Search

Begin New Search Political Geography America Publishing Institution Academy of Political Science

61. Freedom Fighters and Zealots: Al Qaeda in Historical Perspective

Author:
Christopher J. Fettweis
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
At his trial, the terrorist explained that he had bombed the crowded café because he harbored a “profound hatred, intensified every day by the revolting spectacle of society where all is base, all is cowardly.” He explained that women and children were legitimate targets because his enemies never spared civilian lives. Although he was surely headed for execution, the terrorist issued ominous warnings for civilization, predicting that his movement would never die. It was “everywhere, which makes it impossible to capture.” It would end only when justice was achieved—and when its enemies were dead. His fanaticism seems entirely typical of twenty-first century terrorism, which seems far more dangerous and threatening to society than any that has come before.
Topic:
International Relations
Political Geography:
America

62. Stephen Skowronek, Presidential Leadership in Political Time: Reprise and Reappraisal

Author:
Richard Holtzman
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
Why did George W. Bush, once the beneficiary of the highest presidential approval ratings ever, end his tenure with the lowest marks on record? The answer, according to Stephen Skowronek, can be found in the patterns of “political time” (p. 18). Just over 15 years ago, Skowronekʼs The Politics PresidentsMake changed the way we think about presidential leadership, the history of the office, and their entwined significance forAmerican politics. In PresidentialLeadership in Political Time: Reprise and Reappraisal, he repackages and further develops the ideas that made his original work compelling, and does so with captivating results.
Topic:
International Political Economy
Political Geography:
America

63. Emmett H. Buell, Jr. and Lee Sigelman, Attack Politics: Negativity in Presidential Campaigns Since 1960

Author:
Darrell M. West
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
The subject of campaign negativity has attracted considerable attention in recent years. Political observers have bemoaned the rise of attack ads and the hostile tone of civil discourse. Many claim that our countryʼs campaigns are getting dirtier, and that this undermines the quality of American democracy. Yet few of these criticisms have been based on systematic evidence. Opinions and anecdotes often outweigh clear data or compelling reasoning
Topic:
International Political Economy
Political Geography:
America

64. Hybrid Threats: Reconceptualizing the Evolving Character of Modern Conflict

Author:
Frank G. Hoffman
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
America's ongoing battles in Afghanistan and Iraq have highlighted limitations in our understanding of the complexity of modern warfare. Furthermore, our cultural prism has retarded the institutionalization of capabilities needed to prevail in stabilization and counter-insurgency missions.
Topic:
War and Counterinsurgency
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Iraq, and America

65. Does One Right Make a Realist? Conservatism, Neoconservatism, and Isolationism in the Foreign Policy Ideology of American Elites

Author:
Brian C. Rathbun
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
American society, it is now frequently stated, is more politically polarized than at any time in recent memory, and a prominent front in the ideological battle between left and right is foreign policy. Most notable is, of course, the war in Iraq, but divisions between Republicans and Democrats over the proper definition of the national interest have been a feature of the post-Cold War era since its inception. Democrats and the left direct most of their ire at the neoconservatives who, they argue, have masterminded America's grand strategy since the terrorist attacks of September 2001. This partisan conflict, a genuine ideological difference, has somewhat distracted from divisions within the right. Neoconservatives have also faced significant criticism from other factions within the Republican Party. Condemnation from both traditional conservatives and isolationists has been as strident and vicious as that of the left. This raises the question of whether there is any common set of fundamentals that defines the right's foreign policy in the United States, and if not, why these subgroups are considered to be on the same side of the political spectrum.
Topic:
War
Political Geography:
America

66. Anti-Americanism and Electoral Politics in Korea

Author:
Byong-Kuen Jhee
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
Byong-Kuen Jhee analyzes Korean public attitudes toward the United States and whether and how voters' anti-American perceptions affect their electoral choices. He concludes that the surge of anti-Americanism in Korea may have a marginal impact on the country's existing favorable relationship with the United States.
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Korea

67. David or Goliath? The Israel Lobby and Its Critics

Author:
Douglas Little
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
DOUGLAS LITTLE reviews John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's controversial new book, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. He concludes that despite their prosecutorial tone, the authors have sparked a long-overdue public debate about America's special relationship by questioning whether domestic politics drives the United States to act against its own national security interests.
Topic:
Security and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Israel

68. The Racial Logic of Politics: Asian Americans and Party Competition

Author:
Claire Jean Kim
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
The scholarship that addresses Asian Americans in relation to electoral politics is still small, though growing. Thomas Kim's book is a welcome addition to this literature. Kim poses a question about election year 1996: Why did Asian American political elites who appeared poised to realize gains in political influence in the presidential election season find themselves not only marginalized but also vilified by both Democrats and Republicans as agents of Communist China? The short answer, according to Kim: Asian American political elites fundamentally misunderstood the possibilities for attaining political power in the two-party system. Using the campaign finance scandal of 1996 as his main example, Kim argues that the two-party system creates structural incentives, indeed imperatives, for both parties to exclude Asian Americans and to treat them as a racial bogeyman that must be kept at bay. With Asian Americans racialized as perpetual foreigners working as agents of foreign powers, party leaders engage in a rational calculation that tells them that the political costs of bringing Asian Americans into the party outweigh the benefits. Party leaders need not be racist or hold prejudiced attitudes, Kim emphasizes; they need only behave strategically for this dynamic to hold. Destined to remain at the gate looking in, Asian Americans should turn their attention, Kim avers, to community-level political work and give up on attaining power in the national electoral arena.
Political Geography:
America and Asia

69. The Political and Economic Forces Shaping Concentrated Poverty

Author:
William J. Wilson
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
Through the second half of the 1990s and into the early years of the twenty-first century, public attention to the plight of poor black Americans seemed to wane. There was scant media attention to the problem of concentrated urban poverty (neighborhoods in which a high percentage of the residents fall beneath the federally designated poverty line), little or no discussion of inner-city challenges by mainstream political leaders, and even an apparent quiescence on the part of ghetto residents themselves. This was dramatically different from the 1960s, when the transition from legal segregation to a more racially open society was punctuated by social unrest that sometimes expressed itself in violent terms, as seen in the riots that followed the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Topic:
Economics
Political Geography:
America

70. Multilateral Military Interventions: Theory and Practice

Author:
Sarah E. Kreps
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
SARAH E. KREPS advances a two-level definition of multilateralism that incorporates both quantitative and qualitative attributes of cooperation. She argues that the relative decline in American power, rather than leading to more robust multilateralism, might instead make UN-authorized interventions less tenable and ad hoc "coalitions of the willing" a viable alternative.
Topic:
Security and United Nations
Political Geography:
America