Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Emily Cury
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
National Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Advocacy Organizations ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Communities Of Color ◽  
Great Odds

This chapter explains how organizations and institutions that represent the interests of Muslims in the United States remain visible, engaged, and assertive despite the great odds they face. It discusses what motivates Muslim advocacy organizations to participate in the policy process when their ability to exert an influence in the current political climate seems limited. It also addresses why Muslims continue to mobilize around contentious foreign policy issues, such as the Palestinian—Israeli conflict, when it seems to be against their interests to do so. The chapter mentions Namira Islam's critique, which placed great emphasis on the need for cross-sectional coalition building, particularly with other communities of color. It describes the leadership and upper echelons of the national-level organizations as open and self-reflective with regard to criticism and their record of embracing Black, working-class, and inner-city Muslims.

scholarly journals Nighttime Lights and County-Level Economic Activity in the United States: 2001 to 2019

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 2741
Author(s):  
John Gibson ◽  
Geua Boe-Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Validation Studies ◽  
National Level ◽  
Predictive Performance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Nighttime Lights ◽  
Defense Meteorological Satellite Program

Nighttime lights (NTL) are a popular type of data for evaluating economic performance of regions and economic impacts of various shocks and interventions. Several validation studies use traditional statistics on economic activity like national or regional gross domestic product (GDP) as a benchmark to evaluate the usefulness of NTL data. Many of these studies rely on dated and imprecise Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) data and use aggregated units such as nation-states or the first sub-national level. However, applied researchers who draw support from validation studies to justify their use of NTL data as a proxy for economic activity increasingly focus on smaller and lower level spatial units. This study uses a 2001–19 time-series of GDP for over 3100 U.S. counties as a benchmark to examine the performance of the recently released version 2 VIIRS nighttime lights (V.2 VNL) products as proxies for local economic activity. Contrasts were made between cross-sectional predictions for GDP differences between areas and time-series predictions of GDP changes within areas. Disaggregated GDP data for various industries were used to examine the types of economic activity best proxied by NTL data. Comparisons were also made with the predictive performance of earlier NTL data products and at different levels of spatial aggregation.

scholarly journals The Effect of Whiteness and Attempts to Preserve It on Political Division in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-117
Author(s):  
Therin Alrik Showalter
Keyword(s):  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
College Graduates ◽  
National Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Hillary Clinton ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
The Public ◽  
White Voters ◽  
Dramatic Shift

Beginning in the early 1990s, the American public has become increasingly politically polarized. As party affiliations have become more rigid, a racial trend has emerged in which white voters are much less likely than black voters to identify as liberal or align with the Democratic Party. Using voting data from the 2016 presidential election, this study correlates the prevalence of whiteness in certain counties with those counties’ support for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. This paper first details the increasing polarization over the past decades and the dramatic shift of white voters away from liberalism. It then analyzes the political affiliations of other identity groups (such as women, millennials, and college graduates) that are majority liberal and demonstrates that, when restricted to their white members, those groups all lean conservative. The research results find a significant correlation between concentrated whiteness and a rejection of Hillary Clinton. The correlation on a national level is weaker, however, than the correlation of counties when separated regionally, suggesting that the relationship between whiteness and anti-liberalism depends heavily on a county’s degree of whiteness (or anti-liberalism) in its geographical context. While it is impossible to determine whether the race of white voters consciously motivates their voting behavior, the results suggest that American democracy is informed, in some way, by the racial identities of its participants. These results should encourage the public to discuss the current political climate and its intensely divided electorate from a racial perspective. If the nation perceives political division as a problem to be solved, it is essential to understand what factors might be causing the division. To that end, the results of this study would be fundamental to the nation’s dialogue and should be considered when voters make their decision on Election Day. 

The challenges of cross‑racial coalition building

2020 ◽  
pp. 95-112
Author(s):  
Harris Beider ◽  
Kusminder Chahal
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Strategic Plan ◽  
The United States ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Racial Boundaries ◽  
Communities Of Color ◽  
White Working Class ◽  
The 1960S

This chapter examines the possibilities of building cross-racial coalitions between the white working class and communities of color as the United States transitions from majority white to a minority white country. Fifty years after the campaign for civil rights and the passage of landmark legislation during the 1960s, there is little evidence of formal and sustainable cross-racial coalition building at the grassroots or grasstops level between the white working class and communities of color. White working-class communities wanted to engage with communities of color but did not have the means of engaging across racial boundaries beyond a superficial everyday level. Discussions between different communities were “soft-wired” and based on fleeting exchanges in informal spaces rather than becoming “hard-wired” in a strategic plan that can create a framework for coalition building. Stakeholders were largely ambivalent and occasionally hostile toward engaging with white working-class communities to build effective cross-racial alliances. Similar to white working-class communities in relation to communities of color, stakeholders found it challenging to engage with these groups.

scholarly journals The Geography of Chronic Pain in the United States and Canada.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Zajacova ◽  
Jinhyung Lee ◽  
Hanna Grol-Prokopczyk
Keyword(s):  
National Level ◽  
Decomposition Methods ◽  
The United States ◽  
Deep South ◽  
Geographic Variations ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
National Geographic ◽  
Pain Frequency ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The U.S

Our understanding of population pain epidemiology is largely based on national-level analyses. This focus, however, neglects potential cross-national, and especially sub-national, geographic variations in pain, even though geographic comparisons could shed new light on factors that drive or protect against pain. This article presents the first comparative analysis of pain in the U.S. and Canada, comparing the countries in aggregate and analyzing variation across states and provinces. Analyses are based on cross-sectional data collected in 2020 from 2,124 U.S. and 2,110 Canadian adults 18 years and older. Our pain measure is a product of pain frequency and pain-related interference with daily activities. We use regression and decomposition methods to link socioeconomic characteristics and pain, and inverse-distance weighting spatial interpolation to map pain scores. We find significantly and substantially higher pain in the U.S. than in Canada. The difference is accounted for by Americans' lower economic wellbeing. Additionally, we find variation in pain within countries; the variation is statistically significant across U.S. states. Further, we identify nine hotspot states in the Deep South, Appalachia, and the West where respondents have significantly higher pain than those in the rest of the U.S. or Canada. This excess pain is partly attributable to economic distress, but a large part remains unexplained; we speculate that it may reflect the sociopolitical context of the hotspot states. Overall, our findings identify areas with high need for pain prevention and management; they also other scholars to consider geographic factors as important contributors to population pain.

scholarly journals Politics or Economics? International Migration during the Nicaraguan Contra War

2005 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
JENNIFER H. LUNDQUIST ◽  
DOUGLAS S. MASSEY
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Costa Rica ◽  
Latin American ◽  
National Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Timing Of Migration ◽  
Or Economics ◽  
Economic Trends

The issue of whether Central Americans in the United States are ‘political’ or ‘economic’ migrants has been widely debated, yet little empirical research has informed the controversy. Earlier studies have relied primarily on cross-sectional aggregate data. In order to overcome these limitations we draw on recent surveys conducted in five Nicaraguan communities by the Latin American Migration Project. Using retrospective data, we reconstruct a history of a family's migration to the United States and Costa Rica from the date of household formation to the survey date and link these data to national-level data on GDP and Contra War violence. While out migration to both Costa Rica and the United States is predicted by economic trends, US-bound migration was more strongly linked to the level of Contra War violence independent of economic motivations, especially in an interactive model that allows for a higher wartime effect of social networks. We conclude that elevated rates of Nicaraguan migration to the United States during the late 1980s and early 1990s were a direct result of the US-Contra intervention. The approach deployed here – which relates to the timing of migration decisions to macro-level country trends – enables us to address the issue of political versus economic motivations for migration with more precision than prior work.

scholarly journals Depression Treatment among Adults with Multiple Sclerosis and Depression in Ambulatory Care Settings in the United States

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandipan Bhattacharjee ◽  
Lisa Goldstone ◽  
Queeny Ip ◽  
Terri Warholak
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Medical Care ◽  
National Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Depression Treatment ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Care Survey ◽  
Ambulatory Medical Care ◽  
Predictors Of Depression

Background. There is little information regarding depression treatment patterns among adults with MS and depression in ambulatory settings at national level in the United States (US).Objectives. The objectives of this study were to identify patterns and predictors of depression treatment in ambulatory settings in US among adults with MS and depression.Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted by pooling multiple years (2005–2011) of National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and the outpatient department of the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey data. The final study sample was comprised of ambulatory visits among adults with MS and depression. Dependent variable of this study was pharmacological treatment for depression with or without psychotherapy. Predictors of depression treatment were determined by conducting multivariable logistic regression.Results. Out of all ambulatory visits involving MS diagnosis, 20.59% also involved a depression diagnosis. Depression treatment was observed in 57.25% of the study population. Fluoxetine was the most prescribed individual antidepressant. Age and total number of chronic diseases were significant predictors of depression treatment.Conclusion. Approximately six out of ten ambulatory visits involving MS and depression recorded some form of depression treatment. Future longitudinal studies should examine health outcomes associated with depression treatment in this population.

Networks of Trade Protest in the Americas: Toward a New Labor Internationalism?

2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisa von Bülow
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
National Level ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
The United States ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Labor Organizations ◽  
Social Network Data ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Time

AbstractIn the mid-1990s, for the first time in the history of the Americas, truly hemispherewide collaboration among labor organizations became possible. Yet this new political opportunity structure has not brought actors together in an undisputed new labor internationalism. This article focuses on two key sources of contention among labor organizations in the context of free trade mobilizations between 1990 and 2004: the discussions about coalition building with other civil society actors and the debates about including a social clause in trade agreements. It argues that transnational collective action occurs parallel to the continued relevance of national-level claims and targets, and that this simultaneity represents a real source of challenges, for scholars and labor organizations alike. Based on social network data and qualitative interviews in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, and the United States, the article analyzes the actions taken by labor organizations, and how these changed through time.

scholarly journals China and International Student Mobility

2017 ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Hang Gao ◽  
Hans De Wit
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
International Student ◽  
Student Mobility ◽  
National Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
The United Kingdom

China has the objective to receive 500,000 international students at the end of this decade, and is already moving fast in this direction, bypassing Australia, France, and Germany, to become the third destination country after the United States and the United Kingdom in hosting international students. With the current political climate in the main countries hosting international students, China’s perspectives to become a dominant player are more optimistic than a few years ago. Attracting international students and increasing their stay-rate after graduation is becoming a major political strategy at the national level and also for the main cities and provinces, as well as the universities. But, to be sustainable in this effort, China’s higher education system needs to work on the quality of its education and services. 

scholarly journals Differential Impact of COVID-19 Risk Factors on Ethnicities in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prashant Athavale ◽  
Vijay Kumar ◽  
Jeremy Clark ◽  
Sumona Mondal ◽  
Shantanu Sur
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
National Level ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
The United States ◽  
Advanced Age ◽  
Differential Impact ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Us

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has revealed existing health inequalities in racial and ethnic minority groups in the US. This work investigates and quantifies the non-uniform effects of geographical location and other known risk factors on various ethnic groups during the COVID-19 pandemic at a national level. To quantify the geographical impact on various ethnic groups, we grouped all the states of the US. into four different regions (Northeast, Midwest, South, and West) and considered Non-Hispanic White (NHW), Non-Hispanic Black (NHB), Hispanic, Non-Hispanic Asian (NHA) as ethnic groups of our interest. Our analysis showed that infection and mortality among NHB and Hispanics are considerably higher than NHW. In particular, the COVID-19 infection rate in the Hispanic community was significantly higher than their population share, a phenomenon we observed across all regions in the US but is most prominent in the West. To gauge the differential impact of comorbidities on different ethnicities, we performed cross-sectional regression analyses of statewide data for COVID-19 infection and mortality for each ethnic group using advanced age, poverty, obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes as risk factors. After removing the risk factors causing multicollinearity, poverty emerged as one of the independent risk factors in explaining mortality rates in NHW, NHB, and Hispanic communities. Moreover, for NHW and NHB groups, we found that obesity encapsulated the effect of several other comorbidities such as advanced age, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. At the same time, advanced age was the most robust predictor of mortality in the Hispanic group. Our study quantifies the unique impact of various risk factors on different ethnic groups, explaining the ethnicity-specific differences observed in the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings could provide insight into focused public health strategies and interventions.

scholarly journals Nighttime Lights and County-Level Economic Activity in the United States: 2001 to 2019

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Gibson ◽  
Geua Boe-Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Validation Studies ◽  
National Level ◽  
Predictive Performance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Nighttime Lights ◽  
Meteorological Satellite

Nighttime lights (NTL) are a popular type of data for evaluating economic performance of regions and economic impacts of various shocks and interventions. Several validation studies use traditional statistics on economic activity like national or regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a benchmark to evaluate the usefulness of NTL data. Many of these studies rely on dated and imprecise Defence Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) data and use aggregated units such as nation-states or the first sub-national level. Yet applied researchers who draw support from validation studies to justify their use of NTL data as a proxy for economic activity increasingly focus on smaller and lower level spatial units. This study uses a 2001-19 time-series of GDP for over 3100 US counties as a benchmark to examine the usefulness of the recently released version 2 VIIRS nighttime lights (V.2 VNL) products as proxies for local economic activity. Contrasts are made between cross-sectional predictions for GDP differences between areas and time-series predictions of GDP changes within areas. Disaggregated GDP data for various industries are used to examine what types of economic activity are best proxied by NTL data and comparisons are also made with the predictive performance of earlier NTL data products.

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