Other Political Science Commons^™

Trends In Public Opinion, 1989-1996, John M. Scheb Ii, William Lyons, Grant W. Neeley

Grant W. Neeley

In this chapter, we examine the party identifications and ideological orientations of Tennesseans from 1989 through 1996, as revealed through survey research. We also look at Tennesseans' positions on several issues of public policy that have been salient in state politics during this period. Our intent is to isolate any trends in the partisan and ideological character of the state while examining citizens' positions on key issues.

Early Voting In Tennessee: Removing Barriers To Participation, Grant W. Neeley, Lillard E. Richardson Jr.

Grant W. Neeley

In 1994. the Tennessee General Assembly mandated a new early voting system that allowed voters to cast a ballot in a two-week period prior to any election. Unlike absentee balloting, which requires registrants to justify why they cannot participate on election day, early voting is available to any registered voter who chooses to do so. By enacting early voting in Tennessee, the state legislature hoped to achieve increased turnout and easier access for citizens unable to vote at a regular polling site on election day. The purpose of this chapter is to ascertain whether the program was able to increase …

Turnout And Partisanship In Tennessee Elections, Lillard E. Richardson Jr., Grant W. Neeley

Grant W. Neeley

To understand the forces shaping current Tennessee politics, we discuss two fundamental concepts of Tennessee's electoral system: voting turnout and partisanship. These two concepts are easily illustrated by two questions. First, how many people participate in elections in the state? Second, whom do Tennesseans elect to represent them? While we use a historical perspective to inform the analysis, we are generally more interested in the forces shaping politics in Tennessee today.

Implementation Of Early Voting, Lillard E. Richardson Jr., Grant W. Neeley

Grant W. Neeley

We examine the early voting process in Tennessee during the election of 1994. By conducting a mail survey of all 95 county registrars, we ascertained the methods and costs of early voting implementation. Generally, the survey reveals a strong belief that early voting encourages greater participation by voters, with turnout data supporting this belief. We find that the ballot type and location of early voting sites play an important role in determining both the costs of early voting and the rate of voter participation.

The Practice Of Government Public Relations, Mordecai Lee, Grant W. Neeley, Kendra Stewart

Grant W. Neeley

With the recent change of administration in the U.S. executive branch, we have seen increased attention to issues of public information, transparency in government, and government and press relations in the United States and abroad. In addition, rapidly evolving technology and its influence on public communication have left many in government struggling to remain current in this area. Citizens and constituents learn to use interactive tools when searching for information, utilize technology for communications, and now expect government information and services to exist in the same information space as private entities. This book is an effort of leading experts in …

Gender, Human Security And The United Nations: Security Language As A Political Framework For Women, Natalie Florea Hudson

Natalie Florea Hudson

This book examines the relationship between women, gender and the international security agenda, exploring the meaning of security in terms of discourse and practice, as well as the larger goals and strategies of the global women's movement. Today, many complex global problems are being located within the security logic. From the environment to HIV/AIDS, state and non-state actors have made a practice out of securitizing issues that are not conventionally seen as such. As most prominently demonstrated by the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2001), activists for women's rights have increasingly framed women's rights and gender inequality as security issues …

Policy Brief: Unscr 1325: The Challenges Of Framing Women’S Rights As A Security Matter, Natalie Florea Hudson

Natalie Florea Hudson

While UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 has certainly increased awareness among international actors about women’s and gender issues in armed conflict, opened new spaces for dialogue and partnerships from global to local levels, and even created opportunities for new resources for women’s rights, successes remain limited and notably inconsistent. To understand some of these shortcomings and think creatively about how to move the women, peace and security agenda forward, it is essential to understand the conceptual assumptions underscoring UNSCR 1325.

Why Urbanists Need Religion, Joshua D. Ambrosius

Joshua D. Ambrosius

This essay summarizes a conference paper presented at the October 2008 Society for the Scientific Study of Religion meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. The paper was reviewed by several leading scholars.

Ethics In Public Management, H. George Frederickson, Richard K. Ghere

Richard K. Ghere

This volume follows two earlier projects undertaken by Frederickson (1993) and Frederickson and Ghere (2005) to present collections of theoretical essays and empirical analyses on administrative ethics. Three years before the publication of the first volume —Frederickson's Ethics and Public Administration — the National Commission on the Public Service released Leadership for America (also known as the Volcker Commission Report) that attested to "the quiet crisis" in government whereby "too many of the best of the nation's senior executives are ready to leave government, and not enough of its most talented young people are willing to join. This erosion in …

Ngo Leadership And Human Rights, Richard K. Ghere

Richard K. Ghere

This book provides preliminary understanding of what the term NGO means; explains how "human rights" affect NGO missions; and focuses on the meaning of "leadership" in NGOs in comparison to private sector and government agency leadership. It also encourages readers with vocational aspirations in human rights work to think strategically in preparing for their professional futures.

Religion, Politics, And Polity Replication: Religious Differences In Preferences For Institutional Design, Joshua D. Ambrosius

Joshua D. Ambrosius

This article presents a theory of polity replication in which religious congregants prefer institutions in other realms of society, including the state, to be structured like their church. Polities, or systems of church governance and administration, generally take one of three forms: episcopal (hierarchical/centralized), presbyterian (collegial/regional), or congregational (autonomous/decentralized). When asked to cast a vote to shape institutions in a centralizing or decentralizing manner, voters are influenced by organizational values shaped by their respective religious traditions‘ polity structures. Past social scientific scholarship has neglected to explicitly connect religious affiliation, defined by polity, with members‘ stances on institutional design. However, previous …

Network Legitimacy And Accountability In A Developmental Perspective, Richard K. Ghere

Richard K. Ghere

Public networks typically function beyond the lines of the hierarchical authorities that hold bureaucracies accountable, as is shown here in the case of a business-dominant network that exhibited ethically questionable behaviors at the expense of its community credibility. Public networks can build external legitimacy by engaging in critical organization learning processes, much the way some nongovernmental organizations respond to a diversity of stakeholders.

Why Orientalism Still Matters: Reading ‘Casual Forgetting’ And ‘Active Remembering’ As Neoliberal Forms Of Contestation In International Politics, Shiera S. Malik

Shiera S el-Malik

Public Actors In Private Markets: Toward A Developmental Finance State, Robert Hockett, Saule Omarova

Saule T. Omarova

The recent financial crisis brought into sharp relief fundamental questions about the social function and purpose of the financial system, including its relation to the “real” economy. This Article argues that, to answer these questions, we must recapture a distinctively American view of the proper relations among state, financial market, and development. This programmatic vision – captured in what we call a “developmental finance state” – is based on three key propositions: (1) that economic and social development is not an “end-state” but a continuing national policy priority; (2) that the modalities of finance are the most potent means of …

Politics Or Metaphysics? On Attributing Psychological Properties To Animals, Kristin Andrews

Kristin Andrews, PhD

Following recent arguments that there is no logical problem with attributing mental or agential states to animals, I address the epistemological problem of how to go about making accurate attributions. I suggest that there is a two-part general method for determining whether a psychological property can be accurately attributed to a member of another species: folk expert opinion and functionality. This method is based on well-known assessments used to attribute mental states to humans who are unable to self-ascribe due to an early stage of development or impairment, and can be used to describe social and emotional development as well …

Reconsidering Accountability For Environmental Inspectors: Trading 'Compliance By Computer' For Relationship Building, Michelle C. Pautz

Michelle Pautz

Demands for government accountability extend into all the aspects of government service and the environmental realm is no different. Environmental inspectors — the front-line workers in environmental protection agencies — are among the many civil servants who face demands for accountability. Unfortunately, although accountability is desirable normatively speaking, in practice it is not so simple. Accountability for environmental inspectors frequently involves measures such as the number of inspections completed, the efficiency of data entry in agency databases, and the turnaround time on inspection reports. Such measures leave environmental inspectors, who ideally want — and practically need — to be in …

The Decline In Average Weekly Cinema Attendance, 1930-2000, Michelle C. Pautz

Michelle Pautz

Since the beginnings of the motion picture industry, with the one small Edison studio in New Jersey in the early 1900s, America has fallen in love with films. One could argue and debate the reasons, employing everything from sociology to psychology to economics; but one thing is certain: This love affair has changed over the years. This change is perhaps most evident in the decline in the percentage of the United States population that goes to the cinema weekly. One interesting aspect of cinema attendance is that during the Great Depression, which swept the United States in the 1930s, a …

Environmental Regulation, Michelle C. Pautz

Michelle Pautz

The terms environment and regulation are commonplace in political and policy debates about the natural environment, the role of science, and the behavior of government. Indeed, these terms reference a very contentious area of public policy and are emblematic of the growing tensions between science and politics. This chapter overviews the definition, types, and history of environmental regulation before turning to the intersection of science and politics in environmental policy and considering current and future challenges for this aspect of governmental activity.

Integration Of And The Potential For Islamic Radicalization Among Ethnic Turks In Germany, Alev Dudek

Alev Dudek

In spite of ongoing improvements, integration of ethnic Turks in Germany remains a challenge from the dominant culture perspective, whereas a deeply ingrained institutional and everyday racism and the lack of legal protection against discrimination pose a challenge to full participation of ethnic Turks from another perspective. In an increasingly xenophobic Europe, particularly Germany, an increase in potential for religious and nationalist radicalization in different groups including ethnic Turks is becoming more and more evident. This increase in radical attitudes is not necessarily caused by a lack of integration, as evidenced among well-integrated individuals.

In view of recent developments toward …

Benchmarks For Codes Of Conduct, Abel A. Kinyondo, Coghill K.

Abel Alfred Kinyondo

Parliamentary Codes of Conduct and Ethics are increasingly used by parliaments, both national and provincial or state, to regulate the behaviour of members.

José Augusto Seabra: Poesia & Política. Minhas Memórias Breves, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Convidado a escrever sobre José Augusto Seabra, estou quase certo de que não irei repetir ninguém (desconfio apenas um pouquinho do título deste artigo), porque, numa evocação, num ato ritual (mas sentido: pode haver rituais não meramente litúrgicos, ou seja, simples "funções públicas") de saudade, falarei sobretudo da minha memória dele, e da minha visão sobre ele. A qual se concentra nos primeiros tempos após a revolução dos cravos.Que aqui e ali, como é óbvio, poderão coincidir ou assemelhar-se a traços de outras visões. Porém, o retrato geral, a imagem que dele guardo, é minha. E é o que aqui …

Redistributing Power In Mississippi: The Reversal Of Section 4 Of The Voting Rights Act, Gloria J. Billingsley, Sylvester Murray

Sylvester Murray

Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court declared Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 unconstitutional, essentially defanging preclearance requirements of Section 5 and leaving racial and other previously disenfranchised minorities unprotected. Using social contract theory as the theoretical framework, empirical field study research was used to examine whether the Voting Rights Act has achieved the results in Mississippi that the Supreme Court’s decision to revoke Section 4 has assumed. Data were collected on race-specific voter registration and voting data, measures of vote discrimination, litigations and Mississippi legislative activity regarding voting rights. Findings indicate that the gap between minority and …

Homonationalist Futurism: "Terrorism" And (Other) Queer Resistance To Empire, C. Heike Schotten

C. Heike Schotten

Political Values In Singapore: A Confucian Perspective, Vicente C. Reyes Jr

Dr. Vicente C Reyes Jr

In the ASEAN Charter, all member states are committed to common political values such as human rights, fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law. These political values, as well as related political institutions and structures, are predominantly of Western origin. There is a need to recognize alternative models of organizing state and normative orders in Asia. One alternative is the political values that are derived and adapted from Asian philosophies. This paper critically discusses political values in Asia with a focus on the relevance of Confucius’ philosophy to the ASEAN political security community. The paper begins by examining the …

Review: The Mainstreaming Of The Extreme Right In France And Australia: A Populist Hegemony?, By Aurélien Mondon, Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

No abstract provided.

Socio-Demographic And Psychological Determinants Of Political (In)Tolerance: Hungary At The Dawn Of The 21st Century, Bojan Todosijević

Bojan Todosijević

The paper presents a socio-psychological causal model of political intolerance in Hungary, on the basis of a national random sample survey data (N=1002). The research improves on the existing models in two directions: by constructing a more complete model through inclusion of a wider set of potentially relevant variables, and by using more reliable operationalisation of the examined concepts. The results indicate that political tolerance in Hungary, as defined by the “content free” method, can only weakly be explained by an extensive set of socio-demographic, psychological and political variables. Contrary to the commonly reported results, socio-economic status variables displayed a …

In Search Of Standards For The Operation Of Small Satellites, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

This paper considers the need for standards for the operations of small spacecraft. First, it considers a definition for what a small spacecraft is and discusses the elusiveness of this definition. Then, the paper turns to the ‘large space’ community and it examines their fears about small spacecraft as well as the operating paradigms that they are used to and how these drive their expectations for the operations of small spacecraft. Next, a prospective composition for a preliminary set of operating standards is discussed. Finally, a discussion of the benefits of standardization and what the different communities could expect to …

Will Open Access Get Me Cited? An Analysis Of The Efficacy Of Open Access Publishing In Political Science, Amy Atchison, Jonathan Bull

Amy Atchison

The digital revolution has made it easier for Political Scientists to share and access high-quality research online. However, many of these articles are stored in proprietary databases that some institutions cannot afford. High-quality, peer reviewed, top-tier journal articles that have been made open access (freely available online) should theoretically be more easily accessed and cited than articles of similar quality that are only available to paying customers. Research into the efficacy of Open Access (OA) publishing has thus far focused mainly on the natural sciences, and the results have been mixed. Because OA has not been as widely adopted in …

Desarrollo Humano, Economía Y Democracia En Guanajuato, Fernando Barrientos Del Monte (Coordinador)

Fernando Barrientos Del Monte

Dada la relevancia que el trabajo en equipo ha adquirido en la ciencia contemporánea, el estudio de la realidad social en el estado es de gran importancia para comprender los distintos aspectos relacionados con la actividad pública. Guanajuato como su Universidad ha experimentado cambios, acelerados en algunos sectores sobre todo en la economía, de manera lenta en otros, como por ejemplo en el ámbito social y político. Como otras comunidades, los cambios son producto de la combinación de inercias e influencias externas y de elementos endógenos. ¿Cómo identificar esos cambios?; ¿De qué manera valorarlos y evaluarlos?; ¿Cuáles han sido y …

Will Open Access Get Me Cited? An Analysis Of The Efficacy Of Open Access Publishing In Political Science, Amy Atchison, Jonathan Bull

Jonathan Bull

The digital revolution has made it easier for Political Scientists to share and access high-quality research online. However, many of these articles are stored in proprietary databases that some institutions cannot afford. High-quality, peer reviewed, top-tier journal articles that have been made open access (freely available online) should theoretically be more easily accessed and cited than articles of similar quality that are only available to paying customers. Research into the efficacy of Open Access (OA) publishing has thus far focused mainly on the natural sciences, and the results have been mixed. Because OA has not been as widely adopted in …