scholarly journals Presidential Address: Fourth Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association: The Future of Representative Government

1908 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. N. Judson

In the United States we have seen a revival of the ancient discussion concerning the line of demarcation between national and State authority under our complex federal system, but there is an underlying question which cannot have escaped the thoughtful observer involved in the growing popular distrust of the representative system whereon both federal and State governments are based. This tendency is being manifested in very material modifications in representative government, as understood by the founders of our government, and I therefore ask your attention to the consideration of The Future of Representative Government.This form of government, wherein the sovereign power of law-making is wholly delegated to deputies elected by the people, is of comparatively modern origin, and in the modern sense of the term it was unknown to the ancients. While its origin is obscure, we know that it was in England that representative government found its development in the form in which it was so greatly impressed upon the framers of our Constitution. Sir Henry Maine in his Popular Government says that it was virtually England's discovery of government by representation which caused parliamentary institutions to be preserved in England from the destruction which overtook them everywhere else, and to devolve as an inheritance upon the United States.

1912 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Simeon E. Baldwin

When the Constitution of the United States was pending for ratification, its supporters, in their public utterances, were disposed to minimize the powers which it conferred. This was the general tone of the Federalist. How far they might reach, indeed, was a question that only the future could fully answer. A set of traditions and usages and precedents must first grow up, under the Constitution, but outside of it.Every one saw that much would depend on the views of Washington. Every one looked forward with confidence to his unanimous election as the first President. Every one saw that it would be left to him to decide whether he should be reelected. His refusal to stand for a third term founded a usage that has become as controlling as an express constitutional provision.Washington took care that the judiciary should be composed of men who believed that Congress was not confined to the exercise of the powers expressly granted to it.


1973 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. Sharpe

In his celebrated study of American democracy written in 1888, Lord Bryce reserved his most condemnatory reflections for city government and in a muchquoted passage asserted: ‘There is no denying that the government of cities is the one conspicuous failure of the United States. The deficiencies of the National government tell but little for evil on the welfare of the people. The faults of the State governments are insignificant compared with the extravagance, corruption and mismanagement which mark the administration of most of the great cities'sangeetha.


1976 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 183-200
Author(s):  
Peter Grothe

This study, based on a paper given to the 1975 annual convention of the American Political Science Association, gives the results of questionnaires filled out by more than 2,800 Swedes and Norwegians. Swedes and Norwegians who had been to the United States were compared with control groups of their fellow countrymen who had not been there regarding their perceptions of America. Further, those who had been to the United States were asked about their perceptions of their own countries. The data showed that on most – but not all – indicators, those who had been to America were more positive than the control groups who had not been there. Scandinavians who had been to America were particularly positive about American personality characteristics but were negative about the perceived lack of a comprehensive social welfare system in the U.S. Scandinavians who had been to America seemed to return home both more appreciative and more critical of some aspects of their own countries.


1952 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 512-523 ◽  

The review is republishing below the findings and recommendations included in the Report recently prepared by the Special Committee on Service Voting of the American Political Science Association and presented to the President of the United States, who submitted it to Congress. The Committee was composed of the following members: Paul T. David, chairman, Robert Cutler, Samuel J. Eldersveld, Bertram M. Gross, Alexander Heard, Edward H. Litchfield, ex officio, Kathryn H. Stone, and William B. Prendergast, secretary.In a letter of April 7, 1952, to Luther Gulick, President of the Association, President Truman expressed his appreciation for the work of the Committee and of the Association in the following words:I wish to thank you, and the members of the Special Committee on Service Voting of the American Political Science Association, for the outstanding report on “Voting in the Armed Forces” which you sent me with your recent letter. This report more than fulfills my request to the American Political Science Association for an analysis of the progress made on soldier voting, and recommendations for steps to be taken to see that a maximum number of servicemen vote this year.


1982 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-5
Author(s):  
Kerry Feldman ◽  
Steve Langdon

This special issue of Practicing Anthropology includes seven papers which cover a broad spectrum of anthropological practice in Alaska, but share a common orientation toward public policy. We have chosen to focus on anthropology and public policy in Alaska for several reasons. First, there appears to be a high level of anthropological involvement in and impact on Alaskan public policy compared to other regions of the United States. Second, that involvement and influence is not limited to one or two topics but ranges over a variety of issues. Finally, we feel that because of the nature of contemporary Alaska—its size, small population, ethnic diversity, present economy, and youth as a state—public directions taken at this time will be crucial to the future of the people who are presently residents of Alaska. A sense of that urgency as well as of the powerful forces at work comes through in a number of the articles.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wahyu Hindiawati ◽  
Wiwik Utami ◽  
Dian Utami Ikhwaningrum ◽  
Ika Kusumaning Wardhani ◽  
Devita Rosa Salsabila

A constitution is a written regulation and a state convention (state administration) that determines the composition and position of state bodies, regulates relations between the bodies, and regulates the relationships between these bodies and the citizens. The enactment of a constitution as a binding fundamental law is based on the highest power or the principle of sovereignty adopted by a certain country. If the country adheres to the notion of popular sovereignty, then the source of the legitimacy of the constitution is the people. If monarchical sovereignty is applied, then the monarch will determine whether or not a constitution may be enforced. A constitution also contains regulations for the election of regional heads. Regional head elections are one of the characteristics of a state that applies democratic principles. This study aims to analyze the election of regional heads by comparing the constitutions of Majapahit, Indonesia, and the United States of America. The method used in this research is normative juridical, namely by reviewing the norms of Constitution, laws and other sources of legal material, including journals. The results of this research are that regional heads in Majapahit were directly elected by the Prabu (King). It was a District/majority representative system since the regional heads were directly elected by the king, an Organic and Non-Democratic electoral system. Whereas in Indonesia, regional heads (Governors, Regents and Mayors) are democratically elected, elected directly by the people or by the Provincial, Regential and Municipal House of Representatives (district representation system based on the majority and balance). However, in the reform era, the legislators interpreted the democratic system as direct election by the people. The electoral system is mechanical, organic and democratic. In the United States, the Head of State is directly elected by the people but at the discretion of the legislature, hence the representative system is a balanced representation system. The electoral system is organic and semi-democratic. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0754/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
MARK WICKHAM-JONES

In tracing the development of increased polarization in the United States, numerous scholars have noted the apparent importance of the American Political Science Association's (APSA's) Committee on Political Parties. The committee's influential (and often criticized) report, Toward a More Responsible Two-Party System, called for a wholesale transformation of political parties in the United States. On its publication in October 1950, political scientists quickly concluded that, taken together, the committee's recommendations represented a reworking of a distinct approach, usually known as “party government” or “responsible party government.” (The origins of responsible parties dated back to Woodrow Wilson's classic 1885 text Congressional Government.) Since then, the notion of party government has become a core issue in the study of American political parties, albeit a contentious one. A recent survey ranked the APSA document at seventh as a canonical text in graduate syllabi concerning parties.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Jason Frank

When collective protest develops in the streets and occupied squares, it becomes not simply a demand for democracy addressed to the disputed power but an affirmation of democracy effectively implemented. —Jacques Rancière As another cycle of collective protest reverberated around the globe in recent years, crowds again took to the streets and public squares of cities from Santiago to Beirut, from Hong Kong to Baghdad, claiming their elected representatives do not, in fact, represent them. In the United States, the largest protest movement in its history—the Movement for Black Lives—drew between fifteen to twenty-six million people into the streets of hundreds of different cities and towns, and did so in the middle of a global pandemic’s demand for social distancing. The local grievances which triggered these uprisings vary widely—an increase in the price of public transportation, a tax on a popular messaging service, a revised extradition law, searing examples of racist police violence—but all express dismay and disgust at the economic and political inequalities of the existing system of representative government and a common demand to return political power to the people themselves. “Our government is a government of thugs!” “Chile woke up!” “There are no rioters, only a tyrannical regime!” The figurative space opened up by a widespread crisis of democratic legitimacy once again filled the streets with multitudes banging pots and pans, occupying public buildings and squares, building barricades, and throwing improvised dance parties celebrating the coming fall of the regime. Amid the proliferation of ever-new technologies enabling virtual forms of assembly, political participation, and “preference ...


2003 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 879-896 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Nesbitt-Larking

While it remains a diffuse field of enquiry, political psychology has established itself as an important approach to the analysis of political life. In the United States, political psychology is offered as an optional programme in a number of leading graduate schools and is a recognized subfield of the American Political Science Association. Despite the existence of a number of active political psychologists in Canada, there has been relatively little curiosity about the status of the field. This article offers an account of research in the field. Central to this exploration is an evaluation of the ideological, cultural and substantive research in political psychology in Canada.


1969 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-31
Author(s):  
John D. Lees

Political scientists in the United States have in recent years become concerned with analysis of the rights and responsibilities of political opposition. This interest was initially stimulated by the much-quoted, and much-maligned, report of the Committee on Political Parties of the American Political Science Association in 1950 entitled Toward a More Responsible Two-Party System. It has been supplemented by the volume edited by Robert Dahl, Political Oppositions in Western Democracies. Academic rationale for this interest is reflected in the paradox posed by Dahl, who, having cited ‘ the right of an organized opposition to appeal for votes against the government in elections and parliament’ as being one of ‘the three great milestones in the development of democratic institutions’, is then obliged to admit that in the United States ‘it is never easy to distinguish “opposition” from “government”’, and that ‘it is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to identify the opposition’. Opposition in the United States political system is nonstructural because of the multiple access points for influence, and opportunities for preventing or inhibiting governmental action are numerous. No single institution illustrates this fact better than Congress. In speaking of Congress, commentators do not talk about ‘the opposition’. They may refer to ‘the minority party’ (and ‘the majority party’), yet even these terms cannot be used at times when the Senate and House are not controlled by the same party. Moreover, internal organizational and procedural patterns in the contemporary Congress allow many opportunities for minority coalitions to check executive policies favoured by a majority coalition in Congress, and such coalitions are often bipartisan.


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