Dr. Mario Guerrero

Associate Professor of Political Science

No longer the leader of the free world: What do we do?

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Gallup just released their latest numbers detailing how the rest of the world views US leadership. One of the principal promises of the Trump campaign would be that its stalwart would put “America First”, however from the Gallup data, it’s clear that this has been at the expense of our reputation around the world.

Tomorrow marks one year into the Trump administration, but Gallup’s report might not be particularly surprising given the events of last year. Some of our closest allies have directly challenged Trump on a multitude of issues: Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged a commitment to the refugees of the Muslim world after Trump’s immigration ban. French President Emmanuel Macron gave birth to his “Make Our Planet Great Again” campaign, made 13 US scientists laureates after Trump failed to renew our commitment to the Paris Climate Accords. UK Prime Minister Teresa May publicly decried Trump’s tweeting of anti-Muslim videos, calling it “wrong”. Even anecdotally, countries that were once our allies have had a difficult time interacting with Trump on the world stage.

On the eve of his first anniversary in office, a government shutdown looms at the stroke of midnight. Trump’s administration, riddled with controversies and criticisms–almost on a daily basis, has been challenging for an unprecedented number of Americans who disapprove of Trump in his first year, but also for those around the world. The rest of the world has looked to the United States for leadership, but for the first time, countries are being forced to look elsewhere for examples of leadership as the United States seems  inconsistent on its foreign policy positions, at best.

Trump has made it clear that he has no interest in appeasing our allies, but rather it seems Trump has aggressively pursued foreign policy positions that directly appeal to small segments of his base. It’s hard to argue for Trump’s long game here (if he even has one). While his actions might win him temporary small victories, it is clear he has such staunch opposition at home and abroad, no subsequent administration would take up Trump’s hodgepodge of foreign policy positions.

In the past 6 months, over 60% of Americans have disapproved of Trump’s performance in office. Given that Trump has demonstrated his unwillingness to be a world leader, it is up to the American public to step in to show the rest of the world that America will lead. Millions of Americans have answered this call in the past year, motivated by their disagreement with this administration and its policies. America is seeing a resurgence of public interest and engagement in politics. For example, millions of Americans will again join the second annual Women’s March tomorrow, but even while the images of crowds of people filling major Americans cities will be encouraging and dramatic for those opposed to the administration, it will not be enough.

In 2018 and 2020, Americans will need to show its leadership to the rest of the world by voting against Trump. And it won’t be enough if Trump loses. Americans need to demonstrate that it has always been a world leader and we can only do that if there is no question that America stands against Trump. Trump needs to lose and he needs to lose big. We’ve seen glimmers of that in the gubernatorial election in Virginia, the senate election in Alabama, and even a congressional district in Wisconsin. The rest of the world waits on baited breath to see how the American public will lead, and one year in, there’s signs that America never lost its leadership.

It’s Time: How to Finish your Senior Thesis Paper

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Senior PLS project

It’s Week 3 of the quarter and you haven’t worked on your thesis. I mean, we still have until the end of the quarter… right?

Well, considering that Senior Conference is at the end of Week 8, your time frame might be slightly skewed. If you’re one of the lucky ones who hasn’t worked on thesis at all since fall quarter, it’s time to at least start thinking about how little time we have left! Think about it: Midterms will start soon, professors will start handing out paper prompts, maybe you’ll even get a big work project on your desk in the next week, and don’t forget, there’s that big family weekend you have planned in three weeks… Sure, we have about 5 weeks left until Senior Conference, but when you take all of your obligations into account, that 5 weeks will fly by. It’s time to plan.

I might have induced an incredible amount of anxiety in the last paragraph. And that’s okay! That’s the point of this post. It is incredibly difficult to provide a “one size fits all” approach to finishing your thesis project because one student is so different than the next. However, this is the first step of a three-part process that I find helps most students inch ever closer to that final 30-page product. Read through these steps and go through the exercise of asking yourself the relevant questions to push yourself to finish the last half of the project. Remember, as an independent study project, you technically could finish thesis by next week and just coast until the end of the quarter.

Step One: Have an honest check-in with yourself

Congratulations! You’ve completed part of step one by just getting this far. Seems silly, but I guarantee you that some students stopped reading at the first sentence. It is pretty difficult to be 100% honest with ourselves at all times, especially hard when we think we’re behind the curve in some way. However, a key component to the success of thesis is to constantly check in with your mental and emotional state.

Are you excited about finishing the project? Why? …are you dreading finishing the project? Is there some course of action that you should take to remove this sense of dread? …are you indifferent about thesis? Maybe talking to a professor or other student can pull you out of this indifference. There’s a wide variety of emotions that students are facing at this point.

However, this process of thinking about your thoughts is known as metacognition. This metacognition is important to getting started. It is the impetus for many of us in finishing projects that require large amounts of energy… projects like senior thesis.

Step Two: Plan your way to the finish line

Now that we’re through step one, don’t lose this momentum! Take this time to be really thoughtful about the rest of the quarter and plan. your. heart. out. Planning is a difficult stage to advise because  everyone is different. Some of us keep detailed calendars and to-do lists while others of us keep our obligations committed to memory. Whatever our preferences to keep us organized, every single student should plan their way to the end of the quarter.

Without a regular class meeting, you are responsible for setting your own goals. This can come in the form of deadlines, small tasks, even assignments that you design on your own time. Schedule big blocks of time to work on senior thesis… maybe it comes during a break between classes on TuTh, maybe it’s for 3 hours every Saturday. Whenever it is, make an appointment with yourself and exclusively devote that time to senior thesis, free from distractions, free from any other sort of work.

The biggest mistake is to just tell yourself, “I’ll get to it when I have time.” No one has time, we need to make time. The more time you allot to senior thesis now, the less stress you’ll feel as the quarter progresses.

Step Three: Monitor and evaluate yourself honestly

This is an important part of the process. This is connected to the metacognitive process discussed in Step One. You need to check in with yourself regularly for the rest of the quarter. Ask yourself… how are you doing? But be specific! Are you on track to meet your goals this week? Are you being realistic about what is needed to finish the project? Do you need to re-assess and re-evaluate your goals?

This is an important component as it forces you to calibrate your work on a regular basis. But this should probably be done at least on a weekly basis. Sometimes we have the best intentions, but procrastination gets the best of us. Recalibrating our work habits might force you to reconsider trying something new to remain productive. For example, you might realize that you’re more productive if you work in the library rather than the Bronco Student Center. Next week, you might try working on thesis in different spots throughout the library. Sounds simple, but these small changes help dramatically!

And remember, this is not all gloom and doom! If you meet your goals and deadlines, treat yourself! When you finally reach 30 pages, maybe you’ll decide to treat yourself to a special night out with friends. But even for the small successes, take the time to acknowledge and celebrate that success. Remember, thesis should be a rewarding process that marks the end of your time in college. It shouldn’t all be a chore!

Student Blog Post: Even democratic theorists couldn’t have predicted our current state of affairs

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The “Student Blog Post” series invites students from my PLS 321: Electoral Process course to author their own blogs about recent election events.

Donald Trump

Voting is both praised and damned in this election. Our criteria for judging elections are derived implicitly from the works of political philosophy. Philosophers have considered, approved, and condemned elections.  In “The Ballot in Political Theory”, political theorists of all eras have considered the functions of elections both in the choice of leadership and the determination of governmental action. They differed, however, in their relative stress on the direct and indirect effects of the vote.

Few philosophers have seen wise public action as the direct result of the electoral process, Machiavelli was an exception, believing the electorate competent to choose able leaders. Comparing popular vote and despotic governments, Rousseau was even more optimistic and emphasized policy decisions. Under suitable conditions, he wrote “The general will is always right and tends to be public advantage.” Most theorists who emphasize direct effects of elections are hostile to the ballot. They stress the need for skilled leaders in the government and for wise policy decisions. Elections are judged on their ability to meet such goals and are found inadequate. Those who concentrate on these direct effects, therefore, become opponents of elections and fearful of their results.

As quoted in “The Ballot Theory ” by Lederman, Plato states, “Unless either philosophers become kings in their countries or those who are now called kings in their countries or those who are now called kings are rulers come to be sufficiently inspired a genuine desire for wisdom; unless, that is to say, political power and philosophy meet together, while the many natures who now for their several ways in the one or other distraction forcibly debarred from doing so, there can be no rest from trouble, my dear Glaucon, for states, nor yet, as I believe, for all mankind.” Plato, among other political theorist criticized ballot due to the lack of political knowledge of the general public. He firmly believed in “philosopher kings” who tested into positions of leadership due to their wisdom and ability to form political knowledge. The criticism against the ballot is founded on an elitist premise. Plato believes that there are certain discoverable abilities are needed to participate in the government, that only a severely limited number of persons have these skills, and that all others should be excluded from politics.

As the presidential election comes to a close, it can be interpreted various ways. With no political background, President-elect Donald Trump has won the presidency with, as some may argue, a racist ill-informed platform. This essentially proves the dangers of a democracy that Plato had warned. His elitist theory of philosopher kings would essentially weed out those who are ill prepared and lack in political capabilities such as President-elect Donald Trump. The “Political Ballot Theory” sheds light in flaws in our electoral system through the eyes of these political theorists.

Reina Cassandra Rosales is a fourth year political science major at Cal Poly Pomona. She enjoys finding new places to hike, volunteering at her church, and spending time with family. She plans on pursuing a law degree following graduation.  

Student Blog Post: Donald Trump’s victory demonstrates an education and regional divide

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The “Student Blog Post” series invites students from my PLS 321: Electoral Process course to author their own blogs about recent election events.

Donald Trump

Political knowledge can be defined as the range of information about politics that is stored in long-term memory. Donald Trump’s win in the 2016 Presidential Election can be potentially attributed to those American voters who were less educated. In the beginning, many were surprised as Trump won the Republican nomination, maintained the position as frontrunner position in the polls, and finally winning the 2016 Presidential Election. Polls and media predictions indicated that Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, was going to win the election with no contest. Donald Trump, a businessman who had not previously served in an elected office, was underestimated by Democrats and Republicans alike, vowing to fight for the interests of average Americans who had lost faith in the country’s political leadership.

Donald Trump spent much of this campaign with a focus in rural America, where much of the population was the classed as white with some or no college. With a lack of political knowledge, Donald Trump seemed like a candidate who wouldn’t be bought and corruptible, thinks of the blue-collar America, and disconnected from politics in the sense that Trump actually cared about what the average American thought. With higher education, generally comes an improvement in economic stability. Data statistics for the 2016 Presidential Elections shows that most of Trump’s enthusiastic primary voters were more likely to live in areas with difficult economic conditions. Because Donald Trump is a multi-billionaire, it allowed him to gain leverage over other candidates by giving him the freedom to speak his mind without fear of losing donor support, no matter how controversial the topic. The ability to speak his mind gave him the impression of a straight talker; no one is controlling him and he is a man of his own. Standing out in the presidential campaign allowed Donald Trump to be seemingly invulnerable to the traditional rule of politics. Amusingly, Donald Trump created a toxic image for himself in many of the voter’s eyes, and even getting disapproval ratings among women just because of his competition with Hillary Clinton.

Trump however gained even more political controversy as he started to expatiate publicly racial slurs and comments. In this election cycle, Trump had a long history of racist rhetoric against African-Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans, and Latinos. Many Americans were anxious and concerned about a theoretical threat against immigrants which Trump was able to gain their vote by creating an anti-immigration platform which allowed him to gain more popularity. Although the Republicans believed in a strict immigration policy, many Republicans avoided publicly speaking in order to not offend Latinos. In order to replace the Latino vote with another large minority, Trump was able to replace that percentage with many Caucasian-Americans in middle America. Much of the population was located in the heart of red-state America and dominated swing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Many of these states were actually more populated overall than urban areas and large amount of unexpected additional voters turned out. The lack of a uniform campaign from Trump’s main rival, Hillary Clinton, also allowed Trump to be able to gain the upper-hand in the presidential election as Clinton advisors stated that they saw no point in spending a couple million dollars on television advertising and campaign travels when Clinton was likely to lose the state. This lack of effort caused Hillary to lose many of the rural states which Trump had put majority of his effort into.

The 2016 Presidential Election, an election cycle that will be remembered for a long time as the two presidential candidates were choices in which many voters had to “choose the lesser evil”. However, Donald Trump, our president-elect was able to win the presidential election due to his ability to win the hearts and minds of rural America as they saw him as a candidate who would vouch for their hardships. He appeared as a candidate, with no political ties; one with the average American despite being a multi-billionaire, who would change the establishment which seemingly no longer cared for the American people, who are the most important. Americans sacrifice democratic ideals and only intervene when corruption and greed is high, a time which appeared in the 2016 Presidential Election.

Kevin Kim is a fourth-year Political Science major who enjoy camping, football, and motorcycle riding. He plans on continuing his career in the US Army after graduating from Cal Poly Pomona.