American Politics Commons^™

2009: Mandate

CACTUS--Citizens' Assembly for Critical Thinking About the United States

The 2009 Citizens' Assembly for Critical Thinking about the United States (CACTUS) must study proposals for changing the current legal drinking age, identify and analyze the perceived problems leading to these proposals as well as arguments in support of the current legal drinking age, and decide if a change is warranted, at what level of government it should be implemented, and whether other provisions should be mandated as a part of the change.

2009: Public Submissions

CACTUS--Citizens' Assembly for Critical Thinking About the United States

Is it time to change the DRINKING AGE in the United States?

2009: Final Report "Is It Time To Change The Drinking Age In The United States?"

CACTUS--Citizens' Assembly for Critical Thinking About the United States

The 2009 Citizens' Assembly for Critical Thinking about the United States must study proposals for changing the current legal drinking age, identify and analyze the perceived problems leading to these proposals as well as arguments in support of the current legal drinking age, and decide if a change is warranted, at what level of government should it be implemented, and whether other provisions should be mandated as part of the change.

The Managing Of The Presidency: Applying Theory-Driven Empirical Models To The Study Of White House Bureaucratic Performance, Justin Vaughn, José Villalobos

Selected Works Temporary Series

We argue that scholars of the presidency should begin to apply their rich descriptive understanding of White House organization and personnel to questions of causality. To help guide this effort, we offer a theory-driven empirical model that explains organizational performance. Importing theory from the public management literature, we show how scholars can use the Meier-O'Toole (MO) model to explain performance outcomes and dynamics for key political and policy functions within the institutional presidency. We introduce the MO model and discuss its potential impact on the field of presidency studies.

Obama’S Empty Cupboard: Contending With Administrative Vacancies And The Threat To Neutral Competence, Justin Vaughn, José Villalobos

Selected Works Temporary Series

In this essay, we focus on the public administration challenge concerning the rising number of politically motivated administrative vacancies resulting from George W. Bush's tenure in office with which President Barack Obama must now contend. We argue that the hyper-politicization of personnel decision-making during the presidency of George W. Bush left many parts of the federal bureaucracy understaffed, yet more densely populated by staffers chosen more for ideological and political congruence than administrative competence. For President Obama to achieve key aspects of his policy agenda, he must first attend to fixing these staffing problems and then to reforming the personnel …

Presidential Staffing And Public Opinion: How Public Opinion Influences Politicization, José Villalobos, Justin Vaughn

Selected Works Temporary Series

Scholars traditionally frame presidential efforts to politicize the federal bureaucracy as the result of divergence between the president's preferences and an agency's output. The authors argue that presidential concern with agency output is dynamic and is in part conditioned by the president's relationship with the public. To assess the relationship between politicization and public opinion, the authors use a data set that combines information on presidential efforts to politicize the Council of Economic Advisers from 1989 to 2004 with that of public attitudes concerning the president's handling of the economy. Their results indicate that public opinion does indeed bear a …

Lessons From Fdr, Robert A. Slayton

History Faculty Articles and Research

"President Barack Obama has made it clear that FDR is one of his key role models. The appeal is understandable. Both men assumed the presidency during a major economic crisis. Both men were also the first of their respective minorities to gain the White House. Thus, it might help to consider what Obama could learn from studying his predecessor's life: Roosevelt, in dealing with his disability, learned the importance of working with others and bringing them into his decision-making loop. He also learned to draw on personal strengths as well. For FDR, the private became political."

Inauguration, 2009, St. Mary's University, Texas

Democracy/Government

Bibliography and photographs of a display of government documents from St. Mary's University, Texas.

From The Suburbs To The House: The Metropolitan–Rural Population And The Success Of Women Candidates, Elizabeth A. Stiles, Larry Schwab

Political Science

We analyze the voting behavior of metropolitan and rural residents in relation to women’s legislative representation. Examining election data on the U.S. House and all lower state houses, we find that the greater the metropolitan population in a legislative district, the more likely it is to be represented by a woman. We extrapolate from these findings that the modern increase in women’s representation can be attributed in part to the rural-to-suburban shift in population and legislative seats.

The Managing Of The Presidency: Applying Theory-Driven Empirical Models To The Study Of White House Bureaucratic Performance, Justin Vaughn, José Villalobos

Departmental Papers (PS)

We argue that scholars of the presidency should begin to apply their rich descriptive understanding of White House organization and personnel to questions of causality. To help guide this effort, we offer a theory-driven empirical model that explains organizational performance. Importing theory from the public management literature, we show how scholars can use the Meier-O'Toole (MO) model to explain performance outcomes and dynamics for key political and policy functions within the institutional presidency. We introduce the MO model and discuss its potential impact on the field of presidency studies.

Obama’S Empty Cupboard: Contending With Administrative Vacancies And The Threat To Neutral Competence, Justin Vaughn, José Villalobos

Departmental Papers (PS)

In this essay, we focus on the public administration challenge concerning the rising number of politically motivated administrative vacancies resulting from George W. Bush's tenure in office with which President Barack Obama must now contend. We argue that the hyper-politicization of personnel decision-making during the presidency of George W. Bush left many parts of the federal bureaucracy understaffed, yet more densely populated by staffers chosen more for ideological and political congruence than administrative competence. For President Obama to achieve key aspects of his policy agenda, he must first attend to fixing these staffing problems and then to reforming the personnel …

The Limits Of Self-Reliance: Emerson, Slavery, And Abolition, James Read

Political Science Faculty Publications

In the 1841 essay “Self-Reliance” Ralph Waldo Emerson presupposed a democratic society of free and equal individuals – an idealized America with a veil drawn over racial slavery. As his own commitment to the antislavery cause deepened over time Emerson sought to reconcile his ideal of self-reliance with organized political action necessary to fight slavery.

Recent scholarship has corrected the previously dominant image of Emerson as detached from politics and indifferent to abolitionism. But even as he participated in it, Emerson saw antislavery activism as a distraction from his own proper work of freeing “imprisoned spirits, imprisoned thoughts, far back …

The Influence Of Campaign Expenditures On Virginia House Of Delegates Electoral Success, Christopher Jones, James Monks

Economics Faculty Publications

For decades economists and political scientists have sought to identify variables that influence the electoral success of public officials. Most of the existing literature focuses on the determinants of federal elections. This study examines elections to the Virginia House of Delegates and finds that campaign expenditures, incumbency status, party affiliation, and district voting tendencies all are significant predictors of electoral success. Additionally, this study finds that the returns to campaign expenditures, in terms of the additional votes that they generate, vary based on incumbency, party affiliation, number of opponents in the race, and over time.

Entering A Systemic Revolution, David S. Mason

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The collapse of the United States as the global hegemon constitutes a “systemic revolution” that will transform both the U.S. and the rest of the globe. Such a revolution is different from “normal” political revolutions, which entail an overthrow of the government. A systemic revolution ushers in even broader and more enduring changes in economy, society and culture, and it also transcends national boundaries, affecting other countries and the global system itself. It is a global paradigm shift, and we are right smack in the middle of it.

Science, Technology, And American Diplomacy: Background And Issues For Congress, Deborah D. Stine

Congressional Research Service Reports

Science and engineering activities have always been international. Scientists, engineers, and health professionals frequently communicate and cooperate with one another without regard to national boundaries. This report discusses international science and technology (S&T) diplomacy, instances when American leadership in S&T is used as a diplomatic tool to enhance another country’s development and to improve understanding by other nations of U.S. values and ways of doing business. According to the National Research Council, five developmental challenges where S&T could play a role include child health and child survival, safe water, agricultural research to reduce hunger and poverty, micro-economic reform, and mitigation …

Commentary, Kenneth J. Cooper

Trotter Review

Barack Obama has made history by dispatching to the dustbin another usage for the tiresome phrase “first black.” As president, he is also going to make the future, both during his term and long after. The country’s racial-ethnic landscape, with its dangerous crevices and sheer mountains, is about to change in monumental ways.

His presence in the White House will promote more interracial dialogue, for one, and for the good of the country. This will not be a small change. The novelist Richard Wright once explained that he chose exile in Paris in the 1940s because he could not have …

A Symposium On Confronting Global Terrorism And American Neo-Conservatism: The Framework Of A Liberal Grand Strategy. By Tom Farer. Oxford, Uk: Oxford University Press, 2008., Richard Falk, Dino Kritsiotis, Paul Taylor, Tom Farer

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Confronting Global Terrorism and American Neo-Conservatism: The Framework of a Liberal Grand Strategy. By Tom Farer. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Indigent Defense In America: Racially Or Geographically Unjust?, Lisa Karen Akre

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of my research is to investigate the link between indigent defense funding and race. First, I explain the various approaches that states have implemented to deliver legal defense to the indigent. Second, I describe the current lack of funding and its consequences. Third, I examine what effect race has on the indigent defense system. Finally, based on the conclusions drawn from examining both race and funding for indigent defense, I evaluate the effectiveness of the delivery of indigent defense to individual states and regions within the United States.

Impact Of A Proposed Federal Shield Law, Lisa Dahlke

Honors Program Theses

This study will examine how current proposals for a federal shield law compare to protections offered by state legislatures and state courts. My research will address the effectiveness of current state-level protections for journalists' use of confidential sources using analysis of data from a national survey of news outlets. By determining how different aspects of state protections influence subpoena frequency and compliance, I attempt to evaluate the key aspects of legislation currently being considered in Congress, the Free Flow of Information Act of 2009. I find clear evidence that the presence of a statute and a number of its provisions …

Administration Oversight: An Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of The U.S. House Committee On Oversight And Government Reform During Recent Presidential Administrations, Chantel Witt

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of this essay is to examine more specifically the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, one committee that holds some responsibility for monitoring executive branch abuses of power. The thesis that emerges from this study is that there are numerous internal and external factors causing this committee to fail in providing effective oversight. While this one congressional committee can not be held accountable for allowing executive branch abuses to occur, it is perhaps a place to begin assessing where the blame belongs.

The Unique Silencer, Christofer Ditscheit

Honors Program Theses

For decades people have been puzzled by the sudden drop in voter turnout that occurred in the 1970's and continued through the 1980's and 1990's. The demographics of those voting and not voting have been analyzed repeatedly for some clue as to why people were not turning out in the same numbers. Repeatedly, different factors have been addressed as contributors to the reduction of voter turnout. Studies have found that the United States has a unique factor contributing to the low voter turnout. Even after controlling for socioeconomic and institutional factors, there is something about the United States that has …

Entitlements, Daniel Palazzolo

Political Science Faculty Publications

Entitlements are federal government programs that require payments to any individuals or organizations eligible to receive benefits defined by law. There are many different types of entitlements, though most of the entitlement expenditures of the federal government are distributed to the most vulnerable individuals in society--the poor, disabled, and elderly. Consequently, in addition to providing a legal right to payments for eligible beneficiaries, many entitlements carry a moral obligation to those in need. Moreover, some of the most costly entitlement programs, such as social security and Medicare, are supported in public opinion polls by large majorities of Americans and are …

Cyclicality Of State Budgeting: A Political-Economy Analysis., Ian W. Cummins

Honors Theses

This paper disentangles the effect of political ideology and budget rules on fiscal cyclicality across the U.S. states. Using panel data from 1963 to 2006, liberal states are found to be significantly less procyclical than conservative ones. The impact of balanced budget constraints is contingent on the ideological orientation of the state in which they are imposed. Tight balanced budget rules are not binding on conservative states, but are binding on liberal ones. Where they are binding, budget rules mediate the link between voter preferences and policy outcomes skewing them toward greater procyclicality.

The Coevolution Of Networks And Political Attitudes, David Lazer, Brian Rubineau, Carol Chetkovich, Nancy Katz, Michael Neblo

Working Papers

How do attitudes and social affiliations co-evolve? A long stream of research has focused on the relationship between attitudes and social affiliations. However, in most of this research the causal relationship between views and affiliations is difficult to discern definitively: Do people influence each other’s views so that they converge over time or do they primarily affiliate (by choice or happenstance) with those of similar views? Here we use longitudinal attitudinal and whole network data collected at critical times (notably, at the inception of the system) to identify robustly the determinants of attitudes and affiliations. We find significant conformity tendencies: …

The Effect Of Presidential Campaigning: The 2002 And 2004 Midterm Senate Elections, Scott D. Mcclurg, Jessica Bryan

Working Papers

Many scholars address the indirect effects presidents have on midterm election results by examining the “midterm loss” phenomenon, presidential coattails, negative voting, and the “referendum” thesis. However, very little research investigates the direct effect that presidential campaigning has on congressional candidates prospects for victory. This study adds to this growing literature by exploring presidential campaigning in the 2002 and 2006 U.S. Senate midterm elections. Our investigation makes two important contributions to previous research. First, we explicitly model the strategic decisions presidents make in visiting states in order to get a better estimate of presidential impact that accounts for selection bias. …

God-Talk In The Age Of Obama: Theology And Religious Political Engagement, Charlton C. Copeland

Articles

No abstract provided.

Performance Management Recommendations For The New Administration, Shelley H. Metzenbaum

Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management Publications

Two simple tools—goals and measurement—are among the most powerful leadership mechanisms available to a President for influencing the vast scope of federal agencies. Goals and measurement are useless, however, unless used. They must be used not just to comply with mandated reporting requirements, but to communicate priorities and problems, to motivate through attention and feedback, and to illuminate where, when, and why performance changes. The President and his leadership team must focus their discussions to deliver results around specific goals and discuss progress and problems relative to them. Otherwise, the goals agencies articulate in written plans are likely to be …

Presidential Staffing And Public Opinion: How Public Opinion Influences Politicization, José Villalobos, Justin Vaughn

Departmental Papers (PS)

Scholars traditionally frame presidential efforts to politicize the federal bureaucracy as the result of divergence between the president's preferences and an agency's output. The authors argue that presidential concern with agency output is dynamic and is in part conditioned by the president's relationship with the public. To assess the relationship between politicization and public opinion, the authors use a data set that combines information on presidential efforts to politicize the Council of Economic Advisers from 1989 to 2004 with that of public attitudes concerning the president's handling of the economy. Their results indicate that public opinion does indeed bear a …

How The Dissent Becomes The Majority: Using Federalism To Transform Coalitions In The U.S. Supreme Court, Tonja Jacobi, Vanessa A. Baird

Faculty Articles

This Article proposes that dissenting Supreme Court Justices provide cues in their written opinions about how future litigants can reframe case facts and legal arguments in similar future cases to garner majority support. Questions of federal-state power cut across most other substantive legal issues, and this can provide a mechanism for splitting existing majorities in future cases. By signaling to future litigants when this potential exists, dissenting judges can transform a dissent into a majority in similar future cases.

We undertake an empirical investigation of dissenting opinions in which the dissenting Justice suggests that future cases ought to be framed …

Putting Ideas To Work: A Practical Introduction To Political Thought (Book Review), Steven Michels

Political Science & Global Affairs Faculty Publications

Book review by Steven Michels.

Mattern, M. (2006). Putting ideas to work: A practical introduction to political thought. Rowman and Littlefield.

ISBN 9780742548893 (hardcover); 9780742548909 (pbk.)