Breaking News: Executive MPA Program – Exclusively Online!

Friends, please share this exciting news: The Department of Political Science is announcing the start of an Executive MPA Program, designed specifically for working professionals. The program is offered exclusively online – 100% of the classes are offered (both synchronously  and asynchronously) online. The program is designed especially for working professionals.

For more information please contact Dr. Alethia Cook (cooka@ecu.edu).

New Publication from Dr. Kassab!

Dr. Hanna Kassab’s new research is titled “Internal Security: The Encroachment of State Security on Global Liberty in a Multipolar World” (Democracy and Security, 18:2, 123-146).

Abstract: This article analyzes the impact of the changing international order on the subjugation of state citizens. The increased need for security brought on by great power competition has led states to become more authoritarian. Citizen freedom may decrease as states seek security. With the advancement of facial recognition software, data collection and censorship, the state is encroaching on the rights and freedoms of citizens right to privacy. Authoritarianism is a significant part of a state’s motivation to remain independent and secure as the international order changes from American unipolarity to a multipolar one given the rise of China and the resurgence of Russia. The three traits described, absolutism, organicism, and irrationalism, point to rising authoritarianism providing useful analysis to understand the zero-sum relationship between liberty and security.

Faculty-Staff Spotlight: Dr. Casey Fleming

Casey Fleming is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at East Carolina University. He earned a Ph.D. in public administration from North Carolina State University (2016) following ten years of professional service in state and local government. His current research focuses on workplace rules and rule breaking; the effects of bureaucratization on public employee behavior and attitudes; and local government partnerships. His research has been published in public administration journals such as Public Administration Review, Public Management Review, and Public Integrity.

Dr. Fleming teaches classes in the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program, including Politics and Management in Public Agencies, Human Resource Management in Public Agencies, Management of Nonprofit Organizations, and Productivity in the Public Sector. Outside of researching and teaching, Fleming spends any free time he gets completing home improvement projects, watching college sports, and wrangling his Jack Russell Terriers.

Another Unabashed Plug for Political Science at ECU

If, for some odd reason, you don’t want to MAJOR in political science, you can always do a political science MINOR. For this you’ll need a total of 18 Credit Hours. It looks like this:

CORE: TWO (2) COURSES. The first is POLS 1010, “National Government.” All students take this. Then. you select one (1) of the following: Either POLS 2010, “Introduction to Comparative Government and Politics,” OR POLS 2020, “Introduction to International Relations.” 

AFTER THIS, you need four (4) POLS electives, at least three (3) of which must be above 2999.

In addition, we have minors in Public Administration, Security Studies, Leadership Studies, International Studies, and Comparative Government & International Relations.

Origins of the Republican Elephant

In a cartoon that first appeared in Harper’s Weekly in 1874, Thomas Nast drew a donkey clothed in lion’s skin, intimidating the rest of the animals at the zoo. One of those animals was the elephant that some labeled “The Republican Vote.” That’s all it took for the elephant to become associated with the Republican Party. During the 1870s, Nast used the elephant to represent Republicans in additional cartoons, and by 1880 other artists were using the same symbol for the party.

This 1874 Nast cartoon was the first notable appearance of the Republican elephant (cartoon is in the public domain).

(From https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-science-space/were-you-born-democrat-or-republican-historical-and-biological-factors-could-lead-021061)

Origins of the Democratic Donkey

Ever wonder? “The Democratic Party’s donkey started as an insult during Andrew Jackson’s 1828 presidential campaign, when his political opponents labeled him as a “jackass.”  Known for being stubborn and obstinate, Jackson decided to use the insult in his favor and began putting the strong-willed animal on his election posters. As it turned out, Jackson defeated incumbent John Quincy Adams and became America’s first Democratic president. In the 1870s, influential political cartoonist Thomas Nast, who’s widely considered the father of the modern political cartoon, helped popularize the donkey as a symbol for the entire Democratic Party.”

Cartoon originally published in “Harper’s Weekly”, January 19th 1870 [public domain].

From https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-science-space/were-you-born-democrat-or-republican-historical-and-biological-factors-could-lead-021061.

Faculty-Staff Profile: Dr. Daniel Xu

Dr. H. Daniel Xu is Assistant Professor of Political Science and teaches mostly for the Master of Public Administration Program at ECU. He received his doctorate from Rutgers University and his MPA from Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. As a practitioner, he worked in national/federal and state government in areas of rural development and poverty policy, financial regulation, and public health.

Areas of his research include health policy and rural health services, fiscal policy and revenue systems, intersectoral collaboration, and e-government. His scholarly work has appeared in over a dozen journals and books, such as Public Administration Review, American Review of Public Administration, International Journal of Public Administration, Journal of Government Financial Management, and Journal of Health and Human Service Administration, Comparative Health Systems, Handbook of Research Methods in Public Administration, and Handbook of Research on Leadership and Advocacy for Children and Families in Rural Poverty.

He enjoys sharing his experiences and perspectives with his students in class. He is married with three daughters and likes cooking, fishing and outdoors.

Faculty-Staff Profile: Dr. Marie Olson Lounsbery

Dr. Marie Olson Lounsbery (Ph.D. Wayne State University) is a Professor of Political Science and the Undergraduate Director of International Studies. Her research examines the dynamic nature of civil wars, non-violent protest movements, peace processes, and foreign military intervention. Her work has been published in journals such as the Journal of Peace ResearchInternational InteractionsConflict Management and Peace Science, Civil WarsJournal of Global Security Studies, and Terrorism and Political Violence. Olson Lounsbery’s most recent book is entitled Conflict Dynamics: Civil Wars, Armed Actors, and Their Tactics (University of Georgia Press, 2017, with co-author Alethia Cook). She enjoys running, hiking, spending time with family, and watching her son play hockey.

Pin It on Pinterest