bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fe concentration dependence of tunneling magnetoresistance in magnetic tunnel junctions using group-IV ferromagnetic semiconductor GeFe
Authors: Takiguchi Kosuke , Wakabayashi Yuki K. , Okamoto Kohei , Tanaka Masaaki , Ohya Shinobu
Published: October 2017

Group-IV-based ferromagnetic semiconductor Ge1−xFex (GeFe) is one of the most promising materials for spin injection/detection in Si and Ge. In this paper, we demonstrate a systematic study of tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) composed of Fe/MgO/Ge1−xFex with various Fe concentrations (x = 0.065, 0.105, 0.140, and 0.175). With increasing x, the TMR ratio increases up to 1.5% when x≤ 0.105, and it decreases when x> 0.105. This is the first observation of the TMR ratio over 1% in MTJs containing a group-IV ferromagnetic semiconductor. With increasing x, while the Curie temperature of GeFe increases, the MgO surface becomes rougher, which is thought to be the cause of the upper limit of the TMR ratio. The quality of the MgO layer on GeFe is an important factor for further improvement of TMR in Fe/MgO/GeFe MTJs.
Secretome derived from different cell lines in bovine embryo production in vitro
Authors: Perrini C. , Esposti P. , Cremonesi F. , Consiglio A. Lange
Published: October 2017

The present study investigated the effects of conditioned medium (CM), composed of microvesicles (MVs) and soluble factors present in the supernatant (SN), of bovine endometrial and amniotic cells on embryo quality and rate of blastocyst production. Presumptive zygotes were randomly assigned on Days 1, 3 and 5 after fertilisation to synthetic oviducal fluid with amino acids (SOFaa; control) or to SOFaa supplemented with either 20% endometrial or amniotic CM, 20% SN or 100 × 106 MVs mL−1. Embryos were evaluated on Day 7. For groups supplemented with MVs derived from either endometrial or amniotic cells on Day 1 of culture, blastocysts had developed, but at a lower rate than in the control group. Blastocysts had developed in all groups in which endometrial or amniotic cell-derived CM or MVs were added on Day 3 of culture, but the rate of blastocyst development was significantly lower in both CM groups than in the MVs groups. The addition of all secretome fractions (CM, MVs and SN) derived from either bovine endometrial or amniotic cells on Day 5 of culture resulted in blastocyst production, but only amniotic MVs resulted in a blastocyst production rate comparable to that in the control group. Supplementation of SOFaa on Day 5 resulted in a qualitatively higher number of inner cell mass cells compared with the control group only for the amniotic CM and MVs groups. At day 7, these data were confirmed by RT-qPCR evaluation of genes (Bcl-2-associated X protein (BAX) and glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPX1) involved in apoptosis and protection against reactive oxygen species. In conclusion, of the different secretome fractions tested, only amniotic MVs added to SOFaa resulted in better outcomes than in the control group.
Aspirates and ejectives in Quechua-influenced Spanish
Authors: Babel Anna M.
Published: October 2017

This article describes the use of aspirates and ejectives in a variety of Spanish with significant Quechua contact influence that is spoken in the Santa Cruz valleys of central Bolivia. Aspirates and ejectives occur primarily on Quechua loanwords, making these ‘intermediate phonological relationships’ (Hall 2013) that are hard to categorize with respect to their status as phonetic vs. phonological features. Results from a small-scale perception and shadowing task show that language users are able to distinguish between these sounds and canonical Spanish consonants in minimal pairs, but that there is variation among speakers in the way these sounds are reproduced. While the use of aspirates and glottal stops in Spanish in contact with Mayan languages has been documented (Michnowicz 2015;Michnowicz and Kagan 2016) previous studies of Andean Spanish phonology have not reported the use of aspirates and ejectives as part of the sound system (Boynton 1981;Cassano 1974;Pyle 1981).
“De camareros a profesores” de ELE
Authors: Bruzos Alberto
Published: October 2017

Abstracto

Este artículo da cuenta de la mercantilización del español como lengua extranjera (ELE) en España. Empezamos presentando el marco teórico de los estudios sobre la mercantilización del lenguaje y sobre el aparato discursivo en torno al valor económico del español desarrollado en España de los 90, el cual proponemos entender como parte de un dispositivo de promoción internacional del español. A continuación, analizamos la visión del ELE en España como industria de la lengua. En concreto, mostramos que la colaboración entre instituciones públicas y entidades privadas ha conformado el sector como turismo idiomático, lo cual tiene consecuencias ideológicas (estandarización y mercantilización de la lengua) y profesionales (falta de legitimidad, precariedad laboral). Concluimos planteando una serie de cuestiones fundamentales para una visión crítica del ELE que contemple la enseñanza de español en relación con la injerencia institucional (política lingüística), las condiciones del mercado laboral, la relación entre conocimiento e interés y otras cuestiones sociales y políticas.
Orthographic and phonological neighborhood databases across multiple languages
Authors: Marian Viorica
Published: October 2017

The increased globalization of science and technology and the growing number of bilinguals and multilinguals in the world have made research with multiple languages a mainstay for scholars who study human function and especially those who focus on language, cognition, and the brain. Such research can benefit from large-scale databases and online resources that describe and measure lexical, phonological, orthographic, and semantic information. The present paper discusses currently-available resources and underscores the need for tools that enable measurements both within and across multiple languages. A general review of language databases is followed by a targeted introduction to databases of orthographic and phonological neighborhoods. A specific focus on CLEARPOND illustrates how databases can be used to assess and compare neighborhood information across languages, to develop research materials, and to provide insight into broad questions about language. As an example of how using large-scale databases can answer questions about language, a closer look at neighborhood effects on lexical access reveals that not only orthographic, but also phonological neighborhoods can influence visual lexical access both within and across languages. We conclude that capitalizing upon large-scale linguistic databases can advance, refine, and accelerate scientific discoveries about the human linguistic capacity.
Chronic non-communicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries: concepts and strategies for prevention, control and advocacy.
Authors: Aikins A. de G. , Agyemang C.
Published: October 2017

Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) of Africa, Asia and Latin America bear a significant proportion of the global burden of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs). LMICs are unable to respond appropriately to their NCD burden because of a complex blend of epidemiological, demographic, health systems, economic, political and structural challenges. There is an urgent need for LMICs to develop practical, culturally appropriate and cost-effective NCD interventions that lower risk at population levels and reduce levels of morbidity and mortality among individuals living with the major NCDs. Countries that have developed practical and sustainable interventions, despite complex resource challenges, offer important models for others to follow. In this paper, we review the evidence on existing interventions, using the World Health Organization (WHO) health systems building blocks model as an analytical framework. We outline interventions that work at community and national levels in 33 countries. We identify three major cross-cutting challenges facing NCD care in these LMICs and consider how the challenges may be addressed drawing on existing best practice responses.
Decline in the Half‐Pounder Life History among Trinity River, California, Steelhead
Authors: Peterson Matthew L. , Hankin David G. , Manishin Kaitlyn
Published: October 2017

Steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss exhibit substantial life history variation throughout their range, but the “half‐pounder” life history is limited to several rivers in northern California and southern Oregon. Half‐pounders first return to freshwater as immature fish after spending just 3–5 months at sea and support valuable freshwater fisheries. In the main‐stem Klamath and Rogue rivers, historically and at present, half‐pounder expression rates were and remain high for fall‐run steelhead. We used visual classifications of the half‐pounder life history from scales collected from the Trinity River to estimate half‐pounder expression rates and investigate the role of size and age prior to ocean entry on the probability that adult steelhead expressed the half‐pounder life history. Half‐pounder expression rates among both wild and hatchery steelhead in the Trinity River have substantially declined since 1982. Among the most common age‐2 wild smolt type, 71% of adults returning in 1982 had previously made a half‐pounder run, whereas estimated rates for adults returning in various years from 1994 to 2013 averaged just 10% (range = 2–25%). Estimated returns of half‐pounders and adults from Trinity River Hatchery releases made prior to 1982 are consistent with a historically high half‐pounder expression rate. Among age‐1 hatchery steelhead smolts, a similar decline seems evident and seems in part related to a large increase in size at release in 1992. Strong negative associations were found between the size prior to ocean entry (wild and hatchery fish) and smolt age (wild fish) and the probability that an individual steelhead expressed the half‐pounder trait; smaller‐sized and younger smolts were more likely to express the trait. Further research focusing on the heritability of this life history trait should be conducted to develop strategies intended to prevent further loss of this unique life history among Trinity River fall‐run steelhead.
MgFe2O4 thin films for detection of ethanol and acetone vapours
Authors: Nagarajan V. , Thayumanavan A.
Published: October 2017

Spinel MgFe2O4 thin films are prepared with the spray pyrolysis technique. The morphological study shows sand-like crystallites on the film with porosity. The structural study substantiates the polycrystalline nature of the synthesised MgFe2O4 films, which possess a spinel structure. The crystallite size is found to be 25–45 nm in size, which is noted from the morphological study. The energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) reveals the existence of iron, oxygen and magnesium in MgFe2O4 film. The electrical resistance of MgFe2O4 decreases rapidly when the film is exposed towards acetone and ethanol vapours. The synthesised MgFe2O4 is highly sensitive to acetone vapour at 323 K. The selectivity, sensitivity, recovery time, stability and response time of MgFe2O4 film to acetone and ethanol sensing are described in this article. The findings show that MgFe2O4 films can be efficiently used for the detection of ethanol and acetone.
Conversation Analysis and Medicine
Authors: Beach Wayne A. , Gutzmer Kyle , Chapman Chelsea
Published: October 2017

Beginning with phone calls to an emergency psychiatric hospital and suicide prevention center, the roots of Conversation Analysis (CA) are embedded in systematic analyses of routine problems occurring between ordinary persons facing troubling health challenges, care providers, and the institutions they represent. After more than 50 years of research, CA is now a vibrant and robust mode of scientific investigation that includes close examination of a wide array of medical encounters between patients and their providers. Considerable efforts have been made to overview CA and medicine as a rapidly expanding mode of inquiry and field of research. Across a span of 18 years, we sample from 10 of these efforts to synthesize important priorities and findings emanating from CA investigations of diverse interactional practices and health care institutions. Key topics and issues are raised that provide a unique opportunity to identify and track the development and maturity of CA approaches to medical encounters. Attention is also given to promising new modes of research, and to the potential and challenges of improving medical practices by translating basic and rigorous empirical findings into innovative interventions for medical education. A case is made that increasing reliance on CA research can positively impact training and policies shaping the delivery of humane and quality medical care.
Advocacy Groups as Agents for Change in Health and Risk Messaging
Authors: Ptacek Jen , Dolick Kirstin N. , Mattson Marifran
Published: October 2017

Advocacy can be defined as the systematic process set in motion by an individual or group of individuals to encourage, support, and empower others surrounding a topic in need of change. Individuals may become an advocacy group in support of an issue, such as health care, civil rights, environment, or labor. Advocacy groups often serve as mediators between vulnerable/underprivileged populations and policymakers or decision-makers. The Health Communication Advocacy Model (HCAM) is a tested advocacy model comprising five phases including assembling the team, formative research, message development, message implementation, and evaluation. HCAM also includes a correction loop allowing for revisions of campaign messages. The HCAM is an adaptable model that offers a perspective in which advocacy groups may be considered a dynamic framework for building successful campaigns. Once the advocacy group is established, members can agree upon goals and responsibilities and craft a position statement. The group can then develop messages to reach the intended target audience(s). Target audiences may include legislators, the population affected by the issue, and media organizations. When crafting messages, care should be taken to ensure messages are stimulating, motivational, culturally consistent, resource contingent, and without barriers. Advocacy groups may use a number of channels to send messages through, such as social media, rallies, press releases, and other media outlets. Overall, advocacy groups must address a variety of needs to effectively reach the target audiences and impact change.
Conversation Analysis and Intergroup Communication
Authors: Weatherall Ann
Published: October 2017

Conversation analysis is a distinctive approach to research on language and communication that originated with Emanuel Schegloff, Harvey Sacks, and Gail Jefferson. It assumes a systematic order in the minute details of talk as it is used in situ. That orderliness is understood to be the result of shared ways of reasoning and means of doing things. Conversation analytic studies aim to identify and describe how people produce and interpret social interaction. For example, the interpretation and response to the question, “How are you” differs depending on whether it is asked by a doctor in a medical consultation or a friend during a casual conversation. Overwhelmingly, data are naturalistic audio (for telephone-mediated talk) or video recordings (for copresent interactions). The recordings are transcribed using conventions first established by Gail Jefferson. They have been further developed since to better capture features such as crying and multimodality. Specialized notations are used to highlight features of talk such as breathiness, intonation, short silences, and simultaneous speech. Analyses typically examine how everyday actions are done over sequences of two or more turns of talk. Greetings, requests, and complaints are actions that have names; others don’t. Studies may examine a range of linguistic, embodied, and environmental phenomena used in coordinated action. Research has been conducted in a broad range of mundane and institutional settings. Medical interaction is one area where conversation analysis has been most applied, but others include psychotherapy and classroom interaction.

A conversation analytic perspective on identity is also distinctive. Typically, approaches to intergroup communication presuppose a priori the importance of social identities such as age, gender, and ethnicity. They are theorized as independent variables that impact language behaviors in predictable and measurable ways. This view strongly resonates with common sense and underpins popular questions about gender-, race- or age-based differences in language use. In contrast, a conversation analytic approach examines social identities only when they are observably and demonstrably relevant to what participants are doing and saying. The relevance of an identity category rests on it being clearly consequential for what is happening in a particular stretch of talk.

Conversation analysis approaches identity as a type of membership categorization. The term “member” has ethnomethodological roots that recognizes a person is a member from a cultural group. Categories can be invoked, used and negotiated in the flow of interaction. Membership categorization analysis shows there is a systematic organization to category work in talk. Using conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis, discursive psychology studies how social identity categorizations have relevance to the business at hand. For example, referring to your wife as a “girl” or a “married woman” invokes different inferences about socially acceptable behavior.
Family Relationships and Interactions: An Intergroup Approach
Authors: Soliz Jordan
Published: October 2017

Families are not immune from intergroup processes that pervade other social relationships and institutions in society. Family relationships are often constituted by individuals with different identities and worldviews, especially when considering the changing landscape of families (e.g., multiethnic–multiracial families, interfaith families). Moreover, many of our most personal relationships emerge from the joining of two distinct familial groups (e.g., in-laws, stepfamily members). Whether considering different social identities salient in family interactions (e.g., ethnicity-race, age, political affiliation) or formative dynamics as families merge, intergroup communication processes are central to managing difference in a constructive manner that facilitates development of a shared family identity and individual well-being. Further, an intergroup perspective on family highlights the manner in which families directly and indirectly socialize family members’ intergroup attitudes and worldviews.
Ingroup Love and Outgroup Hate
Authors: Moscatelli Silvia , Rubini Monica
Published: October 2017

In everyday life, we are faced with disparate examples of intergroup bias, ranging from a mild tendency to ingroup favoritism to harsh episodes of discrimination, aggression, and even conflicts between groups. Where do they stem from? The origins of intergroup bias can be traced back to two main motivations, that is, attachment to one’s own group (“ingroup love”) and negative feelings toward outgroups (“outgroup hate”). Although lay people, but also some researchers, see the two motivations as intertwined, growing evidence from different fields (e.g., social psychology, evolutionary psychology, and neuroscience) has indicated that intergroup bias is more often driven by needs of ingroup protection and affiliation, which do not imply outgroup hostility or competitive attitudes. Outgroup hate is instead likely to arise in intergroup contexts characterized by a high degree of enmity. It is important that members of the groups involved, but also external observers, recognize ingroup love as the primary motor of intergroup conflict: the attribution of hate to the outgroup’s behavior renders negotiation and conflict resolution harder while at the same time justifying severe aggression or even annihilation of the opposing outgroup.

In the domain of intergroup communication, an intriguing way through which group members express their ingroup love and outgroup hate is represented by variations of linguistic abstraction and valence in depicting behaviors performed by ingroup or outgroup members. This unintended use of language reveals that group members are more prone to express ingroup love also at a linguistic level. However, specific changes in intergroup relations along variables such as group size, group status, or relative deprivation can give rise to linguistic patterns of outgroup hate.
Cancer Communication Science: Intergroup Perspectives
Authors: Sparks Lisa , Kreps Gary L.
Published: October 2017

At the heart of cancer communication research is an effort both to increase knowledge and to identify practical strategies for improving cancer communication and for improving prevention and control of cancer, as well as for addressing cancer care issues from theoretical and applied communication perspectives across the continuum of cancer care. One important theoretical approach to consider in cancer communication science is taking an intergroup approach to cancer care. The challenge moving forward is to develop cancer communication research programs that combine important theoretical and applied perspectives, focusing on prevention strategies that can help reduce cancer risk, incidence, morbidity, and mortality, and to promote the highest quality of life for people of every age and every background.
Gender Bias and Sexism in Language
Authors: Menegatti Michela , Rubini Monica
Published: October 2017

Language is one of the most powerful means through which sexism and gender discrimination are perpetrated and reproduced. The content of gender stereotypes, according to which women should display communal/warmth traits and men should display agentic/competence traits, is reflected in the lexical choices of everyday communication. As a consequence, language subtly reproduces the societal asymmetries of status and power in favor of men, which are attached to the corresponding social roles. Moreover, the hidden yet consensual norm according to which the prototypical human being is male is embedded in the structure of many languages. Grammatical and syntactical rules are built in a way that feminine terms usually derive from the corresponding masculine form. Similarly, masculine nouns and pronouns are often used with a generic function to refer to both men and women. However, such linguistic forms have the negative effects of making women disappear in mental representations. Although the use of gender-fair linguistic expressions can effectively prevent these negative consequences and promote gender equality, there are even more implicit forms of gender bias in language that are difficult to suppress. By choosing terms at different levels of abstraction, people can affect the attributions of the receiver in a way that is consistent with their stereotypical beliefs. Linguistic abstraction, thus, is a very subtle resource used to represent women in a less favorable way and thus to enact gender discrimination without meaning to discriminate or even be aware that this linguistic behavior has discriminatory results. In order to reduce gender bias, it is necessary to change people’s linguistic habits by making them aware of the beneficial effects of gender-fair expressions.
Communicating Religious Identities
Authors: Ysseldyk Renate
Published: October 2017

Religion encompasses many forms of communication: between groups, within groups, and with God (or other deities). Such communication can be especially powerful when group members highly identify with their religious group and the beliefs therein. Equally, it can be divisive, as evidenced by religion-based intergroup conflict and intolerance (which often overlaps along ethnic or political lines). However, not all religious communication is verbal or explicit. Religious individuals also commonly transmit their beliefs, values, and identities through symbols, physical spaces, and music. Likewise, communication with God is often pursued with silent prayer, meditation, or ritual, which also serve to reinforce one’s spirituality alongside religious group boundaries. Taken together, these varying forms of communication have implications not only for religious intergroup relations (e.g., intergroup contact or conflict), but also for intragroup relations (e.g., the strengthening of social ties) and individual health outcomes (e.g., effective communication with health care providers and coping practices). Given the importance of religious identity for many individuals, the benefits for individual well-being and intragroup relations, and yet the intergroup strife that religious group divisions can incite, the ways in which we communicate our religious group identities deserve closer attention.
Documentary and Edutainment Portrayals of Climate Change and Their Societal Impacts
Authors: Cooper Kathryn E. , Nisbet Erik C.
Published: October 2017

As climate change becomes an increasingly serious problem, mass media are tasked with educating the public. Documentary films and television shows (also called “edutainment”) have been used for decades to communicate about the natural world so that the public may hopefully become informed about science in a simplified, easy-to-understand way. Although producers ostensibly create environmental documentaries in order to inform and/or advocate, theory development and empirical research is limited and insufficient in explaining how this genre influences audiences and why this genre may or may not be an effective means of science communication.

Environmental documentaries have the potential to deeply impact audiences because these films promote learning while viewers are entertained, because engagement with the documentary narrative (story) can overcome biases such as politically driven motivated reasoning (conforming new evidence to existing beliefs) and can leverage biases such as the tendency to rely on affect (emotions) when estimating risks. Documentary storytelling can also enhance learning by connecting the causes and consequences of climate change in a sequential narrative.

Climate change is a highly contentious political issue, which is reflected in the diversity of viewpoints found in climate change documentaries despite scientific consensus about the issue. While many of these films serve an educational purpose, others are geared toward advocacy. These advocacy programs aim to mobilize value-congruent audiences to engage in personal and collective action and/or to demand policy change. However, people prefer messages that align with their preexisting values, and so the belief disparity between climate change advocates and deniers grows with increasing media exposure as audiences with different beliefs watch and receive climate change messages in very different ways. Filmmakers and scientists must focus future efforts on creating visually engaging narratives within documentaries to promote both education and advocacy to diverse audiences.
Celebrities and Climate Change
Authors: Doyle Julie , Farrell Nathan , Goodman Michael K.
Published: October 2017

Since the mid-2000s, entertainment celebrities have played increasingly prominent roles in the cultural politics of climate change, ranging from high-profile speeches at UN climate conferences, and social media interactions with their fans, to producing and appearing in documentaries about climate change that help give meaning to and communicate this issue to a wider audience. The role afforded to celebrities as climate change communicators is an outcome of a political environment increasingly influenced by public relations and attuned toward the media’s representation of political ideas, policies, and sentiments. Celebrities act as representatives of mass publics, operating within centers of elite political power. At the same time, celebrities represent the environmental concerns of their audiences; that is, they embody the sentiments of their audiences on the political stage. It is in this context that celebrities have gained their authority as political, social, and environmental “experts,” and the political performances of celebrities provide important ways to engage electorates and audiences with climate change action.

More recently, celebrities offer novel engagements with climate change that move beyond scientific data and facilitate more emotional and visceral connections with climate change in the public’s everyday lives. Contemporary celebrities, thus, work to shape how audiences and publics ought to feel about climate change in efforts to get them to act or change their behaviors. These “after data” moments are seen very clearly in Leonardo DiCaprio’s documentary Before the Flood. Yet, with celebrities acting as our emotional witnesses, they not only might bring climate change to greater public attention, but they expand their brand through neoliberalism’s penchant for the commoditization of everything including, as here, care and concern for the environment. As celebrities build up their own personal capital as eco-warriors, they create very real value for the “celebrity industrial complex” that lies behind their climate media interventions. Climate change activism is, through climate celebrities, rendered as spectacle, with celebrities acting as environmental and climate pedagogues framing for audiences the emotionalized problems and solutions to global environmental change. Consequently, celebrities politicize emotions in ways that that remain circumscribed by neoliberal solutions and actions that responsibilize audiences and the public.
Climate Change Communication in Portugal
Authors: Horta Ana , Carvalho Anabela
Published: October 2017

In Portugal, global politics tend to dominate climate change communication. Policy-oriented news stories prevail, being very much influenced by international events, dynamics, and actors, especially European ones, whereas national politicians and officials tend to be given less space. Climate change is thus mainly (re)presented as a global issue, distant from local realities, in spite of the vulnerabilities that the country faces. National policy makers tend to adopt a technocratic discourse that comes across as “rational” and fairly optimistic, with little contestation by environmental groups or others. A “green economy” discourse has prevailed in the media, with investment on renewable energy being depicted as the way to both stimulating the economy and addressing climate change. Scientific knowledge tends to be represented as consensual and national scientists tend to avoid dramatization. Although public opinion surveys have shown that the population considers climate change a serious problem and skepticism regarding its anthropogenic causes is low, surveys have also revealed high levels of ignorance and self-evaluated lack of information. In spite of a traditionally weak environmental movement and lack of public engagement, the population has shown a consistent sense of collective responsibility to tackle climate change. The economic and financial crisis up until the mid-2010s considerably affected the already fragile media system and turned political and public attention to economy-related topics. News coverage of climate change, in all its complexity, has been constrained by a lack of specialized reporters and increased dependency on the pro-activity of news sources.
The Political Economy of Hegemony: The (Surprising) Persistence of American Hegemony
Authors: Oatley Thomas
Published: October 2017

First-generation research in International Political Economy focused considerable attention on the relationship between hegemony and global economic stability. This focus was the result of a confluence of scholarly and policy concerns about the impact that the apparent decline of U.S. hegemony would have on international trade and investment regimes. Interest in this hegemonic stability hypothesis waned, however, as deeper explorations of the theoretical logic indicated that hegemony was not a necessary condition for international economic openness, and as the collapse of the Soviet Union and the consequent “unipolar moment” suggested that American hegemony was hardly in decline.

Interest in hegemony resurfaced in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The crisis triggered many scholars to proclaim the end of the era of American global hegemony. Scholars argued that the U.S. government’s attachment to a large budget and trade deficits and the resulting growth of foreign debt were likely to weaken foreign confidence in the dollar and encourage the shift to an alternative reserve currency such as the Euro. At the same time, China’s rapid industrialization and emergence as a large creditor nation was creating a new pole in the international economy that constituted a meaningful alternative to a global economy organized around the United States’ economy. Thus, a shift toward a Beijing hegemony was all but inevitable.

The predicted decline of American hegemony has yet to materialize. The U.S. economy remains the world’s largest, and the U.S. government continues to play the leading role in system making—creating new rules to govern international economic cooperation—and in privilege taking—manipulating these rules in ways that advantage U.S. public and private sector actors. Moreover, the U.S. government plays this role in all three economic subsystems: finance, knowledge, and production. Empirical scholarship conducted over the last decade encourages one to conclude by paraphrasing Mark Twain: Recent reports of the death of American hegemony are premature.
Power Transition Theory and the Essence of Revisionism
Authors: DiCicco Jonathan M.
Published: October 2017

Power transition theory and Graham Allison’s Thucydides Trap Project are discussed in tandem with two complementary aims: to highlight theoretical and empirical contributions of the power transition research program, and to provide critical perspective on the Thucydides Trap Project. Conventional-wisdom approaches of this sort are distinguished from power transition theory, the empirical international relations theory proposed by A. F. K. Organski and further articulated and tested by generations of scholars. The theory’s central elements—national power, stages of power transition, shifts in the distribution of power, international order and the status quo—are identified and discussed, with a focus on key variables used to explain war and peace among contending states. A comparative, critical examination of the Thucydides Trap Project is used as a lens for spotlighting key empirical contributions of the power transition theory research tradition and the value of adhering to norms of scientific rigor. Opportunities for further growth and development are noted, with special attention afforded to essential features of the power transition theory research program, including the study of (1) the timing and initiation of war; (2) rising powers’ dissatisfaction with the status quo, and a possible distinction between dissatisfaction and revisionism; and (3) reducing the risk of violent, revisionist challenges.
American Grand Strategy and Political Economy Theory
Authors: Narizny Kevin
Published: October 2017

Nearly everything a state does has distributional consequences, including grand strategy. Societal groups with different stakes in the international economy and defense spending often have conflicting strategic priorities, and these groups pursue their parochial interests by supporting the nomination and election of like-minded politicians. Thus, grand strategy is a product of political economy. An overview of American foreign policy over the last several decades illustrates this logic. In the 1980s, the Democratic and Republican coalitions had conflicting interests over the international economy, so the two parties diverged on grand strategy. The recovery of the Rust Belt in the 1990s and 2000s, however, brought increasing convergence. Political discourse over foreign policy was fiercely partisan, but, with the notable exception of George W. Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003, the two parties shared essentially the same view of America’s role in the world. The disastrous outcome in Iraq led the Bush administration back to the middle ground in its second term, and Obama followed the same course. In contrast, the election of Donald Trump augurs change. Trump’s electoral coalition consists of a different balance of interests in the international economy than that of past Republican presidents, so he is likely to pursue different strategic priorities.
Domestic Coalitions: International Sources and Effects
Authors: Solingen Etel , Gourevitch Peter
Published: October 2017

The centrality of domestic coalitions serves as transmission belts between the domestic and international realms. Despite its long lineage in international and comparative political economy and its relevance to the understanding of contemporary responses to globalization, coalitional analysis has been typically neglected when explaining outcomes in international relations. The analytical framework adopted here builds on two “ideal-typical” coalitions—an “inward-nationalist” and an “outward-internationalist” model—each advancing competing models across industrialized and industrializing contexts alike. Several applications illustrate the breadth and scope of this framework, spacious enough to explain economic responses in Europe from the repeal of the Corn Laws to the 20th century; the security implications of economic responses leading to World War I; the impact of internationalization on regional orders in the industrializing world since 1945; the relationship between coalitional approaches to the global economy and nuclear weapons proliferation since 1970; and the relevance of coalitional divides to outcomes regarding Brexit, Donald Trump’s election, and beyond.

Coalitional analysis thus (a) offers important insights on wide-ranging empirical phenomena in comparative and international politics that institutional approaches alone fail to explain; (b) provides a unifying framework addressing trans-historical responses to globalization, nationalism, ethno-confessionalism, and their effects on interstate relations; (c) attends to political cleavages in political economy that intersect with security; (d) transcends dated level-of-analysis categories by linking subnational and global processes; (e) is flexible enough to accommodate wide variation in state–society relations and political institutionalization; (f) grounds politics in a dynamic framework able to explain both continuity and change; and (g) clarifies contradictory findings regarding interdependence and war by providing a mechanism explaining why, when, and how economic exchange with the world may or may not inhibit war.
Global Governance in Foreign Policy
Authors: Mendez Álvaro
Published: October 2017

Global governance is a story of human agency confronting the existential challenge of the seismic shift in the international system that is called globalization. Neither phenomenon is yet understood sufficiently in academic theory, but if any social scientific practice is best situated to research it to the requisite depth, it is the discipline of foreign policy analysis. The theory and practice of foreign policy making and implementation are bound to undergo a transformation as radical as the international system. This historic process is dissolving the structure of agency that was set by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. The result has been for state and nonstate actors to compensate with a motley assemblage of structural improvisations, which have been complicating international relations, adding multiple levels of agency above and below the classical nation-state. Where this development will ultimately lead is unknown.
Quantitative Methods in Foreign Policy
Authors: Dillard Micah , Pevehouse Jon C.W.
Published: October 2017

Scholarship in international relations has taken a more quantitative turn in the past four decades. The field of foreign policy analysis was arguably the forerunner in the development and application of quantitative methodologies in international relations. From public opinion surveys to events data to experimental methods, many of the earliest uses of quantitative methodologies can be found in foreign policy analysis. On substantive questions ranging from the causes of war to the dynamics of public opinion, the analysis of data quantitatively has informed numerous debates in foreign policy analysis and international relations. Emerging quantitative methods will be useful in future efforts to analyze foreign policy.
Autocratic Regimes and Foreign Policy
Authors: Kneuer Marianne
Published: October 2017

The foreign policy of autocratic regimes reflects the research interest in the international behavior and decision making of domestic actors in nondemocratic regimes. The regime type (its nature, structure, leadership constellation, legitimation strategies, relation between leadership and public) thus is presumed to have explanatory power for the foreign policy actions and decisions of autocratic actors.
Domestic Constraints on Foreign Policy in Authoritarian Systems
Authors: Weeks Jessica L. P. , Crunkilton Cody
Published: October 2017

The question of how domestic institutions influence foreign policy decisions has a long history in the study of international relations. However, until recently most of this research has compared the foreign policies of democracies and autocracies, with little attention to the differences within autocracies. In recent years, a small but growing body of literature has examined constraints within autocracies, taking issue with the widespread image of authoritarian leaders as unconstrained and unaccountable. Although existing research on this topic is limited, it focuses on two general sources of constraint on authoritarian leaders: constraints imposed by regime insiders and constraints at the hands of the public.

In regimes with a powerful domestic audience, insiders often have both the will and the means to punish their leader for foreign policy failures. Consequently, such regimes sometimes behave quite similarly to democracies. In general, regimes with powerful selectorates or domestic audiences appear more likely to pursue peaceful security policies, to win the military conflicts they do enter, to lose office in the aftermath of defeat in war, to sign trade agreements, to adopt floating exchange rates, and to cooperate internationally, compared to regimes lacking such elite constraints. Scholars remain divided, however, about the extent to which the backgrounds of members of the domestic audience (e.g., whether they stem from a military or civilian ranks) matter.

Less research studies whether the public can constrain authoritarian leaders. However, research indicates that the public can sometimes exert constraints through elections or the threat of revolt, if to a lesser extent than regime insiders. For example, the threat of revolution can make leaders who fear violent removal less likely to make concessions to end a conflict. Furthermore, antiforeign protest can tie a regime’s hands, with both peaceful and violent consequences. In the economic realm, some research suggests that the threat of inequality-driven revolutions spurs autocrats to pursue free-trade agreements. Overall, the study of domestic constraints on foreign policy in authoritarian regimes is an emerging area of research, with numerous areas for future study.
Corporate Lobbying in Foreign Policy
Authors: Skonieczny Amy
Published: October 2017

More Americans than ever before believe that money in politics weakens our democracy. Public opinion polls show that the number of people who believe that the country is run by a few big interests looking after themselves rose to nearly 80% over the past 20 years. The belief that corporate interests drive public policy is not all that surprising when you consider the growth of lobbying in the United States. According to the Center for Responsive Government, from 1998 to 2016, the amount of money spent on lobbying the U.S. government grew from $1.45 billion to $3.12 billion with well over 10,000 lobbyists in Washington. With this all this money attempting to influence policy outcomes in Washington, it is no wonder that Americans are skeptical of the intentions of government officials.

However, political scientists have found a more mixed result when it comes to the actual influence of money on politics. One study asked if the amount of money spent on any given issue really influences policy outcomes. Other studies have shown some benefit to the private parties that lobby. Thus despite significant research on the topic, there is little agreement among political scientists on just how lobbying influences political actors or if lobbying directly impacts policy results.

When it comes to foreign policy, corporate lobbies are an ever-present influence in the crafting of government policies. Whether in the European Union or the United States or other countries around the world, corporate lobbies view representing their interests in a truly global fashion. While corporate interests are investing in shaping foreign policy in a variety of issues areas such as defense spending, arms sales, contractors on humanitarian missions, one area is particularly vulnerable to corporate influence—trade and finance. Research shows that U.S. trade politics is heavily influenced by the lobbying of business organizations and trade associations. In fact, the U.S. administration often relies on interested corporate parties to provide it with both the expertise that shapes the agreement itself and the political case for trade liberalization that shapes the public pro-trade campaign. In turn, corporate lobbying for trade agreements is a costly and involved process. For example, during the eight years of negotiations over the TransPacific Partnership Agreement, a regional trade agreement between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries, corporations paid $2.6 billion dollars to lobbyists to influence the content of the agreement and to promote it to Congress and the American public. An overview of the literature on corporate lobbying and an examination of the case of U.S. trade shows a particular example of how corporate lobbying works to influence foreign policy.
International Nongovernmental Organizations and Foreign Policy Analysis
Authors: Murdie Amanda , Hunter Sarah
Published: October 2017

International nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) are growing in both numbers and influence around the world. INGOs range wildly in scope, size, membership, and home location. Examples of INGOs include Greenpeace, Human Rights Watch, and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; also known as Doctors Without Borders). INGOs have increasingly been involved in the policymaking and the policy process. Domestically, INGOs have access to policymakers and work to influence policy through lobbying efforts and information campaigns. Internationally, INGOs often work with intergovernmental organizations and donor agencies and can have tremendous sway in certain policy domains. Recent works have linked INGO efforts to changes in trade and investment patterns and decisions about humanitarian interventions, economic sanctions, and aid allocation.

INGOs are defined and situated in the international system. The causal mechanisms connecting INGO activities to foreign policy decisions and decision-making are outlined and situated into the larger theoretical literature on foreign policy. The ways in which INGOs have been impacted by foreign policy decisions are explored, especially recent efforts by states to limit the work of foreign INGOs within their borders. There is a need for further research and data collection on INGOs and for more work on how INGOs interact with other actors in the foreign policy arena.