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Showing posts from January, 2016

The President's Legislative Success & Social Media

Political scholars have long noted the important relationship between presidents' use of plebiscitarian activity (i.e., public addresses, appeals, speeches, etc.) to achieve legislative success, whether that means persuading voters to elect certain people to Congress, or convincing voters that a particular issue/piece of legislation is important and worthy of their support. In the paper linked below, I examine whether social media has had any effect on how successful presidents have been at using plebiscitarian activity in getting their proposed budgets enacted by Congress and if social media has changed the frequency that presidents make use of traditional forms of media (such as television) to make public appeals for pieces of legislation. As you'll see, the era of Twitter and Facebook has had a substantial effect on presidential success. Cheers! " The Gatekeepers Have Lost Their Hold:  The President's Legislative Success & Social Media "

World Bank Education Programs and Democratic Transition

Among the various topics that I'm currently researching, the relationship between education and democracy is one that I find particularly interesting. Even though the relationship between education and democratization has been regarded as a quintessentially important one, only recently have political scholars begun to empirically examine this relationship. The pdf file I've linked below is a recent research paper I completed for a proseminar in comparative politics in which I attempt to contribute to the existing discussion on the relationship between education and democracy. I'd be happy to answer any questions regarding my findings or the data I used. Enjoy! The Impact of World Bank Education Programs on Democratic Transition