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Income Inequality, Social Mobility, And Electoral Participation In The U.S. Counties: Revisiting The Inequality-Participation Nexus, Dongkyu Kim, Mi-Son Kim, Sang-Jic Lee

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Previous research has provided contested hypotheses about the impact of income inequality on electoral participation. This study reexamines the debate between conflict and relative power theories by focusing on a largely ignored factor: social mobility. We argue that social mobility conditions the inequality-participation nexus by alleviating the frustration, class conflict, and efficacy gaps between the rich and the poor that the prevailing theories assume income inequality to create. By utilizing the Cooperative Congressional Election Survey, we test this argument focusing on US counties. Our analysis confirms that the effects of income inequality on citizens’ likelihood of voting vary depending on …

The Effect Of Partisan Representation At Different Levels Of Government On Satisfaction With Democracy In The United States, Julie Vandusky-Allen, Stephen M. Utych

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this paper, we analyze how variations in partisan representation across different levels of government influence Americans’ satisfaction with the democracy in the United States. We conduct two survey experiments and analyze data from the 2016 American National Election Study postelection survey. We find that Americans are the most satisfied with democracy when their most preferred party controls both the federal and their respective state governments. However, we also find that even if an individual’s least preferred party only controls one level of government, they are still more satisfied with democracy than if their most preferred party controls no levels …

Can A Large-Landscape Conservation Vision Contribute To Achieving Biodiversity Targets?, Mark Hebblewhite, Jodi A. Hilty, Sara Williams, Harvey Locke, Charles Chester, David Johns, Gregory Kehm, Wendy L. Francis

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Founded in 1993, the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) vision was one of the earliest large-landscape conservation visions. Despite growing recognition of large-landscape conservation strategies, there have been few tests to date of conservation gains achieved through such approaches. We tested for conservation gains in the Y2Y region of North America following initiation of the Y2Y conservation vision in 1993 using a counterfactual spatiotemporal comparison and tracking change in five different conservation metrics. First, we enumerated the area of land within Y2Y in designated protected areas. We then compared the rate of change of protected area growth before- and after-initiation of …

The Politics Of Women's Presence On High Courts: Bias And The Conditional Nature Of Cultivating Legitimacy, Christopher Shortell, Melody E. Valdini

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

While we know that women's presence in the legislature positively impacts how citizens view the institution, little is known about the impact of women's presence on the legitimacy of high courts. We argue that despite differences in public expectations for courts, women's presence on the high court does impact citizen perceptions of legitimacy. However, this effect is dependent on both the level and the type of bias held by citizens. That is, when a person feels hostile bias toward women, the bias disrupts the potential legitimacy that the court could gain. On the other hand, we argue that benevolent sexism …

Differences In Beliefs About Covid-19 By Gun Ownership: A Cross-Sectional Survey Of Texas Adults, Renee M. Johnson, Cassandra Crifasi, Erin M. Anderson Goodell, Arkadiusz Wisniowski, Joseph W. Sakshaug, Johannes Thrul, Mark Owens

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objectives: We investigated the association between gun ownership and perceptions about COVID-19 among Texas adults as the pandemic emerged. We considered perceived likelihood that the pandemic would lead to civil unrest, perceived importance of taking precautions to prevent transmission and perceptions that the threat of COVID-19 has been exaggerated.

Methods: Data were collected from 5 to 12 April 2020, shortly after Texas’ stay-at-home declaration. We generated a sample using random digit dial methods for a telephone survey (n=77, response rate=8%) and by randomly selecting adults from an ongoing panel to complete the survey online (n=1120, non-probability sample). We conducted a …

Lone Star Wars: Lngs, Communities, And Globalization Versus Local Resistance In The Laguna Madre Region Of Coastal South Texas, Terence Garrett, Arthur Sementelli

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose: to theoretically contextualize the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) issue using Bauman and Debord. More generally, this research provides a theoretical and qualitative context to understand the LNG issue in discussions of environmental management, globalization, and local government.

Design/methodology/approach: this article uses Boje’s narrative case study approach to analyze the politics around localized resistance movements to LNG production in the Rio Grande Valley. Specifically, the study examines data collected from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), personal interviews, and public declarations (newspapers, blogs, social media) to create an historiographical account of LNGs in the RGV to analyze the Laguna Madre …

The Afghanistan Debacle, Mel Gurtov

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article assesses the US debacle in Afghanistan in light of the Vietnam War and US forever wars.

The Cycle Of Commodification: Migrant Labour, Welfare, And The Market In Global China And Vietnam, Jake Lin, Minh T. N. Nguyen

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

China and Vietnam have experienced waves of labour and welfare reform since both countries shifted to market socialism, pursuing a development model that depends on the labour of millions of rural–urban migrants in global factories. Their similar development trajectories are productive for theorizing the relationship between labour and welfare. This article conceptualises the two countries’ distinctive regime of migrant labour welfare as integral to a cycle of commodifcation that encompasses the overlapping processes of commodifcation, de-commodifcation and recommodifcation of labour. After decades of collectivized labour under state socialism, the cycle begins with the commodifcation of labour through market reforms that …

The Politics Of Temporary Protection Schemes: The Role Of Mexico’S Tvrh In Reproducing Precarity Among Central American Migrants, Carla Angulo-Pasel

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Using Mexico’s Tarjeta de Visitante por Razones Humanitarias (TVRH) as a primary case study, this article examines how states can use temporary protection schemes as border security measures while claiming to provide protection. Although the TVRH offers a legal pathway and status to move within Mexico, it equally restricts certain rights due to its temporary nature. It becomes a form of differential inclusion by which the state has the right to be able to “exclude and define the limits” of a particular population but also claim inclusion on humanitarian grounds. Despite the claim of protecting migrants, the application of this …

Presidential Warfare And The “Forever Wars”, Mel Gurtov

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article examines the origins and development of the US “forever wars” in recent decades, and its implications both for democracy and warfare.

Donald Trump's Impact On The Republican Party, Michael Espinoza

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

What impact did Donald Trump have on the Republican Party during his time as President? This article argues that although the presidency of Donald Trump was a natural progression of Republican conservatism, his legacy has cast a shadow on the Republican Party, as well as having further pushed the party rightward, whilst also helping to move the fringe/more extreme elements of Republican conservatism closer to the centre of American politics. As a result, the GOP has become increasingly dependent on a base of white support. Continuing along this path will only further put them at odds with a majority of …

Poor People's Beliefs And The Dynamics Of Clientelism, Miquel Pellicer, Eva Wegner, Lindsay J. Benstead, Ellen Lust

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Why do some poor people engage in clientelism whereas others do not? Why does clientelism sometimes take traditional forms and sometimes more instrumental forms? We propose a formal model of clientelism that addresses these questions focusing primarily on the citizen’s perspective. Citizens choose between supporting broad-based redistribution or engaging in clientelism. Introducing insights from social psychology, we study the interactions between citizen beliefs and values, and their political choices. Clientelism, political inefficacy, and inequality legitimation beliefs reinforce each other leading to multiple equilibria. One of these resembles traditional clientelism, with disempowered clients that legitimize social inequalities. Community connectivity breaks this …

Modernisation De La Théorie De L’État De Bergeron Grâce À Une Étude De Cas Sur Les Amish Du Vieil Ordre De L’Ontario, Alexandre Couture Gagnon, Maude Marquis-Bissonnette

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

La théorie de l’État de Bergeron permet d’étudier les relations entre la gouverne de l’État et les citoyens. Nous revisitons la prémisse de Gérard Bergeron selon laquelle tous les membres de la société se politifient, c’est-à-dire passent de relations purement civiles à une certaine activation de la gouverne. Pour ce faire, nous étudions les amish du vieil ordre de l’Ontario. Ce groupe offre un exemple de social non politifié, concept mentionné une seule fois dans l’oeuvre de Bergeron. Grâce à l’étude de deux politiques ontariennes, la présente recherche démontre que ce groupe réfute l’adhésion inéluctable à la politie. Nous suggérons …

Domestic Terrorism In The Developing World: Role Of Food Security, Nisha Bellinger, Kyle T. Kattelman

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article sheds light on the root causes of terrorism by assessing the effect of food security on domestic terrorism among developing countries. Food security is a fundamental physiological need and captures a core well-being outcome. We argue that food insecurity creates grievances among citizens and increases demand among them for action against the government. Terrorist organisations provide the opportunity for citizens to channel their grievances against the government by resolving collective action problems and mobilising citizens. We demonstrate the link between food insecurity and domestic terrorism through quantitative analyses on a sample of 70 developing countries from 1980 to …

The Role Of International Factors In Electoral Volatility In Latin America: An Examination Of Structural Adjustment, Michelle Kuenzi, Hafthor B. Erlingsson, John P. Tuman

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Does structural adjustment increase party system instability in Latin America? We employ the Latin American Presidential and Legislative Elections (LAPALE) database (http://www.lapaledata.com) and our own original data set for structural adjustment to assess the effects of structural adjustment and other economic, social, and political variables on legislative volatility in 18 Latin American countries during the period of 1982 to 2016. The results of our study indicate that structural adjustment results in higher levels of within-system electoral volatility and support a broad version of economic voting theory. Extra-system electoral volatility is driven primarily by institutional and demographic factors. Our …

How America’S Partisan Divide Over Pandemic Responses Played Out In The States, Julie Vandusky-Allen, Olga Shvetsova

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, a partisan divide has existed over the appropriate government response to the public health crisis. Democrats have been more likely to favor stricter policies such as prolonged economic shutdowns, limits on gathering in groups and mask mandates. Republicans overall have favored less stringent policies.

The Fickle Financiers Of Elections?: The Impact Of Moving On Individual Contributions, Jaclyn J. Kettler, Jeffrey Lyons

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

What is the effect of a change in geographic location on the behavior of campaign donors? Looking at people who move presents a unique opportunity to assess the ways in which political behavior is altered by external circumstances. Holding the individual constant and observing how donation patterns vary under different external conditions allows us to explore donor behaviors in ways that are more difficult when using cross-sectional data. We use the DIME dataset to compare the donation behavior of over 7,000 individuals in the U.S. House election before and after they have moved. We observe the ways in which changes …

Black Lives Matter And The Politics Of Redemption, Charles Olney

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article explores the role of practical political theory in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. I argue that BLM represents a multifaceted engagement with the complicated politics of redemption that lies at the heart of American democracy. In one sense, BLM stands for the integration of black life into the framework of political value, and thus for a redemption of the promise of ‘justice for all’. In another, it is a challenge to the principles themselves, viewing justice as a threat to be managed, rather than as a principle to be redeemed. Exploring the praxis of this movement, organized …

Reification And The Critical Theory Of Contemporary Society, Chris O'Kane

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article concerns how a critical theory of reification should be conceptualized to grasp the 2007 crisis, state-imposed austerity, and the rise of right-wing authoritarian populism. It argues that Jürgen Habermas’s, Axel Honneth’s, and Georg Lukacs’s interpretations of reification cannot provide a theoretical framework for a critical social theory of these developments due to their inadequate theories of domination, crises, character formation, and historical development. It then outlines a critical theory of reification that draws on Max Horkheimer’s notion of reified authority and contemporary Marxian critical theory’s interpretation of the critique of political economy to conceive of domination, crises, and …

Expanding Constituency Support Through Shared Local Roots In U.S. House Primaries, Charles Hunt

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper addresses the enduring connection of localism and place-based roots shared between many elected leaders and their constituents, which previous work has either ignored or improperly specified. I argue that representatives of the U.S. House with these roots—meaning authentic, lived experience in their districts prior to their officeholding—sustain more supportive constituencies in primary election stage. Using an original 7-point index of local biographical characteristics of incumbents seeking renomination from 2002 to 2018, I find that deeply-rooted incumbents are less than half as likely to receive a primary challenge, and on average perform more than 5 percentage points better in …

Beyond Partisanship: Outperforming The Party Label With Local Roots In Congressional Elections, Charles R. Hunt

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

While factors like partisanship are increasingly decisive in congressional elections, they do not fully explain variation in constituency support between similarly situated incumbents. I argue that legislators’ reelection success is also influenced by the depth of their local, pre-Congress roots in the district they represent. I theorize that this local connection offers practical advantages to incumbents, such as built-in grassroots political infrastructure in their districts. Shared local identity also allows legislators to relate to their voters on a dimension that is uniquely suited to cross-cut partisanship and qualify them to represent their particular constituents. Therefore, I argue that local roots …

Absolute Impunity: On The Legacies Of 9/11 & The Policies Of The War On/Of Terror, Bryant William Sculos

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

It has been a little over twenty years since the attacks of September 11, 2001, and thus we are also going to be coming up on twentieth anniversaries of some of the most heinous restrictions on civil liberties in US history (though there is a lot of competition) and the twentieth anniversaries of instance after instance of unjustifiable atrocities committed in the name of the Stars and Stripes. Through autoethnographic reflection in conversation with Netflix’s Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror (2021) and Spencer Ackerman’s Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump (2021), …

Data On Race, Inequality, And Social Capital In The U.S. Counties, Dongkyu Kim, Mi-Son Kim, Natasha Altema Mcneely

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article presents data on social capital at the United States’ county-level. Following Rupasingha et al. (2006), the social capital index captures the common factor among density measures of 10 different types of associations, voter turnout rates, U.S. decennial census participation rates, and the number of non-profit organizations. Based on Knack (2003), we create associational densities measures as a proxy for both bridging and bonding social capital. Including data on income inequality, racial diversity, minority group size, average household income, educational attainment, the ratio of a family household, the size of migration population, and female labor market participation rates, the …

Cooperatives And The Question Of Democracy, Mark J. Kaswan

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Democracy is generally considered to be a core element of cooperatives. However, other than elected boards of directors, it appears to play little part in either the governance or operations of most cooperatives. Two challenges to democracy are identified. One is the idea that cooperatives will tend to lose their democratic character over time. The other is that many cooperatives are founded primarily for economic reasons, and democracy is a second-order concern. The paper explores the question of how important democracy is to cooperatives, identifying warning signs and encouraging cooperatives to take a more active approach to promote participation. Democracy …