leadership on. My thesis proposes the following argument: That much of the controversy surrounding Castro's personality is contentious and falls within extremes. He is neither devil nor angel; that is, he is neither purely idealistic nor wholly opportunistic. Assessments of his personality fall somewhere in between these two positions. Further, diplomatic strategies formulated by American policy makers should take into account the subtleties in determining whom the figure Fidel Castro really is. And, any proposed changes in policy must take into account the complexities of Castro's leadership style and of the way this style forms the legacy and context in what current and future Cuban leadership will approach negotiations between the United States over political and trade relations.
ContributorsBreeden, Mary Margaret (Author) / Mitchell, Michael (Thesis director) / Hinojosa, Magda (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The 2012 South Korean presidential elections made headlines around the world with the election of the country's first woman president, Park Geun-Hye. While some media outlets glossed over the story with remarks of South Korea's "forward" and "progressive" thinking, many others were quick to point out the extremely unique case of President Park Geun-Hye's election and the continuing gender inequality that exists in South Korea. Among statistics that indicate gender inequality within a country, South Korea's percentage of women's representation in its National Assembly currently sits at 15.6%, one of the lowest among similarly developed countries. South Korea first adopted its gender quota system in 2000. But after the initial jump in women's representation from 3% in 1996 to 13% in 2004 election, there has been no significant rise in women's representation in South Korea. This paper looks into the low transition of Assemblywomen in Proportional Representation seats to Single Member Districts following their first term in the Korean National Assembly as an indicator of the inability for sustainable growth in women's representation in South Korea to occur despite their gender quota legislation. I look at committee assignments, a key reelection tool, in order to measure the electability of Assemblywomen after they are termed out of the PR seat. The results indicate that Assemblywomen are sidelined to women's issues and social issues committee. But results also indicate that it is difficult for their male PR seatmates to transition into SMD seats as well. This leads to the conclusion that it is the PR system as a whole that makes it difficult for PR Assemblymembers to create a political career by transitioning into a SMD seat.
ContributorsRobles, Selianna R (Author) / Shair-Rosenfield, Sarah (Thesis director) / Hinojosa, Magda (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This thesis deals primarily with contemporary Brazilian civil-military relations. For most of the 20th century Brazil’s political system was stuck in a cycle of repeated military intervention. At present, Brazil operates as an electoral democracy and has kept the military out of politics since 1985. In order to understand the likelihood of another coup d’état, this thesis considers threats to the military’s corporate interests and deflations of the government’s political legitimacy within Brazil. Given the lack of significant threats to the military’s self-interest and the absence of serious legitimacy deflations, the Brazilian government appears unlikely to have a coup d’état in the near future. It is, however, important to remember that the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics could challenge Brazil’s current political stability and alter the likelihood of military intervention.
ContributorsAtallah, Andrew Deif (Author) / Mitchell, Michael (Thesis director) / Hinojosa, Magda (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Abstract
The Shining Path, or Sendero Luminoso, is peculiar among Latin American revolutions for a multitude of reasons, ranging from the intensity of its violent tactics to the group’s muddled Maoist ideology. Analyses of the group tend to label it a mystery or an enigma. The purpose of this thesis is to offer the charismatic nature of the authority wielded by Abimael Guzmán, the energetic leader of the group also known as Presidente Gonzalo, as an explanation for some of the Shining Path’s idiosyncrasies, particularly their relentlessly bloodthirsty rise and sharp decline. Although much of the previous literature on the Shining Path uses the word “charismatic” to describe Guzmán, very little work has analyzed the particular implications of the successful creation of a charismatic leader-follower dynamic as a key part of senderismo. Using the framework established by German sociologist Max Weber, this paper analyzes a number of major characteristics of charismatic leaders and applies them to Guzmán. Not only did he exhibit many of the typical features of a charismatic leader, but it may have been is successful development of this particular style of authority which led to both the bloodthirstiness of Sendero’s military arm and the group’s struggle to find an identity after Guzmán’s capture. The Shining Path followed the power arc expected of a charismatic leader-follower relationship, allowing Guzmán to exploit the peasant population to create chaos and fear in the Andes in his effort to bring about a “popular revolution.” The purpose of this paper is not to discredit other theories regarding Sendero, as it was largely a sui generis movement, but to argue several of its particular qualities can be attributed to the charismatic nature of Presidente Gonzalo’s authority.
The Shining Path, or Sendero Luminoso, is peculiar among Latin American revolutions for a multitude of reasons, ranging from the intensity of its violent tactics to the group’s muddled Maoist ideology. Analyses of the group tend to label it a mystery or an enigma. The purpose of this thesis is to offer the charismatic nature of the authority wielded by Abimael Guzmán, the energetic leader of the group also known as Presidente Gonzalo, as an explanation for some of the Shining Path’s idiosyncrasies, particularly their relentlessly bloodthirsty rise and sharp decline. Although much of the previous literature on the Shining Path uses the word “charismatic” to describe Guzmán, very little work has analyzed the particular implications of the successful creation of a charismatic leader-follower dynamic as a key part of senderismo. Using the framework established by German sociologist Max Weber, this paper analyzes a number of major characteristics of charismatic leaders and applies them to Guzmán. Not only did he exhibit many of the typical features of a charismatic leader, but it may have been is successful development of this particular style of authority which led to both the bloodthirstiness of Sendero’s military arm and the group’s struggle to find an identity after Guzmán’s capture. The Shining Path followed the power arc expected of a charismatic leader-follower relationship, allowing Guzmán to exploit the peasant population to create chaos and fear in the Andes in his effort to bring about a “popular revolution.” The purpose of this paper is not to discredit other theories regarding Sendero, as it was largely a sui generis movement, but to argue several of its particular qualities can be attributed to the charismatic nature of Presidente Gonzalo’s authority.
ContributorsEnglese, Daniel James (Author) / Hinojosa, Magda (Thesis director) / Humphrey, Ted (Committee member) / Wood, Reed (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
This particular study aims to investigate women’s involvement in the 2019 Hong Kong protests. One of this study’s main goals is to explore the existing suggestive evidence which could indicate the motivations behind women’s mobilization in Hong Kong. This suggestive evidence will be analyzed and put into perspective through the Lisa Baldez protest framework theory of tipping, framing and timing. This study asserts the 2019 Extradition Bill as a major point of ignition in Hong Kong, or the Tipping point of the protests, which gradually led to women’s participation in the protests. This study also cites the gendered legislation of the One-Child policy in Mainland China, its effects on the gender roles within Chinese and Hong Kong society, as well as the gendered censorship which resulted as suggestive evidence for women’s response to the protests in gendered terms, which is also termed as the framing of women’s participation the protests. Finally, this study investigates the political realignment of both the pro-Beijing and pro-democracy sides, or the timing, from which women emerged into insurgency with a sense of political opportunity through the restructuring of each side’s messaging and political objectives. Due to the timeline of the protests, another main goal for this study is to quantify the international reach of Hong Kong women’s protest movements and the extent in which women are being portrayed in local and international media, so as to further analyze the ways in which the Baldez framework is being played out in different levels of media coverage of the 2019 Hong Kong protests.
ContributorsRivera Garcia, Claudia (Author) / Hinojosa, Magda (Thesis director) / Fridkin, Kim (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
The United States has been long considered a country of immigrants. Throughout U.S. history the implementation of immigration policies has oscillated from lenient to highly restrictive. Currently, the Department of Homeland Security manages the largest detention system in the world. In December 2019, the National Detention Standards that govern the level of care in detention were revised. These revisions grant more oversight to private detention companies, including mental health treatment options and the use of solitary confinement. This is concerning given the amount of suicides that have occurred in detention. Despite an increasing trend in funding for detention centers, mental health resources are scarce and increasingly remiss in detention centers. Individuals held in civil detention are subject to deteriorating mental health due to the locations of detention centers, solitary confinement and high costs associated with outbound calls and visitations.
ContributorsPelayo, Berenice (Author) / Serat, Leah (Thesis director) / Hinojosa, Magda (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05