IU Indianapolis ScholarWorks :: Browsing by Author "Dusso, Aaron"

Browsing by Author "Dusso, Aaron"

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Avoiding the Dutch disease: Political settlement and institutional development in Kenya
(2019-12) Nagila, Humphrey Bwire; Pegg, Scott; Dusso, Aaron; McCormick, John
Petroleum is undoubtedly one of the most valuable commodities in the world with an annual production worth billions of dollars, and an attempt to relate it to the slow economic performance of a country may seem far-fetched. Studies on sub-Saharan countries that produce oil have often viewed the country’s ability to govern oil from an institutionalist lens. This Thesis aims to explore the governance and management of oil resources in African states since this is the focal point between the oil-rich countries and the international community. By using a political settlement framework, I seek to further the “resource curse” discourse by challenging the new institutionalist theory which fails to adequately address the Dutch disease problem. I compare the political settlement between Ghana and Kenya and explore the dynamics of power and politics and how this relationship shapes the functionality of institutions. My analysis of the current political settlement in Kenya that is dynamic in nature, suggests that acceptable levels of elite commitment and bureaucratic capability are unlikely to be reached hence making Kenya prone to the Dutch Disease.
Charter schools and neighborhood revitalization in Indianapolis (2000-2010)
(2014) Marking, Janea L.; Ferguson, Margaret Robertson; Dusso, Aaron; Friesen, Amanda J.
Charter schools are a major movement in American education and increasingly used as a city strategy for neighborhood rehabilitation. Indianapolis is one of a growing number of urban areas to promote charter schools as catalysts for neighborhood revitalization. Previous studies find mixed results about the causes of neighborhood change or how residents make mobility decisions. The present study seeks to create an empirical model that discovers the impact of charter schools as a neighborhood amenity. This is based on two measures of well-being: change in percentage poverty and change in percentage school-aged residents. Data indicate a negative relationship between charter schools in a census tract and the school-aged resident population. However, statistical analysis did not support a significant relationship between either measure and charter schools in the ten year time frame.
Does Ignorance Matter? The Relative Importance of Civic Knowledge and the Human Tendency to Engage in Motivated Reasoning
(2015-03-02) Dusso, Aaron; Kennedy, Sheila Suess; Political Science, School of Liberal Arts
It has long been understood that political knowledge in the U.S. is very low. For those who care about the quality of American democracy, this is a big problem. In attempting to find a solution, many people often blame education. While increasing civic knowledge is a laudatory goal, increased political sophistication does not necessarily turn individuals into good democratic citizens. Research in cognitive and social psychology paints a picture of people as motivated reasoners. Instead of having an open-minded engagement with issues, individuals typically only seek, see, and understand information in a manner that reinforces what they already believe. Here, we examine motivated reasoning and argue that the strongest partisans and the most committed ideologues will be the most susceptible to holding contradictory policy positions with regard to same-sex marriage and religious freedom.
Evaluating the criteria for successful elections in post-conflict countries : a case study including Iraq, Sierra Leone, and Bosnia and Herzegovina
(2014) Dutton, Laura A.; Pegg, Scott; McCormick, John, 1954-; Dusso, Aaron
Previous research on post-conflict elections has found several criteria important in determining if an area is ready to hold elections and whether or not it is likely to succeed. Although rarely ranked in any determination of importance, several concepts are present in most post-conflict election research. Additionally, there is not an agreed set of standard criteria upon which success can be assumed. When researching the post-conflict election literature two questions arise: (1) is there a set of criteria established to determine if an area is ready to conduct post-conflict elections, and (2) do all criteria need to be present in order to ensure successful post-conflict elections? Most research agrees on common criteria but highlights or researches one dominant criterion, to which is then often attributed to the success of an election. This is found in Krishna Kumar’s focus on international assistance (Kumar, 1998), Staffan Lindberg’s attribution of success to repetition of the election process (Lindberg, 2006), Paul Collier’s focus on per capita income (Collier, 2009), and Marie-Soleil Frere’s research on post-conflict elections and the media (Frere, 2011). When reviewing multiple research sources, it is likely several factors at various times and in various elections will be credited with being the single source criterion for success. This kind of past research is well supported and conclusively argued, but still fails to provide a scope of understanding outside of a single event. In other words, it is case specific and not comparatively applicable across cases. Although this thesis does not intend to “McDonaldize” (Ritzer, 2009) the process of democratization, it does propose to define a common set of criteria necessary, even if in varying degrees, to conduct successful elections in post-conflict environments.
Gubernatorial coattail effects in state legislative elections : a reexamination
(2013-12-11) Lang, Matthew Joseph; Dusso, Aaron; Vargus, Brian S.; Ferguson, Margaret Robertson
Prior studies on state legislative elections have found gubernatorial coattails playing a key role; however, they fail to examine the temporal and state-based trends of this phenomena. Using precinct level data from nine states (Alabama, Arkansas, California, Minnesota, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming), over two election cycles (2002 and 2006), I measure the importance a state’s ideological makeup, and a governor’s institutional powers has on gubernatorial coattails. Findings reaffirm the importance of coattails, and previously researched variables; however, the addition of the above measures greatly affects coattail strength, dependent on host of controlling factors.
Partisanship Versus Democracy: Voting in Turkey’s Competitive Authoritarian Elections
(SAGE, 2021-07-25) Demirel-Pegg, Tijen; Dusso, Aaron; Political Science, School of Liberal Arts
Do voters care about anti-democratic behavior by their leaders? While political pundits and academics often hope that they do, there has been little research that tests the effects that specific anti-democratic actions have on voters during elections. This is because there are few clear instances where violations of democratic norms are so visible to the average voter that one would expect it to have an effect, above and beyond traditional predictors of the vote. However, the recent elections in Turkey offer a unique opportunity to test the effect that nullifying an entire election (an unequivocal violation of democratic norms) has on voters. We do exactly that with a survey of voters following the election re-do. We find that even in such an extraordinary circumstance, voters rely on standard voting drivers like partisanship, rather than concern for the functioning of democracy itself. Ultimately, our findings have important implications for voting in competitive authoritarian regimes, as they fail to show that anti-democratic behavior is punished.
Personality, Policies, and Partisanship: The Effect of Big Five Personality Traits on State-level Politics
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2014-04-11) Ankenbruck, Mary; Dusso, Aaron
Personality has always been viewed as an individual metric; however, ground-breaking research has changed that mentality. When examined in the aggregate, the personality scores of inhabitants create geographical psychological profiles that impact a multitude of political, economic, social, and health factors. These findings invite questions about what other regional differences are affected by the personalities of the inhabitants of the region, especially in the area of policy. This is especially interesting as other research has shown that on the individual level there are statistically significant correlations between personality traits and beliefs and behaviors that influence policy outcomes, such as religiosity and prejudice. Thus, in this paper e explore if these correlations extend to the state level. We do so by testing newly available state-wide Big Five personality t-scores for the 48 contiguous US states alongside state by state analysis of policy areas including marriage equality, abortion rights, death penalty, and gun rights. Preliminary results suggest that, when controlling for other factors such as demographics and partisanship, the personality profile of a state does indeed have an effect on the policies enacted within that state’s borders. The completion of this project will add to the growing body of political psychology research and may address important issues such as the polarization of politics and the overall importance of personality as both an individual and societal level metric.
Race and Right-Wing Authoritarianism: How Scoring High in Authoritarianism Does Not Necessarily Lead to Support for Right-Wing Candidates
(Wiley, 2017-03) Dusso, Aaron; Political Science, School of Liberal Arts
Objectives Authoritarianism has a long history suggesting that it is primarily a phenomenon of the right. However, I argue that this has led to scholars overlooking the potential that, in some contexts, authoritarianism can lead to support for left-wing candidates. African-American voters in the United States provide such a context. A key component of right-wing authoritarianism is that individuals will support whom they believe to be their rightful leader. In the United States, who one believes to be their group's rightful leader is contingent on the race of the voter and the party of the candidate. I hypothesize that as African-American voters' level of authoritarianism increases, they will be more likely to support the left-wing Democratic candidate. Methods I test this hypothesis with a national sample of voters after the 2012 U.S. presidential election. I estimate multiple logit models predicting the probability of voting for Obama, the key independent variables being respondents' right-wing authoritarian score, their race, and the interaction of these two variables. Results The results present strong support for my hypothesis that an increase in right-wing authoritarianism increases the probability of African-American voters choosing Obama. Conclusion The results show that the effect of authoritarianism on vote choice is contingent on race/ethnicity. Too often, scholars have overlooked the potential that whom individuals deem to be their established authority is contingent on the political context. These results challenge scholars to provide a more nuanced approach to how authoritarianism influences behavior.
The referendum lighthouse: how state-level initiatives drive voter turnout
(2017) Carnes, James Nathaniel; McCormick, John; Dusso, Aaron; Friesen, Amanda
This thesis examines the use of ballot initiatives at the state level to determine whether the presence of certain types of ballot initiatives cause an increase in voter turnout at the state level. This study is unique in that rather than focusing on individual level voting behavior to explain why an individual may or may not be more likely to vote with the inclusion of ballot initiatives, I focus on aggregate level data to answer the following questions: do certain types of ballot initiatives have an effect on voter turnout? If so, how large is the effect? Collecting data from all ballot initiatives that appeared in the United States from 1998-2014, my research disputes the conventional wisdom that ballot initiatives have any effect on voter turnout during a presidential election. However, my research shows a four percent increase in turnout when any initiative appears on the ballot and a nearly five percent increase in voter turnout when an initiative concerning same-sex marriage appeared on the ballot during a non-presidential year election.
Regime fatigue : a cognitive-psychological model for identifying a socialized negativity effect in U.S. Senatorial and Gubernatorial elections from 1960-2008
(2014-07-11) Giles, Clark Andrew; Weiden, David L.; Ferguson, Margaret Robertson; Dusso, Aaron
This research project proposes to try to isolate and measure the influence of “regime fatigue” on gubernatorial elections and senatorial elections in the United States where there is no incumbent running. The research begins with a review of the negativity effect and its potential influence on schema-based impression forming by voters. Applicable literature on the topics of social clustering and homophily is then highlighted as it provides the vehicle through which the negativity effect disseminates across collections of socially-clustered individuals and ultimately contributes to changing tides of public opinion despite the fact that the political party identification can remain relatively fixed in the aggregate.

Browsing by Author "Dusso, Aaron"

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