CREATIVE INQUIRY PROJECTS
***The following Creative Inquiry Projects are currently seeking new participants for the upcoming semester. If you are interested in participating in one of these projects, please email the Faculty Mentor(s).
Overview of Creative Inquiry at Clemson
Ongoing Creative Inquiry Projects in Political Science Faculty Mentor(s)Project Description: This project examines the factors that determine how members of Congress vote. We will investigate how well various groups (racial/ethnic, religious, and age groups) are represented through congressional voting. We will also consider the interaction between Congress and other actors (namely the president and courts).
Meeting times: There is no regular meeting time for the course. Instead, each student will meet occasionally with the instructor and we will meet as a group periodically.
Other information: Up to nine (9) students will be admitted to this project, for anywhere from 1 to 3 credit hours. Contact the instructor directly for more details about this course including enrollment.
Course Number: POSC 305-005
Jeff Fine Project Title: The Changing Dynamics of China’s Development and the U.S.-China RelationsCourse Number: POSC 305-003
Xiaobo Hu Project Title: Preaching from the Bully Pulpit: Religion and the Public PresidencyProject Description: Scholars assume that religious values, attitudes, and discourses have shaped American politics since the founding era despite official adherence to the principle of church-state separation. Many presidents have used religious symbolism and rhetoric as a political strategy for electoral gain, to influence public policy, and to justify military action. Presidents are also widely viewed as the “high priests” of America’s “civil religion,” because they perpetuate the widely shared American perception that God has particularly blessed the United States (Bellah 1967). Nevertheless, our knowledge about the nature and role of religious rhetoric that emanates from the White House is extremely limited at this time.
Our project seeks to bridge the religion and politics, sociology of religion, communication, and presidency literatures to analyze ways in which presidents strategically employ religious rhetoric. We are principally concerned with the question of whether and how the use of religious rhetoric by modern presidents has varied over time. Specifically, we focus on the nature and frequency of religious rhetoric that comprises the public speeches and statements made by modern presidents from Harry S Truman through the George W. Bush administration.
We are conducting this research for a book project that requires a significant amount of data collection and analysis. We will offer our research team the opportunity to content-analyze the texts of all presidential speeches and statements published in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States for each of the modern presidents.
Specifically, our team will identify every statement that contains religious rhetoric in the Public Papers for each presidential administration. We will record all of the specific religious keywords used in a particular statement, including Bible (or other holy scripture), bless/blessings, Christians, church, clergy (generic or specific), divine, faith, God (and any other references to an almighty being), Heaven, pray/prayer, preach, Providence, religion/religious, and worship. An additional dimension of our analysis examines whether a particular president used religious rhetoric in the context of a substantive, policy-relevant statement or in the context of political symbolism. We will provide our research team with a set of formal coding rules to identify whether a sentence uses religious rhetoric substantively or symbolically.Course Number: POSC 305-002
Laura OlsonAdam Warber
Project Title: Canadian Political Values and SymbolsProject Description: None provided.
Course Number: POSC 305-630
Michael Morris Project Title: Comparative Country ProfilesProject Description: The course objective is to encourage undergraduate research in international relations by having several multidisciplinary student teams focus on single countries followed by comparison of findings of each team. For example, an undergraduate research group of no more than ten students with about three students per country team would allow profiles of three different countries. Alternatively, students may choose to be a one-person team tracking a country. Countries selected will be from different regions at different stages of development, say, France, India and Mexico.
In the first semester, undergraduate researchers will track current news and short news articles about their selected country, and on this basis will identify key economic, political and military trends. In optional successive semesters, undergraduates will build on research by making sustained country comparisons and formulating policy recommendations.
Meeting times: There is no regular meeting time for the course, but each student will meet occasionally with the instructor and several group meetings will be scheduled.
Course Number: POSC 305-006
Michael Morris Project Title: Domestic Violence & Civil Wars in IRProject Description: Civil wars are widespread incidences of domestic political conflicts that are characterized by high levels of violence and human suffering. They not only produce economic and political devastation and pose challenges to neighboring states, regional security, and stability, but also have broader implications for political order and human rights, as we have witnessed in the cases of Lebanon, Cyprus, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sudan and Rwanda. Civil wars with massive human rights violations (e.g. Yugoslavia), and the protracted civil wars with substantial refugee flows (e.g. Congo, Sudan) have attracted a great deal of media attention in recent years. As a result, people all around the world have become more aware of the destructive nature of civil wars. Despite the fact that civil wars have been the most common and deadly form of military conflict since the end of Second World War, they have been understudied and, in turn, we are far from a thorough understanding of the main determinants of civil wars.
In all states, there are some citizens who are dissatisfied or frustrated with the existing political, economic or social conditions. However, only in some societies does this latent unrest cross a certain threshold and transform itself into a massive civil war. Why do some states experience political violence in the form of civil wars while others do not? What factors lead to domestic civil violence, more specifically, to civil wars? Which countries are more prone to violent domestic conflict? What is the direct impact of grievances on the emergence of civil wars? Do they increase the risk of civil war? These questions are the backbone of the investigation. In short, the goal is to uncover the universal factors that best account for political violence.
We will start by reading the published academic articles and books on domestic violence both in the field of comparative politics and international relations. After learning the basics, students are expected to do in depth research about individual countries, prepare reports, collect data and write a paper at the end of the data collection. The overall purpose of this course is to provide students the opportunity to experience all aspects of the academic research and expand their understanding of domestic violence.
Course Number: POSC 305-004
Zeynep Taydas Project Title: Political Thought Writing WorkshopProject Description: The Political Theory Writing Workshop (PTWW) will be a two-semester program aimed at guiding 2-3 undergraduates through the process of research, writing, presenting, and publishing an article-length paper on any topic related to the history of political thought. The project offers members the opportunity to present written work at an academic conference and to meet and be critiqued by experts in the field from outside Clemson University. Particularly recommended for students considering graduate study in the social sciences or humanities.
Course Number: POSC 305-008
Brandon Turner Project Title: Southern Politics UpdateProject Description: Description coming soon
Course Number: POSC 305-007
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