American Politics Commons^™

Split Definitive, Lawrence Baum, Neal Devins

Neal E. Devins

For the first time in a century, the Supreme Court is divided solely by political party.

Romney And Huntsman: Two Answers To The 'Mormon Question', Nathan B. Oman

Nathan B. Oman

No abstract provided.

Prosperity Versus Equality At The Polls, Nathan B. Oman

Nathan B. Oman

No abstract provided.

Without Compromise, Fixing Deficit Is A Fairy Tale, Nathan B. Oman

Nathan Oman

No abstract provided.

The Mormon Plot That Wasn't, Nathan B. Oman

Nathan B. Oman

No abstract provided.

The End Of The Great Fiscal Compromise, Nathan B. Oman

Nathan B. Oman

No abstract provided.

The Misunderstood Alliance: Defining The American And Pakistani Relationship, Zachary Joseph Shapiro

Joseph I Shapiro MD

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Litigation Reform: An Institutional Approach, Stephen B. Burbank, Sean Farhang

Sean Farhang

The program of regulation through private litigation that Democratic Congresses purposefully created starting in the late 1960s soon met opposition emanating primarily from the Republican party. In the long campaign for retrenchment that began in the Reagan administration, consequential reform proved difficult and ultimately failed in Congress. Litigation reformers turned to the courts and, in marked contrast to their legislative failure, were well-rewarded, achieving growing rates of voting support from an increasingly conservative Supreme Court on issues curtailing private enforcement under individual statutes. We also demonstrate that the judiciary’s control of procedure has been central to the campaign to retrench …

The Role Of Religiously Affiliated Law Schools In The Renewal Of American Democracy, Bruce Ledewitz

Bruce Ledewitz

Fighting Over The Founders: How We Remember The American Revolution, Andrew Schocket

Andrew M Schocket

The American Revolution is all around us. It is pictured as big as billboards and as small as postage stamps, evoked in political campaigns and car advertising campaigns, relived in museums and revised in computer games. As the nation’s founding moment, the American Revolution serves as a source of powerful founding myths, and remains the most accessible and most contested event in U.S. history: more than any other, it stands as a proxy for how Americans perceive the nation’s aspirations. Americans’ increased fascination with the Revolution over the past two decades represents more than interest in the past. It’s also …

“(Un)Conventional Wisdom And Presidential Politics: The Myth Of Convention Bumps And Favorite Son Vice-Presidents”, David A. Schultz

David A Schultz

Conventional wisdom pervades US presidential politics. Among "old politicians' tales" are that a political party's placement of a national convention in a state can affecting presidential voting there, swinging or flipping it to its presidential candidate. Second, that the selection of a vice-presidential candidate as a favorite son (or daughter) will deliver a state's electoral votes to a presidential ticket. This article examines the placement of national party conventions and selection of vice-presidential candidates for Democratic and Republican Parties since 1948. It finds that presidential candidates do not earn a state bump or advantage by either locating a national convention …

America's Forgotten Constitutions: Defiant Visions Of Power And Community, Robert Tsai

Robert L Tsai

The U.S. Constitution opens by proclaiming the sovereignty of all citizens: "We the People." Robert Tsai's gripping history of alternative constitutions invites readers into the circle of those who have rejected this ringing assertion--the defiant groups that refused to accept the Constitution's definition of who "the people" are and how their authority should be exercised. America's Forgotten Constitutions is the story of America as told by dissenters: squatters, Native Americans, abolitionists, socialists, internationalists, and racial nationalists. Beginning in the nineteenth century, Tsai chronicles eight episodes in which discontented citizens took the extraordinary step of drafting a new constitution. He examines …

Change.Gov, La Loria Konata

La Loria Konata

The Encyclopedia of Social Media and Politics explores how the rise of social media is altering politics both in the United States and in key moments, movements, and places around the world. The essay, Change.gov, gives an overview of the website, detailing how it was used to transition the presidency to President-Elect Barack Obama.

Book Review: 'Living Legislation' By Jeffery A. Jenkins & Eric M. Patashnik (Eds), Brian Christopher Jones

Brian Christopher Jones

No abstract provided.

Organised Labor And Health Reform, Laurence Weil

Laurence Weil

By the summer of 1993, the AFL-CIO had endorsed in principle President-elect Bill Clinton's "managed competition" approach to comprehensive health reform, and committed itself to a multi-million dollar effort on behalf of the Administration's proposal. By February 1994, labor's promised commitment had grown to $10 million, although it had thus far spent only about $500 thousand (2,3). In the end the labor movement anted up between $5 and $10 million (about two-thirds in direct expenditures, the rest in in-kind contributions), an effort that proved wholly inadequate in the face of the mammoth sums of money and aggressive tactics deployed by …

An Observation On The Supreme Court Decision Of Prayer In Public Schools, Engel Vs. Vitale, David C. Taylor Jr

David C Taylor Jr

This paper explores areas of the 1962 Supreme Court decision of Engel vs. Vitale on the subject of Prayer in public schools. There will be a discussion of the historical background, the arguments given, and the support given for the basis of the Court’s decision. There will also be a discussion on the dissenting view of the Court, and a discussion of whether or not this was a liberal or conservative approach to interpreting the Constitution of the United States.

Assessment Governance, Richard Weiner, Karl Benziger

Richard R Weiner

There has emerged a web of exogenous forces emanating from national and regional accreditation associations, particularly a satellite professional association involved in teacher preparation called the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). The reality of this web contradicts the implicit idealist sentiment in John Ishiyama’s report on the “Assessment of Student Outcomes’ meetings at the 2004 TLC where he describes “assessment as a voluntarist/bootstrapping “bottom up” effort of individual faculty members. [PS.27: 3, July 2004, 483-85.] Faculty are increasingly bombarded by outside agencies for standards inventory matrices, evaluation rubrics, and course maps.

A Gender Gap In Policy Representation In The U.S. Congress?, Brian Newman, Christina Wolbrecht, John Griffin

Brian Newman

In the first article to evaluate the equality of dyadic policy representation experienced by women, we assess the congruence between U.S. House members' roll-call votes and the policy preferences of their female and male constituents. Employing two measures of policy representation, we do not find a gender gap in dyadic policy representation. However, we uncover a sizeable gender gap favoring men in districts represented by Republicans, and a similarly sizeable gap favoring women in districts represented by Democrats. A Democratic majority further improves women's dyadic representation relative to men, but having a female representative (descriptive representation) does not.

Drafting Proper Short Bill Titles: Do States Have The Answer?, Brian Christopher Jones

Brian Christopher Jones

No abstract provided.

Assessment Governance, Richard Weiner, Karl Benziger

Karl P. Benziger

There has emerged a web of exogenous forces emanating from national and regional accreditation associations, particularly a satellite professional association involved in teacher preparation called the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). The reality of this web contradicts the implicit idealist sentiment in John Ishiyama’s report on the “Assessment of Student Outcomes’ meetings at the 2004 TLC where he describes “assessment as a voluntarist/bootstrapping “bottom up” effort of individual faculty members. [PS.27: 3, July 2004, 483-85.] Faculty are increasingly bombarded by outside agencies for standards inventory matrices, evaluation rubrics, and course maps.

Don’T’ Know Much About History: Constitutional Text, Practice, And Presidential Power, David A. Schultz

David A Schultz

Assertions of presidential supremacy and power in affairs often invoke history, including events during the administration of George Washington, to defend their assertions. This article raises some questions regarding what we can learn from history for constitutional argument. It concedes generally that historical facts can support or buttress constitution argument, but more specifically it contends that acts undertaken by George Washington are problematic assertions for presidential power, especially those that assert “supremacist” or broad if not exclusive claims for presidential foreign policy authority. To do that, this article first describes how history is employed as constitutional argument for presidential power. …

Contesting The Dinosaur Image: The Labor Movement’S Search For A Future, Richard W. Hurd

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] But the increased effectiveness of labor's political activities has not resulted in major improvements legislatively, and now there is a hostile President who opposes nearly every aspect of the union policy agenda. The promise for the future lies in the demonstrated ability to mobilize at the grassroots. But there are recent signs that national unions are breaking ranks and pursuing narrow self interest. The USWA joined with the steel industry to persuade the Bush administration to restrict imports, and even hinted at a possible endorsement for his reelection in 2004 (Murray). The UMWA has praised the president's energy policy, …

'Rally Round The Flag’ Events For Presidential Approval Research, Brian Newman, Andrew Forcehimes

Brian Newman

Since Mueller's [Mueller, J., 1970. Presidential popularity from Truman to Johnson. The American Political Science Review 64 (1), 18-34.] pioneering study, students of presidential approval ratings have agreed that major events affect these ratings. Despite this consensus, there is wide divergence in the ways that scholars have selected events for inclusion in models of approval ratings. This inconsistency inhibits direct comparisons across studies and raises the possibility that results are contingent on those selection criteria. Thus, what we have learned about the impact of various factors that may affect approval may depend on the details of selection criteria. Practically, scholars …

Public Responses To Health Disparities: How Group Cues Structure Support For Government Intervention, Elizabeth Rigby, Joe Soss, Bridget Booske, Angela Rohan, Stephanie Roberts

Elizabeth Rigby

OBJECTIVE. To examine whether public support for government intervention to address health disparities varies when disparities are framed in terms of different social groups. METHOD. A survey experiment was embedded in a public opinion poll of Wisconsin adults. Respondents were randomly assigned to answer questions about either racial, economic, or education disparities in health. Ordered logit regression analyses examine differences across experimental conditions in support for government intervention to address health disparities. RESULTSs. Health disparities between economic groups received the broadest support for government intervention, while racial disparities in health received the least support for government intervention. These differences were …

The George W. Bush Legacy, Caroline Heldman

Caroline Heldman

Book review of The George W. Bush Legacy. Bush will be known for his ideological polarization of the political parties, his expansion of presidential power, and his appointment of a more conservative federal judiciary. The 2006 election was a major turning point for the White House in terms of public opinion and the loss of a Republican majority in Congress, and only time will tell whether the last two years will shift the direction of the Bush legacy.

Are Voters Better Represented?, Brian Newman, John D. Griffin

Brian Newman

Studies of political participation and representation often contend that elected officials respond more to the preferences of voters than those of nonvoters, but seldom test this claim. This is a critical assumption because if true, biases in who participates will lead to biased representation. Office holders might respond disproportionately to voters’ preferences because voters tend to select like-minded representatives, voters tend to communicate their preferences more, and only voters can reelect representatives. We find that voter preferences predict the aggregate roll-call behavior of Senators while nonvoter preferences do not. We also present evidence supporting the three explanations advanced to account …

The Opacity Of Transparency, Mark Fenster

Mark Fenster

American Baptist Convention, Sherrie Steiner, Donald Gray

Sherrie M Steiner

This chapter from the national data set identifies the political activities and attitudes of American Baptist clergy in the 2000 national election.

Presidential Traits And Job Approval: Some Aggregate-Level Evidence., Brian Newman

Brian Newman

In a previous article in this journal, Cohen (2001) introduced time series measures of public perceptions of Bill Clinton's personal characteristics. Here, I explore the political impact of these perceptions, asking whether they affect the public's evaluations of presidential job performance. I find that they do, adding aggregate-level support to existing individual-level evidence of the importance of character assessments. Finding a connection between character perceptions and job approval in the aggregate time series context helps answer questions previous studies leave unresolved, with significant implications for our understanding of presidential approval and presidential politics more generally. [First paragraph]

The Political And Social Activities Of Mainline Protestant Clergy In The Election Of 2000:, Corwin |Smidt, Sue Crawford, Laura Olson, Melissa Deckman, Donald Gray, Dan Hofrenning, Sherrie Steiner, Beau Weston

Sherrie M Steiner

This study examines clergy across six mainline Protestant denominations in terms of their social characteristics, their theological positions, and their political attitudes and behavior. The analysis is based on data collected through random surveys of clergy in each denomination conducted in 2001 using the same instrument. The predominant focus of the article is on the nature and level of political activities exhibited by mainline Protestant clergy in the election year of 2000. The analysis revealed that mainline Protestant clergy are indeed relatively active politically, but that, despite their commonality of belonging to the same broad religious tradition, the nature and …