bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Political Science and the Juristic Point of View
Authors: Sabine George H.
Published: May 2006

In the August, 1926, number of this journal, Professor W. W. Willoughby presented some conclusions regarding the conception of sovereignty and the range of its applicability in political science, together with some interesting suggestions for the clarification of political theory. His article is devoted primarily to an exposition and criticism of the juristic theories of Professor H. Krabbe, and the gist of his criticism is that Krabbe, in common with the translators of his Modern Theory of the State and with Duguit, fails to distinguish between ethical and legal validity. Krabbe's attack upon the conception of sovereignty is therefore due to a confusion: The legal supremacy which the analytical jurist attributes to the state for purely legal purposes is taken as including also an assertion of moral supremacy. Accordingly, the fact that a legally valid law may be criticized as opposed to moral sentiment or to public interest is turned into an objection against the view that the state, for juristic purposes, may be regarded as a legally sovereign will. Professor Willoughby implies that clarity can be introduced into the whole discussion simply by avoiding this confusion. The justice or utility of a law is a wholly proper question for the moralist, but it is quite irrelevant to the juristic problem, which concerns merely the legal competence of the agency enacting or enforcing the law. “We find in Krabbe, and also in his translators, …. that same mistaken idea which is to be discovered in Duguit, that an inquiry into the idealistic or utilitarian validity of law, as determined by its substantive provisions and purposes sought to be achieved by its enforcement, has a relevancy to, and that its conclusions can affect, the validity and usefulness of the purely formalistic concepts which the positive or analytic jurist employs.”
The New Government in Germany
Authors: Shepard Walter James
Published: May 2006

The revolution in Germany strikes the observer as different in essential respects from revolutions which have taken place in other countries. One looks, in such events, for a few short days of blood and battle; for power wrested by force from the grip of those who have held it; for popular turmoil, the citizenry waging conflict behind street barricades against the disciplined but gradually disintegrating and increasingly disaffected troops of the established government—in short, for a journée in which the overturn is speedily accomplished and the new régime quickly set up. But the German revolution affords no such spectacle. There has been, to be sure, street-fighting and bloodshed, but they have been incident to the attempt of the extremists to overthrow the revolutionary government or to compel it to undertake a more radical program. The revolution itself was bloodless, and the establishment of the provisional government under Ebert was only the last step in a crumbling process which had been evident during the latter part of the administration of Count von Hertling and the whole of that of Prince Max.
The Law and the Facts: Presidential Address, Seventh Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association
Authors: Wilson Woodrow
Published: May 2006

The life of society is a struggle for law. Where life is fixed in unalterable grooves, where it moves from day to day without change or thought of change, law is also, of course, stationary, permanent, graven upon the face of affairs as if upon tables of stone. But where life changes law changes, changes under the impulse and fingering of life itself. For it records life; it does not contain it; it does not originate it. It is subsequent to fact; it takes its origin and energy from the actual circumstances of social experience. Law is an effort to fix in definite practice what has been found to be convenient, expedient, adapted to the circumstances of the actual world. Law in a moving, vital society grows old, obsolete, impossible, item by item. It is not necessary to repeal it or to set it formally aside. It will die of itself,—for lack of breath,—because it is no longer sustained by the facts or by the moral or practical judgments of the community whose life it has attempted to embody.
Theories of Majority Rule
Authors: Heinberg John Gilbert
Published: May 2006

The term “majority rule” is as impossible to escape as it is apparently difficult to define with precision. Aristotle generally employed it to designate the conduct of government by the poor citizens, who were more numerous than the rich, in the Greek city states. In canon law, it meant the verdict of the maior and sanior pars of a small group. Frederic Harrison wrote about the “rule” of the “effective majority”—that section of any community or social aggregate, which, for the matter in hand, practically outweighs the remainder. He explains that it may do so “by virtue of its preponderance in numbers, or in influence, or in force of conviction, or in external resources, or in many other ways.” Sir George Cornewall Lewis thought that where the ultimate decision is vested in a body there is no alternative other than to count numbers, and to abide by the opinion of a majority. But in alleging that “no historian, in discussing the justice or propriety of any decision of a legislative body, or of a court of justice, thinks of defending the decision of the majority by saying that it was the decision of the majority,” he did not anticipate the view of the English historian Hearnshaw. According to the latter, “The faith of a democrat requires him to believe that in the long run the majority of the people finds its way to the truth, and that in the long run it tries to do the right.”
State Constitutional Law in 1931–32
Authors: Haines Charles G.
Published: May 2006

Law as it is made by the courts, interstitially as suggested by Mr. Justice Holmes, and interpreted in the cases that arise during a year, covers only a portion of the law-making process of the American states. Judicial interpretation and judicial legislation are determined largely by the types of controversies which arise involving the interpretation and application of constitutions and laws, and by the personnel of the courts before whom the issues are litigated. It is difficult to discover the tendencies or trends which are in the molding during a decade or more of legal history; for such a short term as a year, generalizations or conclusions may be attempted only with great caution and with well understood reservations.

The significant decisions affecting state constitutional law in 1931-32 in the state supreme courts or courts of appeal and in the inferior federal courts may conveniently be grouped under the following headings: (1) the separation and delegation of powers; (2) the protection of civil rights; (3) due process of law and equal protection of the laws; (4) due process and public utility regulations; (5) due process and the police power; (6) taxation; and (7) miscellaneous decisions.
The Dutch East Indies
Authors: Fairlie John A.
Published: May 2006

It is safe to say that very few people in the United States have any appreciation of the importance of the Netherlands Indies to Holland, to the world at large, or to the United States. Yet they constitute a major part in the economic prosperity of Holland, furnish a large element in the international trade of the world, and are significant factors in the foreign trade of the United States. They are also the seat of political developments, resulting from the political awakening of Asia, which are worth attention.

From west to east, these islands extend more than 3,000 miles, or as far as from San Francisco to the longitude of the eastern end of Maine; and from north to south, more than 1,000 miles.
Constitutional Law in 1929–30: The Constitutional Decisions of the Supreme Couet of the United States in the October Term, 1929
Authors: Cushman Robert E.
Published: May 2006

The Supreme Court continues its century-long task of drawing the line that separates commerce which is interstate or foreign from that which is local. The realistic nature of the test which it uses is made clear in two cases decided during the present term. In Superior Oil Company v. Mississippi ex rel. Knox, the plaintiffs, by a cleverly devised arrangement of technicalities, sought to make it appear that they were selling gasolene in interstate commerce. They hoped thus to escape the payment of the tax of three, and later four, cents a gallon imposed by Mississippi law upon the sale of gasolene within the state. The device used was as follows: The plaintiffs sold oil and gasolene to fish packers in Mississippi and delivered it to them at their wharves. The packers loaded this onto their own boats and sent it to a point in Louisiana where they in turn delivered it to shrimp fishermen who used it in fishing. The fishermen brought back their catch and sold it to the packers and were charged for the oil and gasolene. In each case the oil company gave the packers a bill of lading stipulating that the gasolene remained the company's property until delivered to the consignee's agent at the point of destination. In other words, a Mississippi seller deliberately takes gasolene outside the state of Mississippi in order to deliver it to a Mississippi buyer in the expectation that the transaction will have the appearance of interstate commerce and escape local taxation as such.
Technology and Political Boundaries
Authors: Beard William
Published: May 2006

Mankind is sectional in outlook, carving the world into little compartments with mile upon mile of boundary lines. Technology, on the other hand, is inherently universal in outlook; nature's laws operate as infallibly in Spain as in China, in Russia as in Australia. The substances which it uses are scattered widely over the earth without respect for human conventions. In the collection of raw products and the transportation of finished goods, its purposes are economic, not political. The engineer, then, in applying his rational skill to the world's haphazard system of political areas must necessarily cut across artificial regions with a variety of works. The railway needs no introduction as a map-slashing agency. It has pierced the Alps, connecting Switzerland and Italy by way of the famous Simplon tunnel; it has crossed the towering Andes, linking Argentina with Chile; it has stretched out through Siberia, tying China and the Pacific with the countries of western Europe; and it speeds the traveller through a veritable maze of Balkan nations. Electrical designers, creating superpower nets of transmission lines, run wires with utter abandon across national and local frontiers, joining Switzerland and France over the Alps in one net, and North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee in another. The production manager, turning out automobiles, airplanes, watches, and a flood of other commodities, seeks to distribute his products in every clime and under every flag. The engineer, in short, is a universalist, however intense his patriotism, and cannot function efficiently without traversing human boundary lines.
Organization of the Executive Branch of the National Government of the United States: Changes between June 30 and December 15, 1934
Authors: Schmeckebier L. F.
Published: May 2006

In the December, 1933, issue of the Review, pp. 942–955, appeared a tabular review of the changes in major units of the national government between March 4 and November 1, 1933. In the April, 1934, issue, pp. 250-254, appeared a supplementary list showing the changes between November 1, 1933, and March 1, 1934. In the October, 1934, issue, pp. 872–874, a second supplementary list showed the changes between March 1 and June 30, 1934. The present list indicates the reorganization effected and new units created between June 30 and December 15, 1934. As in previous lists, mention is made of units only specifically authorized by law or established by the President under general authority vested in him.
Organization of the Executive Branch of the National Government of the United States: Changes between July 5 and August 12, 1935
Authors: Schmeckebier L. F.
Published: May 2006

In the December, 1933, issue of the REVIEW, pp. 942–955, appeared a tabular review of the changes in major units of the national government between March 4 and November 1, 1933. Supplementary lists have appeared in the following issues: April, 1934, changes between November 1, 1933, and March 15, 1934; October, 1934, changes between March 15 and June 30, 1934; February, 1935, changes between June 30 and December 15, 1934; August, 1935, changes between December 15, 1934, and July 5, 1935. The present list indicates the reorganizations effected and new units created between July 5 and August 12, 1935. As in previous lists, mention is made of units only specifically authorized by law or established by the President under general authority vested in him.
The Legislature and the Administration, II
Authors: Fairlie John A.
Published: May 2006

Effective legislative supervision over administrative agencies depends on the means and methods employed. The main types of means and methods which may be employed include the following: (1) provision for securing adequate information concerning the work of the administration, by requiring records and accounts of administrative actions and financial transactions, regular reports of such actions and accounts, and requests for information on particular administrative affairs; (2) provisions for the examination of such reports, accounts, and other information, usually by means of legislative committees; (3) special investigations of a more intensive character of particular administrative services; and (4) impeachment and removal from office.

Records and Reports. Modern administrative agencies keep elaborate records of their acts and financial transactions, and publish a large volume of reports and documents, many of which are submitted to the legislative bodies. To a considerable extent, such records and reports are required by legislative provisions. But these legislative requirements vary widely with respect to different agencies; and the practice of the different agencies varies still more widely. The total mass of published reports and documents issued by national, state, and the more important local governments is so extensive, and presented in such a variety of form, that it is difficult to obtain a clear understanding of the general results. On the other hand, some administrative agencies and many of the minor local governments present such brief reports, or in some cases none at all, that no definite information is available to the legislative body nor to the general public.
Tightening the Direct Primary
Authors: Dorr Harold M.
Published: May 2006

In his study, “Government and Society,” Professor Charles E. Merriam makes an interesting observation which may be interpreted by enthusiastic students of government as evidence of progress in the movement to reform the complex and obsolete electoral system prevailing in a majority of the states. “The number of elective officers,” he writes, “estimated at more than 750,000 in the United States, has decreased somewhat in states, counties, and cities under the influence of the short ballot movement. The number of elective offices in 202 cities decreased from 3,118 to 2,343 in the period from 1915 to 1929.” These observations are unquestionably indicative of the tendency to shorten the ballot and, if accepted without qualification or modification, the decrease noted is sufficient evidence of progress to offer encouragement to the supporters of the short-ballot movement.
The French Chamber of Deputies; A Study of Party Allegiance, Attitudes, and Cohesion
Authors: Burton Ralph
Published: May 2006

While it is quite true that French political life is characterized by its individualism, a question arises as to the degree of vacillation and cohesiveness evidenced by the various political groupings. With a view to answering this query, an analysis is herein undertaken of the vote behavior in the Chamber of Deputies during the year 1930.

The story of 1930 tells of the uncertain rule and fall of Tardieu and his cabinet. The Chamber with which he dealt had been elected during the period of the Poincaré coalition cabinet, which was supported by Right-Center forces and the Radical Socialists. The Radical Socialists withdrew their support in the fall of 1928, and Poincaré had to remake his cabinet with Right-Center support. In the fall of 1929, ill health forced Poincaré to resign, and, after others failed, Tardieu formed a cabinet with a majority support. Like Poincaré's 1929 cabinet, it was maintained by Right-Center forces.
The Political Theory of German Fascism
Authors: Schuman Frederick L.
Published: May 2006

In dealing with the evolution of political thought, most historians and social scientists, until recently at least, have tended to view political behavior and the changing patterns of power in society as rational implementations of dynamic ideas. They have accordingly concerned themselves more with the development of abstract philosophical systems than with the social-psychological contexts conditioning this development. To other observers, more Marxian than Hegelian in their outlook, all political ideas are but reflections of the economic interests and class ideologies of the various strata of society. This school therefore probes for the secrets of political and social change, not in the surface phenomena of ideas, but in the progress of technology and in the shifting economic relations of groups and classes within the social hierarchy. Still others, few in number as yet, have adopted Freud as their guide.
Should the Council of the League of Nations Establish a Permanent Minorities Commission?
Authors: Calderwood Howard B.
Published: May 2006

The guarantee clause of the Polish Minorities Treaty, which is the model for the treaties signed by eight other states, is as follows: “Poland agrees that the stipulations in the foregoing articles, so far as they affect persons belonging to racial, religious, or linguistic minorities, constitute obligations of international concern and shall be placed under the guarantee of the League of Nations. They shall not be modified without the assent of a majority of the Council of the League of Nations. The United States, British Empire, France, Italy, and Japan agree not to withhold their assent from any modification in these articles which is in due form assented to by a majority of the Council of the League of Nations. Poland agrees that any member of the Council of the League of Nations shall have the right to bring to the attention of the Council any infraction, or danger of infraction, of any of these obligations, and the Council may thereupon take such action and give such direction as it may deem proper and effective in the circumstances. Poland further agrees that any difference of opinion as to questions of law or fact arising out of these articles between the Polish government and any one of the principal Allied and Associated Powers or any other Power, a member of the Council of the League of Nations, shall be held to be a dispute of an international character under Article 14 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. The Polish government hereby consents that any such dispute shall, if the other party thereto demands, be referred to the Permanent Court of International Justice. The decisions of the Permanent Court shall be final, and shall have the same force and effect as an award under Article 13 of the Covenant.”
The Economic Limitations to Certain Uses of Interstate Compacts
Authors: Spengler Joseph J.
Published: May 2006

Within recent months, increased attention has been given the possibility of utilizing interstate compacts to cope with problems that transcend the boundary lines of given states. A Council of State Governments has been created to promote such interstate agreements, and several states have established commissions to facilitate coöperation with this council. Compacts have been advocated as solutions not only for the problem of criminal extradition, but also for such problems as the control of the extraction of natural resources (e.g., coal, oil, gas, water supplies, and water power) and the conservation of their supply, and the regulation of milk prices, of the conditions of labor, and of the production and distribution of the services of certain classes of public utilities.
State Constitutional Law in 1940–1941
Authors: Aikin Charles
Published: May 2006

The increase in judicial restraint noted a year ago has again been in evidence during the period under review. State courts, in following the lead of the United States Supreme Court, have construed police power liberally and have spoken out in defense of civil rights. Noteworthy, as well, has been the practice of these courts to construe strictly the power of the governor in this period of expanding administrative authority. The tendency of state courts to uphold experimental legislation, in line with the doctrine established by Nebbia v. New York rather than founded on liberty of contract and separation of powers precepts, has not been uniform. Federal decisions which recently have been greatly weakened but not expressly overruled still serve as guide-posts for some appellate courts.
The Case of the Nazi Saboteurs
Authors: Cushman Robert E.
Published: May 2006

At four o'clock on the morning of June 13, 1942, four men, in the fatigue uniforms of the German Marine Infantry, were landed in a rubber boat by two German sailors on the beach at Amagansett near the tip of Long Island, 125 miles east of New York City. They changed to civilian dress and then buried in the sand their uniforms and a supply of explosives, incendiaries, fuses, detonators, timing devices, and acids. They carried with them some $90,000 in American currency and had an elaborate list of American factories, railroad centers, bridges, power plants, water supply systems, and the like. They were accosted by an unarmed Coast Guard patrol. Alleging that they were fishermen, the four men sought the silence of the patrol first by threats to kill him and then by a bribe. He accepted $260, promptly reported the incident, and a squad of Coast Guardsmen shortly discovered the buried articles. A submarine was seen and heard off shore. The four men went to New York City.
Governmental Censorship in War-Time
Authors: Price Byron
Published: May 2006

To a free people, the very word “censorship” always has been distasteful. In its theory, it runs counter to all democratic principles; in practice, it can never be made popular, can never please anyone.

Everything the censor does is contrary to all that we have been taught to believe is right and proper. The Post Office Department, for example, has two proud mottoes: “The mail must go through,” and “The privacy of the mail must be protected at all hazards.” But censorship stops the mail, it invades the privacy of the mail, it disposes of the mail as may seem best. The same thing holds true in the publishing business. Censorship limits the lively competition and free enterprise of reporters. It relegates many a scoop to the waste basket. It wields a blue pencil—both theoretical and actual—on news stories, magazine articles, advertisements, and photographs. Censorship also enters the radio industry, where it may edit scripts and in some cases stop entire programs.

Yet even the most vociferous critics of the principle of censorship agree that in war-time some form and amount of censorship is a necessity. It then becomes not merely a curtailment of individual liberty, but a matter of national security. It is one of the many restrictions that must be imposed on people fighting for the right to throw off those restrictions when peace returns.
A Laboratory Method for Teaching Public Administration
Authors: Connery Robert H.
Published: May 2006

Few American political scientists have heard of the “Federal Labor Relations Commission,” but to a small group of students at Stanford and Columbia Universities the Commission was very real. It is true that its work did not attract as much attention from the great metropolitan journals as did the operations of its rival, the National Labor Relations Board; but to the students who were members of its staff it provided a first-rate laboratory for the study of public administration. For that reason, a brief review of the Commission's operations may be of some interest to teachers of public administration.

Political scientists have always been interested in teaching methods; and the war and the experience gained in having to train large numbers of men for the armed services seem to have stimulated that interest. Articles which appeared in the June issue of this Review were evidence of that concern. While these articles were directed primarily toward teaching methods in political science courses generally, many of the suggestions were particularly applicable to teaching public administration. Francis Wilcox's regret that “there is one problem in particular which should give us pause, our slowness to utilize laboratory methods in political science,” is largely responsible for this article, since the operations of the Federal Labor Relations Commission were an attempt to provide such a laboratory.
IV. Constitutional Development in Latin America: A Synthesis
Authors: Fitzgibbon Russell H.
Published: May 2006

“Do not give to a people institutions for which it is unripe in the simple faith that the tool will give skill to the workman's hand. Respect Facts. Man is in each country not what we may wish him to be, but what Nature and History have made him.” Bryce, Modern Democracies, I, 206.

With minor exceptions, the panorama of constitutional growth in the Western Hemisphere reveals two main streams. The United States Constitution, the British North America Act of 1867 (which is the Canadian fundamental law), and the organic laws of the various New World British possessions of today all stem, obviously, from English constitutional and institutional ancestry. The constitutions of the twenty Latin American states, on the other hand, all reflect in varying degree the experience and institutions of their three mother countries. These modern constitutions are, it is true, influenced by alien examples at one point or another, but the core is undubitably Latin. More narrowly, the inspiration is Hispanic; and still more narrowly, Spanish.

It is not easy to explain in detail the degree of similarity between French political institutions and those of the Iberian peninsula in the centuries between the emergence of the several national states and the political revolutions in Latin America. At least, the French belonged to a not unrelated family. A much closer relationship is easily discernible among the political institutions of the three main Iberian entities that ultimately became the national states of Spain and Portugal, viz., Castile, Aragon, and Portugal. It is often forgotten that for many generations no political or constitutional “Spain” existed, that Aragon and Castile were as distinct from each other in most ways as either of them was from Portugal, that an easily possible union of the ruling houses of Castile and Portugal—supplanting the marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand—might have changed the whole subsequent course of history.
I. Organizing the Government for Participation in World Affairs
Authors: Laves Walter H. C. , Wilcox Francis O.
Published: May 2006

Looking at the post-war period, it seems obvious that the government of the United States will give more attention to foreign affairs than it has in any comparable period of American history. How can the machinery for conducting foreign relations best be organized to meet these increasing responsibilities?

The conduct of foreign relations in the modern world is no simple matter. Technical experts, intelligence systems, ability to negotiate, national political stability, a large and loyal staff of public servants—these are but some of the national requisites for effective participation in world affairs. The mobilization and organization of the best staff resources in the country, the negotiation of national policies, and then of international agreements, constitute a formidable task under any system of government.

The conduct of foreign relations is, of course, easiest in a completely authoritarian state. It is made immeasurably more difficult by any division of authority. In most non-authoritarian governments, some division of authority has been found desirable, even at the expense of occasional awkwardness of procedure, because thereby the dangers of usurpation of power are minimized. The United States has gone farther than any democratic country in dividing responsibility in foreign affairs. Not only is there the usual distinction between legislative and executive authority, but the independence of the two branches has been so far underlined that the achievement of over-all government policies (as distinct from legislative and executive policies) is extremely difficult unless the party relationships are just right between the two ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
The Neutrality Fight in Congress: 1939
Authors: Wilcox Francis O.
Published: May 2006

When Congress convened in January, 1939, the neutrality legislation of 1935, 1936, and 1937 had been weighed in the balance and found wanting. Ethiopia, Spain, and China had proved unsatisfactory testing grounds, and the President, in his annual message to Congress, hinted that certain changes would be designed (1) to enable the United States to act less favorably vis-à-vis aggressor nations, (2) by means of giving the executive more discretion in the conduct of foreign affairs under the neutrality laws.
Toward Reichsreform—The Reichsgaue
Authors: Boerner Alfred V.
Published: May 2006

Until recently, despite repeated intimations from official sources that a definitive Reichsreform was in preparation, little has actually been accomplished in the direction of reorganizing administrative areas in Germany. A few consolidations of territory have been effected, a Greater Hamburg created, and the Prussian provinces4 and districts (Bezirke) made units of intermediate national administration. But thus far the traditional forces of German separatism and the opposition of powerful local party bosses have prevented the redistricting of Germany along more rational economic and geographic lines.
II. Pre-War Political Influences in Postwar Conservative Parties
Authors: Colton Kenneth E.
Published: May 2006

In normal times and as to normal countries, the study of the continuity of political party life would be of interest mainly to the political scientist. But these are not normal times, and Japan today is not a normal country. In 1948, the subject holds far more than academic interest, and it is intimately affected by the supervision of Japanese administration by the Allied Powers.

Allied policy affecting the continuity of political influence is shown in the famed “purge directive” of January 4, 1946, known as SCAPIN 550, “The Removal and Exclusion of Undesirable Personnel from Public Office.” This article, however, is not concerned with that directive but with the character of the pre-war political influence that remains after the purge has cut out affected elements. It is concerned with the element of pre-war political leadership present in the founding of the two major postwar conservative parties, the effect of the purge directive upon their leadership, their organizational and institutional character, the political influence of governmental bureaucracies, and the problem of party finance. Finally, attention is given to the possibility of a merger of the prewar elements into one post-war organization.

The two conservative parties contending for political supremacy today are the Democratic-Liberal party (Minshu Jiyu-to), and the Democratic party (Minshuto), respectively the direct lineal descendants of the Liberal party (Jiyuto) and the Progressive party (Shimpoto), both of which were organized in November, 1945.
III. Japan's Post-War Socialist Party
Authors: Saffell John
Published: May 2006

The development of Japan's Socialist party since V.J. Day may logically be considered in three periods. The first period, that of reorganization, began in August, 1945, and continued until the first post-war election in April, 1946. The second period comprised the months between April, 1946, and June, 1947, during which Socialists were gathering strength in the chief opposition party. The third period, from May, 1947, to February, 1948, saw the revolutionary passage of Japan's government into the hands of a Socialist-led cabinet.

Left-Wing Realignment: August, 1945–April, 1946. Against a background of military defeat, dissolution of war-time political agencies, and resulting efforts at political realignment should be set the movement which led to formation of the present Shakaito (Social Democratic party). By late August of 1945, the political ferment was active; by early September, Tokyo papers were reporting that remnants of the old proletarian and agrarian organizations—Ronoto (Laborers' and Farmers' party), Nominto (Farmers' party), and Shakai Taishuto (Social Mass party)—were already drawing the lines of the new party formation.
Neglected Aspects of Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations
Authors: Kilpatrick Wylie
Published: May 2006

Among the luxuries that Americans indulge in during the current prosperity and high-income level is complacent disregard of the more serious aspects of intergovernmental fiscal relations. Ominous cracks and crevices in the fiscal structure temporarily close during a period when the price can be paid for disregarding them. A depression, however, uncovers already existing problems and aggrevates preëxisting evils.

To canvass interlevel financial relations at a time when emergencies did not force impromptu solutions was the purpose of a round-table discussion of the American Political Science Association, convening at Cleveland, December 27 and 28, 1946. Since multiple taxation and the need for tax coördination have been examined—and will continue to be surveyed—by economists, the round-table's attention was directed rather to aspects of the problem which are neglected when intergovernmental relations are viewed solely or primarily in terms of taxation. The round-table discussion of other aspects is here reported by its chairman, Wylie Kilpatrick, of the Governments Division, U. S. Bureau of the Census. Participants included Charles S. Ascher, of the National Housing Agency; Hubert R. Gallagher, associate director of the Council of State Governments; W. Brooke Graves, Legislative Reference Service, Library of Congress; I. M. Labovitz, Fiscal Division, U. S. Bureau of the Budget; and Lewis B. Sims, Governments Division, U. S. Bureau of the Census.

The shifting content of interlevel fiscal relations, changing with different periods, requires a re-survey of the current picture to prevent irrelevancy arising from considering facts which, however much they once were true, no longer obtain today.
Religious Liberty v. Police Power: Jehovah's Witnesses
Authors: Barber Hollis W.
Published: May 2006

It is stressing the obvious to observe that the state must often resolve conflicts between certain of its constitutional powers and certain equally constitutional private rights. Such is the age-old controversy of liberty versus authority, familiar to every social scientist. Such is the contemporary controversy between “Bible-dizzy but patently sincere” zealots of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, more widely known as Jehovah's Witnesses, on the one hand, and the police power on the other. There is nothing novel about a quarrel between religion and the police power, as witness the Mormons; but a new twist is now given by the personalities of Jehovah's Witnesses and their unique ways of practicing their faith.

Much of their attitude is reflected in their slogans, “Religion is a Racket,” “Religion is a Snare,” and “Millions Now Living Will Never Die.” With a fine neutrality, they consign to the leaping flames all existing religious beliefs other than their own, although they are especially antagonistic to Roman Catholicism. Followers of “Pastor” Charles Taze Russell and “Judge” Joseph Frederick Rutherford, they are serene in their belief that the second coming of Christ is due momentarily, that there is no time to build churches, and that the “witness work” must be carried on by the direct method of calling on people in their homes, distributing pamphlets and playing records on portable phonographs describing their publications and beliefs for the edification of whomsoever will listen.
Parties, Partisanship, and Public Policy in the Pennsylvania Legislature
Authors: Keefe William J.
Published: May 2006

A significant result of the report “Toward A More Responsible Two-Party System” has been the marked growth of interest in the American party system. It is nevertheless true that our knowledge about the way in which party systems function is far from complete. An area promising fruitful research and presenting many hypotheses susceptible of systematic inquiry is that of the role of party organizations in the legislative process.

It is the purpose of this article to examine the legislative role of political parties in the Pennsylvania General Assembly; more precisely, to measure their influence in the formation of the state's public policies in one session of the legislature. The most recent completed session at the time of this study was that of 1951—the longest session in state history.

In order to evaluate the impact of party upon legislation, the concept of a “party vote” has been used. This is merely an operating definition by which to measure differences in party attitudes on questions subjected to roll-call votes on the floor. The assumption was made that the interests of the parties can be established best by analyzing the voting behavior of their membership. Questions to which partisan significance is attached will find the parties aligned against each other.
The Amending Power of the Canadian Parliament
Authors: Livingston William S.
Published: May 2006

The enactment by the Imperial Parliament at Westminster of the British North America (No. 2) Act, 1949, raises again the complex and difficult problem of the nature of the amending process in the eldest of the British dominions. From the beginning this process has been surrounded with a certain mysterious imprecision, deriving from the fact that Canada's basic constitutional statute—the British North America Act, 1867—contained no provision for its own amendment. In other words, until 1949 there was no clause in the constitution setting out a procedure whereby its own provisions might be legally changed. Hence through the long years all amendments have had to be made by the Parliament at Westminster which enacted the original statute—a necessity that has produced all sorts of difficult problems for students of constitutional law in both Canada and the United Kingdom. It has long been settled practice that the Imperial Parliament will enact whatever amendments are requested by the appropriate authorities in Canada, but a question remains as to which are the appropriate authorities. It seems now to be settled, after considerable controversy, that the executive government, acting alone, may not make such a request; practice requires a joint address by the two houses of Parliament. But is it necessary for the Dominion authorities to consult with the provinces before going to London with this request or may the Dominion do this by itself? If consultation is conceived to be necessary, must all the provinces be consulted? And if so, is it necessary that they all consent to the amendment before it is requested? If all need not consent, what part is necessary? These questions and other similar ones have plagued Canadians for years, and there is not yet any accepted solution either in precedent or in law.
The President's Economic Staff during the Truman Administration
Authors: Gross Bertram M. , Lewis John P.
Published: May 2006

When the Council of Economic Advisers opened its doors in late 1946, many regarded the fledgling agency as a contingent of depression doctors armed with a “watered down” version of the Full Employment Bill. Instead, during the Truman era, the Council became, in the words of its second chairman, “an overall general economic advisory staff” generally concerned with major problems affecting the growth and stability of the American economy, including its adaptability to the special demands of international stress. Actually the “transition” of the agency to this broader role was more apparent than real, since the Employment Act itself clearly contained a charter for a general economic staff function if the new staff and its principal chose development in that direction. In the wartime deliberations which led up to the Act, the Congress was concerned not only to prevent a postwar depression but also to improve the integration of the whole economic policy formation process. And, in the final version of the Act, after making a very general policy declaration, the Congress decided, instead of drafting specific substantive solutions which would prejudge the source and nature of future economic problems, to establish procedural machinery to facilitate the intelligent diagnosis and solution of such problems when they did subsequently arise.
Who Influences Whom? The President, Congress, and the Media
Authors: Edwards George C. , Wood B. Dan
Published: May 2006

Influencing the policy agenda has long been viewed as one of the most important sources of political power. For decades, scholars have maintained that the president has the most significant role in setting the policymaking agenda in Washington, but little systematic empirical work has been done to measure the president's influence. We explore the president's success in focusing the issue attention of Congress and the mass media by evaluating time-series measures of presidential, mass media, and congressional attention to five issues: crime, education, health care, U.S.–Soviet relations, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. We find that most of the time the president reacts, responding primarily to fluctuations in media attention and world events. In domestic policy, we find a more interactive relationship, one that appears to offer the president the opportunity to act in an entrepreneurial fashion to focus the attention of others in the system on major presidential initiatives.
Individuals, Institutions, and Public Preferences over Public Finance
Authors: Hansen John Mark
Published: May 2006

This study examines public preferences over deficits, taxes, and spending. Using responses to public opinion questions designed for the purpose, the article assesses the state of preferences as expressed by individuals and as represented in government. One section examines the characteristics of individual preferences—their completeness, consistency, and coherence. Public opinion is remarkably well structured and overwhelmingly partial to the policy status quo. A second section explores the properties of mass preferences as they are aggregated by several different kinds of institutional voting rules. Institutions matter, at least to a point: Consistent institutional differences over federal budget policy trace directly to the diverse means by which institutions represent the public's positions. The conclusion assesses the meaning and import of the public's resistance to budget policy change.
Explaining Divided U.S. Senate Delegations, 1788–1996: A Realignment Approach
Authors: Brunell Thomas L. , Grofman Bernard
Published: May 2006

We maintain that the rise and fall in the number of states with divided Senate delegations can be explained primarily in terms of long-run forces of realignment/dealignment and staggered Senate elections. We test our model with election data from 1788–1996 rather than only the post–World War II period, which was common in previous research. We show that a large number of divided Senate delegations is not new; indeed, the highest percentage occurred in 1830. Exactly as predicted by our model, we find a cyclical pattern in divided Senate delegations that is tied to realigning epochs. Our analysis also calls attention to the recent decline in the number of such delegations, and we argue that this trend may well continue.
Institutional Change in the House of Representatives, 1867–1998: A Test of Partisan and Ideological Power Balance Models
Authors: Schickler Eric
Published: May 2006

I examine competing explanations for House rules changes with significant partisan overtones. I sought to identify all rules changes adopted from 1867 to 1998 that were intended either to advantage or to undermine the majority party and its leaders in their efforts to shape the House agenda. I test a majority party cartel model of institutional change against a model that focuses on the ideological balance of power on the floor, that is, on the closeness of the median voter to the median member of the majority and minority parties. I also evaluate the conditional party government approach. The data analysis suggests the preeminent importance of shifts in the ideological balance. Two variables identified by the conditional party government theory, party polarization and party capacity, obtain limited support, but their effect is neither as robust nor as large in magnitude as that of change in the median voter's position.
Democracy and Social Spending in Latin America, 1980–92
Authors: Brown David S. , Hunter Wendy
Published: May 2006

What is the effect of regime type on public expenditures for social programs? We investigate the relationship between democracy and the change in social spending—controlling for GDP, the debt, inflation, and age structure of the population—through a time-series cross-sectional panel data set for 17 Latin American countries from 1980 to 1992. The results show that, especially in poor countries during economic crisis, democracies increase the allocation of resources to social programs relative to authoritarian regimes. This suggests that the latter are more constrained by economic forces, whereas democracies are more constrained by popular demands. Hence, calls to abandon broad categorizations of regime type appear to be premature: Democracy can matter in systematic and substantial ways.
Unified Government, Divided Government, and Party Responsiveness
Authors: Coleman John J.
Published: May 2006

Revisionist accounts conclude that divided and unified government do not differ significantly in the production of “important” public policy. I argue instead that when one theoretically reclaims the concerns about party responsiveness and institutional features of American politics that have animated party government scholars, unified government is significantly more productive than divided government. Employing a range of measures of important legislative enactments in the postwar period, I find that unified government produces greater quantities of significant enactments and is more responsive to the public mood than is divided government. The evidence suggests that parties do, as party government theorists maintain, generate incentives to cooperation that help transcend some of the policymaking gaps created by the Constitution.
Do Negative Campaigns Mobilize or Suppress Turnout? Clarifying the Relationship between Negativity and Participation
Authors: Kahn Kim Fridkin , Kenney Patrick J.
Published: May 2006

Does negative campaigning influence the likelihood of voting in elections? Our study of U.S. Senate campaigns indicates the answer is “yes.” We find that people distinguish between useful negative information presented in an appropriate manner and irrelevant and harsh mudslinging. As the proportion of legitimate criticisms increases in campaigns, citizens becomemorelikely to cast ballots. When campaigns degenerate into unsubstantiated and shrill attacks, voters tend to stay home. Finally, we find that individuals vary in their sensitivity to the tenor of campaigns. In particular, the tone is more consequential for independents, for those with less interest in politics, and for those with less knowledge about politics.