Trade Negotiations in Agriculture: A Comparative Study of the U.S. and the EC (open access)

Trade Negotiations in Agriculture: A Comparative Study of the U.S. and the EC

This study applies Destler's institutional counterweights to Putnam's two-level analysis, substituting Liberal Institutionalism and Realism for internationalism and isolationism, in a comparative case study of the roles played by the U.S. and the EC in multilateral trade negotiations in agriculture under the aegis of the General Agreement for Tariffs and Trade during the first half of the Uruguay Round. Using game theory as an analytical tool in the process, this present study demonstrates that a clear pattern emerges in which stages of cooperation and deadlock can be easily anticipated in games of Chicken and Prisoners' Dilemma in accordance with various but predictable levels of institutional influence.
Date: December 1994
Creator: Gordon, H. William (Harold William)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Gulf Cooperation Council, 1981-1994 (open access)

The Gulf Cooperation Council, 1981-1994

The purpose of this study is to analyze the foreign policy outcomes of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to understand the extent to which a Regional Intergovernmental Organization (RGO) consisting of developing nations is able to promote regional cooperation. Much of the literature on integration and the formation of Intergovernmental Organizations was developed with regard to western nations. These approaches are examined for their contributions to foreign policy behavior analysis and with respect to understanding why small and developing nations join such organizations. Final analysis of the outcomes using two scales to measure the organization's ability to promote regional cooperation reveal that the level of success was moderate and the level of political action undertaken by the GCC was generally moderate to low. Leadership is supportive of the organization but both external and internal factors contribute to the modest levels achieved so far. Issues of national sovereignty and a decade of regional conflicts affected the ability of the organization to achieve greater levels or regional cooperation.
Date: December 1997
Creator: Thackwray, Elizabeth C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effect of American Political Party on Electoral Behavior: an Application of the Voter Decision Rule to the 1952-1988 Presidential Elections (open access)

The Effect of American Political Party on Electoral Behavior: an Application of the Voter Decision Rule to the 1952-1988 Presidential Elections

The purpose of this study is to examine two major psychological determinants of the vote in presidential elections - candidate image and party orientation. The central thesis of this study is that candidate image, as measured here, has been a greater determinant of electoral choice in the majority of presidential elections since 1952 than has party orientation. One of the vices as well as virtues of a democratic society is that the people often get what they want. This is especially true in the case of electing our leaders. Political scientists have often concentrated their efforts on attempting to ascertain why people vote as they do. Studies have been conducted focusing on the behavior of voters in making that important decision-who should govern?
Date: August 1990
Creator: Lewis, Ted Adam
System: The UNT Digital Library
The United States' Recognition of Israel: Determinant Factors in American Foreign Policy (open access)

The United States' Recognition of Israel: Determinant Factors in American Foreign Policy

This thesis examines the critical factors leading to the 1948 decision by the United States government to extend recognition to the newly declared State of Israel. In the first of five chapters the literature on the recognition of Israel is discussed. Chapter II presents the theoretical foundation of the thesis by tracing the development of Charles Kegley's decision regime framework. Also discussed is the applicability of bureaucratic structure theory and K. J. Holsti's hierarchy of objectives. Chapters III and IV present the empirical history of this case, each closing with a chapter summary. The final chapter demonstrates the relevance and validity of the theoretical framework to the case and closes with a call for further research into the processes of foreign policy decision-making.
Date: August 1990
Creator: Farshee, Louis M. (Louis Michael)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The President's Influence on Congress: Toward an Explanation of Senators' Support for Presidents Carter and Reagan (open access)

The President's Influence on Congress: Toward an Explanation of Senators' Support for Presidents Carter and Reagan

This study examines the possible effect of the president's vote totals in states on Presidents Carter's and Reagan's support among senators. Using senators' Congressional Quarterly (CQ) presidential support scores as the dependent variable, this paper hypothesizes that Carter and Reagan's support is significantly and positively related to their electoral success in that Senator's state for the years 1977 through 1988. Several control variables are included to help explain support. There is qualified corroboration for the hypothesis that senator's presidential support scores are significantly and positively related to the president's electoral success for specific administrations and for specific-party senators, although not for the original hypothesis that aggregated the period 1977 to 1988.
Date: May 1994
Creator: Endsley, Stephen C. (Stephen Craig)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Organizational Improvement of the Village Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Fort Worth, Texas, 1969-1988: a Case Study of Forces Responsible for Organizational Change (open access)

The Organizational Improvement of the Village Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Fort Worth, Texas, 1969-1988: a Case Study of Forces Responsible for Organizational Change

This study documents that external and internal forces were causes of change at VCWTP. External forces caused. Fort Worth to reorganize and introduce new management at VCWTP after 1982. These improvements led to VCWTP being selected best managed wastewater treatment plant in the nation by EPA in 1988. This study first analyzes external and internal forces responsible for changes at VCWTP. A history of plant operations also is reviewed. Personnel interviews were conducted of perceptions of employees. Finally, statistics obtained of the plant operation from 1969 to 1988 are compared with personal interviews. Five forces effect change at VCWTP; population, regulatory requirements, political conflicts, an organizational and managerial factors. Turnaround occurred as external and internal corrections were made.
Date: May 1993
Creator: Akidi, Innocent O. (Innocent Okechuknu)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Political Culture in the United States: A Reexamination of Elazar's Subcultures (open access)

Political Culture in the United States: A Reexamination of Elazar's Subcultures

This thesis discusses the use of Daniel Elazar's theory of political subcultures in the United States. The first chapter is an introduction to the concept of political culture. The second chapter discusses Elazar's theory and method. The third chapter points out the problems in Elazar's theory and his method with a discussion of recent studies. The fourth chapter outlines the present analysis and the method used. The fifth chapter sets out the conclusions and offers avenues of new direction in the study of political culture.
Date: May 1993
Creator: Jogerst, Meredith Brandes
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Exploratory Analysis of Judicial Activism in the United States Supreme Court's Nullification of Congressional Statutes (open access)

An Exploratory Analysis of Judicial Activism in the United States Supreme Court's Nullification of Congressional Statutes

This study analyzes activist behavior of Supreme Court justices in 132 decisions which struck down congressional statutes as unconstitutional in 1789-1990. Analysis of the justices' activist rates and liberalism scores demonstrate that these votes are ideologically based. Integrated models containing personal attribute and case factor variables are constructed to explore the votes as activist behavior. The same models are also tested with a new dependent variable constructed to measure the nullification votes as liberal votes. The models which explain the votes as ideological responses better explain the votes than the models which explain the votes as activism or restraint. The attribute variables offer better explanation in the late 20th century models and the case factors offer better explanation in the early period models.
Date: August 1994
Creator: Keith, Linda Camp
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Subjective Economy and Political Support: The Case of the British Labour Party (open access)

The Subjective Economy and Political Support: The Case of the British Labour Party

During the past two decades, extensive research efforts have focused on the conventional wisdom that the economy has a direct influence on a party's destiny. This hypothesis rests on the implicit assumption that the linkages between macroeconomic variables such as inflation and unemployment and party support are direct and unmediated. As the present study indicates, however, objective economic measures only serve as a proxy for the invisible force that drives voters' party support. Once the relevant variables, namely, the perceptual factors of the electorate, are controlled for, variables that describe the state of the objective economy fail to exert their "magic" on political behavior.
Date: December 1992
Creator: Ho, Karl Ka-yiu
System: The UNT Digital Library
Agenda-Setting by Minority Political Groups: A Case Study of American Indian Tribes (open access)

Agenda-Setting by Minority Political Groups: A Case Study of American Indian Tribes

This study tested theoretical propositions concerning agenda-setting by minority political groups in the United States to see if they had the scope to be applicable to American Indian tribes or if there were alternative explanations for how this group places its agenda items on the formal agenda and resolves them. Indian tribes were chosen as the case study because they are of significantly different legal and political status than other minority groups upon which much of the previous research has been done. The study showed that many of the theoretical propositions regarding agenda-setting by minority groups were explanatory for agenda-setting by Indian tribes. The analyses seemed to demonstrate that Indian tribes use a closed policy subsystem to place tribal agenda items on the formal agenda. The analyses demonstrated that most tribal agenda items resolved by Congress involve no major policy changes but rather incremental changes in existing policies. The analyses also demonstrated that most federal court decisions involving Indian tribes have no broad impact or significance to all Indian tribes. The analyses showed that both Congress and the federal courts significantly influence the tribal agenda but the relationship between the courts and Congress in agenda-setting in this area of policy …
Date: May 1990
Creator: McCoy, Leila M. (Leila Melanie)
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Comparative Study of Terrorism in Southwest Asia 1968-1982 (open access)

A Comparative Study of Terrorism in Southwest Asia 1968-1982

This study assumes that political terrorism results from conscious decision-making by groups opposing a governing system, policy or process. The kinds of terrorist activity employed depend upon such factors as the philosophy, goals, objectives, and needs of the terrorist group. This presents a comparative analysis of three types of terrorists in southwest Asia: Palestinians, Marxist-Leninists, and Muslims. The first section summarizes and compares the three groups' motivational causes, philosophies, histories and sources of inspiration. The second section compares their behavior from four perspectives: trends and patterns, level of violence, tactical preferences, and lethality. The third section identifies and categorizes socioeconomic, political and military variables associated with tactic selection and acts of terrorism.
Date: August 1990
Creator: Zonozy, Nassrullah Y. (Nassrullah Yeganeh)
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Time Series Analysis of the Functional Performance of the United States Supreme Court (open access)

A Time Series Analysis of the Functional Performance of the United States Supreme Court

The focus of this investigation is the relationship of the United States Supreme Court's functional performance to its environment. Three functions of courts are noted in the literature: conflict resolution, social control and administration. These functions are operationalized for the United States Supreme Court. Hypotheses are developed relative to the general performance of these three functions by all courts. Box-Jenkins time series analysis is then used to test these hypotheses in relation to the performance of the United States Supreme Court. The primary analysis rests upon a data set that includes all non-unanimous decisions of the Supreme Court from 1916 to 1986. A supplemental analysis is conducted using all formal decisions for the 1953 to 1986 period. The results suggest that intellectual resources, legal resources, modernization, and court discretion are significant influences on the functional performance of the United States Supreme Court. Future research must consider these influences in the development of a general theory of courts.
Date: August 1990
Creator: Haynie, Stacia L. (Stacia Lyn)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Is Modernization the Engine of Political Instability?: A Pooled Cross-Sectional Time-Series Test of Causality (open access)

Is Modernization the Engine of Political Instability?: A Pooled Cross-Sectional Time-Series Test of Causality

Traditional studies of the modernization-instability thesis have neglected the simultaneous influence of time and place on the relationship between modernization (social mobilization and political participation) and political instability, and the possible causal linkage between the two concepts. Empirical support for modernization-instability hypothesis will be obtained if and only if there is a strong positive correlation between modernization and political instability and the former causes the latter unidirectionally. Only then can one assert that modernization is exogenous, and that a policy geared toward restricting modernization is a proper anti-instability policy. This work attempts to address the question of correlation and causality through a pooled time-series cross-sectional data design and the use of Granger-causality tests. Particular attention is paid to the error structure of the models. Using pooled regression, a model of political instability is estimated for a total of 35 countries for the period 1960-1982. Granger tests are performed on twelve separate countries randomly selected from the 35. The results indicate that there is the expected positive relationship between modernization and political instability. Further, political institutionalization and economic well-being have strong negative influence on political instability. With regard to causality, the results vary by country. Some countries experience no causality between …
Date: August 1990
Creator: Umezulike, Bedford Nwabueze
System: The UNT Digital Library
Sikh Terrorism in India 1984-1990: A Time Series Analysis (open access)

Sikh Terrorism in India 1984-1990: A Time Series Analysis

In recent times, religion has become a powerful force in giving legitimacy to terrorist actions. The present work considers this highly salient fact, as well as stresses the necessity to consider the historical and social contexts and group power resources in any meaningful analysis of violent protest movements. Quantitative rigor is combined with a sensitivity to context. Terrorism is operationalized by taking a time-based count of terrorist killings of innocent people. Regime acts of omission and commission are coded as time series interventions. The analysis also includes a continuous variable measuring the incidence of economic distress in Punjab. A case is also made for the superiority of Box- Jenkins time series techniques for the quantitative analysis of problems of this nature.
Date: August 1991
Creator: Singh, Karandeep
System: The UNT Digital Library
Population Policy Implementation and Evaluation in Less Industrialized Countries (open access)

Population Policy Implementation and Evaluation in Less Industrialized Countries

This study emphasizes the impact of family planning program components on contraceptive prevalence in less industrialized countries. Building on Lapham and Mauldin's "Program Effort and Fertility Decline" framework and policy evaluation's theory, the author developed two models to examine the impact of family planning programs on contraceptive prevalence and fertility under the constraints of socioeconomic development and demand for family planning. The study employed path analysis and multiple regression on data from the 1982 program effort study in 94 less developed countries (LDCs) by Lapham and Mauldin and 98 LDCs of the 1989 program effort study by Mauldin and Ross. The results of data analyses for all data sets are consistent for the most part. Major findings are as follows: (1) A combination of program effort and socioeconomic development best explains the variation of contraceptive prevalence. (2) Among socioeconomic variables, female literacy exerts the strongest direct and indirect influences to increase contraceptive prevalence and indirect influence to decrease total fertility rate. (3) Christianity performs a significant role in reducing contraceptive prevalence. (4) Among program effort components, availability and accessibility for fertility-control supplies and services have the most influence on contraceptive prevalence. (5) When controlling for demand for family planning, female …
Date: August 1993
Creator: Sirirangsi, Rangsima
System: The UNT Digital Library
Out with the Old? Voting Behavior and Party System Change in Canada and the United States in the 1990's (open access)

Out with the Old? Voting Behavior and Party System Change in Canada and the United States in the 1990's

This study has attempted to explain the dramatic challenges to the existing party system that occurred in Canada and the United States in the early 1990s. The emergence of new political movements with substantial power at the ballot box has transformed both party systems. The rise of United We Stand America in the United States, and the Reform Party in Canada prompts scholars to ask what forces engender such movements. This study demonstrates that models of economic voting and key models of party system change are both instrumental for understanding the rise of new political movements.
Date: December 1997
Creator: Rapkin, Jonathan D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Role of the U.S. Mass Media in the Political Socialization of Nigerian Immigrants in the United States (open access)

The Role of the U.S. Mass Media in the Political Socialization of Nigerian Immigrants in the United States

A mail survey of Nigerian immigrants in Dallas, Texas, and Chicago, Illinois, was conducted during October and November 1995. Four hundred and sixty-eight Nigerian immigrant families in the two cities were selected by systematic sampling through the telephone books. Return rate was approximately 40% (187). The variables included in the study were media exposure variables, general demographics, immigration traits, U.S. demographics, Nigerian demographics, and political and cultural traits. New variables which had not been included in previous studies were also tested in this study: television talk shows, talk radio, diffuse support for the U.S. political system, authoritarianism, self-esteem, and political participation. This study employed multiple regression analysis and path analysis of the data. This study found that Nigerian immigrants have high preference for television news as their main source of political information. This finding is in consonance with previous studies. Nigerian immigrants chose ABC news stations as their number one news station for political information. Strong positive associations existed between media exposure and length of stay in the United States and interest in U.S. politics. Talk radio positively associated with interest in U.S. politics and negatively associated with length of stay in the United States. Thus, this finding likely means …
Date: August 1996
Creator: Okoro, Iheanyi Emmanuel
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Political and Macroeconomic Explanation of Public Support for European Integration (open access)

A Political and Macroeconomic Explanation of Public Support for European Integration

This study develops a model of macroeconomic and political determinants of public support for European integration. The research is conducted on pooled cross-sectional time-series data from five European Union member states between 1978 and 1994. The method used in this analysis is a Generalized Least Squares - Autoregressive Moving Average approach. The factors hypothesized to determine a macroeconomic explanation of public support for integration are inflation, unemployment, and economic growth. The effect of the major economic reform in the 1980s, the Single European Act, is hypothesized to act as a positive permanent intervention. The other determinants of public support are the temporary interventions of European Parliament elections and the permanent intervention of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. These are hypothesized to exert a negative effect. In a fully specified model all variables except economic growth and European Parliament elections demonstrate statistical significance at the 0.10 level or better.
Date: August 1997
Creator: Carey, Sean D. (Sean Damien)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The State of Democracy in the Arab World (open access)

The State of Democracy in the Arab World

This comparative study assesses the state of democracy and examines the process of democratization in the Arab World between the years 1980-1993. It addresses shortcomings in the mainstream democracy literature that excluded the Arab World from the global democratic revolution on political cultural grounds. To fulfil the objectives of this study, I employ both the qualitative and quantitative research approaches to test a number of hypothesized relationships. I hypothesize that transition to democracy is negatively associated with economic development, militarism, U.S. foreign policy, the political economy of oil, and dependency. I contend that emerging civil society institutions so far have had no significant effect on democratization in the Arab World. Finally, I hypothesize that the level of democracy in the Arab World is influenced greatly by the issue of civil rights. In order to investigate the hypothesized relationships, the following data sets have been used: Gastil's Freedom House Data set, "Repression and Freedom in the 1980s" data set, and Vanhanen's 1990 data set. The findings of this study support the aforementioned hypothesized relationships. I find that Arab countries, in general have made modest progress toward democracy, making the Arab World part of the global revolution.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Al-Olimat, Muhamad S. (Muhamad Salim)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Determinants of Federal Spending for the Administration of Justice (open access)

The Determinants of Federal Spending for the Administration of Justice

This study develops and empirically tests a model of the determinants of federal spending for crime-fighting policies. An inter-disciplinary approach to building the model is utilized that merges ideas from budgeting, policy analysis and criminology. Four factors hypothesized to impact federal spending for the administration of justice are operationalized as eight variables and tested using ordinary least squares regression analysis on time series data. The factors hypothesized to impact federal spending in this area are economic constraints imposed on government spending, the ideological makeup of Congress and the president, the actual crime rate, and the public's attitude toward crime. Five of the eight variables demonstrated statistical significance at the.10 level or better.
Date: December 1998
Creator: Gabriano, Gina
System: The UNT Digital Library
"Let the End be Legitimate": An Analysis of Federal District Court Decision Making in Voting Rights Cases, 1965-1993. (open access)

"Let the End be Legitimate": An Analysis of Federal District Court Decision Making in Voting Rights Cases, 1965-1993.

Integrated process models that combine both legal and extralegal variables provide a more accurate specification of the judicial decision making process and capture the complexity of the factors that shape judicial behavior. Judicial decision making theories borrow heavily from U.S. Supreme Court research, however, such theories may not automatically be applicable to the lower federal bench. The author uses vote dilution cases originating in the federal district courts from the years 1965 to 1993 to examine what motivates the behavior of district and circuit court judges. The author uses an integrated process model to assess what factors are important to the adjudication process and if there are significant differences between federal district and appellate court judges in decision making.
Date: May 1998
Creator: Morbitt, Jennifer Marie
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Rational Choice Theory of Bureaucratic Responsiveness in Democracies (open access)

A Rational Choice Theory of Bureaucratic Responsiveness in Democracies

This dissertation addresses a question fundamental to democratic government: Under what conditions are bureaucrats responsive to citizens and elected officials?
Date: December 1991
Creator: Smith, Barry Vaughan
System: The UNT Digital Library
Hazardous Waste Policy: a Comparative Analysis of States' Enforcement Efforts (open access)

Hazardous Waste Policy: a Comparative Analysis of States' Enforcement Efforts

The major purpose of this study is to analyze hazardous waste enforcement by the states as mandated by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA). States' historical enforcement records from 1980 to 1990 are analyzed to determine the pattern of variations in enforcement. This study differs from previous studies on hazardous waste regulation in that it employs longitudinal data from 1980 to 1990 to analyze states' enforcement effort.
Date: May 1995
Creator: Okere, Lawrence N. (Lawrence Ndubuisi)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Military Spending, External Dependence, and Economic Growth in Seven Asian Nations: a Cross-National Time-Series Analysis (open access)

Military Spending, External Dependence, and Economic Growth in Seven Asian Nations: a Cross-National Time-Series Analysis

The theme of this study is that seven major East Asian less developed countries (LDCs) have experienced "dependent development," and that some internal and external intervening factors mattered in that process. Utilizing a framework of "dependent development," the data analysis deals with the political economy of development in these countries. This analysis supports the fundamental arguments of the dependent development perspective, which emphasize positive effects of foreign capital dependence in domestic capital formation and industrialization in East Asian LDCs. This perspective assumes the active role of the state, and it is found here to be crucial in capital accumulation and in economic growth. This cross-national time-series analysis also shows that the effects of external dependence and military spending on capital accumulation and economic growth can be considered as a regional phenomenon. The dependent development perspective offers a useful way to understand economic dynamism of East Asian LDCs for the past two decades.
Date: May 1992
Creator: Ko, Sung-youn
System: The UNT Digital Library