scholarly journals Cause or Effect? Turnout in Hispanic Majority-Minority Districts

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 404-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Henderson ◽  
Jasjeet S. Sekhon ◽  
Rocío Titiunik
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Selection Problem ◽  
Descriptive Representation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Matching Algorithm ◽  
Genetic Matching ◽  
Hispanic Voters ◽  
Being Moved

Legislative redistricting alters the political and electoral context for some voters but not others, thus offering a potentially promising research design to study many questions of interest in political science. We apply this design to study the effect that descriptive representation has on co-ethnic political engagement, focusing on Hispanic participation following California's 2000 redistricting cycle. We show that when redistrictors draw legislative boundaries in California's 1990, 2000, and 2010 apportionment cycles, they systematically sorthigher-participating Hispanic voters into majority-Hispanic (MH) jurisdictions represented by co-ethnic candidates, biasing subsequent comparisons of Hispanic participation across districts. Similar sorting occurs during redistricting in Florida and Texas, though here the pattern is reversed, with less-participating Hispanic voters redistricted to MH districts. Our study highlights important heterogeneity in redistricting largely unknown or underappreciated in previous research. Ignoring this selection problem could significantly bias estimates of the effect of Hispanic representation, either positively or negatively. After we correct for these biases using a hierarchical genetic matching algorithm, we find that, in California, being moved to a district with an Hispanic incumbent has little impact on Hispanic participation in our data.

Reducing Political Bias in Political Science Estimates

2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (01) ◽  
pp. 179-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. Zigerell
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Sex Discrimination ◽  
Science Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Bias ◽  
Report Data ◽  
Analyze Data

ABSTRACTPolitical science researchers have flexibility in how to analyze data, how to report data, and whether to report on data. A review of examples of reporting flexibility from the race and sex discrimination literature illustrates how research design choices can influence estimates and inferences. This reporting flexibility—coupled with the political imbalance among political scientists—creates the potential for political bias in reported political science estimates. These biases can be reduced or eliminated through preregistration and preacceptance, with researchers committing to a research design before completing data collection. Removing the potential for reporting flexibility can raise the credibility of political science research.

Learning How to Do Research: An Exercise and Syllabus

1981 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 5-8
Author(s):  
Dean Schooler
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
Basic Approaches ◽  
Traditional Approaches

“You learn how to do research by doing research.” “You learn about research by studying others’ research.” “You learn research by studying the elements and requirements of research.” We have taught students, both undergraduate and graduate, about the research process with those three traditional approaches and sets of basic assumptions. However, the idea of a Research Process Vision provides a fourth alternative blending elements of the three basic approaches.The Research Process Vision is an exercise for students in studying and experiencing the political science research process. Basically, the project/ exercise serves as a vehicle for students to sense the varied elements and issues in research and research design through a hypothetical “envisioning” process. Specifically, they develop a paper or document which sketches out and discusses a potential research project, envisions what might exist or be done, and what might occur.

A Theory of International Involvement and its Societal Effects

2020 ◽  
pp. 19-44
Author(s):  
Dana El Kurd
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Political Behavior ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
The Political ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
Societal Interactions ◽  
Societal Dynamics

What is the effect of international involvement on authoritarianism? Moreover, what is the effect of this involvement on societal dynamics, in the long-term? This chapter presents a theory of international involvement and its societal effects, arguing that such involvement not only affects behavior or preferences on the margins, but also restructures regime dynamics and societal interactions in a way that has yet to be examined fully in the political science literature. There is evidence to suggest that such involvement leads to polarization within society, but it is also important to understand the effect of that polarization on political behavior in the long-term. The theory presented argues international involvement has three specific effects: firstly, creating a principle-agent problem between regime and society, thus disrupting state–society relations, secondly, increasing polarization within society, and thirdly, inhibiting political engagement.

scholarly journals Blogging in the Political Science Classroom

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (01) ◽  
pp. 151-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher N. Lawrence ◽  
Michelle L. Dion
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Science Classroom ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Communication Tools ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Online Communication Tools

AbstractWeblogs (or blogs), as a form of communication on the Internet, have recently risen in prominence but may be poorly understood by both faculty and students. This article explains how blogs differ from other online communication tools and how political science faculty can make use of blogs in their classes. The focus is on using blogs as part of class assignments to reinforce important skills, including critical thinking, political engagement, and essay writing. We also discuss existing academic and professional blogs that may be models for student blogging in political science.

Descriptive Representation and the Political Engagement of Women

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-362
Author(s):  
Jennifer Wolak
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Descriptive Representation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Congressional Election ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Women Candidates ◽  
Elected Office

AbstractWhen women are represented on the campaign trail and in elected office, women in the electorate have been shown to report greater engagement in politics. However, most evidence of the effects of descriptive representation on women's empowerment is drawn from surveys from the 1980s and 1990s. I update these studies to consider how women candidates and officeholders affect the political knowledge, interest, and participation of other women in the electorate. Using responses from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study from 2006 to 2014, I find that both men and women are more politically knowledgeable when represented by women in Congress and in state government. Considering political engagement, I find little evidence that women are more politically interested or participatory when residing in places with more female officeholders or candidates. Women's political presence as candidates and officeholders does not uniquely encourage other women to engage in political life.

Espionage and Exile

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phyllis Lassner
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Literary History ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
The Political ◽  
International Crises ◽  
Popular Entertainment ◽  
John Le Carre ◽  
The Cold War

Espionage and Exile demonstrates that from the 1930s through the Cold War, British Writers Eric Ambler, Helen MacInnes, Ann Bridge, Pamela Frankau, John le Carré and filmmaker Leslie Howard combined propaganda and popular entertainment to call for resistance to political oppression. Instead of constituting context, the political engagement of these spy fictions bring the historical crises of Fascist and Communist domination to the forefront of twentieth century literary history. They deploy themes of deception and betrayal to warn audiences of the consequences of Nazi Germany's conquests and later, the fusion of Fascist and Communist oppression. Featuring protagonists who are stateless and threatened refugees, abandoned and betrayed secret agents, and politically engaged or entrapped amateurs, all in states of precarious exile, these fictions engage their historical subjects to complicate extant literary meanings of transnational, diaspora and performativity. Unsettling distinctions between villain and victim as well as exile and belonging dramatizes relationships between the ethics of espionage and responses to international crises. With politically charged suspense and narrative experiments, these writers also challenge distinctions between literary, middlebrow, and popular culture.

Having Their Say, Leaving Their Mark

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-153
Author(s):  
Adolphus G. Belk ◽  
Robert C. Smith ◽  
Sherri L. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Black People ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Documents ◽  
Adverse Conditions ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Independent Organization

In general, the founders of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists were “movement people.” Powerful agents of socialization such as the uprisings of the 1960s molded them into scholars with tremendous resolve to tackle systemic inequalities in the political science discipline. In forming NCOBPS as an independent organization, many sought to develop a Black perspective in political science to push the boundaries of knowledge and to use that scholarship to ameliorate the adverse conditions confronting Black people in the United States and around the globe. This paper utilizes historical documents, speeches, interviews, and other scholarly works to detail the lasting contributions of the founders and Black political scientists to the discipline, paying particular attention to their scholarship, teaching, mentoring, and civic engagement. It finds that while political science is much improved as a result of their efforts, there is still work to do if their goals are to be achieved.

Reconsideration of the Research Trajectory on the Carceral State

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-207
Author(s):  
Juliette Barbera
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Political Development ◽  
American Political Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Carceral State ◽  
Research Framework ◽  
Research Production ◽  
Fields Of Study ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
And Control

For decades, both incarceration and research on the topic have proliferated. Disciplines within the Western sciences have studied the topic of incarceration through their respective lenses. Decades of data reflect trends and consequences of the carceral state, and based on that data the various disciplines have put forth arguments as to how the trends and consequences are of relevance to their respective fields of study. The research trajectory of incarceration research, however, overlooks the assumptions behind punishment and control and their institutionalization that produce and maintain the carceral state and its study. This omission of assumptions facilitates a focus on outcomes that serve to reinforce Western perspectives, and it contributes to the overall stagnation in the incarceration research produced in Western disciplines. An assessment of the study of the carceral state within the mainstream of American Political Development in the political science discipline provides an example of how the research framework contributes to the overall stagnation, even though the framework of the subfield allows for an historical institutionalization perspective. The theoretical perspectives of Cedric J. Robinson reveal the limits of Western lenses to critically assess the state. The alternative framework he provides to challenge the limits imposed on research production by Western perspectives applies to the argument presented here concerning the limitations that hamper the study of the carceral state.

Bankers and politicians: mutual interests and contradictions (the historical experience of different countries)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ирина Юдина ◽  
Irina Yudina
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Banking System ◽  
Main Idea ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
Banking Systems ◽  
Analysis Tools ◽  
Political Game

This work is an attempt to explain the political roots from which banking systems have evolved in different countries and how they have evolved at different times. For this purpose, materials and analysis tools from three different disciplines were used: economic history, political science and Economics. The main idea that is set out in this paper is the statement that the strength and weakness of the banking system is a consequence of the Great political game and that the rules of this game are written by the main political institutions.

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