Political Science Faculty Research and Publications
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item Open Access Terrorist Attacks on Non-Governmental Organizations(2014-09-30) Stapley, Craig S.Understanding the process by which terrorist groups decide on whom to target would seem to be a process that might lend itself to study and generalization that would be helpful in predicting later attacks. This study hopes to look at the attacks on non-governmental organizations and determine if there is a systematic set of measures that would allow us to determine if terrorist groups do rationally approach target selection in such a way to derive a pattern that would inform future attack avoidance.Item Open Access Race, Class, and Affirmative ActionFliter, John A.; jfliter; Fliter, John A.This is an important and timely book on affirmative action. In the landmark US Supreme Court decision University of California, Davis v. Bakke (1978), diversity in college enrollment was recognized as a compelling government interest, and subsequent decisions on the issue have reaffirmed that position. Alon points out, however, that in upholding the value of diversity in higher education, Justice Lewis Powell’s opinion endorsed a concept of “broad diversity” that goes beyond race and ethnicity. The Supreme Court, unfortunately, has been rather vague in defining the components of that diversity.Item Open Access Taking the fight to them: neighborhood human rights organizations and domestic protest(2015-03-04) Bell, Sam R.; Bhasin, Tavishi; Clay, K. Chad; Murdie, Amanda; sbell3This article examines how human rights international non-governmental organizations (hereafter HROs) can increase the level of political protest in neighboring states. Previous research suggests local activities of HROs help to generate mobilization for protests against governments. This article shows that the presence of HROs in neighboring states can be a substitute for domestic HROs; if domestic HROs are already flourishing, there will be less of a ‘neighbor’ effect. At sufficiently high levels of domestic HRO prevalence within a state, neighboring HROs help domestic HROs use institutionalized substitutes for protest mobilization strategies. Spatial econometric methods are used to test the implications of this theory. These results illuminate the role that non-governmental organizations play in these domestic political processes, and demonstrate the transnational nature of their activities.Item Open Access Secular-Islamist cleavage, values, and support for democracy and shari’a in the Arab world(2014-01-22) Ciftci, Sabri; ciftciPublic opinion polls demonstrate that Arab citizens support both democracy and shari’a. I argue that individual values related to the secular-Islamist cleavage are instrumental in explaining this joint support. The analysis of the Arab Barometer survey shows that individuals holding Islamic values are more favorable of shari'a whereas those with secularist values tend to support democracy. However, the bivariate probit estimations also confirm that Arab opinion about these governing principles is more complementary and less divergent. The results imply that constitutional models combining Islam and democracy, rather than strictly secular institutions, may be more acceptable to Arab citizens.Item Open Access Islamophobia and threat perceptions: explaining anti Muslim sentiment in the West(2013-11-08) Ciftci, Sabri; ciftciThis paper investigates the determinants of anti Muslim sentiment in the West. Starting from the premise that Islamophobic attitudes are more nuanced than a simple dislike of Muslims, I focus on specific forms of attitudes which link Muslims to violence and terrorism. Data from the Pew Global Attitudes Surveys is used to test three theories: perceived threat, social identity, and cognitive capabilities. A series of logit estimations are used for the empirical analysis of individual level data in the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany and Spain. The results show that perceived realistic and symbolic threat is the most significant source of Islamophobic attitudes in the West. While individuals cognitively differentiate between general feelings toward Muslims and their specific characteristics, higher levels of education significantly reduces negative sentiments. A good number of Westerners think of Muslims as violent individuals while some believe that they support al Qaeda. Citizens in the West are more likely to associate Muslims with terrorism if they feel threatened by their physical and cultural existence.Item Open Access Is food security a new tariff? Explaining changes in sanitary and phytosanitary regulations by World Trade Organization members(2013-08-26) Kassatly, Raymond; Long, Andrew G.; Kastner, Justin J.; aglong; jkastnerScholars at the intersection of agricultural trade policy and health regulation have speculated that some governments, under the pretext of health protection, have adopted food safety and plant and animal health regulations to shield domestic farmers from foreign competition. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between trade protection for agriculture and the number of trade‐restricting sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) regulatory notifications issued by World Trade Organization (WTO) members. We construct an empirical model to determine the influence of agricultural protectionism, agricultural interest groups, consumer sentiment, and institutional capacity on changes to a government’s SPS rules. The findings suggest that governments’ adoption of trade‐restricting sanitary and phytosanitary regulations are influenced by agricultural protectionism, even after controlling for consumer awareness and institutional capacity. The evidence suggests that health related trade policies are substituting for more traditional forms of agricultural protectionism.Item Open Access Social identity and attitudes toward foreign policy: evidence from a youth survey in Turkey(2013-05-31) Ciftci, Sabri; ciftciThis paper focuses on the relationship between social identity based on national, religious, or international affiliations and attitudes toward foreign policy in the Turkish context. Evidence is drawn from an original survey conducted among university students in Turkey. The results show that students' social identity has a significant correlation with their perceptions of foreign policy. Most Turkish university students provide conditional support for the new directions in Turkey's foreign policy, but those with an Islamic identity appear to be more supportive of the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi's (Justice and Development Party) policies. Most university students believe that Turkey's future lies in the European Union and the Central Asian Turkic republics rather than in the Middle East. Overall, the perceptions of educated youth toward foreign policy are shaped by both social identity and their conceptions of national interest.
