Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, Political Science

Despite being the largest minority in the U.S. the politics of Latinos remains an understudied and misunderstood phenomenon. While this dearth of knowledge can partially be attributed to neglect, when political scientists have taken an interest, they have too often relied upon ordinary circumstances and traditional thinking to classify the political identity and behavior of Latinos. When these conventional frames have fallen short, Latinos have either been cast-off as a defective version of the dominant typological exemplars, or worse, deemed as apolitical. To correct these deficiencies of scholarship, this study uses the wedge initiatives in California (Proposition 187; 209 and 227) to measure the political response of Latinos to a series of controversial political events in order to test the validity of traditional political identity frames in a contextual and contentious environment. In addition, the operating thesis of this work advances the notion of cultural citizenship as a viable and superior alternative to traditional group identity models and as a concept that successfully incorporates the unique experience of Latinos into its framework.

Bachelor of Arts, Ashland University, 2021, History/Political Science

Fashion plays a very important role in the lives in modern-day America, and fashion in politics is no different. Politicians use their fashion to convey a message about themselves and their campaigns. Women in American politics are left in a difficult position, as they gain a lot of extra attention and criticism regarding their attire. Problems arise when this attention on their clothing takes away from what women are trying to say. This is seen throughout history as women become more and more active in politics. If women are able to get over their criticisms, then they are able to use this extra attention to their advantage.

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2022, Political Science

Recent years have seen online political subcultures that embrace populism and reject many liberal institutional norms gain increased influence over the mainstream political arena. Four of the most prominent of these subcultures include White Nationalists, believers of the QAnon conspiracy theory, the Black Lives Matter movement, and modern Socialists. All four of these groups have, to varying degrees, seen support for their views rise among mainstream media outlets, elected officials, and the public. However, the insistence of these groups on ideological purity and their often combative stance towards moderate colleagues has made influencing legislative efforts difficult for them at times. Additionally, these groups have had differential impacts on democracy in the United States. While the more progressive of these subcultures seek to expand democratic rights and participation to the poor and people of color, the more conservative among these groups often seek to restrict the political rights and influence of their ideological rivals and historically marginalized people.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2006, Political Science

In the aftermath of Argentina's December 2001 financial meltdown, the political class was widely blamed for the crisis that transformed this once predominantly middle-class country into a poor one. However, when new presidential elections were held in April 2003, establishment candidates generally placed higher relative to non-establishment candidates. To account for this puzzling election outcome, I examine the role that Argentine centrist print media may have played through their coverage of establishment and non-establishment candidates. The research design involves content analysis of front-page news articles from large, centrist newspapers, Clarin and La Nacion, over an eleven-month period. To analyze the data, I rely on count data and multi-linear graphs as well as correlation coefficients and tests of significance. Testing two hypotheses, namely media attention and framing, I find that establishment candidates received more media attention, and perhaps more name recognition, than did non-establishment candidates. I also find that centrist print media framed candidate strengths and weaknesses in particular ways. Establishment candidates were portrayed as having competency and electability as their strengths and integrity as their weakness. In contrast, their non-establishment rivals were presented as having integrity as their strength and competency and electability as their weaknesses. This study shows that both the extensiveness and the slant in coverage may have advantaged establishment candidates over non-establishment candidates in terms of their ultimate standing in the polls. A discussion of pre-election and post-election survey results validate these findings by showing that media depictions of candidate competency and integrity were reasons named for candidate support. The value-added of this study is that it examines a macro level outcome in an original and systematic way by focusing on candidate information that voters may have relied on when making (open full item for complete abstract)

Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2023, History

This thesis explores the complex and politically significant history of America's Religious Right. From the 1940s to the end of the 20th century, the Religious Right built upon public fear and unease, shaping their social and political positions for political, not theological, impact. As a political group, the Religious Right necessarily included a more social perspective to their political actions with the notion that certain elements of American society were morally dangerous and looking to the government to correct these flaws. By personalizing politics and emphasizing divisive wedge issues, they built a network of dedicated supporters who propelled their rise to power. This approach revitalized economic principles and introduced new wedge issues to direct public debate to follow the path they chose. The underpinnings of the Religious Right began to emerge in the 1940s and 1950s as World War II dramatically changed the character of life in the United States. Televangelists began to become major household names with reach and sway as economic and technologic effects of the war created a new market of television viewers. At the same time, the Civil Rights Movement started to threaten the stability of the racial hierarchies that the social order was based upon to a large extent. All the while, communism loomed as a dark specter over the nation. By the late 1980s and 1990s, the Religious Right had firmly entrenched itself as a political and social landscape of the United States. This achievement was the result of calculated political maneuvering over multiple generations, utilizing personal matters to unite a passionate and determined political base. Notably, the Religious Right's causes were manifestations of the public fears of their time. The dangerous element invoked by these fears evolved from communism to civil rights activists to LGBTQ+ individuals who bucked the roles society established for them. For the Religious Right, the theological backing for their cau (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Political Science

A large body of research points to evidence that the U.S. is in an era of strong party government, characterized by internally homogenous and externally heterogeneous parties. In a three article dissertation, I find that parties are not invariably strong and polarized. The first chapter finds evidence of surprising patterns of bipartisanship in state legislatures. The second chapter develops a methodology and produces a data set of scores reflecting members' influence in their party's constituent communication. The third chapter uses those scores to test whether party influence extends beyond formal legislative activities.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Political Science

In discussing the intersection between business and politics, Robert Dahl claimed that there is "no dearth of important and even urgent questions." This dissertation tackles one such question: How do economic firm intervention in the development of the state influence modern outcomes? I argue that when institutions are in transition, firms and state actors both face uncertainty, and as a result, they enter an arrangement in which the state actor consistently provides the firm with public resources in return for patronage. I define this as state capture. Across my three papers, I find that when we focus on the role of firms in political development, there are widespread and long-term consequences for the state and local populations when the state is captured. Across all three of these papers, I explore these ramifications in Appalachia Kentucky. State capture is not a novel concept, but its usage is uneven and unclear, and there is no cohesive intellectual conversation. The first paper ameliorates this by taking this literature and synthesizing a concept from which we can derive clearer implications. I use Kentucky and the Appalachian coal region to explore this concept. I collect archival data to test one observable implication of the concept---lack of democratic commitment and non-competitive elections. I find the inverse of what I expect to observe, elections in Appalachia Kentucky, for the locally elected sheriff and tax commissioner are more competitive than my theory predicts. I discuss this finding considering my concept and argue that this represents a need for understanding how economic firms can influence political outcomes. The second paper applies the conceptualization of state capture more deeply to the case of Appalachia Kentucky, to create a model to better understand the region's persistent economic underdevelopment. I argue that compared to previous Appalachian development models, understanding the region's local politics as captured is empiric (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, Political Science

Prior research in political behavior illustrates that individuals rely upon group identities in political decision-making. People who are highly identified with a particular group are likely to make choices in line with that group's interest. Despite advancements in the literature, we still know considerably little about how identification with a certain group transforms into a salient political identification. Additionally, the existing literature does not provide or explain the mechanism that facilitates this transition? My argument is that political context significantly shapes not only the salience of the political attachment, but also the strength of that attachment. I use experimental methods to establish the malleability of political attachment to a group. In particular, I focus on Black Americans as the main test case due to the strong empirical evidence that demonstrates that their Black political attachment with the racial group, or linked fate, is fundamental to explaining political decisions and behavior. In my first study (Chapter 2), I test the contextual effects of racialized political discourse by varying explicit racial messages about which segments of the Black community are defined as a part of the broader “Black” interest. I find that Blacks that are not chronically included or excluded in political discourse—moveable Blacks—show significant increases in their linked fate when their interests are being framed as the major interest for the group. In the second study (Chapter 3), I argue that Blacks rely upon their political attachment with the racial group when they are exposed to a political context in which there is a conflict between their simple self-interest and the group-interest as a means to manage the cognitive dissonance. I conduct an experiment in which personal incentives are only received by opting out of the expected group norm of behavior. I find that Blacks respond with increases in their expressions of linked fate. (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2009, Political Science (Arts and Sciences)

This comparative study explores the intersection between the perversion of representative political systems in Ghana and Nigeria and the performance of resistance. It draws heavily on psychoanalytical theory (as well as structuralism and constructivism) to understand how the burdens of colonial legacies and elite fantasies overwhelm the present representative democratic arrangements. From these theoretical lenses, the study further explore how these perverted political system legitimizes the marginalization of citizens and encourages the hijack of political spaces by elites. I concluded that the encroachment of public political space by elites trigger a resistive response from marginalized citizens.

Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2025, Political Science

Women are underrepresented in U.S. politics. This study helps to better understand the media's relationship with gendered politics and the barriers preventing women from being elected to office in the U.S. My research question is, “To what extent are women and men treated differently by news media in political campaigns?” To answer my research question, I analyze the 13 U.S. Senate races from 2022 in which a man and a woman ran against each other and compare the news media associated with these campaigns. This research serves to help women running in political campaigns better understand how they might be perceived. Overall, the findings in this study are promising for women looking to run for political office. This will help to knock down the media barrier that deters women from wanting to enter politics.

Honors Theses, Ohio Dominican University, 2023, Honors Theses

American Catholics were once a voting block which favored the Democratic party. However, Catholics now vote nearly the same as the general population, a contradiction when compared to other Christian denominations in the United States. This essay works to explore the political, historical, and theological elements of this division which caused the Church to fracture in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Philosophically, the core political ideals of the Catholic Church and the modern United States stand in stark contrast with one another. Presently, the foundational political theory of the United States as formulated by John Locke has become warped into a sort of hyper-individualism. This hyper-individualism emphasizes a personalization of moral truths, and thus stands against the natural law theory of the Church developed from the works of St. Thomas Aquinas. This hyper-individualism would eventually seep into the American Catholic Church, and events throughout the twentieth century would work to further this permeation. Historical events such as the Americanism controversy, the Second Vatican Council, the election of John F. Kennedy, the widespread rejection of Humanae Vitae, and the political actions before and after Roe v. Wade, would work to further divide the Church. Finally, the essay concludes with an examination of various topics prevalent in American political discourse and determines how a Catholic could respond to those issues while remaining faithful to the teachings of the Church. This examination includes consideration of teachings from the Magisterium and determines the level of authority each teaching has by utilizing the concluding paragraphs of the Profession of Faith. The conclusions of this examination show that many politicians who claim to be Catholic take up positions contrary to the faith and risk placing themselves outside of full communion with the Catholic Church. Finally, this essay raises the question as to whether American Cathol (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1953, History

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1953, History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, History of Art

Chinese media art has evolved in tandem with the growing enthusiasm for technological revolution since the post-Mao 1980s. While recent scholarship has analyzed the critical role played by the so-called “information fever” in propelling China's transition to a technocratic society, the dynamic interplay between post-Mao techno-utopianism and the development of media art is yet to be historicized. My dissertation fills this gap by examining how artists negotiated new fantasies about information on the one hand, and anxieties about state control and social engineering on the other. Seeing information technology as a new form of power impacting post-socialist artistic practices, I investigate how media artists adopted new ideas and vocabularies from cybernetic theories to articulate the political manipulation of technology and the tension between control and communication. Through inspection of historical documents and audiovisual materials, my preliminary research suggests that the rise of a technocratic society profoundly reshaped subjectivity and corporeality in post-Mao China. As artists reacted to an increasingly precarious status of humanity, the socially and biologically reengineered human body appeared as a vital subject matter in media art. Based on these findings, I argue that media artists of the post-reform era transformed a cybernetic imaginary of the body into new inventive forms of embodiment. In doing so, they were able to visualize the alienating effects of modernization, activating an alternative political imagination that enabled them to rethink the politics of the “human.” Rather than framing Chinese media art as a derivative or an imported art form, my project illuminates its specific social and political context and its potential to resist the dehumanizing aspects of technology. As one of the first efforts to address the impact of technology on art and humanity in the context of post-Mao China, my study complicates a Western-dominated discourse (open full item for complete abstract)

Bachelor of Arts, Walsh University, 2021, Honors

This study looks at Stark County, Ohio—a national political bellwether—through the conduction of a survey at all six of its institutions of higher education, enabling the study of the gender gap and women's generational gap in a college-educated atmosphere. A total of 864 respondents among students, staff, and faculty gave responses that were used to analyze political party affiliation, political ideology, and attitudes toward public policies. While women were far more likely to identify as Democrats, chi-square and independent samples t-tests indicate that women only support more liberal pro-women policies and government program expansion; men and women has similar attitudes toward both economic and social inclusion policies. Women over 25 held more liberal attitudes toward pro-women and social inclusive policies than college-age women, but the two groups answered similarly on government programs and economic inclusion.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2020, History (Arts and Sciences)

Betty Friedan and her landmark manifesto, "The Feminine Mystique," have a complex and challenging history. In 1963, the book roused countless women from domestic slumber, leading to the transformation of the social fabric of the United States. Despite the book's influence, much of Friedan's intellectual legacy, the core of which is identity, grounded in liberal, mid-century values, has been lost or forgotten. Fully understanding Friedan's ideas requires a fresh look at the historical and intellectual forces that shaped her thinking. Sigmund Freud, existentialism, humanist psychology, and mid-century liberalism all influenced Friedan and her vision for women's liberation from the “mystique.” Modern feminism, however, differs significantly from Friedan's original vision, detailed in "The Feminine Mystique." The feminist pursuit of identity eclipsed Friedan's liberal vision and prescription for gender equality, leading to divisive and illiberal consequences. "The Lost Legacy of Liberal Feminism" traces this development, following the thread of identity from the intellectuals who influenced Friedan, to the message of "The Feminine Mystique," to the birth of identity politics. Despite having begun as a movement intended to bridge gaps in the liberal democratic promise, by the end of the 1960s the women's movement took a troubling turn, contributing to the current state of identity politics that threatens the gender equality Friedan sought to achieve.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2020, American Culture Studies

This study looks at twentieth-century representations of fictional female U.S. presidents in film, television, and literature. Examining how these portrayals either reinforce or subvert existing ideas about gender may give some insight into why the U.S. has not had a female president yet, as well as how each wave of feminism may have its own corresponding backlash. This project employs a textual analysis method and uses a feminist methodology. After analyzing the primary texts under consideration, it becomes clear that the majority of twentieth-century fictional representations of female U.S. presidents reify hegemonic gender roles and do not portray the presidents as being fully capable and worthy of respect. It is only toward the middle of the 1990s and later that any real change is seen in these characters. The media framing of real-life women running for president is somewhat in line with how female presidents are portrayed in fictional texts. These women are not depicted as being fully capable to serve the office of the U.S. presidency, and it takes quite a few decades before content creators are willing to deviate from this norm. This study has broader implications, too, insofar as the U.S. presidency is symbolic of systems of power more generally, and thus the texts herein can offer insight into how women are received in many positions of political and economic leadership.

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2020, History

Ohio politics during the Reconstruction era has received sparse treatment by historians. Not until 1970 with Felice Bonadio's North of Reconstruction was there a monograph solely dedicated to Ohio politics during the era. Robert Sawrey wrote his Dubious Victory in 1992, but still the historiography on Reconstruction Ohio remains dramatically underdeveloped. In Ohio, the question of African American suffrage was the single most divisive issue facing politicians during the era. Radical Republicans brought a referendum before the people of Ohio in 1867 to change the state constitution to protect the suffrage rights of both white and black males above the age of 21. The measure failed 216,987 votes (45.9 percent) to 255,340 (54.1 percent) votes. The failure of the suffrage amendment disheartened many Radical Republicans across Ohio and the rest of the North, yet Ohio Republicans managed to elicit more support for suffrage than most states in the North. Such support did not arise randomly; it intentionally developed over a three-year period beginning after the Civil War. Two primary research questions drive this project: 1) Did suffrage become a crucial issue in the state of Ohio earlier than the existing historiography suggests, 2) why were Ohio radicals able to generate more support for black suffrage within the Republican party than in other states in the North? By showing that Republican support (through Congressional voting records, public support via speeches and letters, and by Republican-sympathetic papers throughout the state) for black suffrage existed in significant numbers in 1865 (prior to 1866-1867, as Bonadio, Sawrey and others suggest) in both the Western Reserve and in other parts of the state and only continued to grow until the referendum in the fall of 1867, this project will argue that black suffrage was not only being pursued by radicals, but ultimately by the vast majority of the Republican party. Ohio's inability to secure black suffrage with over (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2019, History

This paper explores the power of history in the rhetoric of conservative politicians, historians and media figures during the Long American Culture Wars (1992-2010). Throughout these years, the content of historical rhetoric remained generally consistent and emphasized four essential ideas: the 1960s as a moment of national declension, a national history of neoliberalism, the Christian tradition in America, and general opposition to multiculturalism. Throughout these 18 years, conservative rhetoric grew progressively more hostile in three distinct sub-eras, “The Contract With America” era (1992-2000), the “With Us or Against Us” era (2002-2006), and the “Tea Party” era (2007-2010). The rhetoric of conservative figures demonstrated this paper's central argument – that history was an essential tool for conservative elites to defend their policies and values, while simultaneously attacking those of their liberal opponents.

Bachelor of Science (BS), Ohio University, 2019, Journalism

Coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is widespread and far-reaching. Many international outlets are covering the conflict alongside local media, and the conflict has intense political ramifications that spread far past the Middle East. In this thesis, I examine two points of coverage during the Second Intifada in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and compare coverage amongst three different news outlets. The intifada broke out right after the turn of the century and was covered in a heavily global context. There is a sufficient existing literature examining media coverage of the Second Intifada, but my research focuses on two periods of involving the disengagement plan brought forth by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. My research will examine the connection between politics and journalism in the conflict by taking political role conception theories and applying them to Israeli and U.S. media outlets covering the conflict. I will examine how these media outlets crafted certain political role conceptions in their coverage and also analyze the framing devices through which they were conveyed.