Notes and Comments

2000 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES C. GARAND ◽  
MARCI GLASCOCK LICHTL
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
The United States ◽  
Divided Government ◽  
The Political ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Growth Industry ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Political Media

In recent years the study of divided government has been a growth industry. Numerous scholars have sought to explain patterns of divided government in the United States, while others have attempted to explore the consequences of the phenomenon. No doubt this scholarly interest in the subject is due in large part to the attention paid by the political media to divided control of the presidency and Congress during the 1980s, as well as the resulting ’gridlock‘ that dominated policy making in Washington during that time period.

Plus ça Change: The 1922 U.S. Congressional Debate on the Balfour Declaration

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-106
Author(s):  
Khaled Elgindy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Palestinian Arab ◽  
The U.S

This essay looks at the hearing held by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives in April 1922 on the subject of a Jewish National Home in Palestine, as well as the broader congressional debate over the Balfour Declaration at that crucial time. The landmark hearing, which took place against the backdrop of growing unrest in Palestine and just prior to the League of Nations' formal approval of Britain's Mandate over Palestine, offers a glimpse into the cultural and political mindset underpinning U.S. support for the Zionist project at the time as well as the ways in which the political discourse in the United States has, or has not, changed since then. Despite the overwhelming support for the Zionist project in Congress, which unanimously endorsed Balfour in September 1922, the hearing examined all aspects of the issue and included a remarkably diverse array of viewpoints, including both anti-Zionist Jewish and Palestinian Arab voices.

The Violence of Inequality: Race and Lobbying in the Politics of Crime and Criminal Justice in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 68-93
Author(s):  
Sappho Xenakis ◽  
Leonidas K. Cheliotis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The United States ◽  
Reciprocal Relationship ◽  
Criminal Justice Policy ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Us

There is no shortage of scholarly and other research on the reciprocal relationship that inequality bears to crime, victimisation and contact with the criminal justice system, both in the specific United States context and beyond. Often, however, inequality has been studied in conjunction with only one of the three phenomena at issue, despite the intersections that arguably obtain between them–and, indeed, between their respective connections with inequality itself. There are, moreover, forms of inequality that have received far less attention in pertinent research than their prevalence and broader significance would appear to merit. The purpose of this chapter is dual: first, to identify ways in which inequality’s linkages to crime, victimisation and criminal justice may relate to one another; and second, to highlight the need for a greater focus than has been placed heretofore on the role of institutionalised inequality of access to the political process, particularly as this works to bias criminal justice policy-making towards the preferences of financially motivated state lobbying groups at the expense of disadvantaged racial minorities. In so doing, the chapter singles out for analysis the US case and, more specifically, engages with key extant explanations of the staggering rise in the use of imprisonment in the country since the 1970s.

The Vanishing Marginals and Electoral Responsiveness

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Ansolabehere ◽  
David Brady ◽  
Morris Fiorina
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Political System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Divided Government ◽  
Sharp Decline ◽  
The Us ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Safe House

Nearly two decades ago researchers pointed out the sharp decline in marginal districts in elections for the US House of Representatives. That observation led to an outpouring of research describing the electoral changes, explaining their bases and speculating about their consequences for the larger political system. Recently Gary Jacobson has offered a major corrective to that line of research, arguing that ‘House incumbents are no safer now than they were in the 1950s; the marginals, properly defined, have not vanished; the swing ratio has diminished little, if at all; and competition for House seats held by incumbents has not declined’. While Jacobson advances an extremely provocative argument, there are complicating patterns in his evidence that support additional and/or different interpretations. We argue that the marginals, ‘properly defined’ have diminished, the swing ratio has declined, and party competition for House seats held by incumbents has lessened. While fears that the vanishing marginals phenomenon would lead to lower responsiveness on the part of ‘safe’ House incumbents have proved groundless, the collective composition of Congress does appear to be less responsive to changes in popular sentiments. Thus, the vanishing marginals have contributed to the occurrence of divided government in the United States and in all likelihood do have the effects on congressional leadership and policy-making that many analysts have claimed.

Exiliados de la Revolucióón mexicana: El caso de los villistas (1915––1921)

2001 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Lerner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Mexican Revolution ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Sobre Todo

As a result of the Mexican Revolution, many politicians from various factions were forced into exile between 1906 and 1940, particularly between 1910 and 1920. The subject has merited little attention until the present despite the fact that its study can provide another perspective on the Mexican Revolution, the one of the opponents who were defeated. This study focuses on the exile of the villistas that began in the autumn of 1915 and ended at the beginning of the 1920s. The article considers who were the villista exiles, how they escaped from Mexico, how they adapted economically in the United States, and when they returned to their country. It also examines certain political tendencies and their later activities between 1920 and 1940. Four political activities in the United States intended to change the political situation in Mexico are considered. Finally, the article examines how U.S. authorities, closely involved with their Mexican counterparts, treated the exiles. LaRevolucióón mexicanacausóó elexilio de muchos polííticos de distintas facciones entre 1906 y 1940, sobre todo entre 1910 y 1920. Este tema ha merecido muy pocaatencióón hasta elmomento presente,a pesarde que atravéés de éélpodemos aproximarnos desde otra perpectiva a la Revolucióón mexicana, desde el punto de vista de los opositores que muchas veces fueron los vencidos. Este estudio se centra en el exilio de los villistas que empezóó en el otoñño de 1915 y terminóó a principios de la déécada de 1920. En este artíículo se analiza quiéénes fueron los exiliados villistas, cóómo escaparon de Mééxico, su acomodo econóómico y laboral en Estados Unidos y el retorno a su patria, dejando ver ciertas tendencias polííticas de su actuacióónpolíítica ulterior entre 1920y 1940.Se desmenuzan cuatro actividades polííticas que emprendieron en Estados Unidos para cambiar la situacióón mexicana. Finalmente se abarca la forma en que fueron tratados durante su exilio en los Estados Unidos, por las autoridades de este paíís que estaban estrechamente vinculadas con las mexicanas.

Our Columnists on the A-Bomb

1950 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-87
Author(s):  
Janet Besse ◽  
Harold D. Lasswell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
General Theory ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
The United States ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

Opinion differs about the role of syndicated columnists in the forming of national opinion and in the decision-making process in the United States. Our columnists have been the subject of pioneering studies, but we have a long way to go before the picture can be called historically complete, scientifically precise, or fully satisfactory for policy-making purposes. What the columnists say is an important chapter in the history of the American public, and history is most useful for critical purposes when written close to the event. The general theory of communication and politics can be refined as the details of the opinion process are more fully known.

Is Germany Different? A Comment on Hexham and Poewe's Interpretation of German Anticult Policy

2002 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-128
Author(s):  
Hubert Seiwert
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
The Political ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
Minority Religions ◽  
Government Involvement ◽  
Actual Policy

The article comments on Irving Hexham and Karla Poewe's analysis of German anticult policy. It argues that the concept of verfassungsfeindlich (hostile to the constitution), which according to Hexham and Poewe is central in German anticult rhetoric, is used only against Scientology, and it does not play any significant role in other cases. The anticult climate in German public and government reactions to minority religions does not appear to be more intense than in many other European countries. It is not convincing, therefore, to explain them with specific German historical experiences. However, religion does hold a lower position on the scale of constitutional rights than in the United States. Freedom of religion may not impinge upon other constitutional rights. Government involvement in anticult activities does not seem to be due to shortcomings of the political or legal system. Rather it reflects deficiencies in actual policy-making and in particular lack of reliable information about new religious movements.

The Age of Papandreou

Worldview ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 16-19
Author(s):  
Stephen Rousseas
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Political Scene ◽  
Of Greece

Once upon a time there were two Papandreous—Papandreou plre and Papandreou fils—and one Caramanlis. Now there is only a Papandreou fils, Andreas.The last of these to depart the political scene, President Constantine Caramanlis, was the man who Queen Frederica and the United States had chosen over many more senior heads of the conservative Right for the premiership of Greece in 1955. Then a mere forty-eight, he reigned over an ultraconservative government that was at times severely repressive and not above rigging elections or making use of political thugs. Forced out by Frederica in 1963 amidst the scandal of the Lambrakis case—the subject of the highly successful film Z—Caramanlis went into selfimposed exile in Paris.

The Process of Constitutional Amendment: Law, History, and Politics

1986 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 16-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Dellinger
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Constitution ◽  
Constitutional Amendment ◽  
The Political ◽  
Constitutional Change ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Constitutional System

The first part of the seminar examined a mystery that reverberates through two centuries: how does a constitutional system of government, itself born of revolution, properly provide for its own revision — provide literally for its own reconstitution? We first considered the political and intellectual assumptions against which Article V of the United States Constitution — the amendment article — was drafted, and then looked briskly at the historical context in which the Constitution's twenty-six amendments have been adopted. With this as background, we addressed a range of issues concerning the law and policy of constitutional change that are currently the subject of lively dispute in America.

Strange Bedfellows: Cooperative Policy Making in a Divided Government

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-46
Author(s):  
Jongkon Lee
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Political System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Divided Government ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
Majority Party ◽  
System A ◽  
Minority Party

It is widely believed that the lack of bipartisanship between the executive and legislative branches in the United States is deleterious to policy making. However, a divided government is perhaps more productive than a unified government because it can facilitate electoral gains for the minority party. Policy created by a divided government can be seen as the collaborative outcome of the majority and minority parties, but that of a unified government is perceived as the exclusive work of the majority party. Further, successful policy making on the part of the unified government could have the effect of compromising the minority party’s brand. Thus, the minority party has more incentive to negotiate with the majority party and participate in policy making in a divided government. To the extent that party brand name assumes greater importance in elections in a polarized political system, a divided government could be more conducive to policy making than a unified government.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document