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Senior Research Topics

Every Political Science major is required to enroll in the Senior Seminar course during the senior year. In this class, students research a topic of interest and prepare and present a paper. Over the years, students have researched a variety of topics in the different subject areas of Political Science.

Qualified students may choose to apply for departmental honors. This is achieved through the Senior Seminar class, along with additional work, including a formal presentation at Susquehanna University's Senior Scholar Day.

In recent years, numerous students have presented their research at professional scholarly conferences such as the Mid-Atlantic Women's Association annual meeting, the Pennsylvania Political Science Association annual meeting, and the annual Mid-Atlantic Undergraduate Social Research Conference.

Below is a listing of Senior Seminar projects:

 2006-2007 Academic Year:
  • Affirmative Action: What Students at Susquehanna University Know...and Don't Know
  • Before the Storm: Factors That Influence Secessionist Success
  • The Dilemma of the United Nations Human Rights Council
  • Do Constitutions Matter? A Study of the Correlation between New Democracies and Democratic Constitutions
  • Eutopia or Eurabia? The Effects of Cultural Policy on Muslim Identities and Perceptions in Europe
  • Finding an Ideal Healthcare Insurance System for America: A Comparative Study
  • Free Trade and Gender Motivated Hate Crimes in Latin America
  • Islamic Extremist Organizations: Origins and Developments in the Middle East
  • Partisanship and Lobbying Reform: A Comprehensive Look at Congressional Lobbying Reform over the Past 30 Years
  • Pennsylvania Transportation and the Turnpike: Exploring the Public-Private Partnership Option
  • Plan Colombia: One Policy, Two Goals -- A Case Study to Determine whether the United States and the Colombian Government Had Two Seperate Objectives
  • UN Peacekeeping: Variables for Success in Sub-Saharan Africa
  • The War on Drugs: A Comparative Study of the US Policy Regarding Control of Illicit Drug Production in Colombia, Bolivia, and Afghanistan
  • What Affects Democracy in South America? An Analysis of Political Transitions and Their Impact on Democracy
  • Why Did She Become Head of State?
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 Past Projects:
  • Are Presidents Always Facing an Uphill Battle against Congressional Midterm Seat Loss?
  • Battle Lines Are Drawn: The Military and Media Relationship in War Zones
  • Celebrity Advantages in Elections
  • Church and State in the Middle East Today: The Law, Policies, and Their Realities
  • The Components of British Devolution
  • Decision Making and the Supreme Court
  • Equal Justice for All: A Comparison of Access to Civil Legal Assistance in Rural and Urban Pennsylvania
  • The EU and CFSP: To What Degree Integration?
  • Europe at a Crossroads
  • The European Union Constitution: What Factors Have Caused Its Current Rejection
  • The Evolving Institution of Marriage: The Miscegenation Analogy as Applied to Same-Sex Marriage
  • The Feminization of HIV/AIDS
  • Gender Stereotypes: Affecting Voter Perception and Campaign Strategies in United States Elections
  • Political Ideologies as Portrayed in Political Opinion Magazines
  • Responding to a Call for Integration: Federal Courts and the Olmstead Decision
  • Response of the United States to Secessionism in Croatia
  • Sex Trafficking: Why Aren't Current Efforts Enough?
  • Social Identity and Its Effects on Conflict in the Middle East
  • Success Is Failure Turned Inside Out
  • A Third Party Breakthrough
  • US-Based Multinational Corporations: Decision Making in South American Markets
  • HIV/AIDS in Sub Saharan Africa: What is to be Done Now?
  • Of Gods and Monsters: Marxist Latin American Guerrilla Movements and Their Strategies for Gaining Public Support
  • Women on the Supreme Court: Does It Make a Difference?
  • Is Stopping Genocide in the United States' National Interests? A Dichotomy of U.S. Morality and Power
  • Send in the Conservatives: A Look at Modern Conservative Jurisprudence on the Supreme Court
  • Sarbanes - Oxley: Is It Enough?
  • The Taiwan Quandary: How the George W. Bush Administration Rebalanced U.S.-China-Taiwan Relations for the 21st Century
  • "Change is Great in 2008" - Parsons for Congress Campaign Plan
  • Hate in America: What is the Relationship Between the Number of Hate Groups and Incidences of Hate Crimes?
  • Print News: Is the New York Times truly a Liberal Paper?
  • European Union Court of Justice's Influence Towards a Federal Europe.
  • The Juvenile Death Penalty: Is There a Convincing Justification from the Judiciary for its Continued Existence?
  • Trafficking of Women in Russia: Have actions been taken to Weaken the Atmosphere Conducive to the Rise in Crime
  • Protecting America or Destroying Its Foundations: A Study of Civil Liberties Post 9/11
  • Democracy Building and Peacekeeping in Latin America: The Rules of the UN and the Organizational American States
  • Poland and Accession to the European Union: Four Areas of Contention
  • Are Civil Suits Against the Firearm Industry likely to Succeed in Court and What are the Legal and Social Repercussions that Might Follow the Success or Failure of these Lawsuits?
  • The Struggle for Peace: Israel and the Palestinians
  • Criminal Trials for Juveniles: Is it Effective?
  • Domestic Violence and Around the Courts: Similarities and Differences
  • Child Labor Laws and Educational Attainment: Is Thee a Correction?
  • Voices of Ghosts, Shadows of Steel: Analysis of WWII Historical Antagonisms Committed by Japan Against China, North Korea, and South Korea and Their Impact on Current Relations
  • A Critical Evaluation of the Works of Francis Fukuyama and Samuel Huntington
  • The Spanish-American War, The Second Gulf War, and the Decisions that Led to Conflict
  • HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean: A Tragedy in the Making
  • Public Schools as Political Propaganda
  • An Upcoming Change in Supreme Court Membership: What coud this mean for the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003?
  • The 1996 Law and the Politics of Conflict
  • Do State High Courts Actually Follow Supreme Court Precedent?
  • Making Bad People Worse: A Comparative Study of Sentencing Laws Regarding Mentally Disordered Offenders in Great Britain and the United States
  • Should A Nation's Sovereignty be Violated When That Nation is Committing Gross Human Rights Abuses?
  • The Vieques Movement: A Look at Non-violence and Its Continuing Evolution
  • The Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union
  • The Flag Desecration Controversy: A Case Study of Judicial vs Legislative Authority
  • Gender Inequalities in Access to the House of Representative
  • Guerrilla Warfare and its adoption into the United States military doctrine
  • Humanitarianism Versus Politics in US Refugee Policy: A Comparison of US Refugee policy in Haiti and Cuba
  • The International Challenge: Why National Missile Defense will Jeopardize International Security
  • Is Poland Economically Prepared for Entry into the European Union?
  • Missing Pieces: An Exploratory Study of Media Bias in Free Print News
  • "Napster.com: The Legal Issues"
  • The Relationship Between Money and House Votes from 1993-1999: A Case Study on the NRA
  • A Study of United States Intervention in Civil Conflicts
  • U.S. Military Intervention in Central America and the Caribbean during and after the Cold War
  • U.S. Support of Private American Business Interests: Lessons
  • Xenophobia in Austria? Immigration, Asylum, Citizenship, and the Extreme Right
  • A Comparative Policy Analysis of the Dutch and U.S. Drug Policies
  • An Examination of How Television Has Changed Presidential Campaigns in the United States
  • Armed to the Teeth: A Global Military Strategy for the 21st Century.
  • Do Differences Exist Between Protest and major Party voters: The PresidentialElections of 1968, 1980, 1992 and 1996.
  • Disparity Amongst Judicial Districts in Downward Defactures from Federal Minimum Sentencing Guidelines.
  • The Effect of the 1981 Hunger Strikes on the Republican Movement of Northern Ireland
  • Has Affirmative Action Helped Increase the Number of Minorities in the White-Collar Workforce?
  • Japan: Internal Politics as the Cause of Economic Recession
  • Pennsylvania's Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1998: How it will affect Lobbyists and Principals?
  • Race and the Death Penalty
  • The Role of the Western European Union in the Creation of a Common Defense in Europe.
  • Attorney-Client Privilege and the Executive Office
  • Decline of the New Deal Coalition
  • The European Union's Effort to Combat Global Warming
  • European Union Enlargement:The Debate
  • An Examination of Unilaterally Imposed U.S. Sanctions in Iran
  • The Exclusionary Rule: Does it Handcuff the Police?
  • Executive Privilege One Big Secret
  • Formalizing the Informal Sector-A Peruvian Case Study
  • The Good Friday Agreement: A Calm in the Storm or a Lasting Peace
  • Individual Rights on the Basis of National Citizenship
  • Indonesian Political Culture and the 1999 Parliamentary Elections
  • The International Problem of Child Labor
  • Multi Speed Europe: One for All and All for One?
  • A New Realignment?
  • Presidential Impeachment Debate
  • Privacy in the Age of Technology
  • Public Funding of the Arts in the United States, Germany, and Japan
  • Technology and the Internet's Potential to Reinvigorate U.S. Political Participation
  • Reunification Politics: Shaping the 1998 Election
  • After EMU, What Will Be the Next Step?
  • An Analysis of the American Non-Voter
  • Blue Dog Coalition, Cohesive or Not
  • Campaign Finance Reform?
  • Changing Status and Traditions of Southern African Women
  • The Constitutionality of "Megan's Laws"
  • The Eastern European States and the Road to European Union Membership
  • The Effects of Colonialism on the Development of Nigeria and South Korea
  • Goals 2000: America and Japan Learning Together
  • Juries: Selection and the Roles in Three Local Pennsylvania Counties
  • Moving Right: The Republican Party's Social Conservatism and the Christian Right
  • The National Endowment for the Arts
  • Special Prosecutors: Evaluation of a Necessary Evil
  • The Staff of the United States House of Representatives: Myth v. Reality
  • Surfer's Rights in New Jersey
  • Three P's--The Presidency, Perceptions, and Economic Policy
  • Vital Signs: Failure of the Health Security Act and the American Health Care Debate
  • A Brief Argument for the Inclusion of an Assessment of Increased Market Share
  • in the Determination of Civil Penalty Liabilty for Environmental Violations
  • Canada's Constitutional Crisis: Why the Quebecois Culture Threatens Canadian Unity
  • Che Guevara's Guerrilla Campaigns in Cuba and Bolivia
  • Civil and Criminal Forfeiture: Suggestions for Legislative and Judical Reform
  • Cohabitation and Divided Government: The Same Concept, Different Names?
  • The Death Penalty
  • Election Classification Schemes: The Michigan Problem
  • Germany's Decision to Send Troops to Bosnia: Was It in Germany's Best Interest
  • House Term Limits: The Wrong Decision for the House's Future
  • PAC Contributions and Levels of Support During the Judiciary Committee Markup of HR 956 in the 104th Congress
  • The Police Bill: Justification of the House of Lords
  • The Relationship between Special Interest Groups and Votes in the Pennsylvania
  • House of Representatives
  • Russian Presidential Election 1996: How/Why Yeltsin Won?
  • States' Rights Violated by Congress' Abuse of the Commerce Clause
  • A Study of the Effect of School Resources on Student Performance in Pennsylvania
  • A Study of Japan's Low Crime Rate and Its Implication for Lowering the Crime Rate in the United States
  • Who Should Govern? A Look at the Mass Public and Elites in the United States
  • Abolishing Plea-Bargaining: Would the United States Criminal Justice System Collapse in Its Wake
  • Affirmative Action and the Supreme Court
  • The Americans with Disabilities Act: Effect on the Enrollment of Physically Handicapped College Students
  • Analysis of the Compostion of American Criminal Juries and Suggested Reform Techniques for the Selection Process
  • Are There Alternatives to Providing Clean Air to the Czechs without Draining Their Economy
  • Capital Punishment
  • Free Press or Fair Trial? The United States and Great Britain Still Can't Decide
  • The Future of NATO
  • The Future of US/Russian Nuclear Arms Limitation and Reduction Treaties
  • Gender Gap: Does One Exist?
  • Gun Control and Crime Reduction: Is there a Connection? (A Study of Arizona, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania)
  • Is "Megan's Law" Constitutional and Will It Be Effective In Preventing Crime Against Children?
  • Post-Soviet Russia: A Case Study of Democratic Theory and Institutions
  • The "Right To Die": Argument for the Legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide
  • Should Pennsylvania Adopt School Choice?
  • The Tobacco Industry
  • The United Nations Protective Force in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia
  • What Contributions Are Made by Third Parties and Independent Candidates in the Traditional American Two-Party System?
  • Whether the Application of Due Process to the Juvenile Court, from the 1967 In re Gault Decision of the United States Supreme Court, Upholds the Philosophy of the Doctrine of parens patriae in Juvenile Adjudication
  • American Voter Turnout: A Comparison with Other Western Democracies
  • The Degree of Constitutional Protection Afforded Hate Speech
  • German Foreign Policy and Unification
  • A Life or Death Issue: The Imposition of the Death Penalty Upon Juveniles
  • Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Laws: Effects on Society and the Judicial System
  • Newt Gingrich: An Analysis of His Ideology as It Relates to the Modern
  • Political Spectrum
  • The North American Free Trade Agreement: What Is It and Why?
  • Profile of a Successful Northumberland County Political Candidate
  • Wetlands Mitigation in the US Is Not Enough
  • America, Canada, and the Free Press-Fair Trial Debate
  • Clarence Thomas: On the Issues of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
  • A Comparison of Interstate and International Extradition Systems
  • Contemporary Arguments on the Subject of Race Equality and Freedom since the Civil Rights Movement from an Afro-American Perspective
  • Democratization Made Difficult: Argentina and Chile Deal with Past Human
  • Rights Violations
  • How Chile Made Its Transition from an Authoritarian State to an Electoral Democracy
  • International Extradition Law as Practiced in the U.S.
  • Low Voter Turnout and Its Relationship to Governmental Crisis(19960-1988)
  • The Modern Christian Right: The Transformation of a Movement
  • Mom and Apple Pie Against Perversity or Are Artists Godless Perverts? Or The National Endowment for the Arts and Its Role in American Society
  • The Role of Economic Conditions and Perceptions in Voting for Presidential Candidates
  • A Study to Determine Change in the Political Attitudes of Students Enrolled in Entry-level
  • Political Science Courses(Comparison of 1994 to 1991)
  • United States Policy towards Terrorism: Have Past Reactions Been Consistent with Policy
  • Voter Constraint
  • Would the Feinstein Amendment to the Current Crime Bill Be Ruled Constitutional
  • If It Were Ever Brought Before the Supreme Court?
  • Inefficiency of Haitian Institutions
  • Interventions in Latin America: Justified or Not?
  • Lost Virtue: Platonic Thought and Good Order

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Susquehanna University Last reviewed by Anne M. Claus
James A. Blessing, Prof. & Chair, Political Science
©2000 Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA 17870