Department of Political Science
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Item The Affordable Care Act and the Diffusion of Policy Feedback: The Case of Medicaid Work Requirements(Russell Sage Foundation, 2020) Fording, Richard C.; Patton, Dana; University of Alabama TuscaloosaOver the last five years, many states have sought to limit access to Medicaid by adopting restrictive policies. How can we reconcile this development with studies that imply that Medicaid should be insulated from policy backlash? The answer lies in understanding the policy feedback effects that accompanied Medicaid expansion and how these effects created electoral pressure that led to policy modification. We situate our expectations within a policy diffusion framework that accounts for variation in both the content and timing of policy adoptions across states. We develop and test several hypotheses using survey data and an original dataset on gubernatorial support for Medicaid work requirements. Our hypotheses are generally supported and provide a more nuanced understanding of the policy feedback effects following Medicaid expansion.Item An annual cost of living index for the American states, 1960-1995(University of Texas Press, 2000) Berry, WD; Fording, RC; Hanson, RL; State University System of Florida; Florida State University; University of Kentucky; Indiana University System; Indiana University Bloomington; University of Alabama TuscaloosaAn enormous amount of research on state politics and policy relies on monetary variables. Such variables are affected by differences in the purchasing power of a dollar over time and across states, but a lack of information about geographic variation in the costs of goods and services has kept social scientists from taking these differences into account. We remove this obstacle by constructing an annual cost of living index for each continental American state from 1960 to 1995. The index constitutes a deflator suitable for cross-sectional, time-series, and pooled research. After establishing the reliability and validity of our index using a battery of diagnostic tests, we illustrate the importance of deflating monetary variables by examining two variables that are often used in state politics research.Item Anticipating backfire: the effect of institutions on repression of nonviolent dissent(University of Alabama Libraries, 2015) Miller, Gina Lei; Gibler, Douglas M.; Ritter, Emily Hencken; University of Alabama TuscaloosaThe state repression literature has paid disproportionate attention to explaining and predicting repression in response to violent dissent while overlooking the role of nonviolent dissent in the repression-dissent process. I present a theory of repression that considers how the tactics and participants involved in nonviolent dissent uniquely threaten political power and affect leaders' decision-making differently than violent dissent. Violent dissidents rely on physical coercion and must possess the willingness and ability to engage in violence; this requirement tends to result in homogeneous dissident groups that are not representative of the larger population. Nonviolent dissidents, on the other hand, use non-physically coercive tactics and are often more representative of the general public than violent dissidents. These peaceful tactics and diverse participants increase the chance that the public will disagree with the use of repression and sanction leaders. Strategic leaders recognize that repression of nonviolent dissent may backfire in this way, but they cannot easily gauge the likelihood that audiences will learn about or be angered by the use of repression against nonviolent dissidents. I suggest that certain domestic institutions provide leaders with information on the likelihood of backfire that serves as a constraint on repressive behavior. Specifically, I predict that leaders in those states with high levels of press freedom and a constitutionally protected right of petition expect that repression of nonviolent dissent is more likely to backfire and will be less likely to repress as a result. A free press threatens to disseminate information on the state's use of force against peaceful citizens, and the potential media attention increases the likelihood that citizens learn about the abuse and sanction leaders. Where the right of petition is constitutionally protected, leaders have an additional expectation that repressing nonviolent dissent will upset domestic audiences and that these angry citizens will mobilize to sanction repressive leaders. I test these predictions using the Nonviolent and Violent Campaigns and Outcomes (NAVCO) v2.0 dataset and use an illustrative case of repression in Mexico to test the plausibility of the theory.Item Assessing the level and changes in bipartisanship in Federal higher education: a historical analysis of higher education appropriations, 1980-2017(University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Adair, John Lucas; Katsinas, Stephen G.; University of Alabama TuscaloosaDespite the continuous shifts in and long-term trend toward more partisanship in our national government, there is a need for consistent and accurate research to better prepare and inform policy leaders of trends in federal higher education appropriations. There is some literature regarding federal funding for higher education that assesses the changes in appropriations, but there is little, if any that reveals the impact of divided government and the use of reconciliation as budget tools. This study analyzed federal allocations to nine different higher education programs. The nine programs are: (1) Pell Grants, (2) Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG), (3) Work-Study, (4) Perkins Loans, (5) Direct Student Loan Program, (6) Family Education Loans, (7) Aid for Institutional Development, (8) TRIO programs, and (9) Scholarships and Fellowships. A comparison of appropriations over 37 years from the inception of the United States Department of Education in the final year of President Jimmy Carter’s administration, through the second administration of President Barack Obama was conducted. This period encompassed the tenures of 6 presidents, 19 Congresses, and 11 federal Secretaries of Education from 1980 to 2017. The importance and need for this analysis is underscored by the recent finding that, for the first time in 2010, the federal government surpassed all state funding as the main source of revenue to fund public higher education. This funding shift speaks to a growing federal role in higher education, and occurs even as most commentators document growing political polarization in the United States. In the three articles that follow, the level of partisanship of federal higher education appropriations is analyzed across the executive and legislative branches of government. The first article assesses how U.S. presidents treat federal investments in higher education. It specifically compares presidential budget requests to actual enacted appropriations. What presidents propose the greatest and the least in higher education appropriations? Do election years matter for higher education budget proposals? The second article analyzes the impact of party control on annual higher education appropriations among the presidency, U.S. House of Representatives, and U.S. Senate. Does higher education are better under one party or the other? In the 37 years under study, there have been 12 years of a divided Congress, 13 years of a Democratic Congress, and 13 years of a Republican Congress. Article three assesses the impact of budget reconciliation on higher education appropriations. This is important because Congress has passed all 12 appropriations bills only four times since 1977. Together, these articles provide a clear analysis of the level and changes in bipartisanship of federal higher education over the 1980-2017 period.Item Automated content analysis and the development and utilization of legal doctrine in the Federal courts(University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Porter, Chase; Smith, Joseph L.; University of Alabama TuscaloosaThe citation and interpretation of precedent and the development and utilization of legal doctrine are distinct concepts. Whereas previous literature has focused on the use of precedent, this study makes a theoretical argument for the importance of distinguishing between precedent and doctrine and applies automated content analysis tools to the measurement of legal doctrine in court opinions. These tools are used to study doctrinal utilization by the Supreme Court and the circuit courts in the United States judicial system. From a theoretical perspective, this study leverages a qualitative case study of the development and application of the Lemon test in Establishment Clause jurisprudence to illustrate the importance of carefully distinguishing between the concepts of precedent and doctrine. The case study exposes potential weaknesses in dependence upon Shepard’s Citations as a tool for understanding the development of legal doctrine. The concept of doctrinal vitality is proposed as a way to measure the impact of legal doctrine across time. Given the difficulties that are inherent in measuring a qualitative concept (language) quantitatively, a careful examination of various automated text analysis methodologies was conducted. The programming language Python was used to analyze the doctrinal composition of court opinions through unsupervised topic modeling and supervised sentence counting. Utilization of doctrinal language was modeled as a function of variables that impact judicial behavior on the Supreme Court and circuit courts, including doctrine age, judicial ideology, doctrinal vitality, opinion characteristics, and hierarchical effects. While the substantive findings are mixed, this dissertation considers important theoretical implications regarding the development and utilization of legal doctrine and explores the potential benefits and challenges related to the use of automated text analysis in the study of legal doctrine.Item Challenging the President: Presidential-Senate Confrontations on Foreign Policy(University of Alabama Libraries, 2020) Yun, Huicheol; Borrelli, Stephen; University of Alabama TuscaloosaThis dissertation is composed of three articles that analyze which determinants influence three aspects of the confrontational relationship between the president and the Senate in the foreign policy/treaty legislation area. The first and second essays focus on the situation that the President takes an “opposed” position on foreign policy legislation and his victories when he takes that position. The third essay focuses on the number of Senators voting against treaty ratification and proposing amendments to the treaties. If the Senate is voting on a bill or amendment that the president opposes, it seems to suggest a direct challenge by the Senate to the President. My finding is the president’s political capital influences the confrontational relationship between the Presidents and Senate in the foreign policy realm. I posit that several variables such as scandal, federal deficit, general approval rating, foreign policy approval rating, and president’s party’s control of the Senate, which reflect the President’s political capital level, influence the occurrence and outcomes of conflict. In the first essay, I find empirical evidence that political capital influences the president’s taking an “opposed” position on foreign policy legislation. A case study of George W. Bush’s taking an “opposed” position on Iraq Mission legislation (S. J. Res. 9) in 2007 is used to illustrate my findings and apply them to an actual historical case. In the second essay, I find significant evidence that political scandal, foreign policy approval rating, and policy types influence the president’s victories on foreign policy legislation where he takes a “opposed” position. A case study of Bill Clinton’s loss on the Iran Missile Proliferation Sanction Act in 1998 (H.R. 2709), where he took an “opposed” position, illustrates how scandal and foreign policy approval rating influence the president’s victories on foreign policy legislation. In the final essay, I examine which determinants influence the number of Senators voting against treaty ratification and proposing amendments to treaties. The number of U.S. troops deployed overseas influences the number of Senators voting against treaty ratification. However, treaty type and the presence of unified government impact Senators’ opposition in unexpected ways. A case study of Jimmy Carter’s Panama Canal treaty in 1978 is used to show how these variables affect Senators’ votes. I also posit political scandal and the number of US troops deployed overseas as variables that impact treaty amendment; I found that treaty types, scandal, the number of U.S. troops deployed overseas influence treaty amendments. The implication of these findings is that in terms of foreign policy, we may like to think the president and Senators usually cooperate to make a foreign policy law or ratify a treaty in light of the entire national interest. In practice and reality, however, presidents and Senators confront and cooperate with each other based on the president’s political capital. The findings of this dissertation will help scholars, Senators, and other foreign policy experts to understand and predict U.S. foreign policy decision-making in the future.Item The Changing Nonlinear Relationship between Income and Terrorism(Sage, 2016) Enders, Walter; Hoover, Gary A.; Sandler, Todd; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa; University of Texas DallasThis article reinvestigates the relationship between real per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and terrorism. We devise a terrorism Lorenz curve to show that domestic and transnational terrorist attacks are each more concentrated in middle-income countries, thereby suggesting a nonlinear income-terrorism relationship. Moreover, this point of concentration shifted to lower income countries after the rising influence of the religious fundamentalist and nationalist/separatist terrorists in the early 1990s. For transnational terrorist attacks, this shift characterized not only the attack venue but also the perpetrators' nationality. The article then uses nonlinear smooth transition regressions to establish the relationship between real per capita GDP and terrorism for eight alternative terrorism samples, accounting for venue, perpetrators' nationality, terrorism type, and the period. Our nonlinear estimates are shown to be favored over estimates using linear or quadratic income determinants of terrorism. These nonlinear estimates are robust to additional controls.Item A comparative test of theories of polarity and conflict(University of Alabama Libraries, 2009) Zhang, Wanfa; Gibler, Douglas M.; Oneal, John R.; University of Alabama TuscaloosaWorks on the relationship between polarity and war in the past produce inconsistent, sometimes, self-conflicting conclusions. This is caused by the lack of a comparable way of conceptualizing and defining polarity and the lack of a common gauge for estimating that relationship. This research addresses these methodological shortcomings and explores the linkage between the international system of the major powers and dyadic conflict by conducting a comparative study of polarity and war. It tests the targeted relationship using: 1) a number of quantifiable polarity concepts proposed by several representative scholars, including John Mearsheimer, Jack Levy, Charles Kegley and Gregory Raymond, and George Modelski; 2) a common research design that has incorporated the Kantian variables and has drawn the essence from the latest progress in this discipline, and 3) an objective method of calculating a continuous measure of the polarity among the great powers. Such a research design can compare the impact of various types of polarity on the onset of wars while controlling for both realist and Kantian influences. It provides a broad prospective on the connection between polarity and war. This study confirms the existence of a connection between polarity and war of unipolarity > bipolarity > multipolarity in order of peacefulness.Item Competing issue frames and attitude consistency: conditions for understanding public opinion(University of Alabama Libraries, 2010) Park, Young Hwan; Cassel, Carol A.; University of Alabama TuscaloosaCompeting elite cues help citizens crystallize their policy opinions. Political leaders prime and frame issues in opposing terms, allowing them to be emphasized and discussed in electoral competition. With equal message flows, citizens contrast policy issues and attach personal relevance to the side of the issues as campaigns connect policy alternatives to citizens' underlying political principles. Through these means, citizens in a low information environment become better informed. Since data are structured in levels of groups and coefficients can vary depending on groups, multilevel models are used. The findings show that when they are exposed to competing issue frames, citizens tend to increase constraint between their general political principles and perception of meaningful differences between candidates. This effect is remarkable for the less grounded people.Item Corruption, political institutions and foreign direct investments: a disagregated study(University of Alabama Libraries, 2012) Munga, Jane; Gibler, Douglas M.; University of Alabama TuscaloosaThere is great debate if corruption deters or helps foreign direct investment (FDI). In my dissertation I forward this debate and offer two suggestions. The link between corruption and FDI is best observed at the FDI industrial level. I disaggregate FDI into three dependent variables: market-seeking, labor-seeking and raw materials-seeking FDI. Second I argue the relationship between FDI and corruption is affected by the prevailing political institutions in a host country. I include veto players as a measure of political institutions. I conduct quantitative analyses and results indicate that FDI is indeed a firm level decision. I find that for the most part corruption and weak political institutions are a deterrent to FDI, however, in raw materials-seeking corruption compensates the consequences of a defective bureaucracy and bad policies. These findings show that foreign investors invest in different host environments in pursuit of different institutional advantages. The positive relationship between weak political institutions and corruption on raw materials-seeking FDI should however, not be interpreted as an ultimate institutional advantage. Results indicate that corruption is an effective tool in the short-term only, in the long run, the positive effects of corruption on raw material-seeking FDI diminish indicating that a government's commitment to foreign investments is best signaled by legitimate government institutions.Item Criminal disenfranchisement policies across democracies: the impact of democracy, punishment and race(University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) Chowdhury, Ishita Tasmia; DeRouen, Karl R.; University of Alabama TuscaloosaDemocracies generally agree that suffrage important; however, many democracies continue to disenfranchise prisoners. Currently, 80 electoral democracies impose some restrictions on the voting rights of prisoners. Some countries impose restrictions beyond the prison sentence. This study explores the factors that impact the variation in disenfranchisement policies across 111 electoral democracies. More specifically, this study examines the impact of democracy, punishment and racial and ethnic fractionalization on the variation of prisoner disenfranchisement policies. The findings demonstrate that the participatory aspects of democracy such as third wave democratization, and democratic participation have a negative effect on the profanity and degree of disenfranchisement across electoral democracies.Item The daily creation of the nation-self and the problem of the border(University of Alabama Libraries, 2019) Hughston, Terry Lynn; McKnight, Utz; University of Alabama TuscaloosaThis dissertation is an attempt to give a more accurate answer to the perennial question of “What is a nation?” by offering a novel theory of the nation-as-self. The theoretical foundation of this theory is largely built upon the works of Ludwig Feuerbach, Carl Schmitt, and Friedrich Nietzsche by arguing that the nation is created through a regular (if not daily) process by which a rational self-reflective agent generates a conception of nation as an alienated version of the politics of that self. Nation essentially possesses the political and personal characteristics of the self yet stands, abstractly, in distinction to the self. The individual then uses the nation-self to examine other claims of nation by other selves as a way of determining whether they are similar enough to the self to warrant a tenuous and temporary designation as a conational or be designated as exception. After establishing this theory of the nation-self, I will examine the potential of civic compassion as a method by which we can relax the view of nations as essentially bordered and imagine a paradigm of boundless political identities without states of exception and exclusion.Item Deep in the heart: Mark Twain and Walker Percy as authors of agency(University of Alabama Libraries, 2010) Bourland, Laura Lea; McKnight, Utz Lars; University of Alabama TuscaloosaThe following project examines the transformative power of literature against certain problems of the modern and postmodern experience as articulated by political theory. The primary concern is what theologian David Kyuman Kim calls "melancholic freedom," a condition wherein the intelligibility of the self has been compromised by the decreases in personal agency brought on by a modern disconnect from moral and ethical sources. As such, this work is situated within the contemporary debate on the interrelatedness of identity and agency, and thus the work of Charles Taylor will figure prominently. Much of the work of twentieth and twenty-first theorists has centered around attempts to resolve the complications that have developed in the wake of our modern era, to explain the tradeoffs and contradictions. Kim suggests the need for "projects of regenerating agency," which satisfy the following criteria: 1) provide suggestion of a religious imagination at work; 2) support a cultivation of the self; 3) demonstrate a search for moral identity and present opportunities for spiritual exercise; and 4) exhibit an aspiration toward a vocation of the self. It is my argument that engagement with the literary arts, either as a reader or writer, fulfills these conditions and presents an alternative site for regenerating agency. This expansion of Kim's work opens theory to wider application and joins political philosophy and literature in a common project of expanding the discourse on identity and agency. I will demonstrate how the writing and lives of Mark Twain and Walker Percy meet Kim's criteria for such a project. Twain and Percy as authors of projects of regenerating agency advance the case that art has the capacity to be instructive and illuminating as part of our moral discourses in ways that theory cannot replicate. Also, a reading of literature motivated by the concerns of political theory--in this case the discussion on identity, agency, and their points of intersection--allows us to reinvigorate the critical appreciation of these two authors.Item Devolution, discretion, and the effect of local political values on TANF sanctioning(University of Chicago Press, 2007) Fording, Richard C.; Soss, Joe; Schram, Sanford F.; University of Kentucky; University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison; Bryn Mawr College; University of Alabama TuscaloosaOne of welfare reform's most significant consequences is the devolution of policy-making authority from the federal government and states to local governments and frontline workers. What is perhaps less often appreciated is that devolution of authority to state governments has been accompanied by a significant decentralization of policy-making authority within states. As a result, prior research has not given sufficient attention to local political context as a factor shaping program implementation. This article examines the effect of local political values on the use of sanctions to penalize welfare recipients. Analyzing administrative data from the Florida Department of Children and Families for over 60,000 welfare clients, we find that there is a statistically significant amount of local variation in sanctioning rates across the state of Florida, even after controlling welfare clients' characteristics. Local sanctioning patterns are systematically related to selected characteristics of local communities, including their ideological orientations.Item The direct primary election system in Alabama(University of Alabama Libraries, 1931) Burgin, Maggie; University of Alabama TuscaloosaChapter one of this thesis deals with the early primary regulations in Alabama, and is therefore mostly historical. Early methods of making nominations are discussed, and the desire on the part of the voters for a primary election is shown. The first steps toward majority rule are presented by citing acts and laws passed by the legislature and by the State Committee. The autocratic power of the State Democratic Executive Committee is shown, and the chapter closes with a discussion of the set of 1911 and further regulations by the committee and Subcommittee.Item Disparities in syringe exchange program efficacy in urban and rural environments(University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) McCan, Zachary Hardister; Fording, Richard C.; University of Alabama TuscaloosaPolicies intended to reduce the harm caused by substance abuse in the United States have been shown to have positive results in reducing the rates of communicable diseases and overdose related deaths in communities that have chosen to implement such policies. Specifically, syringe exchange programs have been shown to reduce the rates of HIV/AIDS in cities and counties that have them. Currently, most syringe exchange programs are in large cities leaving hard hit rural communities to suffer with the effects of HIV/AIDS with fewer resources than their urban counterparts. When syringe exchanges are in rural areas, a combination of proximity to the programs, stigmatization, policing policy, and other environmental factors reduce the ability for syringe exchange programs to operate at their maximum level of effectiveness. It is important to understand exactly what the disparity in efficacy in syringe exchange programs in urban and rural environments is, and what causes it so that local, state, and federal policymakers can work to tailor programs and policies to rural communities. This study uses fixed effects and interactive models to analyze time series panel data to test the effect of syringe exchanges in urban and rural contexts. The data was collected primarily from census data, but an independent measure of social capital is also used, as well as information from nonprofit groups such as the Foundation for Aids Research, and the North American Syringe Exchange network. The fixed effects model control for homogeneity in counties over time, and additional control variables include if a county is in a Medicaid expansion state, health insurance rates, and the presence of a syringe exchange program in a county. Using this data, I find that as rurality increases, syringe exchange programs are less effective, per the hypothesis, alongside several other findings. This research suggests that governments would be wise to both increase syringe exchange program coverage, especially in rural areas, and implement mobile syringe fleets.Item Do Welfare Sanctions Help or Hurt the Poor? Estimating the Causal Effect of Sanctioning on Client Earnings(University of Chicago Press, 2013) Fording, Richard C.; Schram, Sanford F.; Soss, Joe; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa; City University of New York (CUNY) System; Hunter College (CUNY); University of Minnesota System; University of Minnesota Twin CitiesThis article examines the effect of financial sanctions for noncompliance on the earnings of TANF clients. Current research on TANF sanctioning is descriptive, and few studies estimate the effect of sanctions on client outcomes. To estimate the causal effect of sanctioning, we utilize longitudinal data from Florida and a difference-in-difference propensity-score matching estimator. We compare the growth in earnings of sanctioned clients to a comparable sample of nonsanctioned clients four quarters after exiting TANF and find that sanctioning has a statistically significant negative effect on earnings among TANF clients. The effect is consistent across racial groups, larger among clients with at least 12 years of schooling, and generally increases with the frequency of sanctioning. The finding that sanctioned clients exhibit significantly lower growth in earnings than similar nonsanctioned clients suggests that sanctioning may serve to undermine TANF''s goals of reducing welfare use and improving earnings in severely disadvantaged families.Item Does the media send mixed messages?: a case for competitive framing(University of Alabama Libraries, 2011) Mitchell, Sean Patrick McLean; Cotter, Patrick R.; Cassel, Carol A.; University of Alabama TuscaloosaBased upon the work of John Zaller, the way people receive information can at least temporarily affect their opinions. Considering that most people get at least some of their information from broadcast/print news outlets, the way in which those organizations present, or frame, the information is incredibly important. The news media can activate predispositions by how they provide and/or do not provide information. This in turn can affect how the public feels about a news topic. This dissertation builds upon the work of Zaller, Druckman, Kahn and Kenney, and other leading researchers to show that different media sources use different framing techniques in their coverage of news events. Whereas previous studies into competitive framing have concentrated primarily upon political campaigns, this dissertation analyzes how the media uses various framing techniques in covering an issue. The analysis concentrates on the broadcast/print news media coverage of President Bush's "60 Stops in 60 Days" tour to promote his Social Security initiative during the spring of 2005. The analysis of competitive framing within the "Length", "Placement", "Frame Strength", and "Tone" variables is included. In a more traditional study, Length and Placement might be thought of as "agenda setting" rather than as framing variables; however, the fact that this study is on a major Presidential initiative means that the news media is expected to cover the issue. How much they cover it and where they place the coverage is a result of their own gate-keepers' perceptions of the importance level, or weight, relative to other stories. The interest here is with the actual content of media coverage. Specifically, this study examines whether or not there is variation in the way a political topic is framed within various news outlets. That is, in framing political issues, do various news outlets engage in "competitive framing."Item A dyadic examination of the territorial peace(University of Alabama Libraries, 2019) Rickert, Joseph Adrian; DeRouen, Karl R.; University of Alabama TuscaloosaThe territorial peace theory poses the most prominent challenge to the democratic peace theory. Although territorial peace theory has generated robust results in quantitative studies, the domestic processes involved in regime formation and change pre- and post-resolution of territorial threats still warrant consideration. This leaves open avenues of research that might augment the theory’s applicability to certain regime types rather than being understood as a universally applied systemic theory. This study examines two democratic and non-democratic dyads that do not entirely conform to territorial peace theory to help explain regime type formation. These case studies also investigate domestic processes of regime response to external territorial threat, and the impact of this threat on regime type.