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1. Do the Time, Lower the Crime

Author:
James Q. Wilson
Publication Date:
04-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
In an article in the Los Angeles Times on March 30, 2008, James Q. Wilson dissected a new report that suggests the United States incarcerates too many people. Wilson acknowledges that there are problems with U.S. imprisonment policy, but he maintains that an argument about the cost of prisons needs to take into account their benefits.
Topic:
Civil Society
Political Geography:
United States and California

2. Abortion Nation

Author:
James Q. Wilson
Publication Date:
03-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
When South Dakota passed a law banning all abortions save those that threaten the physical health of the mother, opponents of abortion were cheered and defenders of it outraged. I think both sides were mistaken.
Topic:
Civil Society, Government, Health, and Human Rights

3. American Exceptionalism

Author:
James Q. Wilson
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
When President George W. Bush said that America hopes to spread democracy to all the world, he was echoing a sentiment many people support. Though Americans do not put “extending democracy” near the top of their list of foreign policy objectives (preventing terrorism is their chief goal), few would deny that if popular rule is extended it would improve lives around the world. Democracy, of course, means rule by the people. But the devil is in the details. By one count, the number of democracies quintupled in the second half of the twentieth century, but there are freedom- loving and freedom-disdaining democracies. Fareed Zakaria calls the latter “illiberal democracies.” Among them are Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Ukraine, and Venezuela.
Topic:
International Relations, Democratization, and Government
Political Geography:
Pakistan, United States, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Venezuela

4. Preemptive Surveillance

Author:
James Q. Wilson
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Federal district court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor has ruled that the warrantless interception of telephone and Internet calls between a foreign agent and American persons is illegal and unconstitutional. It is possible that she is right about the illegality, but she is almost surely wrong that it is unconstitutional. The government has appealed this decision to the Sixth Circuit. No one can say what it will decide, although other appeals courts have tolerated such surveillance. Ultimately the Supreme Court will have to decide the matter. The Constitutional arguments against the surveillance are unpersuasive. A Washington Post editorial dismissed them as “throat clearing.” Judge Taylor refers to the free speech provision of the First Amendment but fails to explain how listening to a conversation or reading e-mail abridges anyone's right to speak. Taken literally, a Constitutional ban on intercepts would make it impossible to overhear the mafia plotting murders or business executives fixing prices.
Topic:
Civil Society, Human Rights, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States and Washington

5. A Fitting Address

Author:
James Q. Wilson
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
My fellow Americans, we are winning, and winning decisively, in Iraq and the Middle East. We defeated Saddam Hussein's army in just a few weeks. None of the disasters that many feared would follow our invasion occurred. Our troops did not have to fight door to door to take Baghdad. The Iraqi oil fields were not set on fire. There was no civil war between the Sunnis and the Shiites. There was no grave humanitarian crisis. Saddam Hussein was captured and is awaiting trial. His two murderous sons are dead. Most of the leading members of Saddam's regime have been captured or killed. After our easy military victory, we found ourselves inadequately prepared to defeat the terrorist insurgents, but now we are prevailing.
Topic:
Civil Society and Government
Political Geography:
United States, Middle East, and Baghdad

6. American Dilemma: Problems of Race Still Cry to Be Solved

Author:
James Q. Wilson
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
National Review, at its founding in 1955, had as its mission stating and defending a conservative view in a nation that many believed had known only a liberal tradition. It was a difficult task, not only because of liberalism's apparent supremacy, but because it was not easy to define a conservative alternative. Conservatism could mean free-market economics, the reassertion of a traditional morality, or the endorsement of a religious or classical basis for moral thought. In the spirited discussions that took place in this magazine and elsewhere, each of these views had its proponents, and—as they made quite clear—their views were often in conflict. Individualism and free-market economics could leave morality to personal and even aberrant judgments, but a revival of moral thought and a reassertion of its religious basis could easily suppress individual choice and impose regulatory restraints on the market.
Topic:
Civil Society, Ethnic Conflict, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
United States and America

7. America Passes the Religious Test

Author:
James Q. Wilson
Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Contemporary concerns about the influence of religion in U.S. politics tend to ignore the significant contributions made by religion in shaping American democracy. Pluralism of sects explains why religion has been so important in U.S. history and continues to thrive in America.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Democratization, and Economics
Political Geography:
United States and America

8. Why Did Kerry Lose? Answer: It Wasn't "Values"

Author:
James Q. Wilson
Publication Date:
11-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Post-election analysis has focused on the importance of "moral values" in the presidential campaign, yet a closer examination of the numbers reveals that a variety of issues and the success of organizational strategies in both parties played a bigger role in the outcome.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Democratization, and Economics

9. Defining the "Peace Party"

Author:
James Q. Wilson and Karlyn H. Bowman
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
The authors find that the antiwar "peace party" has evolved since past military conflicts. Today this faction's composition may depend on the political party in power, yet it cannot be explained by age, income, or education. In addition, partisan opposition to the war reflects the higher level of ideological conflict among voters today, and war, always a black-or-white issue, will require Democratic and Republican candidates to tread carefully around peace party voters when seeking election.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Democratization, and Economics

10. 10th Annual Bradley Lecture Series

Author:
James Q. Wilson, James W. Ceaser, David Frum, Everett Carll Ladd, Alan Charles Kors, Christina Hoff Sommers, Virginia Postrel, and Joshua Muravchik
Publication Date:
06-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
The comedian Howie Mandel begins his speeches by clutching this little desk here and shouting: “Hey, if I'd known there was going to be a podium, I wouldn't have worn pants.” It's a well–worn joke, but I feel a certain proprietary claim to it. Howie Mandel is a fellow–Torontonian, and my father, in his first career as a dentist, fixed his teenage teeth.
Topic:
International Relations, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States