This study looked at whether multicultural students, specifically Latinos and Asian Americans, perceived discrimination in their classrooms, workplace, or on campus in general.  Participants consisted of Latino and Asian American students who filled out an online survey with questions on these areas. Four hypotheses were created and tested which were 1) Latinos would perceive discrimination more than Asian Americans, 2) males would perceive discrimination more than females, 3) multicultural Greek members would perceive discrimination more than non-Greeks, and 4) upper classmen would perceive discrimination more than lower classmen.  The results from the survey responses supported only one of the four hypotheses where multicultural Greeks perceived discrimination more than non-Greeks. This area of perceived discrimination among multicultural students is something that should have more research conducted on.

The study of capital punishment ultimately comes down to matters of life or death, and this fundamental concept is reflected by the ferocity of the debate over its legality. With the high stakes of this debate, national polls dating back to the 1930s have been quantitatively tracking public opinion on this issue. National poll data on capital punishment provides an excellent opportunity to examine the important relationship between state policies and public opinion over time. Currently, the vast body of research has been concentrated on identifying national demographic variables associated with support for capital punishment, and the influence of opinion on policy. However, there has been little research considering these variables at the state-level of analysis. Furthermore, few studies have researched the directional influence of policies on opinion. The objective of this study is to determine how state variables and policies including: violent crime rates, number of executions, and number of exonerations explain fluctuations in public opinion over time. The findings suggest a positive relationship between violent crime rates and support for capital punishment over time. There also appears to be a positive relationship between the number of executions and support for capital punishment; in other words, as the number of executions increases so does the support for capital punishment. Lastly, the support for capital punishment was found to decrease over time with increasing number of exonerations. The narrower focus of this state level analysis is important to examine underlying trends in public opinion, which may not be captured with nation wide studies.

The Greek sovereign debt crisis has required controversial bailouts, austerity measures that have caused Greek citizens to riot in the streets, and tense political negotiating in the Eurozone. However, it is only one part of a larger problem of economic stability and political unity facing the European Union (EU) today. My research, then, seeks to answer three main questions: (1) what were the causes of the Greek sovereign debt crisis, (2) what are the potential policy solutions to the Greek debt problem, and (3) what are the implications of these policy proposals on the future of the European Union as a whole? Using an institutionalist approach, which emphasizes the role of institutions in determining the rational decisions of political actors, I analyze both the policies of the EU (in bailing out and financially strengthening Greece) and the institutional defects of the Eurozone (i.e., the European Central Bank has limited power and banking regulations are still national). I evaluate proposed solutions according to which would present the greatest benefits for the fewest costs, in terms of democratic legitimacy, economic competitiveness and efficiency, and political feasibility. My research finds that the Greek debt crisis was caused largely by incentives created by the European political environment and by the institutional structure of the EU’s Economic Monetary Union. Thus, to move forward, the EU must take an active role in restructuring its institutions to promote both economic and political convergence. Correspondingly, it must develop strong political leadership, a polity that identifies with the European project, and a democratic process that provides democratic legitimacy without forgoing its technocratic efficiency.

In the failed state of Somalia, piracy is increasing exponentially, impacting all nations that engage in trade or travel in the region. The economic and human cost of piracy is sure to rise as the situation devolves into maritime terrorism. Although current anti-piracy efforts are moderately successful, there is room for improvement. This report has thoroughly researched the situation to create one comprehensive source for understanding piracy in the Horn of Africa. Research methods included reviewing secondary source material, in addition to interviews with professionals working in counter-piracy efforts and with Somalis in the United States. The coordinator of the U.S. Office of Counter-Piracy and Maritime Security, Donna Hopkins, and her team provided assistance through interviews, contacts with people working in Somalia and around the world, and other valuable sources. The research was compiled into a task force report that provides recommendations for the U.S. State Department, and for other organizations involved in counter-piracy efforts. The following recommendations provide alternative courses of action to address current imperfections in the international architecture’s counter-piracy campaign. Social media should be utilized to launch an anti-piracy information campaign that engages the vast Somali Diaspora. Because piracy is a land-based problem with a maritime manifestation, a grassroots approach to address the land-based causes of poverty and political instability must be instated. National prosecutions and detentions should be supported and facilitated through new international legal frameworks. Passive defensive measures must be expanded on commercial vessels and armed guards should be utilized. The three parallel naval forces patrolling the area are insufficient protection against pirates and must be consolidated into one international force. Finally, the U.S. must expand its diplomatic engagement with regional governments in Somalia through imams and clan elders if the fight against piracy is to succeed.

Immigration law is developed and enforced through cooperation between the state and federal government. There are times when the state legislature creates laws that supplement federal policies in order to conduct immigration enforcement unique to their situation. A state’s public perception regarding immigrants can result in the legislature drafting pro-immigrant or anti-immigrant policies. Previous research by Merkowitz and Yoder (2009) discusses how the U.S. national legislature responds to public opinion about immigrants. They find legislatures are influenced by demographics of their districts. This research will examine the state legislature of Idaho and its response to public perceptions about immigrants. I will be testing to see if immigration policy is a function of the following variables: party affiliation, state demographics, and regional industries. Each variable will be tested independently while controlling for other potential explanatory factors. I will get data for this analysis this summer by conducting a survey using a sample of Idaho state legislators, advocacy groups, and special interests that represent the state’s participants on immigration policy making. In addition to the survey, I will make an analysis on how legislators vote on immigration related legislation from the years 2000 to 2010. Finally, I will create an index that will determine if the responses from the survey and a legislator’s votes are pro-immigrant or anti-immigrant. I will define if a legislators pro-immigrant or anti-immigrant by how far their proposals deviates from current federal immigration policy. I expect the results will show that the state legislature responds more to the state’s demography and economy than the legislator’s party affiliation. The results from this research will reveal who are the primary actors in Idaho’s immigration legislation process. The results will show if there is a difference between the national legislature’s reaction to public pressure and how Idaho’s state legislature reacts.

OneBusAway is an application providing real-time arrival information to tens of thousands of transit riders daily. As a system built on providing reliable information, one of the cornerstones of OneBusAway is threatened when it does not provide accurate information to its users. Our surveys and interviews of current OneBusAway users confirmed that inconsistencies in the application have a significant impact on riders’ transit experience by making them miss their bus and lose trust in the application. In addition, users of the application have limited options for reporting issues with inaccurate information and lack the means to easily receive targeted feedback about their reports. Furthermore, reports received by OneBusAway are not currently categorized, verified for validity, or sent to one central repository, leading to a significant amount of manual work for OneBusAway developers.To address this problem, we designed an issue-reporting system that relies on a network of users to submit, approve, and resolve issues encountered in OneBusAway. Using OneBusAway to establish communication between transit riders and agencies, our system will direct issue reports to the source for resolution and provide feedback to users when the problems are resolved. Our application will empower users with the tools to get actively involved in their transit community and improve the transit experience.

Historically, if an individual entered the U.S. without authorization it was not considered a criminal offense. Today the term “illegal immigrant” is commonplace; with many simply assuming this is how it has always been. "Crimmigration”refers to the phenomenon of increasing overlap between criminal and immigration law, procedures, and enforcement mechanisms.Using newspaper articles, this research identifies the percentage share of crimmigration discussion in several major news outlets as a proxy for the climate of public opinion.This study analyzes the changing rhetoric of immigration since WWII. Through an investigation of newspaper articles, this research examines whether economic downturns have contributed to the criminalization of immigration debates in the public sphere. I expect to find that economic factors are important predictors of the prevalance of crimmigration-related articles, after controlling for the other explanations suggested by past research, such as changes in immigration law.

Public policy affects nearly every aspect of life in the United States. These policies are set largely by legislatures and originate in the policy ideas proposed by individual members. In studies of how policy ideas become law, the archetypical unit of study is the bill. However bills are imperfect indicators of the progress of policy ideas—individual policy ideas may progress even when the original bill does not. This paper uses computational methods to isolate policy ideas in the over 114,000 bills proposed since 1993 before tracing the progress of those ideas through the legislative process. The success of members in pushing individual bills is often equated with their efficacy in the legislative machine. I anticipate that a study of the progress of policy ideas, rather than bills, will demonstrate that policy influence is more widespread in Congress than existing research suggests. The results of this initial study will serve as the foundation for broader research projects examining agenda setting and representation in Congress.

Foreign aid can be used to positively change the economic, environmental, and security realities of an individual country or region. However, the complex nature of global systems means that foreign aid can also have unintended consequences. This paper focuses on the unintended consequences of Plan Colombia for the Latin American drug trade. Plan Colombia was initiated in 1999 with the intent to disrupt the Colombian drug cartels and decrease Colombian drug production. From 2001 to 2009 drug-related killings in Mexico increased from 1,080 per year to a staggering 6,587. From 2002 to 2006, homicides in Colombia declined by 40% and kidnappings decreased by an astounding 80%. . During a similar time period, from 2001 to 2009, drug-related killings in Mexico increased from 1,080 per year to a staggering 6,587. The apparent inverse relationship of violence indicators in Colombia and Mexico suggests that a common event could have caused the change in both countries. The literature on the subject posits that Plan Colombia catalyzed the unintended shift of drug related violence from Colombia to Mexico, however these claims have not been quantitatively investigated and warrant further investigation. In my investigation of this question I analyze patterns of drug production and violence over time to test alternative hypotheses for this shift. Increased understanding of how international aid influences global systems far removed from a target country or region will enable the United States to more effectively accomplish its foreign policy goals.

As hundreds of thousands Pakistanis inundated the cities of Lahore and Karachi to hear the rising cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan speak, commentators and politicians alike were left baffled: how did the peripheral figure and his respective party become a formidable voice in Pakistan’s politics within a few months? This paper will argue that the ascension of Imran Khan’s party, the Tehreek-e-Insaaf, can be attributed to its adoption of Post-Islamist rhetoric of religiosity and rights, which came to be publicly appealing following the formation and failure of the Islamist conglomerate the Muttahida Majles-e-Amal. Due to Postcolonial Pakistan’s institutional divide between State and society, as well as Islamism’s failure to bridge such a gap, Pakistan is experiencing a Post-Islamist turn, where a novel relationship between political institutions and the public sphere is being negotiated. In conclusion, this paper will contend that Post-Islamism may prevail given Pakistan’s pre-existing democratic institutions.

In the aftermath of the Cold War an evolving international economy brought about many changes for countries with transitioning economies. The difficult work of properly guiding transitioning economies through the radical changes required of shifting from command to market economies is not easily undertaken and many mistakes are made throughout that process. By untangling the nexus of political and economic reforms that transitioning economies go through we can achieve more accurate understandings of how transitions occur and can in turn attempt to avoid some of the mistakes made in the past. This paper hypothesizes that the greater the liberalization speed of a transitioning economy the more corrupt the economy and associated political system will be. Contrary to prior examinations of corruption, this paper contends that the nature of transition determines to a greater extent the causes of corruption than does historical or institutional factors about the state itself. The guiding theory behind my hypothesis is that reforms implemented over a short period of time are more susceptible to politically turbulent conditions which will cause elites to attempt to consolidate power via illegal means out of fear that they may lose their position of power in the near future. By comparing the speed of liberalization in several transitioning economies to the rates of corruption in those economies I attempt to demonstrate a causal link between the rate of liberalization and corruption.  

The 2007 financial crisis and subsequent recession in the United States has brought the political economy of unsustainable debt to the forefront of the minds of people everywhere in a way not seen in decades.  This paper will delve into the puzzle of why neither dominant political party has been able to institute the recommendations of the four highly regarded debt and deficit reduction commissions in light of their general consensus regarding goals that need to be met in order to avoid a currency crisis.  We ask the question: Why has the Congress of the United States failed to enact measures to reverse the trajectory of the triple deficits of the United States (fiscal, trade, unfunded liabilities) and thereby avoid this crisis?  Our hypothesis is that decades of continued entrenchment of budgetary, trade, and social policies led to gridlock.  We will investigate the coalitions that have formed around the aging baby boomer population, national health care, and national defense.  First, we will discuss the recommendations of the various commissions.  Second, we will review the literature regarding the interests and coalitions within representative bodies contending with looming fiscal imbalances. Third, we will analyze the interest groups, coalitions, and beneficiaries of inaction at this particular time and relate this to the previous literature review.  Finally we speculate as to what would be necessary for congress to act, and what are the likely scenarios if congress fails to act. Having done so, it is our hope that we can provide policy makers and constituents with a deeper understanding of the political-economic problem that the country faces.

In this essay and presentation, I examine historical accounts of the civil rights movement to see how these narratives have perpetuated heterosexist domination that allowed male leadership and women's subordination to be normalized.  Furthermore, I examine the ways in which heteronormative forms of masculinity are performed by male leaders through the oppression of women and gays and lesbians. I read these instances of sexism and homophobia as attempts to avenge the alleged emasculation of black men by systems of white supremacy and patriarchy. These historiograhical gaps and obfuscations, I argue, are operations of power, but they also provide possible sites of resistance.

Does foreign direct investment lead to female empowerment, or does it lead to female exploitation? I address this question by analyzing how the maquiladora program, manufacturing operations based in Northern Mexico that employ large numbers of women, operate in free trade zones. I argue that the culture of patriarchy produces new forms of female exploitation in the workplace. Through an extensive review of available literature and news media, my findings indicate that despite increased wages and economic independence, along with increased life satisfaction among women who are young, single and childless, those with families often find themselves facing a double burden of having to work and fulfill their traditional domestic responsibilities. Such women are often made to feel guilty for not spending enough time with their children and some endure physical and sexual intimidation both at work and at home. In addition, maquiladora work is dis-empowering for both childless women and mothers because of patriarchal relations in the workplace that lead to isolation and a lack of self-identity (conscious awareness of the self as having a unique identity). For example, women face forms of harassment, including questions regarding their sexual practices, pregnancy screening prior to employment, sexual objectification in the form of workplace beauty contests, sexual propositioning and unsafe working conditions. As a result, women are less likely to unionize and tend to accept work assignments and conditions men are less likely to accept.

 REDD+ stands for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, plus enhancement of carbon stock and preservation of ecosystem services. The REDD+ program in Indonesia is designed to reduce emissions by aligning development and market incentives with environmental protection. REDD+ is one of the strategies that the Indonesian government is implementing to meet its CO₂ reduction targets presented by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Indonesia’s strategy for REDD+ is an ambitious attempt to involve many stakeholders in reducing CO₂ emissions from deforestation. Indonesia is currently working to implement REDD+ in accordance with the internationally recognized 3E criteria of effectiveness, efficiency and equity. This report, based on extensive interviews with stakeholders at all levels of REDD+ implementation, describes the current state of REDD+ implementation in Indonesia and makes policy recommendations for how the international community can best support Indonesia’s efforts to reduce its emissions from deforestation.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor household air are carcinogens that many people are exposed to everyday. Examples of VOCs in the home are benzene, chloroform, and trichloroethylene. Genetically transformed plants are capable of degrading these VOCs by oxidizing them into less harmful compounds. The Strand lab has previously shown that poplar trees and tobacco, genetically transformed with cytochrome P450 2E1 (a rabbit gene expressed in the liver), successfully phytoremediated VOCs (phytoremediation is the use of plants in environmental treatment). My project at the Strand lab is to transform a houseplant with the same 2E1 gene, so people may raise this plant in their home to degrade indoor VOCs. Epipremnum aureum, a house ivy under the common name of pothos, was chosen for this project because the project follows the protocol for pothos transformation published by Kotsuka and Tada. Additionally, pothos does not flower, so the spread of the 2E1 gene can be kept in check. The project was executed in three steps: transformation, regeneration, and confirmation. The first part was to transform explants (pieces of pothos) by way of Agrobacterium infection, in which the bacteria insert the 2E1 gene into the pothos genome. The second step was to induce growth of calli in the explants, from which a new, genetically identical plant could be regenerated. The last step is to confirm that the new pothos was actually transformed and capable of degrading VOCs. This will be done through such tests as PCR, rtPCR, Western blot, and activity assays. I expect the pothos to be able to degrade VOCs as did the transgenic poplar and tobacco. These VOCs include trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, and benzene. If this result is not achieved, then future work may be devoted to find why the 2E1 gene is not compatible with pothos.