Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

A Step toward Understanding Trust in the Government

Ted Delicath '13 — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:05:18 PDT

Over the last fifty years, trust in government has declined. This paper seeks to further the understanding of trust in government. Using ordinal level survey data from 1998-2012, a crosstabular analysis is used to test governmental trust with broad and specific policy areas. This research challenges part ofPopkin and Dimock’s (2000) research, which asserts that citizens use trust as a heuristic for both broad and specific questions about the government. The empirical findings suggest that citizens distrust the government broadly but trust a wide range of programs implemented by the very government they distrust.

Promoting Democracy in Ethnically Divided Societies: The Benefits of Combining Partition and Power-Sharing

Abigail Carter '13 — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:05:17 PDT

Recent conflict resolutions have attempted to explain the best route ofresolving ethnic conflicts within divided societies. This research attempts to engage in the recent debate surrounding conflict resolution which highlights the effects of partition and power-sharing programs upon democratic consolidation. By using a focused-structured comparison of three cases, partition is found to be insufficient in attaining democracy. A combination of partition and power-sharing leads to more democratic consolidation within divided societies. Further, a society which is affluent and gender equal, neighbors other liberal democracies, and fully develops power-sharing institutions will enjoy significant advantages in securing stable and lasting democratic outcomes.

Bubble Pop: An Analysis of Asian Pop Culture and Soft Power Potential

Nick Desideri '13 — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:05:16 PDT

Despite scholarly work on Northeast Asia’s growing economic influence, few authors have adequately addressed the region’s increasing cultural clout as well. This paper aims to address this cultural impact in a specific diplomatic context in regards to the South Korea and Japan, and whether their respective pop cultures can be viewed as a source of soft power. An analysis of various academic works and media stories concludes that 1) neither country has been able to turn their soft power resources into actual political leverage, though 2) Japan’s mishandling of its national branding puts South Korea in a much more advantageous place to do so, making it a possible regional tastemaker. In essence, this work twists the traditional understanding of Northeast Asian relations by looking at them through a different lens, seeking to bridge the gap between cultural theory and the soft power’s idea of “attractiveness.”

It's My Party and I'll Institutionalize If I Want To: Party System Institutionalization in Young Democracies

Zoe Gross '13 — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:05:15 PDT

Scholars today mostly agree that party system institutionalization (PSI) is a key ingredient in the transition to a functioning democracy. The question of whether PSI matters is more or less resolved. What is less clear is a general theory of what can help new democracies reach a high level of PSI. The aim of this research is to discover the pre-conditions and elite choices that enhance the level of PSI in new democracies. This research uses two Most Different System designs to explore the results of ten hypotheses that test the relationship between the level of PSI and an array of independent variables in country cases across the globe. Analyses reveal that there is no single magic variable or even a single set of factors that reliably lead to PSI across cases. What does emerge is the importance of elite behavior and choices during the initial regime change.

Why They Rise Up, or Not: A Study of Linguistic Minorities and Ethnic-National Mobilization

Yelei Kong '13 — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:05:15 PDT

Most theories ofnationalism focus on majority nationalism and do not provide an adequate explanation of the inaction of most ethnic minorities. This paper adopts the political process model from social movement theory to study the factors that prompt linguistic minorities to mobilization on ethno-national grounds. Using a large-N statistical model with data drawn from the Minority at Risk database, the results indicate that the higher capacity, the more opportunity for action, and the better the issue is framed, the more likely linguistic minorities would mobilize.

Power and Fear: Explaining the Authoritarian Personality

Ryan Winter '13 — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:05:14 PDT

As the ghost of Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, “There is nothing to fear but fear itself. And also me.” Truer words were never spoken. Actually, these words were never spoken, but were lifted from an article in The Onion, in which the deceased Roosevelt advises Americans to lay aside all other fears and come together in mutual terror of his haunting specter. Sadly, many Americans pay no heed to this sage advice, and continue to be scared stiff by gays, foreigners, taxes, global climate change, and anything else that threatens to interrupt the flow of their life. Bob Altemeyer’s article, “The Other Authoritarian Personality,” describes these fears as part of a larger personality predisposition, which he calls right-wing authoritarianism. Most of the time, authoritarians blend in with society; they do not usually go about expressing their extreme level of respect for authority or their intolerance of individuality. However, as Karen Stenner relates in “The Authoritarian Dynamic,” when authoritarians feel anxious or threatened, their true beliefs emerge. From there, Jack Levy’s explanation of prospect theory and Redlawsk, Civettini, and Lau’s discussion on ‘affect’ contribute to an understanding of why authoritarians cannot tolerate change and why they feel especially threatened by information contrary to their established beliefs. Each of these four works separately speaks to important components of attitude and behavior, but synthesized they reveal that the essential emotional ingredient of the authoritarian personality is fear.

Authors' Biographies

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:05:13 PDT

Letter from the Department Chair

James Simeone — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:05:12 PDT

Editors' Introduction

Zoe Gross '13 et al. — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:05:12 PDT

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:05:11 PDT

Res Publica XVIII

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:05:10 PDT

Complete copy of the 2013 volume of Res Publica.