Undergraduate Journal of Political Science

The average person’s life is busy and fast paced, often leaving very little time to be up to date with the constantly shifting political world. People are then forced to develop an opinion on a hot button topic, such as the Affordable Care Act, without the time to gather the necessary information to fully understand the issues involved. To alleviate this stress, they look to their already established political ideology and follow the trend of their party to simplify their vote. This study uses quantitative analysis to ascertain if a Cal Poly Pomona student’s political ideology determines their opinion on the Affordable Care Act, regardless of their knowledge or other factors self-interests on the matter.

The Superior Courts have seen the number of self-represented litigants increase over the last few decades. Self-represented litigants are those who choose to go through the court process without an attorney. The growing number of self-represented litigants causes a great challenge for the courts, especially in family law. This paper will explain the effectiveness of the Los Angeles Superior Courts Self-Help Centers. The literature review will analyze the problems and solutions for meeting the needs of self-represented litigants. The analysis will come from my intern experience at the Pomona-Self Help Center. The effectiveness of Self-Help Centers will be evaluated through scholarly work and my internship.

A multicultural society brings forth diversity, strength, and creativity which can be found within our schools, workplaces, and professional settings. Amidst these various cultures, beliefs, and values, our educational institutions are tasked with creating environments which promote language sharing. In the case of America’s schools, and more specifically, California’s K-12 schools, this is a quite a controversial task. Time and time again, we find that capturing California’s vastly multicultural society while promoting English language learning has not come without its challenges. As a result, methods of instruction and institutional motives have been questioned. In the November 2016 general election, California passed Proposition 58 “Non-English Languages Allowed in Public Education” initiative, a direct referendum to Proposition 227 “English in Public Schools” initiative passed in 1998 in regard to language learning in California’s K-12 public schools. This thesis aims to tackle all questions including methods of instruction in language education courses, the transition from Proposition 227 to Proposition 58, and overall opinions on nationalized languages from the perspectives of scholars, teachers, and students. By utilizing interviews from all previously mentioned parties, we aim to tackle the debate itself and gather insight on the topic from those who are directly affected by language education.

The biggest security threat facing the United States is not international war but terrorism, including both radical Islamic attacks and violent domestic extremism. Until recently, a sub-type of special interest terrorism, ecoterrorism, dominated headlines but it has almost disappeared in the last decade. Expanded legislation, broad investigations and aggressive sentencing have all but eliminated ecoterrorism from public consciousness. But is it due for a resurgence? By examining the definitions, origins and methods employed by ecoterrorists, we may discover what motivates and how to diffuse this form of ecologically-motivated fanaticism.

There is an ongoing debate between universalism and relativism, which highlights the neverending dilemma regarding absolute morality versus cultural relativism. These theories complicate political stances regarding universal laws against modern day slavery and raise questions about whether or not universal human rights laws are truly universal in their nature, or if they are an example of western imperialism, in which a set of western laws are forced upon non-western populations who may not want to abide by them. Although both universalists and relativists agree that slavery is morally wrong, there is a gray area in the definition of slavery in which cultural practices become an obstacle to defining and targeting modern day slavery cases. Using the current objective definitions of slavery, modern day slavery, freedom, coercion, and consent, this paper examines cases which represent a gray area in the definition of modern day slavery: child labour, child brides, arranged and forced marriages, the male guardianship system, and the sponsorship system. This study also analyzes the actual underlying factors that led to these practices in order to conclude whether it is indeed a cultural practice and therefore should be protected from outside interference, or an attempt to exploit persons under the umbrella of “culture.” Finally, this paper concludes that universal human rights laws are not globally applicable in their nature. Therefore a holistic approach geared toward considering different aspects, such as countries’ cultural practices, is needed in order to appropriately combat the cultural pathways that lead to modern day slavery.

Women make up roughly half of the world’s population, yet this is not reflected in the level of female political officeholders worldwide. The disparity in the descriptive and substantive representation of women is a problem that warrants closer examination. This thesis explores the gender gap in politics with in-depth case studies of the United States, Mexico, Rwanda, Spain, and Denmark, analyzing the factors leading to high (or low) female held political offices at the national level in the respective countries. The presence of quotas and proportional representation electoral systems largely explain the level of female political leadership in these countries. Implementing these measures across the globe will help increase the number of female politicians thus working to achieve gender parity in the political sphere.