bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A 12th century paradox of the infinite
Authors: Thomas Ivo
Published: May 2006

Adam of Balsham (Parvipontanus) writing his Ars Disserendi in 1132 A.D. reaches the notion of a set A equinumerous with a set B containing A as a proper sub-set. References by page and line are to [Minio-Paluello].

It can be asked, says Adam (92,13) whether this one is something, and whether that one is something, and these are two askables (interrogabilia), and again whether a third is something, and similarly of anything whatever. He thinks, then, of the totality of ‘objects’ (92,12) as numbered. But this question can be put not only about those which are not askables; of any askable too it can be asked whether it is something. Whether the questions be actually put or not, makes no difference; even when they are not put, the points remain askable. Thus the totality of askables is seen to be equinumerous with the totality of objects, which last comprises both the objects which are not askables and those which are. And so the same set is more numerous than itself.

Conscious that this paradoxical situation may be ascribed to his novel terminology and methods, Adam points out that a similar puzzle arises over things enunciated. Even if you do not want to term them ‘enunciables,’ still they are generally said to be true or false. Take the true ones, and compare them as to number with the totality of objects of which enunciations can be made. There he leaves this second version, but it is easy to see how the same result as before can be reached.

The argument lightly paraphrased in the last paragraph but one concludes with the words ‘which is impossible’ (92,21). Instead, however, of rejecting some of his premisses, Adam lets everything stand, and breaks off the discussion on the ground that his purpose is to expound a finite process of achievement (artis viam finitam) rather than what infinitely exceeds our capability to construct − or perhaps, the infinitely extending realm of possibility (possibilitatis excessum infinitum, 93,3–5).
The Thomas Appointment: Defeats and Victories for Women
Authors: Palley Marian Lief , Palley Howard A.
Published: May 2006

On October 15, 1991, the United States Senate approved the appointment of Judge Clarence Thomas to the United States Supreme Court by a vote of 52 to 48. The presidents's selection of Judge Thomas to replace Thurgood Marshall as the Court's lone African-American justice and the hearings that preceded the Senate's confirmation of his appointment initially engendered questions about his qualifications to serve on the Supreme Court and his conservative political positions. Later, queries arising from accusations of sexual harassment took center stage. In fact, in the weeks immediately preceding his confirmation attention turned almost entirely from his judicial qualifications and his political positions to allegations of sexual harassment.

Thomas's confirmation is a story of racial politics enmeshed with gender politics and the conservative social agenda of the Reagan-Bush administrations. It is important to understand this process if one is to fathom some of the events that followed in the wake of this judicial appointment.
Senate Process, Congressional Politics, and the Thomas Nomination
Authors: Sinclair Barbara
Published: May 2006

“The wrenching testimony of Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas, accuser and accused, constituted a defining moment for the country that will forever change how the U.S. Senate reviews Supreme Court nominees” (Biskupic 1991, 2948). Thus did sober, factual Congressional Quarterly judge the consequences of the Hill-Thomas hearings. Most news accounts were considerably more fervid. Reporters as well as commentators claimed that the hearings demonstrated that the confirmation process is a complete fiasco.

The Hill-Thomas hearings did not expose some fundamental flaw in the process per se. To be sure, a lot of less than admirable behavior and some procedural misjudgments characterized the latter part of the Thomas confirmation hearings. But a situation such as this one will always be difficult for the Senate or any similar body to handle. Structural changes in the process cannot make it easy or painless. Most of the “reforms” proposed would not work or would be counterproductive.

According to a second theme in the media coverage, the hearings demonstrated that senators—at least the ones on the Judiciary Committee—are incompetent, inadequate for their jobs, and out of touch with the American people. To the contrary, I think that both Democrats and Republicans followed strategies that made excellent sense given the political context in which they operated. Incompetence is not the problem.

If the simple process and personnel-based critiques are off base, was the widespread disquiet the hearings generated misplaced? There are reasons for concern but somewhat more subtle ones than those most often raised.
Race Trumps Gender: The Thomas Nomination in the Black Community
Authors: Mansbridge Jane , Tate Katherine
Published: May 2006

Race and gender are intimately intertwined in the lives of Black women in the United States. Race constructs the way Black women experience gender; gender constructs the way Black women experience race. In the Senate hearings that pitted the word of Clarence Thomas against the sexual harassment accusations of Anita Hill, the great majority of Black women did not believe Hill's accusations. Our analysis will set this disbelief against a background of substantial Black unity on political issues in the United States, Black feminism, television coverage of the event, and Black women's reactions to that television coverage.

Contrary to the conclusion one might reasonably form from the primary White composition of all the major feminist organizations, Black women have usually given stronger support to the women's movement than Whites on surveys (see Table for self-identification as “feminist”). Even as early as 1970, 60% of Black women said they supported efforts to strengthen women's status in society, compared to only 37% of White women (Klein 1987: 26), and in 1972 67% said they were sympathetic to women's liberation groups, compared to only 35% of White women (hooks 1981: 148). Also contravening the impression one might form from the composition of feminist organizations, poor women and working class women are as likely as middle-class women to say on these surveys that they consider themselves “feminist.” The survey data are supported by indepth interviews among all classes of Black women.
Optical Character Recognition
Authors: Permaloff Anne , Grafton Carl
Published: May 2006

Optical character recognition (OCR) is a process by which printed text is detected and transformed into a computer text file. OCR consists of two basic processes: scanning and recognition. Scanning, performed with a device called a scanner, digitizes the printed page, creating a coded graphics version of the text that may be stored on disk. That coded version transforms the scanned image into pixels, and it is readable by graphics programs.

The separate recognition process translates the picture of an “A” into the letter “A.” A new file is created in a format determined by user instructions. That file is readable by word processor, statistics, and/or database software supported by the OCR program used.

OCR is a technique that can be useful to political scientists. For example, research notes taken from printed sources, rather than being laboriously typed, could be scanned, processed, and saved as a file readable by a word processing package. Content analysis might be almost completely mechanized. Numerical data from government reports could be scanned rather than entered by hand and then made readable by a spreadsheet, database management program, or statistics package.
From Arguments to Supreme Court Opinions inPlanned Parenthood v. Casey
Authors: Kassop Nancy
Published: May 2006

It is June 30, 1992. The Supreme Court handed down its decision yesterday inPlanned Parenthood v. Casey, and now the analysis and debate over its immediate and longterm impact on abortion law and reproductive rights will begin for legal scholars and political leaders. But for public law specialists in political science, the intellectual curiosity about this case began many months ago, and the announcement of yesterday's decision was only the latest in a string of actions that many had already followed with great interest. In the rush to explain the significance ofCaseyto the public, the route by which it got to the Court and the arguments that shaped the ultimate result may be easily overlooked and dismissed by some as no longer relevant: what matters now will be to feed the public's appetite for a fastfood explanation of a high-profile case. But to public law specialists, what went before mattersverymuch, indeed. A case is more than its outcome, and the parts that came before deserve some attention for the role they played in contributing to the final result.
The Troubled Reunification of Korea
Authors: Johnson Hazel J.
Published: May 2006

In this era of superpower reconciliation, European Community harmonization, and German reunification, the reunification of Korea is a distinct possibility. South Korea has pursued the “Northern Policy” for several years to facilitate the process. The initiative, aimed at creating economic and diplomatic links between South Korea and socialist countries, produced ties with former Soviet satellites, the Soviet Union itself, the People's Republic of China, and, most recently, a majority of the members of the new Commonwealth of Independent States (the former Soviet Union). By building relationships with the allies of North Korea, the South hoped to coax the North into a more conciliatory position (U.S. Embassy of the Republic of Korea 1992).

Before the “Northern Policy” was implemented, North Korea showed no inclination to reconcile the differences between the North and the South, steadfastly refusing to recognize or negotiate with the government in Seoul. However, the rapid fall of the Berlin wall, the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, and the disintegration of the Soviet Union permanently changed the political climate for North Korea. When, early in 1991, the People's Republic of China and the former Soviet Union did not stand in the way of South Korea's entry into the United Nations, the handwriting was on the wall. In September 1991, North Korea accepted simultaneous U.N. membership for both Koreas (Whiting 1992).
Suppose They Held an Election and Almost Everybody Came!
Authors: Calvert Jerry W. , Gilchrist Jack
Published: May 2006

No modern political system, with the possible exception of a few dictatorships, can produce close to a 100% turnout of all those who are legally eligible to vote. But imagine a democratic system in which almost all citizens of voting age were enrolled on the electoral register and in which most of them actually voted, sometimes producing an estimated turnout in excess of 90% (Crocker, et al. 1987). Such systems already exist, i.e., Australia, Sweden, but producing a registration level and voter turnout rate of such magnitudes would be a sharp departure from the anemic levels witnessed in contemporary American politics. In the nation's most recent elections only about two-thirds of the voting age population were registered to vote and only slightly more than half bothered to cast a ballot in presidential election years (it was 55.9% in 1992). It is data like this that helped create the climate for congressional enactment of the National Voter Registration Reform Act of 1993, often known as the “motor voter” bill.

As we will show, achieving significantly higher levels of electoral participation are possible, but this particular reform bill is not the likely vehicle. Further, we will demonstrate that making it very easy to register and vote may not have an obvious partisan tilt in favor of the Democrats. And contrary to some advocates of election law reform, easing access to the ballot may not significantly increase turnout among the current non-voters, who are disproportionately low income, blue collar and service workers, the unemployed minority group members, and the young.
News Coverage and Talk Shows in the 1992 Presidential Campaign
Authors: Ridout Christine F.
Published: May 2006

One of the question marks of the 1992 presidential campaign was how television would cover it. After the debacle of campaign coverage in 1988, television vowed to do better. At issue was the amount of substantive information vs. the time spent on the horse race, strategy, and campaign events.

Campaign coverage is important because of the role of information in democratic choice. Essential to democratic participation is the opportunity to choose among alternatives. Given alternatives, citizens can say “yes” or “no,” thereby giving consent to the policies which best represent their interests (Schattschneider 1975, 138). Schattschneider also emphasized that the alternatives must be relevant to voters' concerns. Unfortunately, television coverage of elections does not emphasize information about public issues.

Another important aspect of campaign coverage is its potential effect on election outcomes: public opinion is shaped by the tone, quantity, and content of the candidates' coverage.

Questions about the political effects of news, the nature of campaign information, and the relationship between democracy and information provide an interesting framework to examine campaign communication in 1992. Did television news offer voters adequate issue information? How did talk shows compare to news in terms of information? Finally, what impact, if any, did the two formats have on the outcome of the election?

This paper will examine Bill Clinton's news coverage and talk show appearances from June 2 to July 22.
Between the Single Market and the European Union
Authors: Phelan Diarmuid Rossa
Published: May 2006

The European Community (EC) is poised between 31 December 1992, the target date for the completion of the internal market, and the coming into force of the Maastricht Treaty on European Union (TEU) upon ratification by Germany. The TEU presents integrationists with the constitutional structures for a decisive move to federation whose legal foundations currently run far deeper than popularly represented. Consequently there is urgent need for informed public participation in the shaping of European structures. Furthermore, there is growing discussion in the EC institutions on proposals for a European Constitution directly enacted by Union citizens. At the same time, the recent currency upheavals culminating in the weakening of the exchange rate mechanism raises questions of the stability of the EC's foundations. This article aims to provoke debate by raising arguments on a series of issues in the light of the legalapprofondissementand in reaction to it. Section I summarizes the constitutional advance of the EC prior to the TEU towards the legal system of a federal nation. Section II raises the issues of spill-over, nationalism, democratic deficit, debate, referenda, social marginalization, and rights in the light of this undiscussedapprofondissement.
Political Economy: Policymaking and Industrial Policy in Japan
Authors: Krauss Ellis S.
Published: May 2006

The Importance of Japan's Political Economy: The importance of Japan's political economy probably will be more obvious than any other subject concerning Japanese politics. Being the world's second largest economy and the United States' greatest overseas trading partner, and with increasing Japanese investment in America, the politics and policy-making that affect Japan's industry and economy probably have a more direct impact on the lives of more Americans than any other subject concerning a foreign country that American students can study.

With increasing friction over trade and investment beginning to undermine the United States-Japan relationship, one that former Ambassador to Japan Mike Mansfield liked to call the most important bilateral relationship in the world, Japan's political economy has become the stuff of daily newspaper headlines for many Americans. How much, how, and how well the Japanese state intervenes in the economy to promote economic growth has probably received more attention in the United States in recent years than any other topic concerning Japan. Words previously unfamiliar to American ears, such as “industrial policy,” “targeting,” “MITI,” keiretsu, and so forth, are now common in the American media and in policy debates in Washington about the origins of Japan's massive trade deficit with the United States and what the United States can and should do about it. No college graduate, indeed no American citizen, can claim to be politically literate today without some knowledge of this subject.
Perestroika and Ethnopolitics in the USSR
Authors: Karklins Rasma
Published: May 2006

There are times when the issues we analyze as scholars suddenly become front-page news. This has happened to me with the increase of ethnic protests in the Soviet Union. Balts, Armenians, and others, are in the news daily and commentators are debating what their demands mean for the future of the Gorbachev program. What indeed?

I shall venture an analysis, but with a disclaimer that much is uncertain due to the fluidity of events and the continuing lack of comprehensive information from the Soviet political scene. Part of what I say may be dated by the time this is printed.

Gorbachev has called the nationalities problem “the most fundamental, vital issue of our society.” Even though the multiethnic dimension of Soviet politics has now become more apparent, it has always been there. Non-Russians make up half of the Soviet population and most live in their traditional homelands currently constituting federal subunits of the “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.” It is quite natural that their political role becomes more prominent in the course of a program emphasizing democratization; it is also natural that their views can differ from those of the center (Rothschild, 1981). Those commentators who depict the nationalities as spoilers endangering Gorbachev's reforms seem to think that democratization is possible without the participation of all segments of society.

Events in the non-Russian republics of the USSR can be properly analyzed only within the context of political change at the center of power in Moscow.
Soviet Foreign Policy and the End of the Postwar Era
Authors: Kanet Roger E.
Published: May 2006

The patterns of international power established in 1945, which pitted the United States and the Soviet Union against one another in a global competition for power and influence, seem to be dissolving. Though the two countries are still the dominant military powers, they no longer dominate the international landscape as they did only a few years ago. As occurred in the United States more than a decade ago, the Soviet leadership has begun to recognize the objective limitations placed on its ability to control global events (Izyumov and Kortunov, 1988). Evidence of this can be seen in developments in Soviet policy on arms reductions, the Soviet withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the encouragement given client states to resolve conflicts in Cambodia and Angola, and the apparent permitting (even encouraging) of greater autonomy among subject nationalities in Eastern Europe and the USSR itself.

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev explains this policy shift in terms of “new political thinking” that recognizes the realities of global interdependence and the potentially disastrous implications for the human race of global problems such as nuclear warfare or growing ecological damage (Gorbachev, 1986a, pp. 18–19, 55, 64). Gorbachev and other Soviet political leaders have relegated class warfare, the key concept in Marxist socialism for more than a century, to a secondary position as a determinant of Soviet foreign policy (Zagladin, 1988; Plimak, 1987). More important, they argue, is overcoming the threat to human existence posed by global problems.
The Changing World of Think Tanks
Authors: Weaver R. Kent
Published: May 2006

Economists and political observers in recent years have bemoaned the decline of American competitiveness in traditional industries such as steel, automobiles, and textiles. Some of these observers worry that the U.S. economy will increasingly be dominated by service industries. At least one service industry in the United States does appear to be growing and thriving, despite some very adverse economic circumstances. That industry is the non-profit public policy research industry, more commonly known as “think tanks.” The think tank universe has become much more diverse over the past decade, reflecting both new entrants into the marketplace of ideas and changes in these organizations' environment. There are, moreover, inherent tensions in any of the three main models (“university without students,” contract researcher, and advocacy tank) that think tanks may pursue. Attempting to mix the models can be difficult too.

These tensions and environmental changes have created tremendous uncertainty, but also some entrepreneurial opportunities, for think tank managers. Increasingly, these managers must be concerned with finding a viable niche in a crowded, fragmented market. And they must do so while dealing with staffs who may be resistant not only to specific courses of change, but also to external direction of any sort.
A Challenge to Political Science
Authors: Hardin Charles M.
Published: May 2006

A great opportunity, coupled with a strong moral obligation to accept it, confronts political science: to give major attention to the separation of powers between the President and the Congress in the Constitution of the United States. The critical scrutiny of a growing number of public persons reminds us that this separation was attacked by the redoubtable Charles H. McIlwain as posing a danger to constitutional government itself.

Mcllwain on the Separation of Powers

“Among all the modern fallacies that have obscured the true teachings of constitutional history, few are worse than the extreme doctrine of the separation of powers and the indiscriminate use of the phrase ‘checks and balances.’” When representative assemblies took over from kings, “they assumed a power and a responsibility that had always been concentrated and undivided.” McIlwain rejected the separation of powers in favor of the limitation of powers. “The true safeguards of liberty against arbitrary government are the ancient legal limitation and the modern political responsibility” or “full political responsibility … to the whole people.” The latter is “utterly incompatible with any extended system of checks and balances.”

McIlwain could find no “good precedents” in history for “this dissipation of government” which has “worked disaster ever since it was adopted.” He feared that if the dissipation of government developed much further it would precipitate a reaction that might sweep away “every protection of any sort, legal as well as political, to leave the individual naked and unprotected against the ever-present danger of arbitrary government.”
What Is Political Theory/Philosophy?
Authors: Warren Mark E.
Published: May 2006

The subdiscipline of political theory and political philosophy continues to suffer some misunderstanding within political science as a whole. Notwithstanding its renaissance in the last decade, political theory/philosophy is still too often characterized in terms that obscure its roles and functions within the discipline. Political theory/philosophy is often referred to as “normative theory” as a way of distinguishing its concerns with values from the “empirical theory” and research of political science proper. Where the concerns of political theory/philosophy are not just normative, political scientists often characterize it as “speculative theory” to distinguish it from “empirical theory” that can be confirmed or refuted by reference to observable data. The terms of such a distinction suggest, of course, that theories grounded in certainties can and ought to replace the speculative approaches of traditional political thought. And because political theory/philosophy relies heavily on the history of political thought, many see it as part of history and the humanities rather than political science—interesting and necessary for any culturally literate person, but fundamentally distinct from contemporary political research.

Terminological distinctions such as these solidified in an era in which behavioralist agendas shaped subdisciplinary boundaries, and they reflect the influence that neo-positivist views of explanation once had within the discipline. Since that time, however, we have developed more sophisticated understandings of how theory and philosophy relate to empirical research. These developments have in turn affected the way we understand the explanatory concerns of political science, while also expanding political theory/philosophy beyond its traditional boundaries.
What Political Science Is Missing By Not Studying AIDS
Authors: Sherrill Kenneth S. , Somerville Carolyn M. , Bailey Robert W.
Published: May 2006

Political science has been slow to address the political and policy issues of AIDS. It was not until 1987—six years after recognition of the epidemic by the Centers for Disease Control—that the American Political Science Association first sponsored a panel on AIDS policy at its annual convention. A second panel, on comparative public policy issues and AIDS, was not held until 1989, but that panel was sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Caucus for Political Science, not the APSA. A 1987 special issue on health policy of PS: Political Science & Politics contained not a single reference to AIDS. When it comes to using its accumulated wisdom to help society understand the phenomenon of AIDS, professional political science lags far behind psychology, anthropology, sociology, and other social science disciplines.

By downplaying AIDS, political science has not only acquiesced in trivializing this deadly disease and in marginalizing groups initially identified with it, but it also has squandered an important opportunity for itself. To what degree might the study of AIDS test the breadth of current explanatory theory? What testable hypotheses might be generated from studies of AIDS policies? What does AIDS tell us about processes of political mobilization, policy making, the creation of political networks or alternative power maps?
Public Opinion and Direct Democracy
Authors: Cronin Thomas E.
Published: May 2006

Americans generally support the idea of direct democracy yet they also, if not as much as most political scientists, appreciate the undesirable consequences of by-passing our representative processes. The populist impulse is alive and well, both at the state level and for the national government. Voters tell pollsters they are not afraid of direct democracy because they are not afraid of the people who elect our public officials.

Most Americans view direct democracy processes not as radical measures intended to subvert or alter the basic character of American government, but rather as modifying measures aimed at complementing representative institutions, and also as a means of guaranteeing that representative bodies actually remain representative and accountable. But the extensive use of direct democracy at the state and local levels in recent years has raised concerns about the integrity of the initiative, referendum and recall.

If Americans want more of a voice in state and national policymaking, many citizens also worry about the abuses of too direct an involvement. After a brief look at the historical context of this long-standing debate, I will report on several public opinion surveys that highlight Americans' ambivalence toward populist democracy devices.
Breakthrough: How to Unite To Publish a Book
Authors: Briscoe Jerry B.
Published: May 2006

A standard warning by professional sovietologists to Americans making approaches to the Soviet Union is that amateurs lack the language skills with which to grasp the subtleties of discourse, they lack the training in the culture and history, they misunderstand the use of ideology in Soviet thinking, and they are overly optimistic concerning the ability of the Russians to change. Yet, an American peace-oriented movement, Beyond War, working with a committee of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, has published a book, both in Russian and English, which defines the terms of survival in the nuclear age. It has won praise from “realists” such as Alexander Dallin, Robert Conquest, George Breslauer, and William Colby. The book, Breakthrough: Emerging New Thinking, has also received praise from such respected Soviet professionals as Georgi Shakhnazarov, a Vice President of the International Political Science Association.
Top of the Line: SPSS, SAS, and SYSTAT
Authors: Permaloff Anne , Grafton Carl
Published: May 2006

In our last PS article we discussed the vicissitudes of statistics package purchasing. Our focus was on low and mid priced products. We found a much wider variation in performance and quality than is seen in more popular programs sold to the business market for word processing, data base management, or spreadsheet work. This variation and the associated possibility of buying a package that does not meet one's needs makes statistical software selection especially difficult. Statistics packages are not commonly found in retail outlets so that in-store trials cannot be made. Reviews and articles can narrow the field, but the user is still obliged to carefully study manufacturers' specifications and to discuss particular needs with company technicians by telephone.

We determined that for a large majority of users the moderately priced SYSTAT was the best choice unless menus or high quality presentation graphics were required. A new graphics module corrects the latter problem. If one's data base is within 64 K, STATGRAPHICS with its wealth of statistical techniques, menu driven ease of use, and its superb graphics was also recommended as was the inexpensive NCSS.
New Thinking: Questions and Answers
Authors: Petrovsky Vladimir
Published: May 2006

From the Editors of Social Sciences: In early July 1989 Moscow hosted a Soviet-U.S. Symposium on “Political Reforms and Political Science” attended by the leading politologists of the two countries. On July 6, within the framework of that forum, U.S. politologists met with Vladimir Petrovsky, Deputy Foreign Minister of the USSR, who is a member of the Soviet Political Science Association Executive Council and member of the Editorial Council of Social Sciences. The following is a summary report of the discussion which, as our U.S. colleagues suggested, centered on the new political thinking. This topic was the starting point in the discussion attended by L. W. Pye, President of the American Political Science Association (head of the U.S. delegation), Catherine E. Rudder, Samuel P. Huntington, Kenneth N. Waltz, Richard F. Fenno, and Alexander Dallin. Also present were William Smirnov, Vice-President of the International and Soviet Political Science Associations; Ninel Maslova, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Social Sciences, and a number of officials from the USSR Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Sex and the Singular Constitution: What Remains of Roe v. Wade?
Authors: Mendelson Wallace
Published: May 2006

We are not free to vote abortion up or down because Roe v. Wade in 1973 made “freedom of choice” a basic constitutional right. Last June in the Casey case only two members of the Supreme Court upheld Roe unequivocally. Three others sustained it, but only on grounds of precedent. This suggests that, had they been writing on a clean slate, at least one of them might have joined the four dissenters to form a new majority. Even this anemic victory for Roe is compromised; seven of the nine justices upheld all but one of five challenged state restrictions on abortion (all of which had been held invalid by the District Court).

These anomalies spring from past perversions of the written Constitution, not from anything in the document itself. Here too “a page of history is worth a volume of logic.” Roe v. Wade purports to rest on the Fourteenth Amendment provision that no state shall “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” This precept derives from the great settlemen at Runnymede in the year 1215. The crux of the matter was that the king (read government) could no longer punish his people at will, but only after guilt had been established via traditional trial procedures. No wonder this procedural right to a fair hearing found its way into the federal Bill of Rights (1791) and into every state constitution.
American Campaign Consulting: Trends and Concerns
Authors: De Vries Walter
Published: May 2006

I want to begin by reading you a quotation which was point eight of a fourteen point memo on campaign strategy:

“More and more-over seek out and discover men in every district, make acquaintance with them, solicit them, make them promises, take care that they canvass for you in their neighborhood and become as it were candidates for themselves for your city.”

Lee Atwater to George Bush? No, it's Quintos Cicero advising his brother, M. P. Cicero. So, campaign consulting did not start forty years ago in California.

A major reason—if not the only reason—for having campaign consultants is that political parties basically failed to do their job in a changing technological and social environment.

The first trend is the tremendous growth of campaign consulting during the past 20 years. In 1967, the American Association of Political Consultants was formed in New York City by Cliff White, Joe Napolitan, and myself. It has been in operation for 21 years. Enormous changes in political campaigns have occurred within those 21 years. At that time, the American Association of Political Consultants had 30 or 40 members. Over the years, however, there has been a geometric growth in the organization's membership. Today, the AAPC has 800 members and represents about 400 firms. But that statistic is really insignificant because hundreds of persons who are not members of the AAPC are doing business as campaign consultants today. An estimated 12,000 people in America earn part or most of their living on political campaign consulting. That trend will likely continue.
Feminist Activities at the 1988 Republican Convention
Authors: Freeman Jo
Published: May 2006

A feminist presence re-emerged at the 1988 Republican Convention after an eight year hibernation. It was primarily focused on abortion, which still divides the party despite the fact that the far right continues to write the platform on all issues directly affecting women. However, since delegate polls indicated that those going to New Orleans last August distributed themselves on the political spectrum pretty much the way they did in 1984, there was no consensus on what this means for the future of a party headed by George Bush.

Feminists made their first appearance at the hearings before the platform Subcommittee on Family and Community. Unlike the Democrats, the Republicans spend the week before their convention hearing testimony and writing their platform. In 1988 representatives from both NOW and NARAL presented their proposals. This was a “first” for both organizations even though neither Kim Gandy (NOW) nor Kate Michelman (NARAL) expected changes in the platform to result. The National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC), which has co-ordinated past convention activities though its Republican Women's Task Force, did not send any one to New Orleans this year, although New York Congressman Bill Green had spoken for the NWPC at a May 31 Platform Committee hearing in Kansas City. NWPC President Irene Natividad said the NWPC's views were given by New York member Tanya Melich, who officially testified for the New York State Republican Family Committee of which she is the Executive Director.
An Update on the Senate Democratic Policy Committee
Authors: Baumer Donald C.
Published: May 2006

The United States Congress has long been known for its lack of partisan cohesiveness and the inability of its majority parties to formulate and enact programs of policy. In the modern era (since the 1930s), policy leadership in the national government has come largely from the executive branch during the few periods of reasonably unified party rule (Roosevelt's New Deal, Johnson's Great Society). Over the past 35 years, the prevalence of divided government of a particular sort (Republican presidents with Democratic congressional majorities) has highlighted the internal divisions and lack of centralized power among congressional Democrats. There is, therefore, a natural interest in instruments of party leadership that are designed to offset the tendencies toward fragmentation and parochialism in Congress. The focus of this paper is on the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.

The Senate's version of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 included provisions for the establishment of party policy committees. This legislation stemmed largely from the work of the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress, known as the LaFollette-Monroney Committee. The Joint Committee's report called for the establishment of policy committees “to formulate overall legislative policy of the two parties” (Bone 1956, 342). The Committee's work was informed by, and part of, an active reform effort at that time (which included many political scientists) aimed at bringing about stronger parties that could be held accountable for certain policy outcomes (see for example Committee on Congress, American Political Science Association 1945; Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress 1946; Galloway 1946; Committee on Political Parties, American Political Science Association 1950).
Schizophrenia: The Media and the Incumbent Reelection Issue (And a Political Scientist's View from the Inside of the Minnesota-Senate Election)
Authors: Alger Dean E.
Published: May 2006

The results of the 1990 elections looked rather like late night TV reruns—it felt like we had seen this show before. In a sense, we had. Once again, over 90% of House incumbents running for reelection were successful. In the Senate, only one incumbent was defeated for reelection (which unique race in Minnesota the author had the good fortune—and, he would like to think, the excellent foresight—to be involved with in a central way). And once again, the monetary advantage held by incumbents was overwhelming and was apparently a major factor in the results.

This continued pattern was widely noted—and lamented—in the news media, as it had been after the 1988 election. A Los Angeles Times article was typical. The Times concluded, “With a few notable exceptions, the results … reinforced the basic tenet of American politics that well-financed incumbents are almost impossible to beat” (Fritz, Morris, 1990, p. A25). And, as the Times and many other news organs noted, that sky-high reelection rate came in a year supposedly awash in anti-incumbent sentiment after the fiasco of the budget process and other developments. The L.A. Times appropriately quoted Ellen Miller of the Center for Responsive Politics to the effect that the “big story of this election was that incumbents were insulated by money, in spite of the incredible frustration that many voters felt” (Fritz, Morris, 1990, p. A25).
The Politics of Censorship
Authors: Adler Marsha Nye
Published: May 2006

Rarely in American politics is there a confluence of events that creates a dramatic clash of issues. The Texas textbook controversy and two recent federal court cases pitted opposing interest groups against each other—with illuminating results.

The Religious Right and Censorship

Protestant evangelicals and other fundamentalist Christians share a common belief in the inerrancy of the Bible and a constellation of attitudes based on localism, conventional moral standards, traditionalist family values, and vocal “Americanism” (Guth, 1983, p. 64). Traditionally, evangelical and fundamentalist church members and their leaders have been among the least politically active groups in America. These sects are dominated by adherents who are more rural and less wealthy than other nonfundamentalists, and are led by conservative, nonpolitical pastors. The many fundamentalist denominations are congregationally based, and historically have remained quite separate as a result of infighting and rivalry over interpretation of scripture.

By the mid-1970s, however, government policies on affirmative action, Supreme Court decisions on abortion, civil rights and school prayer, and social movements among women, gays and anti-war protestors threatened fundamentalists' traditional beliefs and values. Fundamentalist leaders began to speak out, reflecting their followers' fears. Groups began to appear that translated fundamentalist values into rhetoric and then into political action. Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Jim Bakker, Oral Roberts, James Robison, Rex Humbard and others took their message to vast audiences as their church services and religious talk shows began appearing on hundreds of television stations. As the evangelists' audiences grew, the content of the shows grew more political, as the preachers urged their viewers to act on their beliefs.
The Assault on Global Education
Authors: Caporaso James A. , Mittelman James H.
Published: May 2006

Who has the right and responsibility to determine the content of education about foreign affairs? Should the Department of Education (DOE) seek to influence what the schools and universities teach? These questions are the subject of a smoldering debate sparked by the regional office of the DOE in Denver, Colorado. Answers to them would tell us a great deal about the environment for making foreign policy.

There can be no doubt that in the United States, knowledge of foreign policy problems is extremely low. Surveys regularly show that in comparison to students overseas, American students lag in their awareness of other cultures. In a study of 30,000 10- and 14-year-olds in nine countries, undertaken by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Americans ranked next to last in their comprehension of foreign cultures. According to a recent New York Times poll, 44 percent of Americans questioned did not know that the Soviet Union and the United States were allies during World War II. Only 14 percent of American respondents in the same poll were aware that the United States had joined Britain, France and Japan in the invasion of Russia to fight the Bolshevik forces in the civil war of 1917 (“Flawed,” 1986). While there is also ignorance in the Soviet Union and other countries about the United States, the place to tackle the problem of provincialism is at home.
The Politics of Homelessness
Authors: Moore Charles H. , Sink David W. , Hoban-Moore Patricia
Published: May 2006

Homelessness is an issue which has emerged as an important one, locally and nationally, over the last six years in a classic “agenda setting” fashion. Public awareness has increased, and public policies developed (at every level of the political system), as the number of homeless persons has increased, and changed character to include more young people, women and children, and intact families. This awareness has been stimulated by events as different as the Community for Creative Non-violence in Washington, D.C. inviting members of Congress to join them in sleeping overnight on outside vents and steam grates to “experience” homelessness to now-annual surveys by the U.S. Conference of Mayors of member cities to gauge the seriousness of the problem and to undergird the requests of increasingly desperate mayors for assistance. The U.S. Congress finally passed the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act in July, 1987, to make $355 million available to states and cities under 15 different program elements, after six years of cutting federal outlays for assisted housing by a cumulative 60 percent from what it would have been based on an FY 1981 baseline budget.

Local government reactions to homelessness have been quite varied. Los Angeles passed an ordinance in December, 1987, at the request of its Venice Beach residents, prohibiting overnight sleeping on beaches. New York City initiated a policy of street “sweeps” intended to forcibly remove and treat 500 of the most severely mentally ill people on the city streets in the next year.
Democracy: Electoral and Athenian
Authors: Wolin Sheldon S.
Published: May 2006

The third-century Christian convert, Tertullian, once asked, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” A twentieth-century American political scientist might ask, What has Athens to do with Washington? In both cases the answer is not as obvious as the rhetorical question would imply. Historically, revelation's identity depended on its contrast with reason even as it sought reason's discredit. American democracy has always been dogged by a so-called Founding whose Fathers never intended a democracy and were scathing in their opinion of “the turbulent democracies of ancient Greece” (Madison 1961, No. 14, 84).

Tocqueville claimed to have discovered in America a democracy “more perfect than antiquity had dared dream of” (Tocqueville 1961, vol. 1(1), 34). His comparison was between Periclean Athens of the fifth century (BCE) and the New England township of the Jacksonian era. His intention was to show that American democracy was superior to any of the ancient democracies because it was stabler, more law-abiding, and respectful of property rights. Here Tocqueville was simultaneously reaffirming the virtually unanimous judgment, from Plato to the authors ofThe Federalist, about the innate tendency of democracy toward anarchy and expropriation of the rich, and attempting to present America as the great exception.
Public Speech and the Power of the People in Democratic Athens
Authors: Ober Josiah
Published: May 2006

I will defend three premises. (1) If we take democracy to mean what ancient Greeks took it to mean—“political power wielded actively and collectively by thedemos” (i.e., all residents of the state who are culturally defined as potential citizens, regardless of their class or status)—then Athens was a democracy. (2) Even granted that Athens excluded from regular political participation persons Greeks did not regard as potential citizens (slaves, women, most foreigners, children), the historical example of the Athenian experience with democracy should be taken seriously by democratic theorists interested in expanding “the bounds of the possible” (as well as “of the thinkable”). (3) The Atheniandemosexercised its collective power in order to prevent elite political domination, and thus the “power of the people” was not a cover for elite rule.

These premises do not mean that the people's power was in some ontological sense “pure,” or “undistorted”—indeed it was arguably through the tightly coiled and convoluted “distortions” of social and political power that the Athenian democratic order counterbalanced elite social power. Nor can Athens, with its acceptance of slavery, exclusion of women and foreigners from political participation, and jingoistic “blood and soil” doctrine, be considered a readymade model for a just, modern political society. It can be argued (incorrectly I believe: Ober 1989a, 20-35), that democracy in Athens was fundamentally dependent upon slavery, or empire, or the exclusion of women and foreigners.