Web cookies (also called HTTP cookies, browser cookies, or simply cookies) are small pieces of data that websites store on your device (computer, phone, etc.) through your web browser. They are used to remember information about you and your interactions with the site.
Purpose of Cookies:
Session Management:
Keeping you logged in
Remembering items in a shopping cart
Saving language or theme preferences
Personalization:
Tailoring content or ads based on your previous activity
Tracking & Analytics:
Monitoring browsing behavior for analytics or marketing purposes
Types of Cookies:
Session Cookies:
Temporary; deleted when you close your browser
Used for things like keeping you logged in during a single session
Persistent Cookies:
Stored on your device until they expire or are manually deleted
Used for remembering login credentials, settings, etc.
First-Party Cookies:
Set by the website you're visiting directly
Third-Party Cookies:
Set by other domains (usually advertisers) embedded in the website
Commonly used for tracking across multiple sites
Authentication cookies are a special type of web cookie used to identify and verify a user after they log in to a website or web application.
What They Do:
Once you log in to a site, the server creates an authentication cookie and sends it to your browser. This cookie:
Proves to the website that you're logged in
Prevents you from having to log in again on every page you visit
Can persist across sessions if you select "Remember me"
What's Inside an Authentication Cookie?
Typically, it contains:
A unique session ID (not your actual password)
Optional metadata (e.g., expiration time, security flags)
Analytics cookies are cookies used to collect data about how visitors interact with a website. Their primary purpose is to help website owners understand and improve user experience by analyzing things like:
How users navigate the site
Which pages are most/least visited
How long users stay on each page
What device, browser, or location the user is from
What They Track:
Some examples of data analytics cookies may collect:
Page views and time spent on pages
Click paths (how users move from page to page)
Bounce rate (users who leave without interacting)
User demographics (location, language, device)
Referring websites (how users arrived at the site)
Here’s how you can disable cookies in common browsers:
1. Google Chrome
Open Chrome and click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner.
Go to Settings > Privacy and security > Cookies and other site data.
Choose your preferred option:
Block all cookies (not recommended, can break most websites).
Block third-party cookies (can block ads and tracking cookies).
2. Mozilla Firefox
Open Firefox and click the three horizontal lines in the top-right corner.
Go to Settings > Privacy & Security.
Under the Enhanced Tracking Protection section, choose Strict to block most cookies or Custom to manually choose which cookies to block.
3. Safari
Open Safari and click Safari in the top-left corner of the screen.
Go to Preferences > Privacy.
Check Block all cookies to stop all cookies, or select options to block third-party cookies.
4. Microsoft Edge
Open Edge and click the three horizontal dots in the top-right corner.
Go to Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Cookies and site permissions.
Select your cookie settings from there, including blocking all cookies or blocking third-party cookies.
5. On Mobile (iOS/Android)
For Safari on iOS: Go to Settings > Safari > Privacy & Security > Block All Cookies.
For Chrome on Android: Open the app, tap the three dots, go to Settings > Privacy and security > Cookies.
Be Aware:
Disabling cookies can make your online experience more difficult. Some websites may not load properly, or you may be logged out frequently. Also, certain features may not work as expected.
Hadia Ahmad (POLS ’23 – Honors) presented her research at the annual Frontiers Exhibition in Stamford. Her paper was titled “Fight or Flight: Examining the Struggles on Nonwhites in Academia”.
Gianella Anyosa’s (POLS ‘23 and BOLD Scholar) documentary, Migrar o Morir, was screened in the Puerto Rican Latin American Cultural Center Community Room this past March.
Mason Holland (POLS’23- Honors and USG president) will start graduate school in the Department of Political Science at the University of Michigan this fall 2023.
Anabelle Bergstrom (POLS ‘25) presented the findings from her Holster Scholar project “Examining the Relationship Between Male and Female ROTC Experiences and Career Ambition” at the Annual Meeting of the New England Political Science Association in Mystic, CT.
Cory Runstedtler (PhD Candidate) presented his paper “Can the Few Replace the Many: Interpreting the New Wave Union-based Collective Action Focused on Smaller Groups” at New England Political Science Association conference. He will also be presenting at The Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA) 75th Annual Conference in June.
Sercan Canbolat (PhD Candidate) co-authored a paper with Patrick James (USC) and Sarah Gansen (USC) titled “Systemism and International Relations: How a Graphic Method Can Enhance Communication” which is accepted to be published in the International Studies Review (June 2023).
Sercan Canbolat (PhD Candidate) and Stephen Dyson co-authored a paper titled “Dominating the Superpower: A Bounded Rationality Approach to Nuclear Proliferation and Inhibition in the U.S. / North Korea Dyad” which received an R&R (with minor revision) from the Journal of International Relations.
Hoeun Lee (PhD Candidate) has been accepted as an author in a panel session at the 2023 APSA Annual Meeting program in Los Angeles.
Mst. Tahmina Akter (PhD Candidate) has been selected to be the Secretary of the Political Science Graduate Students Association (PSGSA). This year, she also received the J. Garry Clifford Graduate Fellowship Fund, which is given annually to a graduate student who has demonstrated academic excellence. Also, she has been awarded the POLS Teaching Assistant of the Year Award for demonstrating excellence as a TA.
Minju Lee (PhD Candidate) presented her paper “Why Did South Korea and Israel Restore and Rapidly Improve Their Bilateral Relations After a Fourteen Year Hiatus? – The Role of Ontological Security in South Korean-Israeli Relations” at the MPSA Conference in April. She will participate in a panel of Human Rights, Trafficking, and Democratic Quality as a presenter of the paper “Too Dangerous to be Welcomed: Anti-Immigrant/Refugee Movements in Asia” at the annual APSA meeting this August.
Lily Luo (PhD Candidate) recently published her first peer reviewed article titled “Intimacies of the Future: Techno-Orientalism, All-under-Heaven (Tian-Xia天下), and Afrofuturism in Verge: Studies in Global Asias 9:1 (Spring 2023)
Anabelle Bergstrom (POLS & Philosophy ’25, CLAS) won a Summer Undergraduate Research Fund Award for her project “Investigating the Influence of Campaign Contributions on State Supreme Court Judicial Decisions.” Her faculty mentor is Prof. Virginia Hettinger.
Colin Piteo (POLS & History ’24) won a Summer Undergraduate Research Fund Award for his project “Can a Law Really Protect Glaciers? Examining a Visionary Law in Argentina.” His faculty mentor is Prof. Mark Healey.
Spencer Hayes(PhD Candidate) presented her paper “The Internet: A Human Trafficker’s Number One Accomplice?” at the Midwest Political Science Association conference in Chicago this April.
Bryanna Moore(IIREP ‘23) is the inaugural graduate of Intersectional Indigeneity, Race, Ethnicity, and Politics (IIREP) MA Program. On April 28, 2023, she successfully defended her exemplary MA Project, a paper entitled “Suppressing the Black Vote in Georgia: A Matter of Racial Animus or Electoral Strategy?” Her project is supervised by Prof. Evelyn Simien. Prior to coming to UConn, Bryanna completed her BA in political science from Yale University.
Undergraduate Political Review Journal’s spring 2023 edition can be found here