Political Science Commons^™

Only One Surprise In Russian Election: Putin's Tears, Nicholas Hayes

University Chair in Critical Thinking Publications

No abstract provided.

The Political Left Rolls With The Good; The Political Right Confronts The Bad: Physiology And Cognition In Politics, Michael D. Dodd, Amanda Balzer, Carly M. Jacobs, Michael W. Gruszczynski, Kevin B. Smith, John R. Hibbing

Political Science Publications

We report evidence that individual-level variation in people's physiological and attentional responses to aversive and appetitive stimuli are correlated with broad political orientations. Specifically, we find that greater orientation to aversive stimuli tends to be associated with right-of-centre and greater orientation to appetitive (pleasing) stimuli with left-of-centre political inclinations. These findings are consistent with recent evidence that political views are connected to physiological predispositions but are unique in incorporating findings on variation in directed attention that make it possible to understand additional aspects of the link between the physiological and the political.

Agenda Setting From The Oval Office: An Experimental Examination Of Presidential Influence Over The Public Agenda, José Villalobos, Cigdem Sirin

Selected Works Temporary Series

This study employs an experimental approach to isolate and directly test the extent to which presidents can affect public perceptions of issue importance and support for policy action, taking into consideration key factors that condition such effects. Our findings provide new empirical evidence that presidents can, in fact, positively influence public opinion through agenda setting, particularly by increasing the perceptual importance of low salience foreign policy issues. However, the results also indicate that such positive effects do not translate into public support for policy action; instead, presidential appeals actually decrease support. Last, our study offers new evidence that employing bipartisan …

James A. Garfield: 20th President Of The United States, José Villalobos

Selected Works Temporary Series

President James A. Garfield served for only 200 days before an assassin’s bullets ended his unlikely rise to power. Garfield was the last “log cabin” president and a life-long Republican, both in the tradition of his predecessor, Ulysses Grant. In his lifetime, he served honorably as educator, general, and politician. His surprising nomination for president in 1880 earned him the nickname of the “Dark Horse” candidate, and his victory in the general election sealed his place in history as a U.S. president. His rise to power and tragic death highlight an important episode of the Gilded Age. Although Garfield’s time …

Agenda Setting From The Oval Office: An Experimental Examination Of Presidential Influence Over The Public Agenda, José Villalobos, Cigdem Sirin

Departmental Papers (PS)

This study employs an experimental approach to isolate and directly test the extent to which presidents can affect public perceptions of issue importance and support for policy action, taking into consideration key factors that condition such effects. Our findings provide new empirical evidence that presidents can, in fact, positively influence public opinion through agenda setting, particularly by increasing the perceptual importance of low salience foreign policy issues. However, the results also indicate that such positive effects do not translate into public support for policy action; instead, presidential appeals actually decrease support. Last, our study offers new evidence that employing bipartisan …

James A. Garfield: 20th President Of The United States, José Villalobos

Departmental Papers (PS)

President James A. Garfield served for only 200 days before an assassin’s bullets ended his unlikely rise to power. Garfield was the last “log cabin” president and a life-long Republican, both in the tradition of his predecessor, Ulysses Grant. In his lifetime, he served honorably as educator, general, and politician. His surprising nomination for president in 1880 earned him the nickname of the “Dark Horse” candidate, and his victory in the general election sealed his place in history as a U.S. president. His rise to power and tragic death highlight an important episode of the Gilded Age. Although Garfield’s time …

Is Power Zero-Sum Or Variable-Sum? Old Arguments And New Beginnings, James H. Read

Political Science Faculty Publications

The political and social world in which we live and act is partly constituted by the words we use and the way we use them. What power is and how power works is shaped by what we collectively think it is and how we think it works.

This essay revisits the question of whether power should be understood as inherently zero-sum (gains for some entailing equivalent losses for others) or variable-sum (both mutual gains and mutual losses of power are possible). The zero-sum assumption is very old (predating by thousands of years the game-theoretic shorthand) and draws its force from …

Loan Sharks, Interest-Rate Caps, And Deregulation, Robert Mayer

Political Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The specter of the loan shark is often conjured by advocates of price deregulation in the market for payday loans. If binding price caps are imposed, the argument goes, loan sharks will be spawned. This is the loan-shark thesis. This Article tests that thesis against the historical record of payday lending in the United States since the origins of the quick-cash business around the Civil War. Two different types of creditors have been derided as “loan sharks” since the epithet was first coined. One used threats of violence to collect its debts but the other did not. The former has …

"Moral Ambivalence Is No Recipe For Engagement", Joel R. Pruce

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The bottom line is that the crisis in Syria is tragic and extremely complicated. Some of its more complex issues include the threat of ethnic conflict, refugee flows, Iran's regional influence, and the impact of this uprising on other protests in the Arab world, ongoing and in the future. However, there are also several incontrovertible facts: the regime of Bashar al-Assad, in the name of putting down a protest movement that turned violent, is responsible for at least 7,500 deaths and shows no signs of relenting.

2012 Quality Of Life Study - Orleans And Jefferson Parishes, Edward E. Chervernak, Bogdan Mihoc

Survey Research Center Publications

The UNO Survey Research Center began its Quality of Life series in 1986. Since then the quality of life and government services in Jefferson and Orleans parishes has been assessed every other year. The current 2012 survey is the sixteenth in the series, and in this report we pay particular attention to changes in both parishes that have occurred over the last two to ten years.

The 2012 study is a return to the more conventional examination of quality of life in the region. The focus of the study changed immediately after Katrina to identify the key problems and difficulties …

Imf: Predatory Lender Or Latin America’S Best Chance?, Paul Thomas Smith

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Recently, there has been heated debate as to whether or not assistance from the International Monetary Fund has proven to be a great humanitarian effort or a scheme by Western governments to keep emerging Latin American countries in debt. The IMF partners with numerous governments in order to create a collective monetary community from which all may benefit in times of need. These partnered countries are also able to apply for assistance if they find themselves in monetary hardships. Some studies have shown that the IMF has been too heavy handed, while other studies have shown that recipient governments may …

The Effects Of Political Institutions On Public Budgeting, Andrew Burnos

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Economics around the globe has been a growing issue of late due to the current economic crisis. This study focuses on political institutional factors that influence spending in a particular country. The variables used in this study include Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Tax Revenue as Percent of GDP, and current account balance to name a few. This research looks at the relationship between proportional representation compared to majoritarian systems as well as presidential compared to parliamentary systems and how these relate to public budgeting. This research updates the analysis of Persson and Tabellini in their book The Economic Effects of …

Modern Political Marketing: An Analysis Of Tactics, And The Changing Role Of The Media, Jill Donovan

Journalism

Political marketing is evolving. Campaigns now rely on political marketing for success in elections, without the marketing tactics they employ; their messaging would not be distributed to the voting public. In many of the political marketing models and theories, however, there is a massive omission; the role of traditional media as an overwhelmingly influential factor over the voting public, which can misconstrue and negatively impact the message of the candidate. This study analyses classical marketing tactics a political marketer uses, and examines the changing environment of traditional media with the rise of social networking.

Civil Society And Local Activism In South Korea's Local Democratization, Yooil Bae, Sunhyuk Kim

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Recent studies on causes of intergovernmental transformation in old and new democracies have found that decentralization is often the outcome of negotiations between national and local political interests. South Korea is commonly believed to be an exception because local elections and institutions introduced in the early 1990s were, by and large, the product of negotiations among political elites at the centre, without significant inclusion of local actors. However, this article attempts to explicate a hitherto ignored aspect of decentralization reform in Korea: the role of civil society and local activism in the politics of decentralization. In the 2000s, several ‘triggering …

Avoiding Russia's Path In Myanmar, Bridget Welsh

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The political reforms that have occurred from August 2011 in Myanmar have captured international attention due in part to the overwhelming desire for the pariah of ASEAN to move toward better governance and greater political liberalization. The unexpected changes began in August 2011 when the current president Thein Sein rallied reformers in his Cabinet and sat down with the country’s de facto opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to move the country toward national reconciliation. Over the last seven months, Myanmar’s military leadership has begun a process of liberalization that is unprecedented.

Policy Positioning In The European Parliament, Kenneth Benoit, Kenneth Benoit

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Party politics in the European Parliament (EP) consists of competition between transnational party groups, each consisting of multiple national member parties from the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). Identifying the policy space that these parties inhabit and their ideological positions is both practically and conceptually challenging. In this article we characterize this policy competition by tracking EP political groups from three separate, original expert surveys taken in 2004, 2007 and 2010. We look at the relative positioning of the groups on multiple dimensions of policy, as well as changes in party group policy since 2004. Additionally, we …

March Roundtable: Responding To Syria, Introduction, Claudia Fuentes Julio

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“Save Us from the Liberal Hawks” by David Rieff. Foreign Policy, February 13, 2012.

“Thinking Through, And Beyond, Triumphalism”, Matthew S. Weinert

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The humanitarian crisis in Syria has instigated calls to activate the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine to stop the Assad regime from its murderous rampage. Armed with a failed UN Security Council resolution that would have endorsed an Arab League peace plan, thanks to Russian and Chinese vetoes, David Rieff reproves widespread liberal consensus for intervention in a February 2012 Foreign Policy article.

Who Let The Dogs Out? R, R2p, Christine Bell

Human Rights & Human Welfare

As a long-time human rights advocate I find myself uncomfortably sharing Rieff's central concern over the link between military intervention and human rights advocacy, forged through the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine. This common concern is uncomfortable because I don't share his broader sentiments. However, it is also uncomfortable because it involves me swimming against the human rights tide, which seems to have embraced R2P.

Reconstructing World Politics: Norms, Discourse, And Community, Sungjoon Cho

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article argues that the conventional (rationalist) approach to world politics characterized by political bargain cannot fully capture the new social reality under the contemporary global ambience where ideational factors such as ideas, values, culture, and norms have become more salient and influential not only in explaining but also in prescribing state behaviors. After bringing rationalism’s paradigmatic limitations into relief, the Article offers a sociological framework that highlights a reflective, intersubjective communication among states and consequent norm-building process. Under this new paradigm, one can understand an international organization as a “community” (Gemeinschaft), not as a mere contractual instrument of its …

Underwood, Oscar Wilder, 1862-1929 (Sc 372), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) of Manuscripts Small Collection 372. Letter, 26 August 1912, of U.S. Representative Oscar W. Underwood, Washington, D.C., to John M. Bogart, New York City, declining an invitation to a dinner honoring Kentucky governor Augustus Wilson because of matters of importance requiring his return to Alabama.

A Generation Of Isolation: Cuban Political Economic Policies, Elba Marcell Rivera Rodriguez

The Hilltop Review

Cuba is not only the largest island in the Greater Antilles, but also the only communist island in the Caribbean. This country has been governed by the Marxist-Leninist ideology for more than fifty years. Although the Cuban economy has not shown significant development since January 1, 1959, i.e. when the Revolutionaries came to power, it is presenting a new economic capacity-the tourism industry, which could drive the nation to a modern economic growth.

This article has been revised by the author. The revised version is available as a supplement at the link below.

What Does Burke Have To Do With America?, Ted Mcallister

School of Public Policy Working Papers

Paul Gottfried argues (Conservatism in America: Making Sense of the American Right, 2009) that despite claims to a British patrimony going through Edmund Burke, the American Right has no meaningful connection to European Conservatism. Moreover, the attempt to connect American Conservatism with Edmund Burke hides the leftward turn in the American Conservative Movement over the last several decades. But Gottfried’s argument rests on assumptions about the aristocratic foundation of conservatism and neglects the very real Burkean institutional framework in much of American history. While Gottfried is correct to argue that the contemporary American Right is more leftist than …

Catholic Claims Stretch The First Amendment, Ellis M. West

Political Science Faculty Publications

The Obama administration recently issued a regulation requiring all employers except religious organizations to include contraceptives in their employees' health insurance. The Catholic Church and various politicians have accused the administration of violating the church's religious freedom. Although the administration has modified its original regulation, it continues to be attacked for "waging war" on religious freedom.

Woodson, Urey, 1859-1939 (Sc 367), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 367. Letter to Miss Elizabeth N. Duncan, Denver, Colorado, concerning the availability of tickets to the Democratic Convention. Urey Woodson was Secretary of the Democratic National Committee.

Freedom In Creation: Global Village Education Program, Daniel C. Maxwell

Capstone Collection

This capstone paper introduces the Freedom in Creation: Global Village Education Program, an international education program with a focus in service-learning for undergraduate students designed for the organization, Freedom in Creation (FIC). Global Village Education (GVE) will pilot the five-week intensive program in various locations throughout Uganda. As a short-term, service-learning program focusing on experiential education, social identity development, critical thinking, and reciprocity; the goal is to instill conceptual clarity and intellectual growth by introducing participants to new knowledge, concepts and experiences through cross-cultural interaction. The main purpose of the program seeks to build intercultural communication skills as well as …

Between A Rock And A Hard Place: Transatlantic Efforts At A Supranational Climate Policy, Brianna Hand

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

No abstract provided.

Strong Euro Weakening Dollar: A Potential Economic Demise, Guadalupe F. Garcia

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

No abstract provided.

Sarkozy's New Diplomacy: A Reassessment Of The Third Rift In Franco-American Relations, David Drake

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

No abstract provided.

Eu's Common Foreign Policies Towards Russia: Past, Present And Future, Yigit Canay

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

No abstract provided.