At UNL’s Department of Political Science, we’re devoted to giving students the best possible education on how to be a citizen of the world. A liberal arts degree, by its nature, teaches students how to analyze critically, and write and communicate effectively. When you combine that with learning about government and politics in the United States and abroad, along with critical thinking and reasoning skills, graduates find themselves qualified for many careers.

We’re home to nationally and internationally renowned scholars and award-winning teachers who have made the department one of the nation’s best. Our expertise is at your disposal, as it has been to the New York Times, Time Magazine, CNN and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”

Our extraordinary students have won highly prestigious awards, including Truman and Boren scholarship as well as Fulbright Scholarships to study around the world.

Whether you are an undergraduate, graduate student, alum or Nebraska citizen, we look forward to hearing from you.

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2024

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I Am Not a Hero: Heroic Action Divorces the Hero from the Political Community, Ari Kohen, Brian Riches, and Andre Sólo

2023

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Wealth and risk heterogeneity effects in community-based wildlife management: Experimental evidence, Stefan Carpenter and Ursula W. Kreitmair

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Elections and Post Traumatic Stress: Evidence from the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, Timothy Fraser, Costas Panagopoulos, and Kevin Smith

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Investigating Perceptions of Out-groups in Sport and United States Politics, Cody T. Havard and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse

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Donald Trump’s contribution to the study of politics and the life sciences, John Hibbing

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Differentiating between urban flood risk as a unitary problem and as a strand in a braided problem set: Implications for administrative coordination, Sarah Michaels

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Economic Values, Social Values and Cultural Animal Theory, Kevin Smith

2022

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Political Identity Biases Americans’ Judgments of Outgroup Emotion, Ruby Basyouni, Nicholas R. Harp, Ingrid J. Haas, and Maital Neta

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Reconceptualizing conservation, S. J. Cooke; Sarah Michaels; E. A. Nyboer; L. Schiller; D. B. R. Littlechild; D. E. L. Hanna; C. D. Robichaud; A. Murdoch; D. Roche; P. Soroye; J. C. Vermaire; V. M. Nguyen; University of Ottawa,; J. F. Provencher; P. A. Smith; G. W. Mitchell; S. Avery-Gomm; C. M. Davy; R. T. Buxton; T. Rytwinski; L. Fahrig; J. R. Bennett; and G. Auld

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Black Trust in US Legislatures, ERNEST DUPREE III and John R. Hibbing

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Using Political Psychology to Understand Populism, Intellectual Virtues, and Democratic Backsliding, Ingrid J. Haas

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Why Do Trump’s Authoritarian Followers Resist COVID-19 Authorities? Because They Are Not Really Authoritarian Followers, John Hibbing

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External Threat Environments and Individual Bias against Female Leaders, Nam Kyu Kim and Alice J. Kang

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The Appointment of Women to Authoritarian Cabinets in Africa, Alex Kroeger and Alice J. Kang

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Backlash against the #MeToo Movement: How Women’s Voice Causes Men to Feel Victimized, Jaclyn A. Lisnek, Clara L. Wilkins, Megan E. Wilson, and Pierce D. Ekstrom

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Politics is making us sick: The negative impact of political engagement on public health during the Trump administration, Kevin Smith

2021

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Breaking the Judicial Glass Ceiling: The Appointment of Women to High Courts Worldwide, Maria C. Escobar-Lemmon, Valerie J. Hoekstra, Alice J. Kang, and Miki Caul Kittilson

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Political Uncertainty Moderates Neural Evaluation of Incongruent Policy Positions, Ingrid J. Haas, Melissa N. Baker, and Frank J. Gonzalez

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Agricultural and food security impacts from the 2010 Russia flash drought, Eric D. Hunt, Francesco Femia, Caitlin Werrell, Jordan Christian, Jason A. Otkin, Jeff Basara, Martha Anderson, Tyler R. White, Christopher Hain, Robb Randall, and Katie McGaughey

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Litigating Socio-economic and Women’s Rights in Benin’s Constitutional Court, Alice J. Kang and Susanna D. Wing

2020

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Googly Eyes and Yard signs: Deconstructing One Professor’s Successful Rebuffing of a Right-wing Attack on an Academic Institution, Theresa Catalano and Ari Kohen

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Ideological Asymmetries in Social Psychological Research: Rethinking the Impact of Political Context on Ideological Epistemology, Ingrid J. Haas

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Territorial Threat and Women’s Legislative Representation, Alice J. Kang and Nam Kyu Kim

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Diverse and Inclusive High Courts: A Global and Intersectional Perspective, Alice J. Kang, Miki Caul Kittilson, Valerie Hoekstra, and Maria C. Escobar-Lemmon

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Revisiting Economic Shocks and Coups, Nam Kyu Kim

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Do People Really Become More Conservative as They Age?, Johnathan C. Peterson, Kevin Smith, and John Hibbing

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Ethical Concerns of Heroism Training, Brian R. Riches, Matt Langdon, and Ari Kohen

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Motivated viewing: Selective exposure to political images when reasoning is not involved, Clarisse Warren, Stephen Schneider, Kevin Smith, and John Hibbing

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Ideology and Predictive Processing: Coordination, Bias, and Polarization in Socially Constrained Error Minimization, Nathan E. Wheeler, Suraiya Allidina, Elizabeth U. Long, Stephen P. Schneider, Ingrid J. Haas, and William A. Cunningham

2019

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Social Identity and the Use of Ideological Categorization in Political Evaluation, Ingrid J. Haas, Christopher R. Jones, and Russell H. Fazio

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Prioritized Interests: Diverse Lobbying Coalitions and Congressional Committee Agenda Setting, John R. Hibbing

Prioritized Interests: Diverse Lobbying Coalitions and Congressional Committee Agenda Setting, John R. Hibbing

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Do People Really Become More Conservative as They Age?, Johnathan C. Peterson, Kevin Smith, and John Hibbing

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Friends, relatives, sanity, and health: The costs of politics, Kevin Smith, Matthew V. Hibbing, and John R. Hibbing

2018

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The Judicialization of Peace, Courtney Hillebrecht, Alexandra Huneeus, and Sandra Borda

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Coalitions Matter: Citizenship, Women, and Quota Adoption in Africa, Alice J. Kang and Aili Mari Tripp

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Global South Scholars Are Missing from European and US Journals: What Can Be Done about It, Peace A. Medie and Alice J. Kang

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Genetic Attributions: Sign of Intolerance or Acceptance?, Stephen P. Schneider, Kevin B. Smith, and John R. Hibbing

2017

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Who Can Deviate from the Party Line? Political Ideology Moderates Evaluation of Incongruent Policy Positions in Insula and Anterior Cingulate Cortex, Ingrid J. Haas, Melissa N. Baker, and Frank J. Gonzalez

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Mass Political Behavior, Ingrid J. Haas and Stephen P. Schneider

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The Making of a Hero: Cultivating Empathy, Altruism, and Heroic Imagination, Ari Kohen, Matt Langdon, and Brian R. Riches

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Women, Rights and Power: Review of Alice Kang, Bargaining for Women’s Lives: Activism in an Aspiring Muslim Democracy., Jill Vickers

2016

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Review of Alice Kang, Bargaining for Women’s Rights: Activism in an Aspiring Muslim Democracy, Jaimie Bleck

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Just the Facts? Media Coverage of Female and Male High Court Appointees in Five Democracies, Maria C. Escobar-Lemmon, Valerie Hoekstra, Alice J. Kang, and Miki Caul Kittilson

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Review of Joe Renouard, Human Rights in American Foreign Policy; From the 1960s to the Soviet Collapse (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016), ISBN 9780812247732, 324 pages., David P. Forsythe

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Heroism Research: A Review of Theories, Methods, Challenges, and Trends, Zeno E. Franco, Scott T. Allison, Elaine L. Kinsella, Ari Kohen, Matt Langdon, and Philip G. Zimbardo

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Political Neuroscience, Ingrid J. Haas

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Political Psychology (Annotated Bibliography), Ingrid J. Haas

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POLS: 450: Research in Biology, Psychology, and Politics—A Peer Review of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Ingrid J. Haas

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The Impact of Uncertainty, Threat, and Political Identity on Support for Political Compromise, Ingrid J. Haas

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Anti-regime Uprisings and the Emergence of Electoral Authoritarianism, Nam Kyu Kim

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Are Military Regimes Really Belligerent?, Nam Kyu Kim

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Revolutionary Leaders and Mass Killing, Nam Kyu Kim

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Review of Muslim Women in Postcolonial Kenya: Leadership, Representation and Social Change by Ousseina D. Alidou, and: Bargaining for Women’s Rights: Activism in an Aspiring Muslim Democracy by Alice J. Kang.", Lisa Mueller

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Physiology and political beliefs: A response to Knoll, O’Daniel, and Cusato, Johnathan C. Peterson, Kevin Smith, and John Hibbing

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Representation and Governance in International Organizations, David P. Rapkin, Jonathan R. Strand, and Michael W. Trevathan

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Perceived Threat Associated with Police Officers and Black Men Predicts Support for Policing Policy Reform, Allison L. Skinner and Ingrid J. Haas

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Review of Bargaining for Women’s Rights: Activism in an Aspiring Muslim Democracy by Alice J. Kang, Susanna D. Wing

2015

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Her Ladyship Chief Justice: The Rise of Female Leaders in the Judiciary in Africa, Josephine Dawuni and Alice J. Kang

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Reflective liberals and intuitive conservatives: A look at the Cognitive Reflection Test and ideology, Kristen D. Deppe, Frank J. Gonzalez, Jayme Neiman, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Jackson Pahlke, Kevin Smith, and John R. Hibbing

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The Genetic and Environmental Foundations of Political, Psychological, Social, and Economic Behaviors: A Panel Study of Twins and Families, Peter K. Hatemi, Kevin Smith, John R. Alford, Nicholas G. Martin, and John R. Hibbing

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Determinants of Rural Latino Trust in the Federal Government, Nathan Munier, Julia Albarracin, and Keith Boeckelman

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Voting at Home Is Associated with Lower Cortisol than Voting at the Polls, Jayme Neiman, Karl Evan Giuseffi, Kevin B. Smith, Jeffrey French, Israel Waismel-Manor, and John R. Hibbing

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Love Thy Neighbor? Trust in Foreigners and Support for Transnational Policies, Sergio Wals, Elizabeth Theiss-Morse, Frank J. Gonzalez, and Tess Gosda

2014

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Nonpolitical Images Evoke Neural Predictors of Political Ideology, Woo-Young Ahn, Kenneth T. Kishida, Xiaosi Gu, Terry Lohrenz, Ann Harvey, John R. Alford, Kevin B. Smith, Gideon Yaffe, John R. Hibbing, Peter Dayan, and P. Read Montague

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The Uncertainty Paradox: Perceived Threat Moderates the Impact of Uncertainty on Political Tolerance, Ingrid J. Haas and William A. Cunningham

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Selective versus comprehensive emergency management in Korea, Kyoo-Man Ha and Hyeon-Mun Oh

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Differences in negativity bias underlie variations in political ideology, John R. Hibbing, Kevin B. Smith, and John R. Alford

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Reshaping the Idea of Humanitarian Intervention: Norms, Causal Stories, and the Use of Force Carrie Booth Walling, All Necessary Measures: The United Nations and Humanitarian Intervention (University of Pennsylvania Press 2013)., Courtney Hillebrecht

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How Civil Society Represents Women: Feminists, Catholics, and Mobilization Strategies in Africa, Alice J. Kang

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Tumbling Political Theory, Ari Kohen

2013

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Candidate Genes and Voter Turnout: Further Evidence on the Role of 5-HTTLPR, Kristen Diane Deppe, Scott F. Stoltenberg, Kevin B. Smith, and John R. Hibbing

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Ten Misconceptions Concerning Neurobiology and Politics, John R. Hibbing

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The Effect of Gender Quota Laws on the Election of Women: Lessons from Niger, Alice J. Kang

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Testing Two Explanations of the Liberal Peace: The Opportunity Cost and Signaling Arguments, Nam Kyu Kim

2012

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Book Review: William J. Talbott, Human Rights and Human Well-Being, Ari Kohen

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How indeterminism shapes ecologists’ contributions to managing socio-ecological systems, Sarah Michaels and Andrew Tyre

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The Importance of Moral Construal: Moral versus Non- Moral Construal Elicits Faster, More Extreme, Universal Evaluations of the Same Actions, Jay J. Van Bavel, Dominic J. Packer, Ingrid J. Haas, and William A. Cunningham

2011

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The Politics of Mate Choice, John A. Alford, Peter K. Hatemi, John Hibbing, Nicholas G. Martin, and Lindon J. Eaves

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The Politics of Mate Choice, John R. Alford, Peter K. Hatemi, John Hibbing, Nicholas G. Martin, and Lindon J. Eaves

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Assumed Transmission in Political Science: A Call for Bringing Description Back In, Scott L. Althaus, Nathaniel Swigger, Svitlana Chernykh, David J. Hendry, Sergio C. Wals, and Christopher Tiwald

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Attitudes, William A. Cunningham, Ingrid J. Haas, and Andrew Jahn

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Orbitofrontal cortex provides cross-modal valuation of self-generated stimuli, William A. Cunningham, Ingrid J. Haas, and Ashley S. Waggoner

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Plato's Heroic Vision: The Difficult Choices of the Socratic Life, Ari Kohen

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Personal and Political Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda, Ari Kohen, Michael Zanchelli, and Levi Drake

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Disgust Sensitivity and the Neurophysiology of Left-Right Political Orientations, Kevin B. Smith, Douglas R. Oxley, Matthew V. Hibbing, John R. Alford, and John R. Hibbing

2010

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When Governments Break The Law: The Rule of Law and the Prosecution of the Bush Administration., David P. Forsythe

2009

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Review of American Dreamers: What Dreams Tell Us about the Political Psychology of Conservatives, Liberals, and Everyone Else by Kelly Bulkeley, John R. Hibbing

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Studying Oil, Islam, and Women as if Political Institutions Mattered, Alice J. Kang

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The Personal and the Political: Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Restorative Justice, Ari Kohen

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American Revolution, Ari Kohen and Sara W. Lunsford

2008

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Beyond Liberals and Conservatives to Political Genotypes and Phenotypes, John R. Alford, Carolyn L. Funk, and John R. Hibbing

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Twin Studies, Molecular Genetics, Politics, and Tolerance: A Response to Beckwith and Morris, John R. Alford, Carolyn L. Funk, and John R. Hibbing

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The New Empirical Biopolitics, John R. Alford and John R. Hibbing

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Affective Flexibility: Evaluative Processing Goals Shape Amygdala Activity, William A. Cunningham, Jay J. Van Bavel, and Ingrid Johnsen Haas

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The American Public's View of Congress, John R. Hibbing and Christopher W. Larimer

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A Case of Moral Heroism: Sympathy, Personal Identification, and Mortality in Rwanda, Ari Kohen

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The Politics of AIDS in the Black Community, Byron D. Orey

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Political Attitudes Vary with Physiological Traits, Douglas R. Oxley, Kevin Smith, John R. Alford, Matthew V. Hibbing, Jennifer L. Miller, Mario J. Scalora, Peter K. Hatemi, and John R. Hibbing

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The Global Impact of Quotas: On the Fast Track to Increased Female Legislative Representation, Aili Mari Tripp and Alice J. Kang