Undergraduate Review VOLUME 2 • SPRING 2019
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THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY Undergraduate Review VOLUME 2 • SPRING 2019 www.gwur.org THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY Undergraduate Review VOLUME 2 • SPRING 2019 CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS! Front Cover: Di Yang, Accountancy Back Cover: Shanil Jiwani, Political Communications ISSN (print): 2578-9171 ISSN (online): 2578-9201 ©2019 The GW Undergraduate Review, The George Washington University STAFF AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The GW Undergraduate Review would like to thank Vice President for Research Dr. Robert Miller, Mr. Shane Seger, and the Office of the Vice President of Research holistically for their continued support of and guidance for our organization. Moreover, we would like to thank the Center for Undergraduate Fellowships and Research, the Center for Student Engagement, and Libraries and Academic Innovation for promoting the journal, engaging with the undergraduate research community at large, and advising over the course of publication. Additionally, we would like to thank the University Honors Program and our Faculty Review Board for their encouragement and insights. Finally, we would like to thank the tireless work of our authors, whose efforts were invaluable to our publication. ABOUT US Established in 2016, the GW Undergraduate Review (GWUR) is the premier publication of undergraduate research at the George Washington University featuring a multi-disciplinary series of peer-reviewed articles from GW’s undergraduates in its annual publication. Our mission is to engage undergraduate students in research on GW’s campus and to promote the research community at large through varied events and workshops alongside our journal. Our editorial board is staffed by 33 editors representing over twenty of GW’s departments, to which students of any discipline may submit their work. Analogously, our organization publishes the Colonial Scope, an ongoing research-focused news blog backed by a similarly robust board. GWUR is an entirely student-run organization that works closely with and is supported by the Office of the Vice President of Research, with whom we host events and realize ideas to further GW’s research community at large. EXECUTIVE BOARD Margaret Steiner - President/Editor-in-Chief Logan Bartholomew - Managing Editor Aleksandra Dagunts - Director of Internal Affairs Cameron Delaney Foster - Director of Outreach Claire Houchen - Lead Editor (Natural Sciences and Engineering) Jose Nazario - Public Relations Chair Maanas Nukala - Director of Technology Richard Sear - Layout Manager Sarthak Shah - Event Coordinator Isabel Wolfer - Lead Editor (Social Sciences and Humanities) EDITORIAL BOARD - NATURAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING Claire Houchen - Lead Editor Emily Earls Veronika Kulik Marisa Lazarus Camille Leoni Jose Nazario Dhruv Sharma Diana Vu EDITORIAL BOARD - SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES Isabel Wolfer - Lead Editor Ebunoluwa Akinbode Jennifer Cheng Maia Clarkin Maryam Gilanshah Carolyne Im Matthew Kim Tena Reid Jake Tsubota LAYOUT AND DESIGN Richard Sear - Layout Manager Maeve Curran ii FROM THE EDITOR Dear Reader, It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the second volume of the GW Undergraduate Review (GWUR). In this volume, you will find eleven articles spanning diverse academic disciplines and subject matters, each showcasing a unique facet of undergraduate scholarship at the George Washington University. From international affairs to public health, the work included here reflects the talent and dedication of the authors, the strong support of their mentors, and the tireless effort of our staff in bringing it all together. On behalf of the 2018-2019 Editorial Board, I am proud to present this publication as a celebration of the undergraduate research community at GW. In our second year, the GWUR team has continued to work to promote and encourage undergraduate research on our campus through events and partnerships. In the fall semester, we hosted our kick-off event, the Undergraduate Research Showcase, which featured student and faculty talks, and later partnered with GW Compass to host a panel discussion on graduate school. We also co- hosted the GW STEM Symposium with many other student organizations. In the spring, we partnered with GW Research Days to host a speaker series featuring student talks and a keynote by Dr. Catharine Young of the Biden Cancer Initiative. We are continuing to work with the Office of the Vice President of Research to promote initiatives that will make undergraduate research more accessible and fruitful at our university. Thank you to everyone who has helped in making Volume 2 possible. We were fortunate to double the size of our staff this year. It has been a pleasure to work with each and every member of our Executive and Editorial Boards. To our graduating seniors, we wish you luck in all of your future endeavors and thank you for everything you have done for GWUR. Thank you to the Office of the Vice President for research for their continued support of GWUR. Thank you to the Gelman Library staff, who generously volunteered their time to train our editorial team. Thank you to the many GW graduate students and faculty who have assisted us in reaching our goals, both in and outside of GWUR. Lastly, thank you to the authors for sharing your work and giving us the privilege of sharing it with the GW community and beyond. As always, I am so grateful and honored to work with this publication and our partners. I truly look forward to seeing the impact this group will continue to have at GW. I hope you enjoy reading Volume 2 and are as inspired by the fantastic work included within it as we were. Sincerely, Margaret C. Steiner Founding Editor-in-Chief The GW Undergraduate Review iii CONTENTS Celebrity Precedents: Assessing New Politicization and Climate Change 1 Policy Rhetoric in Leonardo DiCaprio’s Before the Flood LISA BLITSTEIN Southern Laggards or Misfits? A comparative assessment of energy policy 15 Europeanization GEORGIOS ANAGNOSTOPOULOS The Rent is Too Darn High: Evidence from Washington, DC’s Capital 38 Bikeshare Program MAX WANG The Long Lasting Brunt of Indonesia’s Currency Depreciation: a historical 48 analysis on Suharto’s reign and the decades-long condemnation of low- wage workers STEPHANIE PURWANTO Journey to a Post-Conflict Society: Colombia’s Transitional Justice System 59 EMMA FARRIS Postcolonial Approaches to Democracy and its Impact on Gender in Jordan 72 EMMA ANDERSON ‘Quantitative Ceasing’: Reverse Quantitative Easing and its Effect on U.S. 82 Corporate Credit Markets JACK DEPERRIOR The Impact of Political Instability on the Tourism Sector in the Middle East 93 and North Africa NICOLAS REEVES The Effect of a Vegan, Plant-Based Diet on Hypertension 108 MARGARET NELSON The Patient Perspective of Quality Care: A Literature Review 117 HANNAH BARNETT The Corporacy of the Cosmos: A Privatization of Space Research 130 ANYA QURESHI The Colonial Scope news feature: Intelligent Design 137 CAMILLE LEONI - STAFF WRITER FOR THE COLONIAL SCOPE GWUR Editorial Board Research Features 140 Staff Bios 149 iv 1 KEYWORDS: climate change, environmental policy, ecodocumentary film, Leonardo DiCaprio, 2016 U.S. presidential election, political rhetoric, celebrity power Celebrity Precedents: Assessing New Politicization and Climate Change Policy Rhetoric in Leonardo DiCaprio’s Before the Flood LISA BLITSTEIN Communication, CCAS ‘19, [email protected] ABSTRACT This article juxtaposes the demonstrated prevalence of celebrity politics with that of climate change policy inaction in the United States, to contextualize Leonardo DiCaprio’s ecodocumentary, Before the Flood within its current sociopolitical moment. I argue these components work in tandem to structure DiCaprio’s message within a social framework accommodating him as a political figure. In turn, the documentary can be conceived of as both a contributor and a product of new celebrity political discourse serving to further the politicization of climate change. • LITERATURE REVIEW has seemingly failed to enforce stringent guidelines in the face of over 185 years of what William Forster Overview of Climate Change Research and Lloyd (1832) conceptualized as a tragedy of the Rhetoric in the United States commons, an unwillingness for society to maintain the environment without a directive to do so. Anthropogenic climate change is the most Joseph Fourier’s 1824 discovery of what became pressing issue of the 21st century and beyond, known as the greenhouse effect led to Svante as humans’ ability to continue living on Earth Arrhenius’s conclusion in 1896 that the industrial and maintaining business as usual affects every burning of coal was contributing to global warming conceivable industry and social construct we (Crawford, 2018). However, neither an approaching have collectively built. In November of 2018, the 200 years of climate change research, establishment U.S. Global Change Research Program, a federal of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change agency, released the “Fourth National Climate (IPCC), or consensus among scientists on the dire Assessment,” (2018), with over a thousand pages state of climate change has prompted consistent of evidence from nearly 300 scientists, presenting governmental intervention in the United States to clear, unequivocal proof that humans have mitigate the consequences or reduce the nation’s caused climate change. The second chapter, “Our carbon footprint to pre-industrial levels. The United Changing Climate,” consolidates findings from States is a world