Pepperdine Policy Review

2024-2025 Editorial Board

President & Editor-in-Chief:
Sophie Collins

Vice President & Managing Editor:
Connor Merk

Editors:
Darren Borsini
Faith Chang
Scott Di Panni
Wyatt Greco
Kevin Liu
Christian Mayer
Vanessa Rice
Eve Velasquez

Faculty Advisor:
Dr. James Prieger

The State of the Carbon Capture and Sequestration Industry in California in 2024: Challenges and Policy Solutions
Noah Jackson

The Limits of Democracy: A Comparative Analysis of Democratic Backsliding in Syria and Tunisia After the Arab Spring
Talar Haidossian and Kenzie R. Winton

Navigating High Seas Jurisdictional Challenges: Recommendations for Addressing Legal Authority of Incidents on Cruise Vessels
Yichi Zhang

A Letter to Governor Newsom and the California State Legislature on the Loneliness Epidemic and How to Confront It
Nathan Peterson

A State At Risk: A Policy Analysis of Potential New Mexico School Choice Programs
Aidan M. Kohnke

Empower the Marginalized: Enhancing Developing Countries’ Legal Access to WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanisms
Yichi Zhang

The Polarization of Electric Vehicles in Partisan News Networks: An Analysis of CNN and Fox News
Francisco Moran, Matthew Gaon, Quinn J. Proudler, and Casimir Wypyski

A Case Study of Russian Cyber-Attacks on the Ukrainian Power Grid: Implications and Best Practices for the United States
Miles Pollard

Addressing the Impact of COVID-19 on Virginia’s Education System: Empowering Solutions through Expanded School Choice
Connor Merk and Darren Borsini

The Impact of the Syrian Civil War on its Education Sector
Talar Haidossian

Promoting Value-Based Healthcare Decisions: A Case Study of Shared Savings Programs in New Hampshire and Maine
Christopher LaCreta and Lawson Mansell

Reforming Special Education to Accommodate Students with Emotional Disturbances
Troy Collazo

Reimagining Higher Education
Jasmine Campos

China-Venezuela Relations in the 21st Century and a Proposed U.S. Policy Response
Noah Jackson

The Rise of ISIS: A Growing Threat to the World
Grace Ralstin

Policy Implications and Recommendations Concerning the United States’ Non-ratification of International Human Rights Treaties
Kenzie R. Winton

Why Districts Should have the Say: Comparing Teacher Merit Pay and Student Outcomes at the State Level
Heather R. Dougan

World Trade Organization Dispute Resolution and China: Is the System Broken, Flawed, or Working Exactly as Written?
Heather R. Dougan

A Cultural Shift in Education: Raising the Standards and Value of Public School Teachers in the US
Christopher LaCreta

An Econometric Analysis of the Effect of Wildfire-Produced Particulate Matter on Solar Energy Production in California
Abby Butikofer

Desalination Can Provide Relief to California’s Water Problem
Andrew Davenport

Energy Policy as National Security
Conor O'Hara

How Nurturing America’s Agricultural Landscape Can Alleviate Its Health Crisis
Jennifer Galardi

Threats to Religious Higher Ed and the Implications of Title IX Regulation

Andrew Davenport

The Shifting Sands of Soft Power: Comparing Soft Power Influences on U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East
Jackson T. Grasz

Quietly Encouraging Saudi Arabia’s Transient Economy

Austin H. Hardman

Transparency and Incentives: How California Policymakers Can Encourage Patients to Shop for Care

Lawson H. Mansell

Immigration Reform for the American Worker

Gabriel J. Millar

The European Union’s CBAM: Is It an Effective Economic Climate Policy?

Naomi S. Newman

India-Pakistan Conflict: The Dispute over the Kashmir-Jammu Border

Simone Nicolson

Policy Solutions for Affordable Housing in Cuenca Ecuador

Jordan B. Parrish

Equal Healthcare Act: A Brief Review of Health Insurance Programs and how Healthcare Vouchers Ameliorates many Endemic Issues

Miles Pollard

Restoring The Public In Public Policy: Lessons from Lasch, Arendt, and Rawls
Anthony M. Barr

Enhancing the Effectiveness of Microcredit for Female Recipients in Mexico
Chloe I. Buckler Henry

Maximum Pressure with Minimal Success: Recognizing Iranian Resolve in Pursuit of a Revised U.S. Foreign Policy
Alexine D. Carr

Tweeting Terror: Evaluating Changes to the Terror Recruitment and Radicalization Process in the Age of Social Media
Jackson T. Grasz

The Rwandan Genocide: A study for policymakers engaged in foreign policy, diplomacy, and international development
Emily A. Milnes

Caught in the Crossfire: A Policy Maker's Guide to Navigating Difference How should policy makers think of individuals and groups, of constructions of self and society
Jordan B. Parrish

VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017
Abigail W. Scott

National Standards and Education Reform Policy Proposal
Anastasia Aguas

An Exploration of Gender and National Security Through the Integration of Women into Military Roles
Alexine D. Carr

Gerrymandering: The Best Solution at Our Disposal
Ibrahim Kilic

Working Paper: Domestic Violence Prevention Education for Middle School and High School Students in the State of California
Marina Sangit

Examining the Relationship Between Effective Income Tax Rates & Capital Gains Realizations
Connor Chase

Utilizing Economic Ties with China: Brazilian Economic Development Policy in the Age of Bolsonaro
Aotian Zheng

Negotiations with a Rogue
Brigitta Sanchez-O'Brien

Individualism Reverses Freedom in America Beginning with Political Freedoms
Danielle Moore

Undocumented Immigrant Access to Housing Under the Trump Administration: Potential Impacts and Policy Alternatives
Shelby Dewberry

Epistemological Threads of American Journalism

Currie Dickerson

The Connection Between Mass Shootings and Domestic Violence

Jacob Shawn Dunlap

The Rise and Fall of the Media as an Elite Institution

Zachary Hayes

Indicators for Support for Economic Integration in Latin America

Will Humphrey

The Life of Julia: A Failed Progressive Political Campaign

Caleb Jasso

The Quest for Diversity in Higher Education

Andrew Phillips

Constitutional Theory & The Political Process

Stephen Richardson

Educating Latin American Baseball Players: How MLB Should Protect Their Players for After Their Careers

Gabrielle Rockwell

Justice in the Philippines: A Checkered Past with Implications for the Future

Spencer Roush

Judicial Authority in the United States

Christina Syriani

Articles

Awaiting the Rising Dragon: Preparing for the Emboldened Aspirations of China's Red Dynasty
Enrique Navarro-Donnellan

Resolving the Water Pollution Crisis in the Philippines: the Implications of Water Pollution on Public Health and the Economy
Gabriella Andrews

Ireland and the Economic Impacts of Brexit
Abigail Wordin

Politics of the Global Economy "Brexit"
Zachary Hayes

America's State of Readiness against Bioterrorism
Cameron Funk

To Arm or Not to Arm the Kurds: A Look as U.S. National Security Interests in Kurdistan
Nathaniel Barton

Automated Vehicles and the Environment
Joshua Amberg

Food Security as U.S. National Security: Why Fragile States in Africa Matter
Alexandra Perez

Information Communication Technologies in Bolivia: Fostering Political Development?
Zachary Decker

Articles

Reflecting Back on the Ebola Outbreak and the Future of Bioterrorism
Christian Pedersen

Blackwater USA: The Success and Failures of the Worlds Most Powerful Mercenary Army in the War on Terror
Marina Harden

Solving Human Trafficking Between Mexico and the United States
Alexandra Still

Putting Humpty Dumpty Back Together Again: Lessons Learned From State-Building in Iraq
Andrew F. Clark

The Feasibility of Road User Fees and Other Alternative Sources of Transportation Funding
Joshua R. Amberg

A Constitutional and Efficacious Analysis of Affirmative Action Policies
Jeff Longust

 
Book Review

Book Review of Philip K. Howard's "The Rule of Nobody: Saving America from Dead Laws and Broken Government"
Brittany K. Tayloe

Articles

Decomposing the Wage Gap: Analysis of the Wage Gap Between Racial and Ethnic Minorities and Whites
Jennifer Kamara

The Expansion of Cooperative Threat Reduction programs: The case for a formalized agreement with Pakistan
Christian Pedersen

Unanswered Questions: Modernizing the US Nuclear Arsenal and Forces?
Todd C. Royal

Projecting Power In The Arctic: The Russian Scramble for Energy, Power, and Prestige In The High North
Shane C. Tayloe

The U.S. and Mexican Cooperation: The Merida Initiative and Beyond
Yasemin Tekin

Is Mexico the Emerging Leader of Latin America in Post-Carbon Politics?
Eddy Waty

Chile's Educational Reform: The Struggle Between Nationalization and Privatization
Vannia J. Zelaya

Message

Message from the Editor
Jordan Sandler

Articles

Nets or Vaccines: Malaria Vaccine Research
David Ernenwein

Much Ado about Cyber-space: Cyber-terrorism and the Reformation of the Cyber-security
Christian Pedersen

Agricultural Patenting: A Case Study of Monsanto
Shannon Moran

Federal v. State Effectiveness: An Analysis of the Endangered Species Act and Current Potential Attempts at Reform
Nicholas Primo

Rust-Belt Recovery: The Cleveland Model as Economic Development in an Age of Economic Stagnation and Climate Change
Ross Lenihan

The Impact of Clean Energy on Economic Growth: An Econometrics Approach
Cheng Zhang

The Minimum Wage and Teen Unemployment: A Study of the Effect of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007
Alexander Pino

Symposium Article

James Q. Wilson and Public Policy Education
Adam Crepelle

Message

Message from the Editor
Amy Kennedy

Articles

A Global Blasphemy Law: Protecting Believers at the Expense of Free Speech
Kiley Widelitz

Can clean drinking water and sanitation reduce child mortality in Senegal?
Catherine Bampoky

Financial Openness and Growth: 2000-2010
Amy Kennedy

Mobile Health Technology in Developing Countries: The Case of Tanzania
Shruti Modi

No Music in Timbuktu: A Brief Analysis of the Conflict in Mali and Al Qaeda's Rebirth
Nicholas Primo

Oil Sands Extraction: Lessons From Alberta Can, and Should, Inform American Policies
Victoria Lopez

Preparing for the Inevitable: US Climate Change Preparation
David Ernenwein

Regulation of Hydraulic Fracturing of Shale Gas Formations in the United States
Fatemeh Bagheri

The Korean Conflict and the United States National Security
Matthew Smith

The Rising Digital Missile Gap: the Security Threat of the United States' Cyber Inactivity
Christian Pedersen

The Role of Health Care in a Democratic Capitalist Society
Barbi Appelquist

Download the full Pepperdine Policy Review Volume V in Adobe Acrobat.

Message

Message from the Editors
Michael Crouch and Michele Ogawa

Articles

Egypt Wrestles with Democracy: Expectations versus Realities
Melody Harvey

United States Strategy in Afghanistan from 2001 to Today
Haley Stauss

Providing Aid to Fragile or Failed States: A Short Argument for Moderation
Anthony H. Miller

The Crisis of America's Soul: How American Leaders Have Betrayed First Principles
Amy L. Kennedy

Stephen Colbert's Super PAC: A Better Tomorrow?
Shannon K. Anderson

"It's all Political, but Public Policy is Irrational"
Jaquelyn King

Citizens' Jury 2011: Combating Homelessness within the Greater Los Angeles County
Lara Arsinian

Are All R&D Dollars Created Equal?: A Look at the Effect of Federal Investment on Patent Success
Casey J. O'Neil

Estimating the Impact of Cell Phone Laws on Car Accident Fatalities
Odinakachi Anyanwu

Commentary

A Memo on Social Security
Michele Ogawa

Book Review

Memoirs of a Paleo
Tulio S. de Oliveira

Download the full Pepperdine Policy Review Volume IV in Adobe Acrobat.

Message

Message from the Editor
Alexander N. Fondrier

Student Articles

The Political and Economic Implications of the Asian Carp
Thomas Just

Given the Choice: Family Values in California's Largest School Districts
Raija Churchill

The Merida Initiative: An Effective Way of Reducing Violence in Mexico?
Sabrina Abu-Hamdeh

The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Sub-Saharan Africa
Odinakachi J. Anyanwu

The HOPE Worldwide Indonesia Positive-Choice Program
Jillian Kissee

Bilingual, ESL, and English Immersion: Educational Models for Limited English Proficient Students in Texas
Kelly Faltis

Here and Back Again: US National Security Interest in the Arab/Israeli Conflict
Miriam Keim

Commentary

Unions Matter
John S. Thomas

Book Review

Against Gloom and Doom
Michael Crouch

Download the full Pepperdine Policy Review Volume III in Adobe Acrobat.

Message

Message from the Editor
Nicole Hutchinson

Student Articles

The Honduran Question: The U.S. Answer to Latin America
Lindsay Young

Terrorism and Game Theory: From the Terrorists' Point of View
Kevin Chlebik

The Rise of Russia and the National Security Implications for the United States
Matthew Saha

Alumni Articles

The Policy Debate Over the Bailout Plan
Kevin Simons

Symposium Articles

The Bush-Obama Stimulus Programs and the Future of American Capitalism
Dr. Randall Holcombe

The Future of Regulation
Dr. Jerry Ellig

Latin America and the Financial Crisis of 2008: Lessons and Challenges
Dr. Luisa Blanco

Download the full Pepperdine Policy Review Volume II in Adobe Acrobat.

Message

Message from the Editor
Nicolas Valbuena

Articles

Beyond Greenspan
Rich Danker

Why Does the U.S. Military Have Chaplains?
Hans Zieger

Does Microcredit Facilitate Socioeconomic Development? A Case Study on the Grameen Bank and Proposition for Impact Assessment
Arundhati Pal

The Domestic Causes and International Consequences of the US Government's Sugar Price Support Programs
Shannon Anderson

"Peace at Home, Peace in the World": The Rise and Role of Nationalism in Turkish Political Life
Morgan Beach

Alumni Feature

Republican Agonistes
Troy Senik

Download the full Pepperdine Policy Review Volume I in Adobe Acrobat.

Message

Message from the Editor
Matthew C. Piccolo

Articles

Educating Citizens: Have We Kept the Founders' Ideals for Higher Education?
Hans Zeiger

Is Going Yellow Really Going Green? A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Ethanol Production in America
Michelle Isenhouer

Mental Health Care in India: Prescribing the Right Policy
Kimberly Meltzer

Going All In: The Gamble of Globalization & European Economic Integration
Lauren S. Koffs

Alumni Feature

Standing Up for Charity: A Book Review of "Who Really Cares" by Arthur C. Brooks
Alumnus Jeffrey M. Jones of the Hoover Institution

Commentary

Poking the Russian Bear: The European Missile Defense Shield
Jeremy Anderson

Corporate Environmentalists: Green Business Strategy
Danielle Bersen

Barack Obama: Same Story, New Character
Jonathan Freinberg