Political Theory Commons^™

Religion And Regionalism: Congregants, Culture And City-County Consolidation In Louisville, Kentucky, Joshua D. Ambrosius

Political Science Faculty Publications

Literature on religious involvement in public affairs typically examines the national scene, particularly public opinion and political behavior in presidential elections. Few scholars examine religious actors in urban politics and policymaking. Those who do study local politics emphasize morality policy and ignore issues of metropolitan governance and institutional design, central concerns of the urban politics field. This dissertation fills that gap by studying Louisville, Kentucky, site of the first large-scale city-county consolidation since 1969. I ask: does religion affect how people vote in a consolidation referendum and shape their opinions about merged government? I employ a survey instrument (N=807), collected …

The Televised Presidential Debate: Decreasing Effectiveness And The Impact Of The New Media Spin In The Fourth Age, Marcus Stevens

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This Capstone Project focuses on the entire history of televised presidential debates in America. Beginning with the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960 and ending with the Obama-McCain debates of 2008, I examine and analyze academic books, articles and data in order to answer several questions: Did the American public continue to tune in to televised debate for information throughout the years? Have the debates lost their ability to maintain interest, change or affect electoral outcomes, or help inform the masses of the actual policies and promises of the candidates? Have the advances in technology and media had any effect on these …

Interview With Alice Palmer, Katherine Elizabeth Mcauliff

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 107 minutes

Oral history interview of Alice Palmer by Katherine Elizabeth McAuliff

As a youth, Palmer mentions, she encountered news of South African Apartheid through a magazine to which her grandparents subscribed, outlining methods of classifying race in the country, particularly through hair texture. In college, Palmer mentions a deepened awareness of the issues in South Africa, which propelled her student activism during the boycott against the Krugerrand. Palmer also describes her involvement in organizing the Free South Africa Movement with other Chicago-based activists. She describes the demonstrations between November 1984 and March 1985 in front of the South …

Interview With Elizabeth Benson, Micah Ariel James

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 102 minutes

Oral history interview of Elizabeth Benson by Micah Ariel James

Ms. Benson begins by recalling her early years, her childhood in Kansas City and Chicago, and the death of her father. She outlines her educational and career path, earning a degree in French at the University of Chicago and working a number of different jobs as a teacher, working for the federal government, for the state government departments, and as a secretary for a church. She mentions her time living in France, Germany, and Washington State, before returning to Chicago. Her activism began with Citizens Alert, who …

Interview With Jean Kracher, Michael Lee Johnson

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 97 minutes

Oral history interview of Jean Kracher by Michael Lee Johnson

Ms. Kracher explains how she first became involved in the anti-Apartheid movement after moving to New York where she was initially involved a number of different social justice causes. She mentions her arrest after chaining herself to the South African consulate door during a protest. She explains how most of her activism work largely revolved around the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s and the impact that some policies had on gay communities. She mentions how she started an organization called CFAR (Chicago For AIDS Rights), later renamed …

Interview With Stan Willis, Richard Hughey

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 135 minutes

Oral history interview of Stan Willis by Richard Hughey

Mr. Willis begins by recounting his early years in Chicago with his family and his gang activity in high school. He briefly describes his years in the Air Force and his work as a bus driver before enrolling at Crane College. Willis describes his activism work from his college years in detail, creating the Black History Club and later running for and winning student body president, during which time he helped organize strikes against injustices around the country. He mentions how he had a hand in naming the …

Interview With Danny Davis, Terence Sims

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 67 minutes

Oral history interview of Danny Davis by Terence Sims

Dr. Davis begins by outlining his introduction into activism and politics, when he served as executive director for the Greater Lawndale Conservation Commission in 1968. He explains how his definition of apartheid, which he is still fighting against, encompasses the massive underrepresentation of Black Americans in U.S. government positions. He details his childhood in rural Arkansas, growing up with ten siblings on a farm. He recalls early figures in the Civil Rights Movement in Arkansas, like the Little Rock Nine and Martin Luther King, Jr. He explains how …

Interview With Zeva Schub, Lynette Marie Reid

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 67 minutes

Oral history interview of Zeva Schub by Lynette Marie Reid

Zeva Schub’s activism began early during her time in high school. She was involved in civil rights activism and carried it over when she went to college at the University of Illinois. She describes the influence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had on her and her sister, who was involved in the Anti-apartheid movement in Chicago, which is what prompted her to join the cause. She describes becoming a member of CIDSA (Coalition for Illinois Divestment in South Africa) and joining other organizations that were opposed …

Interview With Josephine Wyatt, Suzanne Miller

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 73 minutes

Oral history interview of Josephine Wyatt by Suzanne Miller

In her interview, Ms. Wyatt recalls her childhood on her family’s farm in Georgia, her family’s church, and their community. She explains how she and her husband relocated to Chicago for work, where she started taking classes at the local colleges. She tells of how she began working for Chicago Child Care after her divorce, first as a secretary and then as an office manager. She recalls how she deeply identified with the struggles in Apartheid South Africa, after growing up in Jim Crow Georgia and witnessing the …

Interview With George Schmidt, Melena Grace Nicholson

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 154 minutes

Oral history interview of George Schmidt by Melena Grace Nicholson

Chicago Public School teacher and union activist, George Schmidt discusses his work as editor of Substance a newspaper covering public education that he helped found in 1975. His activism was sparked during his college years and he recounts his work during his teaching career. He was involved in the G.I. movement and military counseling, working with ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union), and people in Angola and Mozambique, before becoming a teacher. His interest in military counseling and the G.I. movement stems from his own parents’ experience during …

Interview With Curtis Black, Jeremy Alexander Cairns

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 77 minutes

Oral history interview of Curtis Black by Jeremy Alexander Cairns

In his interview, Curtis Black details his childhood and early college years at the University of Chicago. He explains how he became involved in the anti-apartheid movement in 1979 while covering divestment for the Chicago Maroon and, soon after, joining the Action Committee on South Africa, a student organization that campaigned to get the University of Chicago to divest from stock of corporations doing business in South Africa. He notes an especially significant piece he wrote in 1985, interviewing Prexy Nesbitt, that gave a comprehensive view of …

Interview With Constance Prince, Brett Edward King

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 97 minutes

Oral history interview of Constance Prince by Brett Edward King

In her interview, Ms. Prince details her difficult childhood in Florida, her first marriage, the birth of her daughter, and her divorce. She recalls how she completed her degree at Florida State University and moved with her daughter to Chicago to attend Northwestern University. She describes how she first learned of South African apartheid at Northwestern through Prexy Nesbitt. This, she explains, led to her involvement in the anti-apartheid movement: at the urging of Nesbitt and George Schmidt, she wrote a three-piece series outlining the history of …

Interview With Clarice Durham, Lauren Ashley Alexander

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 95 minutes

Oral history interview of Clarice Durham by Lauren Ashley Alexander

Clarice Durham recalls her childhood and recounts her work with the Illinois NAACP, The National Anti-Imperialist Movement in Solidarity with African Liberation (NAIMSAL), and as co-chair of the National Alliance Against Racial and Political Oppression. She campaigned for justice in the Scottsboro Boys case in 1931, attended the founding convention of the Progressive Party in 1948, and participated in the March on Washington in 1963. As Durham recaps her trip to South Africa, she recalls the change it had on her and her views of the movement. …

The Politic 2010 Spring, The Politic, Inc.

The Politic

No abstract provided.

Why Terrorism? Whose Terror?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author considers terrorism as a competitor for the legally constituted authority and power of governments.

The Politic 2010 Winter, The Politic, Inc.

The Politic

No abstract provided.

Are They Ready For Their Close-Up? Civil Servants And Their Portrayal In Contemporary American Cinema, Michelle C. Pautz, Laura Roselle

Political Science Faculty Publications

Norma Desmond famously says in Billy Wilder’s Sunset Blvd. (1950), “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my closeup.”1 Since then, this phrase has been uttered countless times to ensure the camera does not start rolling until everyone is ready. But all are not afforded the opportunity to get ready and civil servants fall squarely into this category. We know that government bureaucrats are among those individuals that Americans love to hate and attacks on the civil service come from a plethora of sources.2 And because of the ability of film (as well as other narrative forms) to influence perceptions …

Civil Society Sector And Political Change: An Interview With Catherine Lim, Lien Centre For Social Innovation

Social Space

Singapore is a society undergoing transitions. With a burgeoning migrant community, the advent of integrated resorts with casinos and an arguably increasingly effervescent non-profit, civil society sector, Singapore looks to be a society that is rapidly opening up. Yet, as writer and political commentator Catherine Lim controversially proposes, civil society and non-profit activists cannot create change without getting their voices heard and actively participating in the political process. She shares with Social Space, her thoughts on the indispensable ingredients for openness and political engagement in a society that wants to be truly global.

All Judges Are Political—Except When They Are Not: Acceptable Hypocrisies And The Rule Of Law, Keith J. Bybee

College of Law - Faculty Scholarship

This paper contains the introduction to the new book, All Judges Are Political—Except When They Are Not: Acceptable Hypocrisies and the Rule of Law (Stanford University Press, 2010).

The book begins with the observation that Americans are divided in their beliefs about whether courts operate on the basis of unbiased legal principle or of political interest. This division in public opinion in turn breeds suspicion that judges do not actually mean what they say, that judicial professions of impartiality are just fig leaves used to hide the pursuit of partisan purposes.

Comparing law to the practice of common courtesy, the …

A Study Of Democracy In Africa: The Senegalese Experience, Ryan Robert Riley

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis examines the development of democracy in Senegal, one of the few democracies in Africa. In order to understand why democracy has been such a challenge to establish and maintain in Africa, it is necessary to account for the broad effects of European colonization. European powers in their attempts to "modernize" the people of Africa disrupted their natural cultural progress.