bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Using the TMS-induced Motor-evoked potential to evaluate the neurophysiology of psychiatric disorders
Authors: Möller Bertram , Levinson Andrea J. , Daskalakis Zafiris J.
Published: February 2014

This article reviews studies carried out on the role of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) as an important neurophysiological tool to assess a variety of cortical neurophysiological processes including excitability, inhibition, and plasticity. It discusses how TMS has helped to enhance the understanding of the neurobiology and the treatment of a variety of psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia (SCZ), major depressive disorder (MDD), bipolar disorder (BD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and Tourette's disorder (TD). The findings from these studies demonstrate that TMS is a useful tool to evaluate several neurophysiological processes that may be altered in psychiatric illness. Evidence suggests that disorders including SCZ, MDD, BD, and OCD may, in part, be associated with deficient inhibition, altered cortical excitability, and disrupted neural plasticity. Evidence also suggests that psychotropic medications alter the mechanisms, often in a direction opposite to that of illness, thus reflecting on some of their therapeutic effects.
Design and analysis of motor-evoked potential data in pediatric neurobehavioral disorder investigations
Authors: Gilbert Donald L.
Published: February 2014

This article discusses how transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can be used to study the pathophysiological substrata of pediatric neurological and neurobehavioural disorders and to provide practical guidance for future research. It outlines the substantial challenges inherent in studying in vivo the neurobiology of pediatric neurobehavioural disorders, such as safety, quantitative versus categorical measures, and challenges in correlational studies. It discusses ways in which TMS generates quantitative measures that may function as endophenotypes for neurobehavioural disorders. Combining TMS with other modalities may also be informative. Single- and paired-pulse TMS is safe and well tolerated in children. The application of rigorous experimental designs and a combination of TMS with other research methods may increase the knowledge of pathophysiology and treatment of pediatric neurobehavioural disorders.
Studies of Crossmodal Functions with TMS
Authors: Merabet Lotfi , Pascual-Leone Alvaro
Published: February 2014

In the brain, information from all the senses interacts and is integrated in order to create a unified sensory percept. Some percepts appear unimodal, and some, cross modal. Unimodal percepts can be modified by crossmodal interactions given that our brains process multiple streams of sensory information in parallel and promote extensive interactions. TMS can provide valuable insights on the neural substrates associated with multisensory processing in humans. TMS is commonly described as a ‘relatively painless’ method of stimulating the brain noninvasively. However, TMS itself is strong multisensory and this should be considered while interpreting the results. With regard to the crossmodal sensory changes that follow sensory deprivation, these changes can be revealed using a variety of methods including the combination of TMS with neuroimaging.
Motor cognition: TMS studies of action generation
Authors: Schütz-Bosbach Simone , Haggard Patrick , Fadiga Luciano , Craighero Laila
Published: February 2014

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been used to study motor configuration in three ways. TMS can be used to provide a controllable and physiologically specified input to the skeletomotor system. Second, use of TMS has been as an online probe of cortical motor excitability. Third, TMS can be used to interfere with cognitive-motor processes involved in action control. TMS allows the experimenter to selectively interfere with a specific brain process. TMS has proved a valuable tool for testing parallel models of perception–action linkage, because it can be used to measure cortical excitability. TMS has been used as both an excitability measure and a transient inactivation. TMS has allowed neuroscientists to activate or inactivate the brain's action systems artificially. This has provided key insights into normal motor function.
Investigating language organization with TMS
Authors: Devlin Joseph T. , Watkins Kate E.
Published: February 2014

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is becoming an increasingly important tool for investigating the neurological basis of language. This article reviews the history of language studies that span a range of TMS methodologies. TMS offers a powerful tool for investigating the effects of brain damage. It answers questions of recovery mechanisms and methods to improve outcomes. In language studies, the most commonly used form of TMS is to generate ‘virtual patients’ by temporarily disrupting cortical processing. This article explains how TMS studies not only confirm but also clarify the specific regional contributions to semantic and phonological processing. There has been little work with regard to the role of TMS in the area of neurobiology of reading and reading disorders. The number of existing TMS techniques have not been applied to language, despite their obvious potential but this field is bound to grow in the field of language research.
Mathematics and TMS
Authors: Rusconi Elena , Umiltà Carlo
Published: February 2014

This article introduces the relationship between mathematical cognition and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). The mental number line is located in the parietal lobe. Studies employing TMS have explored issues related to the mental number line. This article reviews the studies centered on the magnitude code. The results show that even though the parietal activation is nearly always present in both hemispheres, it is often asymmetric, being greater in the right hemisphere when quantification of nonverbal and nonsymbolic material is required. Neuropsychological studies confirm the relation between the magnitude code and the parietal lobe. The extent to which number-related processes are number specific, and the extent to which they overlap with other aspects of spatial or magnitude representation, is currently a burgeoning area of research. Current work is aimed to disrupt numerical processes and observe concomitant changes in brain activation.
Combining brain imaging with brain stimulation: causality and connectivity
Authors: Paus Tomáš
Published: February 2014

This article establishes the concept of a methodological approach to combine brain imaging with brain stimulation. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a tool that allows perturbing neural activity, in time and space, in a noninvasive manner. This approach allows the study of the brain-behaviour relationship. Under certain circumstances, the influence of one region on other, called the effective connectivity, can be measured. Functional connectivity is the extent of correlation in brain activity measured across a number of spatially distinct brain regions. This tool of connectivity can be applied to any dataset acquired with brain-mapping tools. However, its interpretation is complex. Also, the technical complexity of the combined studies needs to be resolved. Future studies may benefit from focusing on neurochemical transmission in specific neural circuits and on temporal dynamics of cortico-cortical interactions.
TMS and positron emission tomography: methods and current advances
Authors: Siebner Hartwig R. , Peller Martin , Lee Lucy
Published: February 2014

This article provides an overview of how transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and positron emission tomography (PET) can be combined. It explains the methodology concerning the combination of TMS with PET and discusses the applications of this combination to study human brain function. TMS represents a nonphysiological means of producing or modulating neuronal activity in the human brain. PET imaging can make an important contribution to the understanding of the mechanisms of action of repetitive TMS and has the potential to determine neural correlates of compensatory plasticity in both healthy subjects and disease states. By using different sources of information, the TMS-PET approach provides insight into the neurophysiological effects of TMS on human brain function. The future use of TMS is to improve the understanding of how the nonphysiological mode of brain stimulation interacts with ‘normal’ activity in the human brain.
Concurrent TMS and functional magnetic resonance imaging: methods and current advances
Authors: Bestmann Sven , Ruff Christian C. , Driver Jon , Blankenburg Felix
Published: February 2014

Transcranial magnetic stimulation is used for a wide range of applications in cognitive, clinical, and neuroscience. However, the precise physiological mechanisms by which TMS influences brain function are only partially understood. Combining TMS with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) provides a more complete picture of the neural underpinnings of TMS effects. This article gives an overview of methodology and technical aspects concerned with combining TMS with fMRI. Furthermore, it explains the challenges involved with the combination of TMS with fMRI and proposes solutions to the same. It also focuses on recent applications of concurrent TMS-fMRI. Combining TMS with fMRI may allow a new noninvasive probe technique for the human brain. TMS-fMRI can be used to compare TMS-evoked effective connectivity in health and disease. It can potentially be used to investigate connectivity changes during different states, with different degrees of involvement for interconnected brain regions during different tasks.
Therapeutic potential of TMS-induced plasticity in the prefrontal cortex
Authors: Vorel Stanislav R. , Lisanby Sarah H.
Published: February 2014

This article discusses synaptic plasticity as a potential mechanism of enduring changes in function observed after relatively brief periods of repetitive (r)TMS. Plasticity is a use dependent enduring change in neural structure and function. The characteristics of plasticity are described in this article. Taking into account, the interactions between rTMS and pharmacological manipulations, this article explores how principles of synaptic plasticity may be exploited in the rational design of future rTMS paradigms in psychiatric disorders like major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, substance use disorders, schizophrenia etc. TMS is under active study in the treatment of a range of psychiatric and neurological disorders. Furthermore, this article discusses the implications for the interpretation of existing TMS literature and design of future interventions. TMS experiments of plasticity in the human motor cortex have been limited by the intensity and frequency of TMS protocols.
Methodological issues in clinical trial design for TMS
Authors: Demitrack Mark A. , Lisanby Sarah H.
Published: February 2014

This article explores the emergence of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) as a new therapeutic approach and the implications of this technology for the study and treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders, with a focus on major depression. Relapse, chronicity, and varying degrees of treatment resistance characterize major depression. A substantial number of patients are not effectively treated with pharmacology or medications alone. It is proposed that TMS, along with other device-based therapies emerging in psychiatry, may define a potential new treatment platform, with existing therapeutics for major depression. Through the example of a study, this article describes the methodological considerations in the development of TMS for the treatment of major depression. Device-based approaches to therapeutic neuromodulation hold the promise of significant clinical advantages compared to existing treatments for major depression, but evidence in well designed and properly blinded multicenter trials is still lacking, hence, research in this area is ongoing.
TMS in the treatment of major depressive disorder
Authors: Loo Colleen
Published: February 2014

There is a growing body of literature on animal experiments using behavioural paradigms or investigations of neurobiological mechanisms to assess the antidepressant effects of repetitive (r)TMS. This article summarizes the findings from these studies. The evidence from these studies is supportive of antidepressant effects for rTMS. This evidence has provided several plausible hypotheses for the antidepressant effects of rTMS. Several studies have suggested that rTMS may have neuroprotective effects. There are many variations in the way rTMS can be given as a clinical treatment, involving choices over treatment site, stimulation parameters and treatment course. Clinical trials to date have found rTMS to be safe when given within recommended parameter guidelines. Further research is needed to understand the role of rTMS with respect to other established antidepressant treatments.
TMS in the study and treatment of anxiety disorders
Authors: Greenberg Benjamin , Lisanby Sarah H.
Published: February 2014

A few studies of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) as an anxiety disorder treatment have been reported. In treatment studies, the focal application of TMS in the treatment of anxiety disorders has been guided by the present understanding of the neurocircuitry underlying these disorders. This article reviews the current state of the literature on the uses of TMS in the study and treatment of anxiety disorders, and discusses the implications for understanding their patho-etiology. Investigation of the possible therapeutic effects of repetitive TMS in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or any anxiety disorder remains at a preliminary stage. There have been promising initial observations in OCD, which require systematic testing in controlled studies. As far as PTSD is concerned, the available data suggest that additional TMS work is required. The observations need to be replicated in controlled settings to determine whether this approach will have value in treating anxiety disorders.
Stalin and Stalinism
Authors: Harris James
Published: February 2014

If Stalin was the supremely powerful dictator of popular renown, then why did he feel the need to persecute so many Soviet citizens? This chapter draws on recently released archives, including Stalin’s personal papers, to reassess not only the leader’s fears and ambitions but also the nature of the Stalinist order. Covering the period from Lenin’s death to 1953, it offers fresh perspectives on Stalin’s rise to power; on his ‘cult of personality’; on the concentration of political power in the hands of a narrow elite; and on the operations of the Soviet secret police and intelligence services. Presented with misleading intelligence, Stalin and other Soviet leaders persistently misinterpreted both internal and external challenges to their rule and to the revolution as a whole. Stalin’s drive to accumulate power and to smash resistance was intensified by a misperception of events.
Sources for a Life
Authors: Loxley James
Published: February 2014

The writing of Ben Jonson’s life has long been shaped by a distinctive combination of forces. His prominent place in literary history, and the changes in the nature of that prominence which occurred over the course of the eighteenth century, in particular, have generated a degree of partisanship which, even now, is not easily transcended. The selective nature of the evidence available has exerted its own pressures, ensuring that certain aspects of the life are more vividly perceptible than others. The ‘Informations’ collected by William Drummond have presented biographers with exceptional riches and knotty interpretative challenges, the latter compounded by the surviving text’s complicated history. The emergence of new sources, too, reorders the picture: prominent among these is the ‘Foot Voyage’ account of Jonson’s walk to Edinburgh in 1618, which adds a vivid, and singular, dimension to the biographical record.
Relations between State and Local Governments
Authors: Weissert Carol S. , Ice Jessica L.
Published: February 2014

This chapter reviews research on relations between state and local governments. The authors focus on the different types of local governmental units and their relationship to the state, decentralization and local autonomy, and state oversight and funding in policy implementation. The authors summarize the strengths and weaknesses of research on state–local relationships and offer suggestions for future research questions.
State Campaigns and Elections
Authors: Hicks William D. , Smith Daniel A.
Published: February 2014

This chapter examines the literature on state campaigns and elections. Throughout the chapter the authors focus on a central question that frequently animates the study of campaigns and elections in the American states: do political institutions enhance or stymie voter turnout and electoral competition? They begin by considering studies that examine how electoral laws in general may affect voter turnout, electoral competition, and party and candidate strategies. They then assess whether more stringent campaign contribution limits and clean election laws might provide a greater incentive for potential candidates to challenge incumbents. In turn, they explore how primary systems, redistricting, term limits, and direct democracy may affect competition and turnout in the American states. They conclude with a discussion about lingering concerns over endogeneity when it comes to measuring the effect of political institutions on electoral competition and outcomes.
Local and State Political Parties
Authors: Paddock Joel W.
Published: February 2014

This chapter analyzes the current state of political science literature on state and local parties. Three broad themes are examined (1) the adaptation of state and local parties to the more candidate-centered politics of the telecommunications age and the subsequent importance of campaign finance; (2) ideological polarization in the party system; and (3) regionalism in American politics. The author highlights directions for future research.
Local Campaigns and Elections
Authors: Krebs Timothy B.
Published: February 2014

Despite a substantial increase in the number and quality of studies on local elections and campaigns, the field remains in its infancy. Research on minority and female officials at the local level has given way to a more concerted effort to understand the nature of voter turnout and vote choice in city elections. In this article the author argues that cities and other local governments are inviting places to study given the variety of local political contexts, institutional arrangements, and the presence of multi-racial and multi-gender candidate pools. We know that institutional arrangements, namely At-large systems of representation, hinder the ability of minority groups to achieve success in winning local office, and that coalition building among racial and ethnic groups is often needed to win. We also have some sense that cities’ institutional arrangements influence voter turnout, but there is debate about which features are most important. The author explores these research gaps among other directions for future research.
Local Political Participation
Authors: Baybeck Brady
Published: February 2014

This article explores local political participation, what it is, and how it differs from other forms of political engagement. The author covers theoretical explanations of local political participation and discusses gaps in the existing literature.
Early State History and Constitutions
Authors: Kincaid John
Published: February 2014

This article examines the history of state constitutions and the current state of the literature on state constitutions. The author focuses on the historical tension between state power and individual rights in these documents and highlights areas in need of further research.
State Direct Democracy
Authors: Bowler Shaun , Donovan Todd
Published: February 2014

In this article, the authors assess the relationships between opinion, public policy, and state-level direct democracy. They argue that despite assumptions about dramatic effects of direct democracy on state policy, evidence on the matter is mixed and we know relatively little about how popular initiatives translate public opinion into policies. They examine the citizen initiative process in the context of the broader study of cross-state variation in policy and consider how initiatives might make policy more responsive to public opinion. Additionally, the authors evaluate the two-way relationship between state initiatives and national politics and how federal courts may constrain the initiative’s ability to shape policy. Directions for future research are explored in the conclusion.
State Executives
Authors: Ferguson Margaret
Published: February 2014

Despite their central role as primary leaders in the states, scholarship on governors and other executive officials lags behind research on other institutions, most notably the legislature. There is an essential paradox in the study of governors. Some scholars attribute lofty titles to governors such as “chief legislator” but few researchers have systematically studied the governors’ actual leadership in policymaking. This article briefly reviews the research on governors and other state executives; scholarship on elections and public opinion and the various important roles of governors. The author identifies where knowledge is lacking and concludes with some thoughts about how best to move scholarship on state executives forward.
State Courts
Authors: Bonneau Chris , Boyea Brent
Published: February 2014

This article examines the evolution of literature on state courts with a particular focus on the expansion of the field since the 1990s and the diverse application of theoretical frameworks utilized. The authors argue that studies of state courts have made powerful advances in terms of data and methodology. The increase in available data has made 50-state studies of state courts common, and these studies allow us to better understand the behavior of judges and courts, the role of institutional features on courts and judicial decisions, as well as the influences on state courts by external forces, such as the public, and the influence of courts on state policy.
State Bureaucracy
Authors: Krause George A. , Woods Neal D.
Published: February 2014

In this article the authors propose a comparative-institutional theoretical framework for analyzing policy delegation in the American states. The novel aspect of this theoretical framework is centered on a comparative analysis of the institutional capacities possessed by the legislature, chief executive (governor), and bureaucracy. This theoretical framework is undergirded by an assumption that institutions seek to maximize administrative policy control, subject to their relative endowments of institutional capacity. That is, although both partisan and ideological preferences are critical for determining policy outcomes, they are either constrained or empowered by institutions’ capacity for policymaking.
Local Boundaries
Authors: Mullin Megan
Published: February 2014

The complexity of local boundaries, and the political fragmentation that produces that complexity, have long attracted the attention of those who study local politics. This essay reviews the literature investigating the functions, determinants, and effects of local government boundaries. The emphasis is on the state of research on local boundaries, but the essay closes with some recommendations for future research. The author argues for more fine-grained studies that address the appropriateness of existing political boundaries, given the distribution of populations and the nature of underlying policy problems, and that examine the effect of boundary organization on the development and maintenance of political community.
Local Legislatures
Authors: Leland Suzanne , Whisman Holly
Published: February 2014

Local government legislatures range from large urban city councils and county commissions to rural school boards. These bodies are shaped by state law and are quite diverse in their policymaking and administrative responsibilities. This article presents an overview of the current research on local legislatures, their structures, functions, and powers. The authors assess the body of research for each type, including cities, counties, and special purpose governments, and identify research opportunities of importance to local legislatures. The authors conclude that research has been hampered by the diversity of local governments and the limited comparability of units, and therefore tends toward methodologies that focus on contextual specificity. This is a complication that is likely to continue to influence the ability of researchers to address issues of decision-making, accountability, cooperation and other important questions using quantitative analyses, despite the pressing need to understand the impact of local legislatures in order to make informed choices about how to proceed in an increasingly complex realm of local government.
Local Courts
Authors: Brisbin Richard A.
Published: February 2014

The penalization of crime and the provision of social and economic order through the development and application of policies that resolve disputes among citizens, businesses, and governments are crucial activities for state and local governments. This chapter reviews scholarly studies of how state and local courts of general, limited, and special jurisdiction deliver these public services. With attention to the agenda, procedures, personnel, and outcome of the operations of local courts and the state and local institutions that assist the courts, the chapter addresses what is known about the influence of politics on their activities and their reciprocal influence on state and local politics. Special consideration is devoted to the limitations of the multidisciplinary studies of the behavior and political function of these institutions.
Local Bureaucracy
Authors: LeRoux Kelly M.
Published: February 2014

Local bureaucracy is the administrative apparatus of local political jurisdictions that exists for the primary purposes of carrying out state and federal policy objectives and for planning and providing local public services. The goals of local bureaucratic actors, and thus the organizational behavior of local bureaucracies, are often driven by considerations of improving efficiency, effectiveness, and responsiveness in local service delivery. In principal, these goals are held to be equally important by professional public managers, yet the complex and diverse demands of the local electorate combined with the increasingly networked context of local bureaucracy dictate that public managers will confront tradeoffs in the pursuit of these objectives. This chapter examines evidence and debates related to the three key themes of efficiency, responsiveness, and effectiveness in the local bureaucracy literature. In summarizing the state of knowledge in local bureaucracy research related to these three themes, this chapter highlights a number of unanswered questions and promising theoretical developments that might serve to guide future research.
The Context of Local Policymaking
Authors: Hajnal Zoltan
Published: February 2014

This chapter offers a critical look at the literature on one of the core questions driving the study of local politics—namely who or what governs local democracy. I outline the different theories, summarize key empirical contributions, and highlight remaining barriers. Partly because existing studies have either focused too narrowly or have been unable to test each of the different theoretical perspectives against other in a single model, the literature has not yet provided a clear answer to this question. In the conclusion, I highlight some potentially rewarding research areas that emerge from these gaps in the literature or from recent demographic or technological transformations.
The Context of State Policy Policymaking
Authors: Lowry Robert C.
Published: February 2014

In this chapter the author examines the forces shaping state polices, some of which create great diversity among them. He outlines a framework for analysis that focuses on four types of contextual factors: external constraints, resources, preferences, and institutions. Although some evidence indicates that resources, preferences, and at least one type of policy output—the scale of state government spending—did converge during the 1960s and 1970s, little or no further convergence has occurred since about 1980. The author then discusses each set of factors in turn, seeking to identify reasons for continued diversity in state policy outputs. The final section identifies areas where further research might be particularly useful and interesting.
Fiscal Policy in the American States
Authors: Garand James , Ulrich Justin , Xu Ping
Published: February 2014

This chapter reviews the recent scholarly literature on fiscal policy in the American states, focusing on several important topics: (1) size and growth of the public sector in the states; (2) how states determine expenditure and revenue priorities; (3) the politics of state budget deficits and surpluses; (4) the effects of fiscal policy on various political, economic, and social outcomes. The pace of scholarly research by political scientists on state fiscal policy has slowed considerably during the first decade of the 2000s, resulting in a leveling off of scientific progress in understanding state fiscal policy. There is a lot we still do not know about the size of the public sector, state spending and revenue policy, state deficits and surpluses, and the effects of state fiscal policy. We conclude with a discussion of unanswered research questions as a means of building an agenda for future research on state fiscal policy.
Criminal Justice Policy
Authors: Percival Garrick
Published: February 2014

This chapter examines criminal justice policy in the U.S. states, discussing the important developments in knowledge in recent years, and outlining key areas for future research in this important area of public policy. The chapter is organized around two fundamental questions. The first is what political forces cause governments to use more coercive forms of crime and social control? The second is how do political forces contribute to the disproportionate level of punishment imposed on racial and ethnic minority groups? Both questions entail basic questions about policing, criminal profiling, and particular campaigns, such as the most recent drug war. In devoting attention to these questions, state and local government researchers have the opportunity to make significant and lasting contributions by moving the field to a more synthesized and theoretically shaped understanding of criminal justice policy in the U.S. states.
Environmental Policy
Authors: Jones Michael , Shanahan Elizabeth A. , Hammer Lisa J.
Published: February 2014

In this chapter the authors examine state and local environmental policy. They provide a brief historical but policy-centered background, which pays special attention to the role of federalism in environmental policy. Next they summarize the state of academic and scientific research on state and local environmental policy. The next two sections give the reader an aggregate sense of what substantive environmental policy areas are being studied by reporting the aggregated peer-reviewed publications reported in three databases between 1980 and 2011. In addition, the authors focus on two areas highlighted in the literature: public participation in environmental policy making and climate change policy. Finally, the authors provide a summary of the state of existing literature and offer directions for future research.
State Regulatory Policy
Authors: Teske Paul , Provost Colin
Published: February 2014

The American states were involved in regulating business activity long before the federal government was, and they continue to play an important role in regulating the American economy today. In this chapter, we explore a number of important elements of state regulation. First, we explain the basic rationale for why states are involved in the regulation of business activity. Second, we explore the historical power relationships between the states and the federal government. Transaction cost economics can help explain why the federal government must frequently play a role of coordinator among the states, yet this power can also be used to pre-empt state authority and impose federal viewpoints on the states. Third, we examine the delegation of regulatory policy to state bureaucracies, a process that depends to a large extent on the salience and complexity of the policy issue, but also on the interplay of organized interests, legislators, and state attorneys general. Fourth, we discuss the policy diffusion and regulatory competition literatures and find that economic competition can affect the scope and intensity of state regulation, but some ambiguity remains as to how this effect is manifested. Finally, we make comparisons of the states to the European Union and its member states and finish with concluding thoughts.
Policies Towards Minority Populations
Authors: Fording Richard , Poe John
Published: February 2014

In this chapter the authors explore two decades of research on the policies that have evolved from struggles for minority group inclusion. They focus on minority-targeted policies that are most relevant to state or local governments. As part of this effort the authors report the results of a content analysis of nine major political science and public policy journals. They find that the volume of research on minority-targeted policies has remained steady over time, but there have been significant changes in the content of these studies. In addition the authors dissect the research to examine the major questions that have been studied in the literature, as well as what we have learned about the politics and the impact of minority-targeted policies. They conclude by highlighting some recent trends in this literature that seem promising, as well as suggesting avenues for future research.
Sub-National Politics
Authors: Boehmke Fred , Branton Regina P.
Published: February 2014

In this chapter we discuss the evolution of political methodology in state politics. We evaluate the long term trends that have led to an increasing attention to methodological issues in state politics research. As the ability to conduct ever more complex analyses has expanded, the demand for methodologies suited to the distinct circumstances we confront has led the emergence of state politics methods by state politics methodologists. We illustrate this evolution in two specific areas of study: state policy innovation and measures of state public opinion. We then discuss a couple of ongoing debates and methodological discussions in which state politics scholars are making important contributions.
Sub-National Politics
Authors: Johnson Bertram
Published: February 2014

The U.S. system of layered governments encompasses states, cities, and other entities such as counties and special districts. Most scholars have adopted one of three major approaches to studying this complex system: a legal approach that emphasizes a lack of formal powers at lower levels; a fiscal federalism tradition that focuses on considerations of efficiency; or a focus on intergovernmental policy and public administration. Each literature has much to offer, but none provides a comprehensive political perspective on federalism. Such an approach would view the various governments in the intergovernmental system as institutional structures that have claims on each other, occupied by political entrepreneurs motivated by their own career goals that succeed or fail largely because of how they respond to constituent interests. Each component of this approach has been the subject of substantial research that can be brought to bear on the topic of sub-national politics.
The Diplomatic Origins of the French Revolution
Authors: Kasier Thomas E.
Published: February 2014

The diplomatic origins of the French Revolution remain controversial. Just as foreign and military factors imposed heavy burdens on the French budget before 1789, so did constraints on the French budget severely limit the options of French foreign/military policy makers. The contradictions already present in the policies of the foreign minister Vergennes were realized in 1787, and later under his successor Montmorin. The price of Montmorin’s peace was not only a further decline in France’s prestige abroad, but also a sense of imminent vulnerability to foreign invasion at a time when it was believed that the French government was being subverted from within by unfriendly foreign powers, and that the most immediate problem of the Old Regime—state bankruptcy—was a product of that subversion. Only by examining the interface between foreign and domestic developments can the diplomatic origins of the French Revolution can be fully appreciated.
The View from Above
Authors: Hardman John
Published: February 2014

In the maelstrom of ‘pre-revolutionary’ agitations, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the king and his ministers, to varying degrees, still thought and acted through 1788 and early 1789 as if their wishes and decisions were the determinants of political action. And indeed, to a certain extent, they were. This chapter explores the complex web of principle, prejudice and self-interest that continued to mark the conduct of old-regime governance up to, and beyond, the threshold of revolutionary change. As well as detailing a series of crucial decision points at which the monarchy could have offered alternative solutions to those it unsuccessfully chose, it also reflects on the extent to which the nature of those decisions can be fully understood, or must remain locked within the enigma that was the personality of Louis XVI.
A Personal Revolution
Authors: Alpaugh Micah
Published: February 2014

The politics of 1789 cannot be understood without considering the psychology and group dynamics of France’s national legislators. Facing an unexpectedly large power vacuum at Versailles as the Estates-General commenced, Third Estate-led legislators would increasingly assert their own sovereignty and expand an agenda initially centred on financial reform into a thorough revolution of French politics and culture. Operating in dialogue with broader sets of revolutionary actors, both stimulating and reacting to outside changes, legislators forged a new rights-based order which virtually all agreed to support by late 1789. This process inspired a ‘personal revolution’ for many deputies: men who were previously pillars of Old Regime society broke with prior societal and emotional constraints to create the most radical revolution yet seen. Understanding the first National Assembly requires comprehending the backgrounds and experiences of its 1200 members, and the stresses of the complex political and social processes which drove such events forward.
Military Trauma
Authors: Forrest Alan
Published: February 2014

The Old Regime army had been battered by serial defeats during the eighteenth century, and was open to proposals for reform. When 1789 came it was not army reforms that spread despair and trauma but the political situation created in the early years of the French Revolution: the assault on privilege, the ambivalent attitude of the king, the crisis of loyalty which this created for the officers, and the gaping void in the army’s ranks caused by desertion, emigration and the ideology of the Rights of Man. The defeats that followed the declaration of war added to despair, and it was only by resort to further traumatic measures—radicalizing recruitment, promoting officers from the ranks, and amalgamating the line army with the new volunteers, and ultimately the resort to Terror—that the fortunes of the army were turned around.
Terror and Politics
Authors: Linton Marisa
Published: February 2014

In a move away from overarching explanations of the Terror based on ideology, class or a ‘system of Terror’, historians have been investigating the web of connections between politics, ideology, tactics, emotions and the role of individuals. Consequently, a more complex picture of revolutionary politics has begun to emerge. This chapter uses these new approaches to examine the individual experiences of Jacobin leaders. It asks how far we can reconstruct the motives that led individual Jacobin leaders to choose terror. Personal factors, including friendships, influenced political decision-making to a far greater extent than previously acknowledged. Emotions, above all fear, played an integral role in the Terror. The Jacobin leaders needed to maintain their public identity as ‘men of virtue’ or risk being destroyed in the politicians’ terror. The chapter examines the genesis of the politicians’ terror that culminated in the mutual destruction of political factions during the Year II.
Thermidor and the Myth of Rupture
Authors: Mason Laura
Published: February 2014

The defeat of Maximilien Robespierre on 9 Thermidor year II initiated a realignment of political forces within and beyond the National Convention, which is traditionally known as the Thermidorian Reaction (July 1794–October 1795). That moment did not, however, signal the fundamental rupture that the Thermidorians claimed. Although the National Convention repealed restrictive legislation and abandoned the promise of political and social democracy, it also sustained revolutionary government and the Montagnard commitment to strengthen the Convention by challenging extra-legislative competitors. Similarly, as legislators, activists, and journalists invented the notion of a ‘Terror’ that Thermidorians claimed to have defeated, they did so with denunciatory practices elaborated since 1789, revealing important continuities within revolutionary political culture that survived 9 Thermidor.
Lasting Political Structures
Authors: Woloch Isser
Published: February 2014

This chapter uses the 1940s—the Resistance, the Liberation, the post-war moment—as a vantage point for looking back at the French Revolution’s projects of representative democracy, decentralization, and recentralization. Among other things it considers the initial re-division of the national territory, changing administrative structures, the uses of elections, the strictures against political parties, and the permutations on these matters across successive post-revolutionary regimes. A final section offers a more conventional chronological account, from 1789 onward, of one of the Revolution’s most consequential innovations: systematic military conscription.
Lasting Economic Structures
Authors: Horn Jeff
Published: February 2014

The economic history of the French Revolution has been largely neglected for decades. Those historians interested in the economy have been strongly influenced by the ‘cultural turn’, relying heavily on the tools of intellectual history. These studies avoid the investigation of the economic impact of the ‘threat from below’ and revolutionary political economy. The decade 1789–99 provides opportunities to demonstrate the limited opportunities and flawed implementation of the strictures of both liberal economics and a command economy. To do justice to the historical record, analysts should situate their work in the specificities of revolutionary economic practice. A firm grounding in the lived experience of production and consumption is necessary to understand the role of the economy in the twists and turns of the Revolution as well as its complex legacy in the nineteenth century, in particular, the delayed onset of industrialization and the rise of the notables to power.
The Time Course of Spatial Attention
Authors: Eimer Martin
Published: February 2014

Event-related brain potential (ERP) measures have made important contributions to our understanding of the mechanisms of selective attention. This chapter provides a selective and non-technical review of some of these contributions. It will concentrate mainly on research that has studied spatially selective attentional processing in vision, although research on crossmodal links in spatial attention will also be discussed. The main purpose of this chapter is to illustrate how ERP methods have helped to provide answers to major theoretical questions that have shaped research on selective attention in the past 40 years.
Neural Mechanisms of Spatial Attention in the Visual Thalamus
Authors: Saalmann Yuri B. , Kastner Sabine
Published: February 2014

Neural mechanisms of selective attention route behaviourally relevant information through brain networks for detailed processing. These attention mechanisms are classically viewed as being solely implemented in the cortex, relegating the thalamus to a passive relay of sensory information. However, this passive view of the thalamus is being revised in light of recent studies supporting an important role for the thalamus in selective attention. Evidence suggests that the first-order thalamic nucleus, the lateral geniculate nucleus, regulates the visual information transmitted from the retina to visual cortex, while the higher-order thalamic nucleus, the pulvinar, regulates information transmission between visual cortical areas, according to attentional demands. This chapter discusses how modulation of thalamic responses, switching the response mode of thalamic neurons, and changes in neural synchrony across thalamo-cortical networks contribute to selective attention.
Attention and Action
Authors: Deubel Heiner
Published: February 2014

Planning and execution of goal-directed actions are closely related to visual attention. This chapter gives an overview of research on this relationship, focusing on the role of attention in the preparation of eye movements, manual reaching, and grasping. The studies suggest that major functions of attention during motor planning are to select the spatial goals of the movement, and to prioritize those visual features that are important for the action. For complex movements involving more than a single spatial location, it seems that action preparation comes along with a temporally changing ‘attentional landscape’ which includes multiple foci of attention.
Rhetoric and Law
Authors: Gagarin Michael
Published: February 2014

This chapter reviews the mutual influence of rhetoric and law on one another from our earliest evidence in the Homeric poems through the Hellenistic period. Law influenced rhetoric in that a forensic context was crucial for the “invention” of rhetoric in Sicily, for the rhetorical advances made by the sophists, especially Gorgias, and for the assessments of rhetoric by Plato and Aristotle. On the other hand, rhetoric played a large role in litigation in the earliest “trial scene” on Achilles’s shield in Homer’s Iliad, as well as in the forensic speeches of the fourth-century logographers. A case study, Lysias 1, “On the Murder of Eratosthenes,” shows how rhetoric was crucial to the determination of both the facts of the case and the meaning of the relevant laws.
Rhetoric and Pedagogy
Authors: Heath Malcolm
Published: February 2014

This chapter traces the development of rhetorical pedagogy from Homer to late antiquity. It is clear from Homer that effective public speaking was valued in archaic Greece and was seen as a teachable skill. Fifth- and early fourth-century B.C.E. sophists gradually developed formalized and theorized rhetorical pedagogy, but the evidence for their work is very limited. Isocrates and the author of the Rhetoric to Alexander build on earlier sophistic rhetoric in different ways. Evidence becomes most abundant in late antiquity, from the second century C.E. onward. Innovations in rhetorical theory and concurrent changes in the structure of pedagogical practice in this period reflect the perennial responsiveness of rhetoric as a practical discipline to its sociocultural context.