VTechWorks Repository :: Browsing by Author "Kitchens, Karin E."

Browsing by Author "Kitchens, Karin E."

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Assessing U.S. Senators' Response to a Competitive Primary Challenge with Increased Partisan Roll Call Voting
Tarkenton, William Payne (Virginia Tech, 2021-06-08)
Much of the political punditry in the United States discusses the notion that facing a primary election results in legislators voting in a more partisan fashion in the legislature. A common refrain of this analysis is that facing the primary election constituency (Fenno 1978) or even the threat of facing the primary election constituency causes the senator to vote with the ideological extremes of the party in following sessions of congress. The literature on congressional elections has examined this area of research as it applies to the U.S. House, but few studies fully examine the impact of primary elections on roll call voting in the Senate. This study examines Senate primary elections to see how facing a primary, specifically a competitive primary, influences how a senator votes in the legislature in the first term following the election. This study specifically asks if senators who face a competitive primary challenge and win reelection vote with their party more often in subsequent congresses than senators who do not face a competitive primary challenge. Using OLS regressions and a number of control variables shown in the literature to impact roll call voting patterns, I examine the percentage of the vote that a senator received in her primary election compared to her party unity score in the Senate after the election. While my models demonstrate that facing a competitive primary correlates with a senator having a higher party unity score than senators who do not face a competitive primary, in all of my models the coefficient on this variable is not statistically significant. However, serving in the majority party and being elected in certain election years did have a statistically significant impact on a senator's partisan voting behavior. When testing an interaction effect between facing a competitive primary and serving in the majority party after the election, I also did not find a significant relationship between the interaction and a senator's change in party unity score. These findings add to our understanding of congressional elections by exploring an under-studied aspect of elections in the United States, and future research that adapts and refines the methodology of this study could further develop these results.
The Buddhist and the Khaek: A Study of the Thai State's Ontological Security and Self-Identity
Chatikavanij, Wansit (Virginia Tech, 2021-05-21)
This thesis seeks to examine and analyze the manifestations of the ontological security and self-identity anxiety of the Thai states through its rhetoric in relation to Thai and Malayu Muslims. The main question being posed in this thesis is how the Thai state justified the use of force during the Tak Bai Incident in 2004 and the Ratchaprasong bombing in 2015. This thesis examines the rhetoric of the Thai state through speeches and media before, during, and after in the selected cases. Such rhetoric involves the framing and constructions of "Thainess" or Thai identity in relation to the "other" or Thai and Malayu Muslims during the events. This framing is related to ethno, religious, and cultural nationalism and draws on those narratives. The theory that this research draws from is the Ontological Security theory by Jennifer Mitzen and Brent Steele which allows us to analyze the Thai state's actions and identity construction during the events. Ontological security is the security of the self, which all states strive for since it is linked to self-identity constructions. States will take actions that are at times detrimental to the physical self in order to protect ontological security because it is crucial to its survival. The methodological approach draws from Roxanne Lynn Doty's Discursive Practices Approach which allows us to examine how power and roles are constructed from rhetoric. The key results show that both the Tak Bai Incident and Ratchaprasong bombing disrupted the Thai state's ontological security and self-identity construction. In response, the Thai state engages in security-seeking behavior by reconstructing its self-identity in relation to the Thai and Malayu Muslims in order to regain its sense of ontological security. In doing so, the Thai state and media use rhetoric such as "Farang" and "Khaek" to define the Thai and Malayu Muslims as different and inferior subjects to the Buddhist majority. This enables the Thai state to justify its use of force in order to regain control over its compromised ontological security by way of military actions and violence. We see that the Thai state's perception of ontological security derived from its attachment to routines which had now been associated with the attachment to the conflict. This attachment had allowed the Thai state a sense of certainty since it knew how to act in the face of challenges. Attachment to routines thus allows the Thai state to dispel uncertainty which causes disruptions to its self-identity by creating anxiety. In analyzing the Thai state's rhetoric during these events, various identities of who is and is not Thai can be noted. These are then used to justify and legitimate the use of force by the Thai state as it seeks to protect and safeguard its ontological security.
Chilean Education Paradigms: The Rise and Fall of Neoliberal Education Reforms and their Impacts on Mapuche Education Systems
Devault, Marya Katherynn (Virginia Tech, 2024-05-09)
This thesis will address the impacts of Chilean neoliberal education reforms on students access to primary and secondary education. Across three body chapters, I will conduct a historical, policy, and comparative analysis, as well as case study on the Mapuche population within Chile, to exemplify neoliberal reforms' impact on students across differing socioeconomic statuses. Ranging from the 18th century to 2017, this thesis will provide a comprehensive image of how Chile's national education system has transformed from Catholic, missionary schools with majority state influence during heightened colonial practices to increasingly decentralized and marketized institutions during the 1980s. Through a series of analyses, I hypothesize neoliberal education reform has negatively impacted vulnerable students' access to education through exacerbating discriminatory, financial elements at the hands of the rise of privatized education. To support this, I will initially analyze neoliberal dictator Augusto Pinochet's education policies and reforms starting in 1980. To fully understand these lingering impacts, I also analyze 2005 socialist president Michelle Bachelet's education reforms as a method to further understand which 1980 neoliberal education policies were preserved during the restoration of democracy in Chile during the 1990s and early 2000s. The thesis closes with a final case study of the Mapuche population, the largest indigenous population in Chile. With the use of the methodological frameworks deployed in chapter two and chapter three, I attempt to expose the disproportionate impacts of neoliberal education policies on the Mapuche even as modern education and government administrations attempt to transform the education system away from oppressive and discriminatory policies implemented during the 1980s. Riddled throughout the entire thesis are discussions of social movements advocating for greater education equity, amplifying the call for increased attention on justice for students, teachers, and families.
Effects of Social Media Use on Political Polarization
Kansco, Jacob Anthony (Virginia Tech, 2020-06-22)
21st century political science has seen a growing field of research focused around the idea of political polarization. While authors like Fiorina and Abramowitz have been debating the existence of such polarization, the literature has come to understand that perhaps the root of the issue lies in differing definitions. The never-ending quest for clarity has produced a variety of measures of polarization and, subsequently, theories on why 21st century Americans may be experiencing such polarization. Unsurprisingly, as political science questions what may be causing various trends in 21st century voter behaviors and attitudes, the Internet is often mentioned. With the Internet being a clearly powerful tool for political mobilization, whether or not it is divisive among the public could have politically consequential implications. Because of its interactive nature, it is difficult to evaluate a person's social media use. This study uses a unique survey to evaluate a respondent's general social media and internet use, as well as measures of political polarization. Using this information, along with analysis of the 2016 ANES, I am able to make associations of various levels of social media activity and political polarization. Using means comparison and multivariate regression, I am able to evaluate social media use controlling for effects of age and other confounding variables and how it relates to measures of political polarization. The survey results ultimately provide some evidence for the claim that increasing social media use is associated with higher levels of political polarization. Additionally, in an OLS regression model testing the effects of different sources of political news, increases in internet use are highly correlated with an increase in political polarization.
Federal and Local Acceptance of Refugees: The Dual Structures Promoting Community Inclusion
Garrett, Benjamin Troy (Virginia Tech, 2019-07-11)
This thesis asks the question: what roles do local governments and nongovernmental organizations play in resettling refugees in U.S. cities? To answer this question, I conducted a case study of the refugee resettlement structure and process as it occurs in the city of Roanoke, Virginia. I find that two governance structures dictate how refugees are resettled into the city. The first stems from federal refugee policy, which establishes the use of a public-private partnership between federal and state governments and federated civic organizations. The second is an evolving local-level grassroots organizational structure that assesses the needs of refugees in Roanoke following their initial resettlement. In the case study on Roanoke I examine the support roles and practices of government institutions and nongovernmental organizations during the initial refugee resettlement period. Additionally, I examine aspects of long-term service provision and additional supports that move refugees towards social and economic inclusion. I conducted interviews with government and non-governmental leaders to grasp their understandings of existing practices and norms of local-level refugee resettlement. I also examined local survey data, economic and demographic data, media reports, and other public documents prepared by government agencies and nonprofit organizations. I identify who offers, or influences decisions about, specific supports for refugees at different times throughout the resettlement/integration process. I will suggest further implications of the supports provided for how they structure the pattern of refugees' economic and social inclusion. This thesis is designed to contribute to the limited literature on the process of local-level refugee resettlement in U.S. cities.
Framing Terrorism: Implications for Public Opinion, Civil Liberties, and Counterterrorism Policies
Miller, Kathryn Elizabeth (Virginia Tech, 2021-05-11)
The competing values of national security and civil liberties have been contested as conflicting ideas during times of national emergencies and war, in which the canonical knowledge asserts that the temporary secession of civil liberties is sometimes necessary to protect national security. After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack there has been increased pressure on the U.S. government to provide safety and security, which has required Americans to accept certain restrictions on their freedoms, leading to debates about whether liberty or security should be prioritized. The increasing popularization of securitization in post 9/11 discourse justified by a perpetual state of emergency via the War on Terror, has reinforced the racialization of reified "others," specifically Muslims or people who are perceived to be descendent from the Middle East. The conceptualization of Middle Easterners as 'terrorists' and 'threats' to be securitized has been constructed by political elites and media narratives to garner support for security measures leading to the diminished civil liberties of those stereotyped as "terrorists." Using the theoretical approach of racialized "othering" and the minority threat perception, this research seeks to analyze public opinion on counterterrorism policies when the race/ethnicity and ideological motivations of perpetrators in a hypothetical terrorist attack scenario are manipulated. To investigate this premise, an online survey experiment distributed through Amazon MTurk was conducted to gather public opinion data on counterterrorism policies. Regression analyses were conducted from the 314 respondents to evaluate support amongst various social groups for the counterterrorism policies and whether or not this support was affected by the presence of either American-born, White, men motivated by the teachings of far-right extremism or American-born, men of Middle Eastern descent motivated by the teachings of Islamic extremism. Respondents were asked to evaluate two counterterrorism policies, one that required ceding the civil liberties of the public at large, and the other required ceding the civil liberties of suspected terrorists specifically – which is also referred to as the 'punitive' policy throughout the research. Overall, respondents were more likely to support the policy requiring ceding civil liberties in general, than the punitive policy that would take away the civil liberties of suspected terrorist. When factoring in survey type, respondents in general were more likely to support the punitive policy when taking the White/Far-right extremism survey and were also the most likely to support the policy requiring the public to cede their civil liberties when taking the Middle Eastern/Islamic extremism survey. The willingness to cede civil liberties increased for Black and Asian respondents with the presence of the White/Far-right extremism survey, while willingness to cede civil liberties decreased for White respondents taking the same survey. In general, conservatives were more likely to cede their civil liberties than liberals, and liberals were more likely to view counterterrorism policies as ineffective. When accounting for the effects of survey type on ideology, the results show that conservatives were the least likely to cede their civil liberties when taking the White/Far-right extremism survey, while liberals were the most likely to cede their civil liberties when taking the Middle Eastern/Islamic extremism survey.
Growing Migration in an Emigrant State: an Analysis of Migration Policy, Practice, and Ukrainian Immigration in Poland
Schlitzer, Abigail Augusta (Virginia Tech, 2024-05-17)
Poland has long been a country of net emigration, though the country has received backlash in recent years for its xenophobic treatment towards asylum seekers from non-European countries, versus its treatment of Ukrainian asylum seekers. To explore this phenomenon, this research first asks, does Poland have a preferential migration policy? I first look at the restrictiveness and evolution of Poland's migration policy from 2003-2019. I find that the state's migration policies which specifically target EU member and Eastern European states are on average slightly less restrictive than the restrictiveness of the entire population of policies. In the following chapter I ask, how is this policy implemented, and how is it reflected in Poland's migrant workforce? To explore how these policies are implemented, I look at work permit data from 2010-2020, analyzing the differences in the number of work permits granted to each country of origin over time. I find that migrants from Eastern European and Central Asian states receive a disproportionately high number of work permits compared to other regions, and that within the region, Ukrainians receive the highest number of permits each year. Finally, to better understand this inequality, my fourth chapter asks, why Ukraine specifically? In this analysis, I hypothesize that proximity and cultural similarities, Poland's security interests, and both states' economic interests drive this special migration relationship. I find mixed support for this hypothesis, but ultimately find that these factors do play important roles in maintaining the relationship between Poland and Ukraine.
How Geographic Proximity to the Kennedy Space Center Effects Attitudes Relating to NASA
Reutt, Christopher Thomas (Virginia Tech, 2023-05-19)
In 2023, the U.S. House of Representatives, newly under Republican control, sought to limit federal spending, creating a potentially dangerous situation for American space exploration and NASA. Given the budget situation, it may be beneficial for NASA to look to its existing geographic footprint for areas of deeper support to provide elected leaders with an electoral justification to support NASA missions. The areas with the greatest chance of generating support for NASA are spaceports due to the rocket launches they support serving as focusing events for NASA. Rather than focusing as past scholars have on specific regions, this research examines driving distance from the Kennedy Space Center to provide more detail about the possible relationship between geographic proximity to spaceports and views of NASA. To test for the existence of this proximal relationship and the impact of viewing rocket launches on opinions of NASA, the study fielded an original online survey to gather U.S. residents' opinions about NASA, as well as information on where they lived and on how frequently they view rocket launches. Employing bivariate and multivariate regression models, the responses were analyzed to explore the relationship between geographic proximity to the primary spaceport and exposure to rocket launches on respondents' reported views of NASA. This study found that as respondents' distance from the Kennedy Space Center increased, positive views of NASA decreased. Additionally, respondents who viewed the launch of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket had more positive views of the agency than others. Overall, these results indicate that direct exposure to NASA activities, facilitated either by living near the Kennedy Space Center or by viewing the SLS launch is associated with more positive perceptions of NASA. The hypothesis that rocket launches can impact views of space exploration was supported based on analyses of reported online and in-person viewership that suggested notable relationships with opinions of commercial launch providers. Yet, even though the models found support for this relationship, they suggested that other factors likely are also important to fully understanding the relationship. NASA's future public engagement strategies evidently should focus on narrowing the awareness gap of NASA activities for those further away from spaceports and do not have direct exposure to the agency.
Identifying Most Significant Geothermal Related Policies in Different U.S. Sectors
Elbasyouny, Ahmed Mohamed Mohamed (Virginia Tech, 2023-12-21)
Incentive Based Budgeting: The Financial Game at Land-grant Institutions
Nolen, Heather Linkous (Virginia Tech, 2024-05-23)
This thesis explores the impacts of the Partnership for Incentive-Based Budgeting (PIBB) model at Virginia Tech (VT), a land-grant institution. By conducting a mixed-methods approach including semi-structured interviews, document analysis, and a review of political theory, this research examines the differences in perceptions of employees across employee classifications, academic area, and financial experience at VT on the PIBB model, unhealthy internal competition, communications, fiscal policy, and political influence. The PIBB model was adopted at VT as a strategic response to reduced state funding and aims to encourage budget management improvements and collaborative planning across the university. Findings indicate that while the PIBB model is designed to align financial incentives with the university's academic and operational goals, it may also foster unhealthy, internal competition among faculty, staff, and administrative units. This competition arises from the pressure to meet specific performance metrics linked to budgetary allocations, potentially leading to conflicts and misalignment with the university's broader educational objectives –underscoring the need for a balanced approach to budgeting that supports both financial sustainability and academic integrity. Complexities of implementing market-driven budgeting models within academic settings suggests that while such models can drive efficiency, they must be managed carefully to avoid undermining the core mission of educational institutions. This thesis contributes to ongoing discussions about the optimization of resource allocation in public higher education.
Legal Dodges and Subterfuges: Measuring Impact of New Obstacles on Minority Voter Registration
Hitchcock, Jennifer Ann (Virginia Tech, 2020-01-28)
Nearly 350 years of politically sanctioned domination over Blacks ended with the passage of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in 1965. The federal regulation of voter and election law sought to end retrogressions in representation by intentional or effectual laws. In the VRA's wake, race based politics and policy rooted in White supremacy were curtailed with the gradual representation of communities of color in all levels of government. Shelby County v Holder (2013) obstructed progress by effectively terminating preclearance of legal changes by the federal government. Since Shelby, retrogression of voter registration is once again on the rise. Remedies for retrogression require litigation and matriculation through the courts. This process is time consuming and allows states to conduct election law with minimal interruption until decisions are rendered. Research predating the passage of the Voting Rights Act by Matthews and Prothro indicated that there was a significant correlation between growing minority populations and the severity of election and voter laws. This paper seeks to determine if growing minority populations, in part due to disproportionately large in-migration, correlates with declining voter registration rates. These voter registration rates are due to substantive legal changes and procedural enforcement changes. Retrogression in Black, White, and Latinx is shown in analyzing state voter registration data. Using a time-series multivariate analysis to compare impact on Black, Latinx, and White communities across counties in North Carolina and Alabama, this paper determines that growing minority populations and in-migration do not have consistent statistical significance in explaining declining voter registration rates for Blacks and Latinx communities based on data from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey and the Alabama and North Carolina Board of Elections. Periodic retrogression in voter registration for the Black community show statistically significant positive associations with increasing population sizes. The Black community experiences retrogression via statistically significant negative associations in national election years, and Black voter registration rates recover in off-year elections. Data indicates that there may be a decrease in representation of larger minority communities that Black communities are able to overcome. There is a strong association between decreasing voter registration rates and larger Latinx communities while the opposite is true of Black communities. The Latinx community voter registration have statistically significant negative associations with increasing population sizes and during national election years, with recovering registration rates in off-year elections.
No School Left Behind: Oakland Unified School District Discipline Reform and Policy Implementation Case Study
Segura Betancourt, Maria Alejandra (Virginia Tech, 2023-06-22)
This paper critically evaluates school discipline reform policy and implementation by California in the Oakland Unified School District after the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights investigation. It demonstrates that policy implementation at the school level is equally as important as policy building and reform at the state-and district level. The Oakland Unified School district was subject to many reforms at the district level through change in state-wide legislation, and school board reform after the investigation concluded with several recommendations for the district. This provides a unique opportunity to study policy implementation at the school-level to understand how school environment and discretion may affect reform implementation. As research surrounding the effects of punitive school discipline continue to support alternative discipline practices, many states and school-districts have begun to implement its own reform. However, school discretion on how these policies are implemented call for researchers to focus on the school-level of policy implementation. This thesis is motivated to create an understanding in how policy implementation at the state and district level will differ across schools in the same district, focusing on school environment can influence implementation.
Race, School Discipline, and Magnet Schools
Kitchens, Karin E.; Brodnax, NaLette (2021-07)
School environment plays an important role in student outcomes. Increasingly, research has also highlighted the role school environment plays in the White-Black suspension gap. We test whether magnet schools reduce the White-Black suspension gap using data from Tulsa Public Schools. Using student-level and incident-level data from Tulsa, Oklahoma, we explore whether Black students receive exclusionary discipline at lower rates in magnet schools than in traditional schools compared with White students. Using matching techniques to minimize selection bias, we find that magnet schools in Tulsa are associated with a reduction in the racial suspension gap. In magnet schools in Tulsa, we do not find a racial gap in severity of incident or days assigned.
Running from the Periphery: An Exploratory Analysis of Women Presidential Candidates in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Utility of Minor Parties
Peterson, Gabrielle Ann (Virginia Tech, 2023-05-18)
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia is the only woman in Africa that has ever been voted into presidential office. Uncovering the dynamics perpetuating men's continued dominance in presidential office-holding in this region requires a deeper understanding of presidential candidacies particularly as they relate to gendered patterns of major party support that often occur due to party gatekeeping. As such, this thesis poses the following questions: How prevalent are women candidates in sub-Saharan African presidential elections? To what extent do women run for major party labels versus minor party labels or as independent candidates? What factors explain those patterns of party representation for women presidential candidates in the region? I hypothesize that women are altogether less likely than men to run for president. When women do run, I posit that they forge minor party candidacies as opposed to major party or independent candidacies. While minor parties may signal legitimacy, consolidate policy platforms, and provide resources for women candidates who face gatekeeping from major parties, they will ultimately be unlikely to propel them into viable candidacies let alone presidencies. Using a mixed methodological approach, this thesis aims to assess ways party representation differs between men and women presidential candidates in 26 sub-Saharan African countries that were considered "free" or "partly free" as of their 2020 elections (Freedom House). As the role of women in democratization continues to be in question, this research is vital to understanding how women are incorporated into the politics of new democracies.
What Happened? An Examination of Critical Change in the 2016 Election
Ritterbusch, Jade N. (Virginia Tech, 2023-01-20)
The 2016 U.S. presidential election results surprised many, after several groups many believed to be surefire voters for Democrats based on previous elections voted for Republican Donald Trump (Bump, 2016). Whenever a change takes place in voter patterns, one begins to hear phrases like “critical election” and “political realignment.” A critical election is an election where there is a change of at least 10 percent in partisan alignment, but it does not persist in the next election. A partisan realignment is similar to a critical election, but the change is more durable. This research explores whether the 2016 election can be classified as a critical election and whether and how key groupings of Democratic voters voted in the election compared to their votes in the 2012 election. Using data aggregated at the county level, regression analyses suggest that voters’ education, access to health care, union membership, racial/ethnic diversity, and income level all had statistically significant relationships with votes in both elections and with the change in vote between 2016 and 2012, all were substantively significant or in directions consistent with the presence of a critical election when viewed either from the national or even regional viewpoint. Evidence suggests that 2016 was a critical election.

Browsing by Author "Kitchens, Karin E."

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