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Creatures Of Incoherence: Dissecting The Drivers, History, And Cognition Of Attitudinal Incongruence In The American Body Politic, Timothy Collins

Timothy Collins

Most American conservatives and liberals wield contradictory political attitudes. This dissertation explores what drives this “attitudinal incongruence.” First, I define and operationalize my terminology and situate the topic within social and political psychology to formulate my central model and theory of ideologically asymmetrical application of (1) individuals’ psychological and cognitive traits, and (2) individuals’ social identity and environmental traits. This leads to the overarching hypothesis that conservatives’ incongruities are more strongly driven by internal forces, and liberals’ by external forces. The central model is then demonstrated in a broad historical overview of attitudinal incongruence in America. The central tenets of …

Exploring Politics And Government With Popular Culture: Justifications, Methods, Potentials, And Challenges In Introductory Political Science Courses, Jacob L. Stump

Jacob Stump

"To Be A Rock And Not To Roll: Promoting Political Literacy Through Music And Mixtapes", Shyam Sriram

Shyam K. Sriram (ssriram@butler.edu)

No abstract provided.

Review Of "Foreign Policy After Tahrir Revolution: (Re)-Defining The Role Of Egypt In The Middle East" By Necati Anaz, Mehmet Ozkan

Mehmet OZKAN

No abstract provided.

Communications/Excommunications: An Interview With Armand Mattelart, Costas M. Constantinou

Costas M. Constantinou

Excerpt From Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy And Power In American Culture (Revised And Updated Edition), Mark Fenster

Mark Fenster

This is the introduction to the revised and updated edition of Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, forthcoming 2008). The book challenges the dominant academic and popular approach to conspiracy theories, which views them as a paranoid, extremist expression of marginal groups and individuals that pathologically challenges the basic assumptions of American history and the pluralistic political system of the United States. The book is premised on the contrary proposition that the prevalence of conspiracy theories is neither necessarily pernicious nor external to American politics and culture but instead an integral aspect of …

Judicial Selection, Appointments Gridlock, And The Nuclear Option, David S. Law, Lawrence B. Solum

David S. Law

In this paper, we employ simple formal models drawn from political science to explain the occurrence of gridlock in the federal judicial selection process, and to explore the implications of the nuclear option, by which a bare majority of senators employs parliamentary tactics to abolish the filibuster with respect to judicial nominations. Our application of a pivotal politics model leads us to reject the notion that appointments gridlock is a straightforward consequence of divided government. Instead, meaningful changes to the ideological balance of the federal bench require a more demanding ideological alignment of multiple veto players relative to the status …

Mickey Mouse And The French Identity, Sophie M. Clavier

Sophie M Clavier

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, it offers a challenge to that assertion and observes the situation to be just the opposite -- that for all the predictions of a looming cultural disaster in France, the dialectic existing between American pop culture and the discursive resistance to it, have in fact provided a fantastic opportunity for France to reinforce a distinct cultural identity and to reclaim a coherent political role, both internally and externally. However that same discourse about culture has helped to obscure very real challenges to the French economy. The second goal of this paper is …