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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Casualties, Polls, And The Iraq War, Jason Reifler, Christopher Gelpi Oct 2006

Casualties, Polls, And The Iraq War, Jason Reifler, Christopher Gelpi

Political Science Faculty Publications

In their article “Success Matters: Casualty Sensitivity and the War in Iraq,” Christopher Gelpi, Peter Feaver, and Jason Reifler attempt to flush out the relationship between public opinion and the use of force as it pertains to the Iraq war.1 The authors promote the following proposition: “Our thesis is that expectations of future success are the key determinants of public casualty tolerance. That is, the U.S. public can accept that the war is not yet won and will involve continued and even mounting costs, provided that events thus far are not convincing it that eventual success is impossible” (p. 24). …


Parties And Patronage: A Comparative Analysis Of The Indian Case, Charles Robert Hankla Aug 2006

Parties And Patronage: A Comparative Analysis Of The Indian Case, Charles Robert Hankla

Political Science Faculty Publications

What political factors influence the allocation of economic patronage in democracies? Answering this question is vital to improving our knowledge of how states and markets interact. In this paper, I argue that changing levels of party centralization can drive important changes in the allocation of state largess. When governing parties are centralized, national party leaders will control sources of patronage, targeting benefits to particularly influential regions and industries. By contrast, when governing parties are decentralized, influential sub-national party leaders will advocate for their constituents, allocating patronage evenly through a national logroll. I find evidence for these relationships by comparing India's …


Foreign Policy And The Electoral Connection, John Aldrich, Christopher Gelpi, Peter D. Feaver, Jason Reifler, Kristin Thompson Sharp Mar 2006

Foreign Policy And The Electoral Connection, John Aldrich, Christopher Gelpi, Peter D. Feaver, Jason Reifler, Kristin Thompson Sharp

Political Science Faculty Publications

Public opinion is central to representation, democratic accountability, and decision making. Yet, the public was long believed to be relatively uninterested in foreign affairs, absent an immediate threat to safety and welfare. It had become conventional to say that "voting ends at water's edge." We start the examination of the scholarly understanding of the role of foreign affairs in public opinion and voting at that low point of view. Much subsequent development saw an increasing degree of holding and using of attitudes and beliefs about foreign affairs among the public. Moving in parallel with developments in political psychology, theoretical and …


A View From The Top: International Politics, Norms And The Worldwide Growth Of Ngos, Kim D. Reimann Jan 2006

A View From The Top: International Politics, Norms And The Worldwide Growth Of Ngos, Kim D. Reimann

Political Science Faculty Publications

This article provides a "top-down" explanation for the rapid growth of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the postwar period, focusing on two aspects of political globalization. First, I argue that international political opportunities in the form of funding and political access have expanded enormously in the postwar period and provided a structural environment highly conducive to NGO growth. Secondly, I present a norm-based argument and trace the rise of a pro-NGO norm in the 1980s and 1990s among donor states and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), which has actively promoted the spread of NGOs to non-Western countries. The article ends with a brief …


Party Strength And International Trade: A Cross National Analysis, Charles Robert Hankla Jan 2006

Party Strength And International Trade: A Cross National Analysis, Charles Robert Hankla

Political Science Faculty Publications

We know from observation that some democracies intervene deeply in their domestic economies while others adopt a more laissez faire approach. Can we explain these differences solely with ideology, or are other political influences also at work? I argue in this paper that elected leaders sometimes opt for hefty economic regulation purely to generate sources of patronage that can be used to maintain their political positions. Leaders are most tempted to take this approach, I contend, when their political parties are not stably linked to sources of electoral support. Unstably linked governing parties will tend to have very short time …


Party Linkages And Economic Policy: An Examination Of Indira Gandhi’S India, Charles R. Hankla Jan 2006

Party Linkages And Economic Policy: An Examination Of Indira Gandhi’S India, Charles R. Hankla

Political Science Faculty Publications

We know from observation that some democracies intervene deeply in their domestic economies while others adopt a more laissez faire approach. Can we explain these differences solely with ideology, or are other political influences also at work? I argue in this paper that elected leaders sometimes opt for hefty economic regulation purely to generate sources of patronage that can be used to maintain their political positions. Leaders are most tempted to take this approach, I contend, when their political parties are not stably linked to sources of electoral support. Unstably linked governing parties will tend to have very short time …


Success Matters: Casualty Sensitivity And The War In Iraq", Jason Reifler, Christopher Gelpi, Peter Feaver Jan 2006

Success Matters: Casualty Sensitivity And The War In Iraq", Jason Reifler, Christopher Gelpi, Peter Feaver

Political Science Faculty Publications

In this article, we argue that the public will tolerate significant numbers of U.S. combat casualties under certain circumstances. To be sure, the public is not indifferent to the human costs of American foreign policy, but casualties have not by themselves driven public attitudes toward the Iraq war, and mounting casualties have not always produced a reduction in public support. The Iraq case suggests that under the right conditions, the public will continue to support military operations even when they come with a relatively high human cost. Our core argument is that the U.S. public’s tolerance for the human costs …


International Security Institutions: Rules, Tools, Schools, Or Fools?, John S. Duffield Jan 2006

International Security Institutions: Rules, Tools, Schools, Or Fools?, John S. Duffield

Political Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.