Political Science Commons^™

The Voting Rights Act In 1965 And Today, John W. Johnson

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

According to the Department of Justice, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is the most successful piece of civil rights legislation ever adopted by the Congress of the United States. That’s quite a statement. It is fitting and appropriate, therefore, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of this landmark statute in conjunction with this year’s Constitution Day.

Ten years ago, Professor Donna Hoffman and I were on a voting rights panel to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Voting Rights Act. I do not know how much longer we are going to be able to keep doing this. Sitting between Professor Hoffman …

The Changing Demographics Of Florida’S Latino Electorate: Latino Party Affiliation And Voter Registration Rates In The State, Central Florida, And South Florida, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This special report in partnership with CNN en Espanol examines characteristics of Florida -- where the Latino electorate could very well determine victory in the 2016 presidential election.

Methods: Data were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau, Voting and Registration, as a part of the Current Population Survey data from the November Voter Supplements. The 2016 estimates were derived by using the yearly percentage rate of increase between 2004 and 2012. Additional data were derived from an analysis of the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) American Community Survey (ACS).

Results: The Latino population of Florida soared between 1990 …

Equality: A False Standard, Norman De Jong

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Political Imagination And The Campaign Narrative, Zachary Michael Jack

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

The Voting Rights Act At Today's Supreme Court, Scott Peters

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Professor Johnson mentioned that the Voting Rights Act is often seen as the most successful piece of civil rights legislation. I would actually go farther than that. I would say if one was to make a list of the top ten most effective pieces of legislation by the U.S. Congress, the 1965 Voting Rights Act would be up near the top. It quickly achieved its desired effect.[1] Within two years after its passage, voter registration levels among African-Americans increased in every state of the old Confederacy, often dramatically. In Mississippi, where fewer than 10 percent of eligible Black …

Commemorating The Voting Rights Act Of 1965, Michael Blackwell Reverend

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was the pinnacle of the ten-year struggle to liberate African Americans from the shackles of slavery and Jim Crow segregation. Although the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave black men the right to vote way back in 1870, coupled with the 19th Amendment that gave women, including black women, the right in 1920, racism still abounded at election offices across the country—particularly, but not exclusively, among the Southern states. American Negroes, if you will, had been struggling for free access to the polls for decades, when major organizations such as the National Association …

U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings On Korea During The 113th Congress 2013-2014: Overseeing Multifaceted Aspects Of Washington's Peninsular Interests, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Numerous U.S. government agencies are involved in developing and implementing U.S. policy toward Korean Peninsula events, trends, and developments. Those studying U.S. government policies toward this region need to pay particular attention to the role played by U.S. Congressional committees in this policymaking. Congressional committees are responsible for approving new legislation, revising existing legislation, funding U.S. government programs and conducting oversight of these programs. This work examines Congressional committee hearings and debate during the 113th Congress (2013–2014) and reveals that multiple Congressional committees with varying jurisdictions seek to shape U.S. government Korean Peninsula policy and that this policymaking covers more …

Connecting Community By Advocacy And Design, Mia Lehrer

Local Government Reconsidered

"The way we plan our cities and communicate to the public can build a sense of connection to public places. The Trust for Public Land estimates Los Angeles has just nine acres of parkland for every 1,000 residents, and that 52% of Los Angeles residents live within a ½ mile of that parklandi. While this falls between Washington D.C.’s 13.5 park acres and New York’s 4.6, many of Los Angeles’ park acres lie in large regional parks such as Griffith Park and Runyon Canyon Park, leaving much of the city park-poor. Recent research points to the importance of human connection …

The Republic Of Ignorance, Daniel R. Denicola

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Ignorance is trending. Despite universal compulsory education; despite new tools for learning and great advances in knowledge; despite breathtaking increases in our ability to store, access, and share a superabundance of information - ignorance flourishes. [excerpt]

Los Angeles County: A Global Metropolis With A Rancho-Era Governing Body, Peter Hong

Local Government Reconsidered

"I open with this tale mainly to give context to a remarkable fact of Los Angeles County government: Ten million people, spread over 4,000 square miles, are governed today by a Board of Supervisors with five members, just as it was during the earliest years of statehood in the Wild West. We can now fly across the country faster than it would have taken Vasquez’s band to go from Monterey Park to San Fernando through the Arroyo Seco, yet we maintain a government structure configured in the horse and telegraph days."

Next Stop City Hall: Towards A World League Of Participatory Cities And Regions, Bruno Kaufman

Local Government Reconsidered

"Fortunately, there is another side to the backlash against democracy at the national and transnational levels. That side is the subnational one. With urban settlements becoming the preferred place of living, acting and producing across the globe, cities and regions are now quickly evolving into our centers of democracy, the true beacons of people power"

People With Disabilities, Public Spaces, And Democracy, Art Blaser

Local Government Reconsidered

I explore accessible environments by examining the nexus between people with disabilities (PWDs), public spaces, and democracy. Understanding this nexus is essential in local governance.

California's Local Elections, Joe Mathews

Local Government Reconsidered

"When it comes to understanding the problem of low turnout in California’s local elections, we are overlooking a fundamental cause: Californians are not nearly divided enough."

Civic Engagement: Contrasting Input And Participation, Rick Cole

Local Government Reconsidered

"The difference between input and participation can be compared to ham and eggs. The chicken gives her input. The pig participates.

Practically every local government pays lip service to the right of citizens to be involved in decisions that affect them. Officials strive to go beyond the letter of the law, encouraging both ‘input’ and ‘participation.’ These words are often used interchangeably, but they signify radically different frameworks for local democracy and the concept of citizenship."

Democratic Innovations And Local Governance: An International Perspective, Daniel Schugurensky

Local Government Reconsidered

"In the last two decades, two parallel developments could be observed in many countries around the world. One is a so-called ‘democratic deficit’; the other is the proliferation of participatory democracy experiments. The democratic deficit refers to a general dissatisfaction with the institutions of representative democracy. This is expressed in low voter turnouts, low confidence in government and politicians, low levels of political engagement, and a general weakening of the social contract between citizens and their representatives. For instance, in one of the largest polls on this topic, Gallup and BBC (2005) surveyed 50,000 people in 68 countries, and found …

Kindness Initiative, Tom Tait

Local Government Reconsidered

"Five years ago, when Tom Tait began his first term as the Mayor of the Great City of Anaheim, he took the reins of a complex set of challenges.

To most of the world, Anaheim is known as the home of world-class sports teams, internationally renowned attractions, and of course - a very famous mouse. Yet in stark parallel, the city also faced some of the most challenging issues to confront a mayor; homelessness, drug abuse, gang violence and human trafficking.

However Tom had a plan. A single strategy to bring together the polar opposites; to empower law enforcement, community …

Making Cities And Counties Work In The 21st Century, William Fulton

Local Government Reconsidered

"Most American cities are either too big or too small to serve the people who live in them in a cost-effective manner. The system that created them has ossified over time, making change difficult if not impossible. But short of wholesale change, there are some ways cities large and small can become both more responsive and most cost-effective."

Metropolitan Governance Reform, Myron Orfield, Baris Dawes

Local Government Reconsidered

"The highly fragmented nature of the political systems that govern America’s metropolitan areas contributes mightily to all of these problems. The harms of political fragmentation are many and tightly interrelated. The excessive competition triggered by political fragmentation encourages local jurisdictions to pursue socially and economically undesirable policies. Cities steal malls and office parks from each other, fight tax incentive wars for auto malls, and zone out the poor for fiscal advantage in a process rife with haphazard planning and NIMBY biases. This disjointed status quo scatters new jobs like grapeshot at the furthest edge of development and in so doing …

Rethinking The Systems Of Public Engagement, Matt Leighninger

Local Government Reconsidered

"Over the last twenty years, local officials have pioneered many new engagement processes, tools, and techniques. Some of them are highly intensive, deliberative discussions with citizens. Others are fast, convenient, information-rich digital tools; still others are online networks that add technological dexterity to the power of face-to-face relationships.

Many of these innovations are not only satisfying citizens, they also demonstrate the potential of public engagement for helping officials make difficult decisions and solve formidable problems. But so far, these innovations have been pursued primarily on a temporary, ad hoc basis, and have not been incorporated into the way that governments …

Streetfilms As A Public Resource On Public Space, Clarence Eckerson Jr.

Local Government Reconsidered

"As a livable streets filmmaker for the past twenty years, it’s been both my primary responsibility and passion to document cities around the world, and much of that has revolved around public spaces and the what goes on in them.

The bulk of my work has been done via the website Streetfilms, a non-profit resource promoting “transportation best practices” through short films, where I’ve been the Director for over ten years. In that time, I’ve produced, shot or edited over 700 shorts on the topics of transportation, walking, biking, public plazas, street interventions and open streets public events - where …

Vienna 2025 - Growing Through More Sustainability, More Open-Mindedness And Participation, Maria Vassilakou

Local Government Reconsidered

"Heading towards the 2 million mark Vienna, a green and social city with a high quality of life, has embarked upon a joint venture between administration, politics and citizens. Numerous programmes, initiatives and projects are supporting this development, making Vienna more sustainable, open and participatory step by step."

Voteria And Democratic Engagement Strategies, Antonio Gonzalez

Local Government Reconsidered

"The Question: Improving Democratic Engagement: How Do You Create The Right Environment for Local Democracy? This panel will discuss ways local institutions (e.g., service clubs, business, family, religious communities, media and entertainment institutions) can strengthen civil society and foster democracy, especially in contexts where there is low voter turnout and disengagement with local government decision-making."

Why Cities Need Strategic Plans By Former Portland, Oregon Mayor Sam Adams, Sam Adams

Local Government Reconsidered

"Will a given public project help a city? Hurt it? Make no difference? What appears to be good for a city might actually be bad. A project that helps out some residents may gentrify out many others. It is often hard to tweeze out the costs, benefits and unintended consequences of the projects and policies that cities take on. Although we will never have a perfect algorithm that weighs the costs and benefits of a given project or policy, we can improve upon relying too much on good intentions and political expedience."

A Functional Analysis Of Non-Presidential Primary Debates, William L. Benoit, Jayne R. Goode

Speaker & Gavel

Despite the fact that political debates are increasingly common at all levels of government, relatively little work investigates the content of non-presidential debates (and work on primary debates is even less common). This study breaks new ground by analyzing four non-presidential primary debates. Two Democratic gubernatorial debates, one Republican U.S. Senate debate, and one Republican U.S. House debate were content analyzed using the framework of the functional theory of political campaign discourse. Overall, these debates were mainly positive, with 71% acclaims, 22% attacks, and 7% defenses. The Democratic (and gubernatorial) debates had more attacks and defenses and fewer defenses than …

Newspaper Coverage Of U.S. Senate Debates, William L. Benoit, Corey Davis

Speaker & Gavel

Political debates are important message forms, capable of informing and in-fluencing voters. However, news coverage of debates informs and influences both those who watch, and those who do not watch, the debates. This study compared the content (functions and topics) of 10 U.S. Senate debates from 1998-2004 with the content of newspaper articles about those particular debates. Newspaper coverage of debates was significantly more negative than the debates themselves, reporting a higher percentage of attacks and a smaller percentage of acclaims than the candidates employed. The newspaper articles also stressed character more, and policy less, than the candidates. This journalistic …

On The Conversational Style Of Ronald Reagan: "A-E=[Less Than]Gc" Revisited And Reassessed, Windy Yvonne Lawrence, Ronald H. Carpenter

Speaker & Gavel

During contemporaneous rhetorical criticism of his style in discourse, President Ronald Reagan was assessed in terms of his living up to the eloquence of John F. Kennedy‘s Inaugural Address. In those two Speaker & Gavel Essays, Reagan was found to be deficient and thus a "less-than-great communicator." After revisiting and reassessing those two essays, Reagan‘s essentially conversational mode of communication for television was found to embody rhetorical elements that indeed may have fostered eloquence sufficient to retain the sobriquet of "great communicator."

"I Am A Candidate For President": A Functional Analysis Of Presidential Announcement Speeches, 1960-2004, William Benoit, Jayne R. Goode, Sheri Whalen, Penni M. Pier

Speaker & Gavel

This study investigates the nature of presidential announcement speeches, messages that introduce the current crop of contenders for the White House to voters and the news media. Announcement speeches are typically voters‘ initial exposure to these politicians as candidates for the White House. Seventy-five presidential announcement speeches from 1960 through 2004 were analyzed with the Functional Theory of Campaign Discourse. Acclaims were over three times as common as attacks; defenses were quite rare. Republicans and winners were more positive than Democrats or losers. These speeches were evenly split between policy and character. Democrats discussed policy more, and character less, than …

Replacing Scalia, Donald Roth

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Scalia was an advocate of 'principled pluralism,' the idea that we should have a society where we not only share a common cause, but we freely and vigorously express and defend our differing views."

Posting about the appointment of a new Supreme Court Justice­­­­­­­­ from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/replacing-scalia/

Presupposing Corruption: Access, Influence, And The Future Of The Pay-To-Play Legal Framework, Allison C. Davis

William & Mary Business Law Review

Political spending, in all of its various permutations, lies at the nexus between campaign finance law and pay-to-play law. Both of these legal doctrines seek to minimize the corrupting effects of money upon elected officials and candidates, and both impose various caps and restrictions on political contributions in order to do so. Over the past half-century, however, the Supreme Court has struggled to define what sort of activity constitutes “corruption” in the political sphere. In light of its decisions in 2010’s Citizens United v. FEC and 2014’s McCutcheonv. FEC—two seminal cases that dramatically altered campaign finance regulation— the Court now …

Presidential Modernity: Harry Truman And The Foreign Policy Decision Making Process, Samuel Gill

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Harry Truman is an overshadowed figure in presidential politics and history. His presidency was wedged between two titans of the office, the politically savvy Franklin Roosevelt and universally beloved war hero Dwight Eisenhower, and his overall influence and impact is downplayed when compared these two men. This research examines what influence Truman exerted upon the executive branch by asking “how has Harry Truman influenced the foreign policy decision making process of office of the presidency and how, if at all, could his actions be considered modern?” Through a comparative case study analysis of four foreign policy events, this paper highlights …