RSS 1.0Department of Political Science (MU)
The Department's undergraduate program broadly represents the fields of contemporary Political Science. Virtually all subfields are represented. While some specialized courses have immediate utility in practical settings, and we offer opportunities to link academic study with internships, the undergraduate mission of the Department is to impart the knowledge and intellectual skills that enrich lives and permit active citizenship. We take seriously the role of providing a civic leadership education. Graduate study in small seminars and faculty mentorship is designed to produce new generations of scholars and teachers who create and disseminate knowledge. The diversity of this faculty in substantive focus, theoretical orientation, and methodological skills provides a graduate experience that maximizes the opportunity for our PhDs to make distinctive contributions in their fields.
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Testing the limit : term limits and their unintended consequences
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2020)Term limits have been in place for over 20 years; we know that term limits matter, but not to what extent.Term limits vary widely across the states that have them, impacting the structure of legislative institutions and ... -
The relationship between ideology and climate change opinion in Latin America
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2020)[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI--COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This master's thesis examines whether there is a relationship between ideology and climate attitudes in Latin America. There are very few ... -
Unelected oversight : the politics of government investigations and problem monitoring
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2020)How do elected officials and top decisionmakers receive information about the problems encountered in government agencies? Policymaking and agenda setting research primarily examines how elected officials directly gather ... -
Determinants of legislative staff turnover
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2020)"Senator Pearson's remarks leading up to the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 make an important point: Congress cannot rely on outside actors, particularly the same branch that it is mandated to oversee, to conduct ... -
Authoritarian successor parties and political protest in Asia
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2020)How does an authoritarian successor party (ASP) interact with civil society in East and Southeast Asia? Does an ASP's control over the executive and legislature increase or decrease protest movements? Do ASPs effectively ... -
Elite purges in dictatorships
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2020)Elite Purges in Dictatorships examines the causes of elite purges under autocracy. An elite purge is when a dictator forcibly removes an official from their inner circle. I examine why some dictators purge elites and others ... -
Transborder ethnic alignments and the interplay between domestic and international violence
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2019)[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Transborder ethnic ties constitute an alignment between an ethnic minority group and its external ethnic kin in another country. Similar to interstate ... -
Colonial inclusivity : historical education and state capacity in post-colonial states
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2019)The contribution of this dissertation is to show that colonial state building efforts were more successful in the long term when the state invested in education for the colonized population. This argument builds upon recent ... -
Human rights in presidential democracies : does a runoff rule reduce repression?
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2019)I argue that within a democratic context the presence of a presidential runoff rule leads to the following outcomes: a reduced distance between the ideological position of the president and the median voter, a reduced ... -
Personalist dictators and the choice of military intervention in civil conflicts
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2019)[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Are all personalist dictators equally prone to intervene in civil conflicts? The current bulk of work on authoritarianism and international relations ... -
Dangerous weapons : arms transfer, interstate conflict, and dependence
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2019)This study is an attempt to contribute to the international security literature by illuminating why countries bolster their own security by acquiring weapons from other countries, how these acquisitions affect their ... -
Keeping up with the Joneses: Relative economic voting, electoral participation, and reference points
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2018)This research explores the role relative economy plays in vote choice and turnout. The decision to vote and for whom to vote are heavily predicated on selecting competent policymakers based on their performance handling ... -
Non-emergency exits : voluntary retirements from legislatures
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2018)[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Retirement is the main source of legislative turnover in the United States Congress. The incumbency advantage in congressional elections is so strong ... -
Advocacy INGOs in multi-ethnic societies
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2018)[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Advocacy INGOs are optimistically seen as campaigners for democracy and human rights. They create a narrative around democratic ideals and support local ... -
The impact of international institutions on foreign aid delivery tactics
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2018)[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Do international institutions influence state behavior? Do the events that take place within international organizations affect foreign policy behavior ... -
Justice for all? : explaining the International Criminal Court's situation selection
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2017)[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Since its formation in 2002, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened investigations in nine countries and preliminary examinations in a further ... -
Economic sanctions and human security : overstated backfire
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2018)[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] A large body of scholarship have shown that economic sanctions cause human suffering in target states. This unintended negative effect of sanctions ... -
The counterterrorism escalation game : how leadership targeting affects the behavior of terrorist groups
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2017)[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] How does the tactic of leadership decapitation - the removal of an organization's leader or leadership by state efforts to arrest or kill - affect the ... -
Foreign policy during intrastate and extrastate conflict : patterns of support, retaliation, and opportunism
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2017)[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This project examines how states and international organizations (IOs) interact with rebel groups involved in civil conflict to achieve their own goals. ... -
Agendas and committees in American state legislatures : the causes and consequences of matching priorities with institutional roles
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2017)Legislative scholars largely agree on the importance of the committee system in the legislative process. Committees are generally considered the primary locus of lawmaking activity and individual legislators see them as ...