Colorado Political Science Review
Welcome to CPSR
Welcome to the Colorado Political Science Review! CPSR is a student-written and student-edited journal bringing political science perspectives to important issues of the day. The opinions and perspectives in the CPSR are those of the individual authors. We seek to generate thoughtful discussion and analysis rooted in social science theory and supported by research and data. The CPSR is housed in the Political Science Department at the 勛圖厙 of Colorado Boulder and is supported by the American Politics Research Lab and the LeRoy Keller Center for the Study of the First Amendment.
CPSR Fall 2025 Edition
The Importance of Well-Being with Increasing Political Divide in the United States
Current ConsiderationsPolitical polarization in the United States continues to deepen. After the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, which lasted 41 days, it remains fundamental to reflect on ones well-being. Political events can evoke a variety of feelings, including stress. As research has indicated increasing polarization within recent years, there is potent importance in learning to navigate political discourse and maintain well-being (Chatterjee, Hasan, & Manfredonia, 2025).Within the las...
Tensions are Rising Between the United States Government and Mexican Cartels. Why?
Though the relationship between the United States and Mexico has rarely been perfect, recent tensions have only seemed to increase between the two countries as a whole, as well as between the United States government and the cartels in Mexico. But how did we get here? Cartels like MS-13, the Sinaloa Cartel, and Jalisco New Generation Cartel are some of the biggest and most dangerous drug cartels to currently come from Mexico; their offshoots to other countries after being caught and deported by the US have ...
How Previous Prolonged Shutdowns Have Affected the Federal Workforce
October 1st, 2025, the government shutdown left thousands of federal employees furloughed and uncertain about when their next paycheck would be. Understanding the level of impact federal workers face from these shutdowns could help provide clues on how to alleviate their struggles and what the future of the federal workforce looks like. This paper seeks to identify the level of impact federal employees are facing from shutdowns by comparing the effects of previous prolonged shutdowns on federal employees. T...
The Impacts of the Federal Surge on the D.C. Court System
On August 11, 2025, President Donald Trump declared a crime emergency in Washington, D.C., deploying hundreds of National Guardsmen to occupy the citys streets. Despite violent crime hitting a 30-year low in 2024, the National Guard now meets residents and visitors at nearly all metro stops and everywhere in between (United States Attorneys Office, 2025). Between August 7th and September 5th, 1,669 people have been arrested in the District, leading to immense stress on the D.C. Court System (Lucas, 2025)....
Wrestling with Appearances: Why the Modern Republican Party Embraces the Showmanship of Professional Wrestling
IntroductionIn contemporary American politics, one of the few things that both sides of the political spectrum can agree on is that politics has become increasingly polarized since the mid-2010s. Long gone are the days of John McCain defending Barack Obama from false claims about his citizenship, and of the 1984 presidential candidates joking about their ages. Nowadays, the political divide in the United States is almost impossible to cross, as increased levels of political polarization are reflected both w...
Polarization and Anti-Intellectual Sentiment in the United States
Common sense has long been a running platform used in American government. The current administration claims that President Donald Trump is restoring common sense to government, and the President has used the phrase common sense in a multitude of speeches as well as executive orders (White House, 2025). The emphasis on common sense is a populist tactic used to unite an us versus them conflict. The easiest way to do this is to create a divide between the elite and the rest of the population. This not o...
Digital Leviathans: The Politics of Artificial Community
Among the contributors to contemporary political philosophy, the sociologist Professor Robert Nisbet stands out in the American conversation, most notably in his 1953 work, The Quest for Community. Nisbets analysis centers around his argument that the modern states removal of the local community as an intermediary between the individual and their nation has had profound sociological consequences for American society. Nisbet contrasts the modern dynamic with the observations of the French writer and politi...
Can Institutions Save the Ongoing Water Crisis?
Research QuestionIn Jaroslav Tir and Douglas M Stinnetts article Weathering climate change: Can institutions mitigate international water conflict, the authors explore the correlation between climate change and militarized conflict in relation to transboundary rivers as a causal mechanism. Rivers serve an important role for many countries and can be the most prominent resource depending on the geological location. Farmers use rivers for irrigation properties to water and sanitize crops, and different gov...
The Implications of EU Immigration
Since the first major wave of migrants in 2015, the European Union has been completely entrenched in the realm of immigration. Is immigration good for the EU? Is it bad? Is it both? Therefore, what is the net outcome? While the argument laid out is not comprehensive, it provides a foundational framework to better look at the issue through different lenses. Nevertheless, the argument proposed is that the benefits of immigration outweigh the drawbacks of immigration due to the economic advantages.Costs of Imm...
Young Voters: Why is Participation Higher in Some Countries than in Others?
The Generational Gap in Voting Reveals the Many Faces of DemocracyIn many Western democracies, young people are voting less and less but not everywhere. The generational gap in voter participation is reshaping the very meaning of democratic citizenship. In recent years, we often hear that young people have stopped voting. In part, its true, but we forget to take all democratized countries into account. In many northern European democracies, young people between the ages of 18 and 25 participate almost as...
CU Boulder Student Feature
Faculty and Staff Advisors
Letter to the Editor
Letter to the Editor coming soon!泭
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How to be involved
Would you like to be a member of CPSR?
Please email janet.donavan@colorado.edu or madeline.mader@colorado.edu泭