Political Science

Undergraduate Journal of Political Science

The California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Undergraduate Journal of Political Science is our department's scholarly research journal, providing peer-reviewed articles and essays from subfields throughout the discipline. Areas covered include American politics, public administration, international relations, comparative politics, public law and political theory. The Undergraduate Journal of Political Science is a student-run journal. 

Instructions for Submissions

Editor-in-Chief 2016:
Tara Kwan

Faculty Advisors:
Dr. Mario Guerrero (mag@cpp.edu)

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Current Issue: Volume 1, Issue 1, Spring 2016 (Inaugural)

Editor Tara Kwan introduces the inaugural volume of the undergraduate journal.

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The growth in the number of self-represented litigants has created a number of challenges for the California courts. A basic assumption is made in the judicial system that every case is determined by its merits and the parties involved are competent in the practice of law. However, a number of factors have been pointed out that collectively create a justice gap. This gap creates a dilemma for the courts as it is becoming inaccessible to a large portion of its users. The literature review will examine these factors including the adversarial model, financial factors of participating in a legal case, and the high demand of court-based legal aid programs. I will also explore the self-help centers and the Shriver pilot projects which are programs the Judicial Council of California has implemented to attempt to solve the justice gap. To reinforce what scholars before me have observed, I conducted a five-month case study of the Pomona Self-Help Center to evaluate its ability to provide meaningful assistance to self-represented litigants. I found that the self-help center provides invaluable services to self-represented parties and the courts alike. Additionally, the center is a necessary component to the Pomona Superior Court in making the court more accessible to the public, efficiently managing the court’s caseload, and effectively preparing litigants for their cases. However, the self-help center is limited in its ability to provide services to all who need it. This paper encourages discussion in search for solutions that will close the justice gap.

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Environmental racism is a continuous cycle that often threatens the health and surrounding environment of minority communities. This thesis focuses on one of the most impactful environmental hazards: superfund sites. The two cases to be compared are: Brentwood, Los Angeles (an affluent community) and South Gate, California (a minority community). Collecting data from the Environmental Protection Agency shows that South Gate has 21 superfund sites, three of which are on the National Priorities List. As for Brentwood, there are zero waste sites located within the community. With using this information as the primary foundation of analysis, this thesis will then analyze the disparities between population density, race, and income by using 2010 census data. The ultimate goal of this thesis is to analyze how certain factors (i.e. race and income) attract or deter the placement of waste sites.

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This thesis examines the various health incentives clean air provides and the many rebates available for solar panels. Health incentives and monetary rebates are two important facets of solar panels that can be used as huge selling points. These two facets are thought to be the guiding force behind encouraging Californians to purchase more solar panels. This thesis uses interviews with citizens to show that people are not familiar with the negative health effects associated with the use of coal burning power plants and the multitude of rebates available to them. The interview process consisted of two groups: a control and experimental group. The individuals’ interviewed were a mixture of solar power users and traditional fuel users. Based on the assumption that some people are not very informed, we created an experimental group that provided more information to these individuals. The interview was set up to explore this assumption and discover any truth behind this claim. Ultimately my research aimed to discover if Californians are self-interested and have no motivation to help the environment through the use of solar panels.

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Presidential campaign finance and campaign strategies are two topics that launch a candidate into office or into the shadows. This thesis focuses on how the Obama campaign was able to simultaneously raise money and attract voters by using technology to appeal to a younger demographic. By researching George Bush’s 2004 campaign, Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign, Obama’s 2012 campaign, and Donald Trump’s and Bernie Sanders’ current 2016 campaigns, it will show just how different candidates raise funds as well as shed light on the different strategies the campaign committee’s implement in order to win elections. Using past campaign sites, social media interfaces, popular sources, and interviews with individuals who worked directly inside Obama’s financial committee, I will address how Barack Obama’s 2008 fundraising strategies 2008 changed the way future campaigns choose their own fundraising strategies.

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Modern presidential scholars have indicated that over the last eighty years, presidential speeches have become longer in length and less formal in language. This thesis aims to expand upon the findings of modern presidential scholarship by analyzing all State of the Union addresses from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s address in 1934 to President Barack Obama’s most recent address in 2016. More specifically, by studying modern American presidents’ verbally delivered State of the Union addresses, this thesis aims to identify whether modern presidents have over time increased their use of “egocentric” language – or frequency of singular first person pronouns – in their addresses. In doing so, my thesis hopes to contribute to the notable scholarship of the “rhetorical presidency” and “anti-intellectual presidency.” Furthermore, this paper hopes to identify the general development of “egocentric” language in modern State of the Union addresses as well as observe and inspect how and why modern presidents use this language at all.

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A detailed analytical perspective into the foreign policy relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia during the post 9/11 George W. Bush Era has revealed that these two global powerhouses has remained steady and clandestine. The Saudi attackers on 9/11 caused conservative foreign policy such as the Patriot Act to be passed while the Saudi Monarchy simultaneously made great efforts to appear independent from U.S. influence. Domestic constituencies supported increasingly conservative policies and the rise of global conflicts such as the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict forced these two countries to have private interactions that continued to fortify the status-quo relationship of oil for security. Saudi Arabia continued to supply the United States with foreign oil, while the United States aided Saudi Arabia in its continuous quest for firearms. The literature suggests that states are inherently self-interested and despite global events, are still governed by state interest. The relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia is not an aberration from the norm and will continue to prosper, even if hidden from public eyes.

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This thesis examines the impact of migration on European politics through a binary logistic regression of countries within the Schengen Area from the beginning of the implementation of the Schengen Agreement in 1995 till 2014. By examining the historical and recently impactful influx of migrants streaming into and throughout the Schengen Area, I clarify the implications a growing population of foreigners has on their caretaker countries. The time period studied includes each Head of State’s migration policies and humanitarian actions aligned or unaligned with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and each country’s refugee population in three logits. Some scholars view the economy as the propelling agent for the successes of political parties, however, during mass movements of refugees, radical parties gain substantial support from both the public and opposing parties. This thesis challenges the argument that a country’s economy has the biggest influence on the public’s choice of political representatives. Therefore, the time series logit also includes gross domestic product, unemployment percentages, year, and European Union membership. Data has been collected from archives, international polls, interviews, data reports, news media and public works. The likeliness of a radical party leader gaining enough traction to become Head of State, in many cases, results from an influx of migrants, the efficiency of a country’s asylum system and residential anti-immigration sentiment.

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From Jihad Jane to the Black Widow, women’s involvement in terrorism is particularly intriguing as it’s typically viewed in defiance of traditional concepts of gender. Because of men’s involvement in the majority of acts of terrorism, terrorism is associated with masculine traits such as strength, assertiveness, and dominance. Consequently, when women--whose gender is dictated by feminine qualities such as passivity, sensitivity, and submissiveness--dedicate themselves to the same acts of terrorism that men do, it raises many alarming questions. Although there is a significant difference in terms of masculinity and femininity, instead of analyzing female terrorists as merely female terrorists, I will attempt to analyze female terrorists as terrorists so that their agency and capacity to commit acts of terrorism is fully recognized. Moreover, I will examine the reasons in which women become involved, their roles in perpetrating acts of terrorism, and the media’s coverage of women involved in terrorism in order to thoroughly answer the question, “what is the significance of women’s participation in acts of terrorism?”

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Athenian democracy has long been regarded as a system of direct democracy - rule by the people. Scrutinizing ancient Athenian society, however, has lead to the proposition of an alternative view; Athenian Democracy evolved into a representative system. To argue this view, we first examine Athenian history, social structure, and political institutions. Next, we perform an analysis of Plato’s The Republic, through a contemporary lens, to build an understanding of human nature, how governments are formed, and what constitutes a suitable government. Finally, the analysis of The Republic, coupled with the findings outlined in the literature review, are applied to ancient Athens to show that the Athenian democracy evolved into a system of representation..

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