Armenian Genocide Recognition in Congress
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Keywords
Armenian Genocide, recognition, cosponsorship, U.S. Congress, Genocide, Representatives, members of Congress, demographics, constituency, legislation
Department
Political Science
Major
Political Science
Abstract
Although independent scholars and many countries throughout the world recognize that the mass killings of Armenians in 1915-17 was in fact genocide, the United States government struggles with its own formal recognition. The U.S. Congress has repeatedly declined to use the word genocide, arguably out of concern over American geo-political interests. In this paper I examine the roots of the U.S.’ hesitancy by analyzing support for House Resolution 106, which was introduced in 2007 to the 110th Congress. Absent roll call votes, I use cosponsorship to measure House members’ support for recognition or the lack thereof. Independent variables include members' characteristics and constituency demographics. I hypothesize that Representatives’ religion will play an important role, especially membership in the same Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition. I also expect sex to be a significant determinant of cosponsorship since empirically congresswomen vote more liberally and show greater support for human rights than do their male counterparts. I also anticipate a statistically significant finding from representatives whose constituency is densely populated with Armenians. Since scholars make a connection between the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust, I suspect Jewish Representatives will show support. Lastly, I predict that more non-White members will cosponsor the bill in a sign of solidarity as people of color. Using ordered-logit regression, I find that constituency and members’ ideology, region, constituents’ socio-economic status, and members’ religious traditions all appear to influence their support for this measure.
Faculty Mentor
Joel Fetzer
Funding Source or Research Program
Political Science Honors Program
Presentation Session
Session A
Location
Plaza Classroom 188
Start Date
1-4-2016 3:30 PM
End Date
1-4-2016 3:45 PM
Armenian Genocide Recognition in Congress
Plaza Classroom 188
Although independent scholars and many countries throughout the world recognize that the mass killings of Armenians in 1915-17 was in fact genocide, the United States government struggles with its own formal recognition. The U.S. Congress has repeatedly declined to use the word genocide, arguably out of concern over American geo-political interests. In this paper I examine the roots of the U.S.’ hesitancy by analyzing support for House Resolution 106, which was introduced in 2007 to the 110th Congress. Absent roll call votes, I use cosponsorship to measure House members’ support for recognition or the lack thereof. Independent variables include members' characteristics and constituency demographics. I hypothesize that Representatives’ religion will play an important role, especially membership in the same Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition. I also expect sex to be a significant determinant of cosponsorship since empirically congresswomen vote more liberally and show greater support for human rights than do their male counterparts. I also anticipate a statistically significant finding from representatives whose constituency is densely populated with Armenians. Since scholars make a connection between the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust, I suspect Jewish Representatives will show support. Lastly, I predict that more non-White members will cosponsor the bill in a sign of solidarity as people of color. Using ordered-logit regression, I find that constituency and members’ ideology, region, constituents’ socio-economic status, and members’ religious traditions all appear to influence their support for this measure.