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

Senior Editor-in-Chief 2021:
Natalie Kassar

Junior Editor-in-Chief 2021:
Nicolas Hernandez-Florez

Faculty Advisors:
Dr. Neil Chaturvedi (nschaturvedi@cpp.edu)
Dr. Elli Menounou (emenounou@cpp.edu) 

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Current Issue: Volume 5, Issue 1, Spring 2021

Previous Issues:

Previous Editors:

  • 2020: Sandra Escobar and Natalie Kassar
  • 2018: Kristen Khair and Samara Renteria
  • 2017: Tara Kwan and Kristen Khair
  • 2016: Tara Kwan

Editors Natalie Kassar and Nicolas Hernandez Florez, in addition to faculty advisors Dr. Chaturvedi & Dr. Menounoum, introduce this volume of the undergraduate journal.

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Women compose 51% of the American population, but only 23.7% of the seats in the United States Congress are held by women. This paper will analyze how sexism and gender stereotypes in the news media portray female politicians at the Congressional level. Frequently, the news media’s targeting does not emphasize their political agenda, instead the media platforms resort to sexist remarks and stereotypes that perceive women to be incompetent for office, while they portray men as competent. Previous scholars have concluded that the media often mention female politician’s character and emotional traits (Van Der Pas & Aaldering, 2020, pg.119) along with associating them with “feminine issues” compared to “masculine issues” (Hayes et al., 2014, pg.1197). For this study, the data was retrieved from live news broadcasts and articles that were analyzed in order to determine how often they made sexist remarks or stereotypes toward congresswomen. The quantitative data will be categorized on how often the media references a congresswoman’s character or emotional traits, family or appearance references, and associating them with “feminine issues” compared to “mascuine issues.” This study found that the media mentions a congresswoman’s political agenda over her appearance and family role, but they continue to reference them with negative character traits and “feminine issues.” These results could potentially explain why female politicians struggle to have positive perceptions from the electoral public as well as why there is a persistent gender gap in Congress.

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Collecting campaign contributions, establishing candidate recognition, and convincing the American voter are paramount for a political candidate’s odds at winning on election day. This reality necessitates the fielding of campaign advertisements. It is the objective of this research project to determine the best ways for campaign advertisements to achieve their desired results. The purpose of this experiment is to test the apparent dominance of “negative campaigning” over “positive campaigning.” A survey asks participants to consider the campaign advertisements for two fictional candidates running against each other in a local election. The survey tests four advertising methods with a positively and negatively framed campaign advertisement for each method. The four methods tested are funding, character, ethnic, and socioeconomic appeal-based advertisements. The results of the experiment show that in most criteria negative campaigning underperforms positive campaigning. Statistical testing reveals that varying campaign strategies have varying degrees of effectiveness in certain demographics.

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Appendix

When discussing the American immigration system, previous literature often focuses on a multi- tude of factors surrounding the process such as the history of immigration policy and its race-con- scious roots - specifically in controversial policies such as the Diversity Visa Lottery. Additional studies focus on the effect public perception has on government, via vote switching based on a party’s stance on immigration, and the divisiveness that comes with immigration rhetoric regarding Latinos. What many fail to correlate is the broad overview of how bureaucrats at many different levels of government are able to affect the interpretation of existing policies without congressional oversight, leading to implicit bias and political bias playing a role in policy execution. The objective of this study is to examine the link between public perception of immigration and the bureaucratic discretion of existing immigration policies. By conducting a qualitative analysis using the Migration Policy Institute’s data detailing the number of immigrants admitted to the United States throughout different presidential administrations, green card analysis, cross-referenced with public opinion polling on immigration issues over time, one can examine the relationship of public opinion and execution of immigration policy. The findings of this study show that negative public perception of immigration may affect the number of visas issued by bureaucrats. Additionally, these findings show Republican presidential administrations elected on an anti-immigration platform do not administer fewer green cards than their Democratic counterparts. This research adds to the existing literature by widening the lens on the role of bureaucratic discretion in the field of immigration policy.

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This thesis examines the effects of celebrity endorsements of political candidates on voter participation among young people in the United States. Prior research has suggested that endorsements tend to negatively impact the candidate, especially among young voters and those with a higher degree of political efficacy. Through a controlled experiment survey, respondents were asked to measure their political efficacy, views on celebrities, and whether or not these two factors interacted with each other in a manner conducive to having a significant effect on their hypothetical vote. Following the survey, it was concluded that celebrity endorsements had a negative effect on the candidate being endorsed. As the participants were all young adults with higher political efficacy, it also confirmed prior research that those two factors played an important role in the endorsement’s effectiveness.

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Appendix

This research project poses the question: Why are contemporary Latin American anti-government protests occurring? The time frame that will be analyzed will start from 2005 and will look at Nicaragua’s 2018 protests and Chile’s 2019 protests in order to try and answer this question. Researchers and scholars have put forth different theories that explain why citizens protest against their government and theories regarding mobilization. There are four distinct categories in which each of these explanations can be placed in: social factors, political/institutional factors, and finally, economic factors. The explanations within the social factors categories are loosely connected and related to the psychological and social factors of protest explanation. The political/institutional, economic, and technological factors within their respective categories are all interconnected and build compounding explanations. These four main categories embody the main literature that seeks to answer why protests against the government occur. The research’s findings would support the notions put forth in the explanations that revolve around the existence of opposition groups; opposition groups are a necessary factor for the proliferation of anti-government protests.

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Since the Cold War, heightened levels of instability and tension within Latin America have resulted in increased and widespread human rights abuses. Corruption, globalization, economic performance, democratization, and political institutions have all been identified as a catalyst for human rights abuses (Bacio-Terracino, 2010). While plenty of research has been conducted, El Salvador and Guatemala have a unique history that calls upon further research. The subsequent Civil Wars, in both countries, led to repercussions that impacted the levels and types of human rights abuses. Using V-Dem’s Political Liberties Index 1990-2018, the Annual World Bank GDP Report, the Transparency International Corruption Index 1990-2018, House/Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearings Reports, Freedom House, Amnesty International, and other non-profit data, this study identifies which factors led to heightened levels of human rights abuses in Guatemala and El Salvador. The research finds that corruption and unstable political institutions both led to heightened levels of human rights abuses. Economic performance and globalization did not yield the same results. Anti-crime efforts only led to heightened levels of human rights abuses in El Salvador, in Guatemala there was not enough research to support the theory.

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Counterterrorism and counterinsurgency have been widely debated subjects amongst security scholars in terms of best practice and rate of success. Scholars have found best-practice methods regarding both approaches, but heavily debate as to which is more advantageous in curbing global terror and insurgency and whether these results are replicable. This study engaged in a multifaceted approach in analysing counterinsurgency and counterterrorism strategies to determine when these methods find success, and whether success is replicable on a generalised scale or is region and context specific. Using case studies in Iraq, Afghanistan and Malaya, the goal was to analyse what factors led to their successes and whether they were idiosyncratic or mutually generalisable for a variety of conflicts. This study fills in the gap created by previous scholars and establishes a direct understanding of counterinsurgency and counterterrorism in terms of strategic best practice. Consequently, this study reveals the nature behind the factors that lead to successes in the war on terror and global insurgency, with the goal of aiding future security policy.

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n the 1990s, Thomas Homer-Dixon first posed the question on the relationship between climate change and violent conflict outbreak. While he was the first person to propose the idea, it was not until former Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon wrote a piece about the atrocities in Darfur, Sudan, that a greater emphasis was put on the topic. Since then, the debate on the nature of the relationship has yet to yield any conclusive results. The purpose of this study is to examine the claim that climate change does play a factor in the outbreak of violent ethnic conflict. The goal will be to determine the relationship between climate change and violent ethnic conflict outbreak in Darfur, Sudan, and Northern Nigeria. Both regions have seen a spike of drought and violent ethnic conflict in recent years, and this study will work to understand the relationship of both variables in the region. Through the Most Similar Systems of case study methodology, this study will aim to fill in the gap of previous scholarship and establish a clear understanding on the relationship between climate change and ethnic conflict.

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This thesis examines various factors which have led to the international growth of right-wing extremism in the last decade. By analyzing which factors are the main contributors to the radicalization of an individual, lawmakers and law enforcement are better equipped to deal with this phenomenon. As of the writing of this thesis, there is no consensus among scholars in determining the main contributing factors which have led to the international rise of right-wing extremism in the last decade. Scholars frequently cite a multitude of factors, such as social hierarchy, immigration, religion, the internet and social media, the state of the economy, and many others, as contributing factors. This thesis fills this gap in the literature by providing a list of factors which have impacted the interna- tional rise of right-wing extremism. Process tracing is used in this thesis by examining the personal lives and manifestos of extremists who successfully carried out acts of violence in the United States, Germany, Norway, and New Zealand. This method of analysis allows for a comprehensive understanding of the factors which have contributed to the rise of right-wing extremism in the last decade.

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Visiting a neighborhood park, utilizing a local trail, or taking advantage of other recreational spaces seem like simple, uncontroversial activities. The distribution of public parks and green space is not an issue that many urban dwellers often think about. Yet, as with many contemporary issues in the United States, the distribution of public parks highlights a history of racial discrimination, environmental racism, and unequal health and education outcomes. As the United States’ second-most populated city, one would hope that Los Angeles possesses enough recreational space for all its residents. However, most parks and other green spaces are concentrated in wealthy, majority-white neighborhoods, or in country clubs with a high economic barrier of entry. This creates a gap in public health, education, and general quality of life. Through tax reform, focused public policy, and increased funding for social oriented projects, the inequity of park distribution in Los Angeles can be a thing of the past.

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The research performed examines how business improvement districts (BIDs) contribute to the gentrification of historic urban ethnic enclaves, focusing specifically on the marketing goals of BIDs in Los Angeles Chinatown. BIDs have encouraged economic development and revitalization through marketing, security and cleaning, employing marketing tactics of touristification, boutiquing or upscaling, and other measures that drive up the neighborhood value. While there is praise for BIDs for helping economic growth in certain areas, oftentimes the consequences of their actions have led to gentrification and forced displacement of traditional small business own- ers and residents, changing the character of the neighborhood. In 2020, there is an added layer of complexity in BID activities as COVID-19 has devastated many businesses in the area. A qualitative analysis will be performed on the social media of the BID working in Los Angeles Chinatown, analyzing their posts in 2016 and 2020 regarding marketing and target demographics.

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