Political Science electronic theses and dissertations (MU)
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The items in this collection are the theses and dissertations written by students of the Department of Political Science. Some items may be viewed only by members of the University of Missouri System and/or University of Missouri-Columbia. Click on one of the browse buttons above for a complete listing of the works.
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Item The administration of Arthur M. Hyde, Governor of Missouri, 1921-1925(University of Missouri--Columbia, 1949) Lowe, James Lilburn"Hyde's Background: After the tempestuous days following the Civil War, political power in Missouri fell into the hands of the Democratic Party. From 1870 to 1904 was a period of Democratic dominance. However, the Republican Party gradually increased its strength, and a tendency toward independent voting developed so that in 1904 Missouri joined the ranks of states voting for President Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican. A Democrat, Joseph W, Folk, was elected governor, but the other major state officials were Republicans. Herbert 8. Hadley attained prominence as attorney general under Folk and succeeded to the governorship, being the first Republican governor in more than thirty years. Democratic governors headed the state government in the two following administrations with the election of Elliott W, Major in 1912 and of Frederick D. Gardner in 1916."--Introduction.Item Character, policy, or partisanship? valence dimensions in American presidential elections(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2025) Jackson, Antony C; Endersby, JamesThis paper argues that affective valence dimensions play an important role in determining the vote choice of individuals. It hypothesizes that individuals will vote for a candidate who they consider to better exemplify affective valence characteristics. Survey data from the American National Election Studies for 2016, 2020, and 2024 are utilized to create policy and non-policy (valence) dimensions as a predictor of presidential candidate vote choice. Both policy and valence or non-policy dimensions are related to vote choice. Among non-policy factors, evidence associates perceptions of honesty with vote choice in all three cycles. The other three valence dimensions used here (knowledge, leadership, and if a candidate really cares) are associated with voter decisions in some years but not others. Valence dimensions are more significantly related to vote choice than any of the policy dimensions. Party ID is still by far the strongest predictor of vote choice, and ideology is generally a strong predictor as well.Item Cues carry consequences : the influence of candidate gender heuristics on electoral outcome(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2025) Hardesty, Aubree J.; Endersby, JamesThe following dissertation explores, through three sets of empirical tests, how voters react to candidate demographic cues, with a focus on gender. While partisanship is unequivocally the strongest predictor of vote choice, unexplained variance remains. This suggests that there are unexplored variables that, at the margins, can forecast ballot decisions. I argue that candidate demographics provide voters with influential information that ultimately (albeit slightly) shapes electoral outcome. Using Role Congruity Theory (RCT) and Implicit Leadership Theory (ILT), I present a theoretical framework to explain how societal expectations of men and women's behavior results in voter preference towards masculine and male archetypes for leaders. The assumed result is electoral benefit for candidates that meet this expectation and punishment at the polls for those who don't. However, voter preference in this regard presents a complex double-bind barrier for women candidates in particular to overcome. Thus, I present three sets of empirical tests to explore voters' reactions to masculine and feminine traits, gender-based issue ownership, and possible intersectionality. First, Chapter 4 replicates and extends a model from Bauer and Santia (2021). The authors present the idea of trait balancing that evaluates how men and women employ gendered traits in campaign television ads. They argue that candidates' behavior in this sense is dependent on one another within a given election cycle. In an extension of this idea, I ask if the use of gendered traits in campaign ads influences electoral outcome for House elections in 2000 and 2004. Next, Chapter 5 introduces the idea of gender-based issue ownership, which intersects Bauer and Santia (2021)'s trait-balancing approach with Petrocik (1996)'s theory of party issue ownership. I categorize policy issues used in campaign ads as masculine or feminine over ten cycles of gubernatorial and senatorial elections (2000-2020). The use of feminine, masculine, and the balance of the two are used as predictor variables for electoral outcome. I investigate if the electoral consequences of feminine of masculine campaigning differs between men and women. Lastly, Chapter 6 examines the possible moderators of race and ethnicity by examining non-partisan judicial retention elections in Cook County, Illinois between 1998 and 2024 where typical voting heuristics, such as party labels, are largely absent. In such an environment, there are limited cues available with low information cost. Evidence suggests that ethnicity, in heavily de facto segregated Chicago, along with bar polls are influential cues. However, gender was found to be influential as well, with women gaining an electoral boost. This section, therefore, allows for examination of intersectional identities. Results are ultimately mixed. There does appear to be a slight electoral benefit for men and women who campaign on issues solely associated with their gender, as shown in Chapter 5. However, they also receive a boost, albeit less so, when they discuss issues antithetical to their gender. There is no evidence that voters punish candidates, men or women, who choose to emphasize feminine or masculine issues. Racial and ethnic moderators as well as gender, presented in Chapter 6, are shown to be important to ballot choice. However, evidence indicates that only some candidate ethnicities are influential to vote choice, such as Irish or Slavic. There was little indication that voters took account of intersectional identities.Item The role of state political parties in modern American politics and a measure of state party professionalization(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2025) Anstett, Robert Allen; Squire, PeverillState political parties are underappreciated and understudied aspects of state politics. These organizations have large amounts of variation between levels of staffing, revenues, time requirements, and efforts to separate themselves from the national parties. This dissertation first looks at these party organizations in Chapter 1, gathering information from their bylaws, constitutions, and governing documents. In Chapter 2, this information is used to create a state party professionalization index which is used to answer theoretical arguments about state political parties in later chapters. Chapters 3 and 4 are quantitative chapters that address multiple hypotheses about what these state political party organizations do to influence state politics. This dissertation contributes to the literature by fully analyzing state party organizations, something that has never been done before. Previous work analyzed one or two aspects of state party organizations, most of it surrounding party platforms, but the goal is to get a fully fleshed out picture of what these organizations look like. It creates a new, novel index that is then used to address several theories on the role of state political parties in relation to state legislatures, state executives, and the nationalization of politics. It then ends with thoughts on where to go from here.Item From shadows to spotlight : the power dynamics behind transitional justice choices(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2025) Dalmas Araujo Paula, Bruna; Krieckhaus, Jonathan[EMBARGOED UNTIL 05/01/2026] What determines the choice of a transitional justice method? While the literature extensively covers the theoretical framework of transitional justice and its practical impact on human rights protection and the consolidation of democracy, it remains unclear how different forces interact in shaping accountability measures. Specifically, why do different countries adopt varied approaches, such as amnesty versus truth commissions? This paper examines the key determinants of transitional justice mechanisms. I argue that both a strong civil society and powerful armed forces play significant roles in these processes. By analyzing all countries with an authoritarian past using a fixed-effects model, I demonstrate that the strength of these actors significantly influences the likelihood of these events. Ultimately, this study emphasizes the importance of considering the interplay between these key actors to fully understand the dynamics of post-conflict accountability and the adoption of transitional justice measures.