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

The Salvadoran Civil War of 1979-1992 transformed the nation's government from a military dictatorship into a liberal democracy. The United States was involved from the beginning to the end of the war, yet the superpower's role in the political outcome has been under-investigated. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to examine how the presence of the United States in the conflict shaped its eventual outcome. It argues that the United States' main role was to serve as a bulwark for the formal institutions and processes of liberal democratic government against the furies unleashed by the civil war. Salvadoran politicians, activists, party members and voters worked within these institutions to reform the politics of the country. The U.S. policy that unfolded in El Salvador was itself a product of historical development. This dissertation therefore describes the historical antecedents of the policies of the three U.S. presidential administrations that engaged with the Salvadoran Civil War: those of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. These antecedents included the legacy of U.S. imperialism in the Caribbean Basin, the Cold War, and the rise of the human rights movement in U.S. politics. Furthermore, the Reagan and Bush administrations' El Salvador policy was the product of both administrations' interaction with a human rights constituency in the U.S. Congress.

Committee: Peter Hahn (Advisor); Stephanie Smith (Committee Member); Peter Mansoor (Committee Member); Joseph Parrott (Committee Member) Subjects: History

Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2020, Communication

Women in the political sector struggle to find their place. Though the number of female representatives has increased in recent years, it has been a slow climb often complicated by the socially prescribed importance of their image to the public eye as represented through media. In the impeachment of President Donald Trump, two female senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, were prominently featured on news coverage outlets. As it is not historically common for female politicians to be at the center of major debates, this case allowed for valuable analysis of how the media portrays women in politics. Through this work, three questions are explored: 1) How did cable news media frame Senators Susan Collins' and Lisa Murkowski's roles in the impeachment process of President Donald Trump? 2) How did Senators Collins and Murkowski frame themselves in their self-representations through the impeachment process? 3) How have Collins and Murkowski engaged in self-representation for their overall identities as senators?

Committee: Sheryl Cunningham (Advisor); Kelly Dillon (Committee Member); Edward Hasecke (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Gender Studies; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Political Science; Womens Studies

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2018, History

This thesis examines the National Congress of American Indians, the oldest and most representative Native American rights organization, and its lobbying efforts during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations to define and develop the concept of Native American self-determination. Based on the preservation of tribal status by rejecting termination, consultation and participation in the process of policy formation, and self-sufficient economic development, the NCAI promoted this vision of self-determination through legislative action by way of resolutions and testimonials to influence a new direction of federal Indian policy during the transitional decade between the 1950s' termination era legislation and the 1970s' proclaimed self-determination.

Committee: Andrew Offenburger Dr. (Advisor); Steven Conn Dr. (Committee Member); Helen Sheumaker Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; History; Native American Studies; Native Americans; Native Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2013, Political Science

This research contributes to the current scholarship regarding the influence of domestic interest groups on United States (U.S.) foreign trade policy and it is unique in that it specifically considers the likelihood for approval of protectionist trade policy by an executive administration. It investigates this question: What is the relationship of influence between domestic interest groups and presidential trade policy protection? Research that considers this research question may have important policy implications in that it allows scholars, citizens, and state officials to better understand how interest groups influence foreign trade policy. Specifically, one may find the following contributions from this work: scrutiny of the relationship between interest groups and presidential foreign trade policy output, unique interest group operationalization, specific case study analysis of the Bush Administration's aberrant favor toward protectionist trade policy during the World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) case of United States--Countervailing duty measures concerning certain products from the European Communities (WT/DS212)_2002, and insight into the influence of interest groups of various kinds as I apply my theory in a time series analysis of administrations from 1964-1992 in order to observe the accuracy of my theory across time and when considering various administrations and industries of trade.

Committee: John Rothgeb Jr. (Advisor); Augustus Jones (Committee Member); Abdoulaye Saine (Committee Member); Andrew Cayton (Committee Member) Subjects: Political Science