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The use of autonomy to initiate force, which states may begin to view as necessary to protect against hypersonic attacks and other forms of 'hyperwar,' may effectively constitute a delegation of war-initiation decision making to a machine. Yet legal questions about whether and when the leader of a country may delegate their decision making to others – and normative questions about whether he should do so – can be complicated. Any state that intends to introduce significant autonomy into such systems should assess whether and how the use of autonomy in war-initiation comports with its domestic laws and norms that govern the delegation of the use of force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than any other president of a contemporary parliamentary democracy, the Italian head of state has played a significant political role. Indeed, since the transformation of the Italian party system in 1992–3 and especially in times of economic crisis or political turmoil, Italian presidents have actively intervened in a significant way to safeguard the Constitution and improve the working of the Italian political system. In this context, the 'extended presidency' of Sergio Mattarella, originally elected in 2015 and then re-elected for a second, exceptional term in 2022, is no exception to the rule. As a matter of fact, the re-election of Mattarella (after the – at the time unprecedented – re-election of Giorgio Napolitano in 2013) has not only strengthened the role of the head of state vis-à-vis other political institutions and even more so the political parties, but it has even raised a number of questions concerning the very nature of Italy's parliamentary regime. Against this backdrop, this article analyses, from different analytical perspectives, the evolving role of the president of the Republic within the changing Italian political system by taking into consideration presidents' relationships – not always smooth – with the political parties, their atypical style of political communication (both online and offline), their exercise of executive power and, finally, their peculiar contribution to that process of more or less covert presidentialisation that has characterized Italian politics since the early 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among political scientists, presidents in parliamentary democracies have received little attention as compared to their popularly elected counterparts. Yet, there is evidence of influential heads of state beyond semi-presidential and presidential systems, and the Italian one is a case in point. Scholars agree that the 'informal power' of Italian presidents has grown substantially since the early 1990s, due to the combination of weak party organisations, the personalisation of politics, and the mediatisation of the presidency. While the literature shows that the choice of the president has become more salient for parties, hardly anything is known about the impact that the increased presidential power has on the complexity of the selection process. This article argues that, when presidents are powerful, parties face high adverse selection costs and, therefore, party leaders will be less likely to compromise on candidates. This, in turn, can lead to political stalemates. Using a novel measure of bargaining complexity, the empirical analysis supports this argument, which holds also after controlling for the contingent features of the parliamentary party set-up. The findings have implications for the study of political leaders and party behaviour at a time of party government decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When backsliding occurs at the hands of populist presidents who were elected in landslide elections, producing dominant executives with few institutional checks and weak opposition parties, should we blame the decline in democracy on their populist ideology, their presidential powers, or their parties' dominance in the legislature? The literature on democratic backsliding has mostly arrived at a consensus on what backsliding entails and collectively has revealed its growing prevalence around the globe. Yet, scholars have not settled on causal explanations for this phenomenon. We assess the evidence for recent ideology-centered arguments for democratic backsliding relative to previous institutional arguments among all democratically elected executives serving in all regions of the world since 1970. We use newly available datasets on populist leaders and parties to evaluate the danger of populists in government, and we employ matching methods to distinguish the effects of populist executives, presidents as chief executives, and dominant executives on the extent of decline in liberal democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Baltic presidents have in common that they are supposed to embody the 'nation' and provide an image of their countries abroad. But can the president embody the people if 'the people' itself is divided? In this article, we will focus on public trust in the presidency between the majority and minority population in the Baltic states. Drawing on public opinion surveys, the aim is to examine the determinants of public trust in the presidential institution and support for the performance and principles of the political system as well identification with the political community itself. Among our findings, we conclude that ethnic or linguistic identity explains trust to a considerable degree, which suggests that trust is not only an expression of specific political support, but also part of a more deep-seated, diffuse support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2019 Indonesian general election provides an interesting platform to study coattail effects considering the fact that the presidential elections were held concurrently with the three levels of the legislative offices including the national, provincial, as well as regency and city. Moreover, the multi-party system practiced in the country allows the influence of the party's position on several aspects of the coalition including the origin, old and new members, as well as new parties. Therefore, this study estimates the presidential coattail effect on the 2019 election by analyzing the relationship between presidential candidates and party vote share at three tiers of legislative elections. It also indicates the different effects of each party at every level of the legislative election with a decreasing trend from national to provincial, regency and city. The results showed several critical points which include (1) the presidential coattail effect occurs differently for parties at each level of the legislative election but most of them experienced decreasing trend from upper to lower level, (2) incumbency is not a guarantee that the coattail effect occurs equally among all members of the incumbent coalition, (3) origin party in the incumbent and competing coalitions experienced different level of effect, (4) party's history or track records in the coalition might influence the coattail effect, and (5) the presidential coattail effect is critical for the new party to gain support, specifically when it has no prominent figures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzed the annual obligatory and traditional speeches, referred to as State of the Nation Address (SONA), of the 13 past Philippine presidents. The study determined the sentiments, as well as the emergent topics, expressed in these materials. It is found that these SONAs generally expressed positive sentiments while the lowest negative sentiment, on the other hand, was during the martial law period in 1974. Also, it is shown that "development" is the most frequently appeared word among these speeches. The study also revealed that the sentiments of the incoming presidents were lower than that of the outgoing. Moreover, it is shown that these SONAs mainly focused on the following concerns of the country: (a) economic development; (b) enhancement of public services; and (c) addressing challenges. The results of the study translate into the importance of SONA as a venue to discuss and to engage with its people the nation's state and direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opposition minorities are often overlooked in presidential regimes, as they seem to lack the political clout to affect legislative outcomes. In this article, I challenge this claim, proving that opposition minorities play a significant role in the amendment and approval of executive initiatives at the committee stage. Using an original dataset that records legislators' positions on politically relevant committee reports in Argentina (1983–2017), I show that opposition legislators frequently contribute to the president's success in committee. This collaboration increases in more denationalised political contexts and for legislators aligned with the party of the provincial executive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While presidents try to allocate resources to their interests in budgeting process, they have limited power to influence because the government budget is approved by the legislative body. This study investigates whether presidents asymmetrically use information on the efficiency of programs to allocate more resources to their interests. Specifically, I focus on leftover funds in the government reporting. Growing leftover funds indicate inefficiency of the programs as they are the results of lack of demand or operational problems in implementation. Using data from the Korean government, I find that the change of leftover funds of programs and the following year's budget has a negative relation only when the change of leftover funds is negative, which suggests that the efficiency of the program improves. This phenomenon becomes more salient when the programs are related to the president's political interests. This suggests that presidents allocate resources to the programs of their interests by asymmetrically using the information on efficiency. This study contributes to the extant literature by identifying one of the presidents' tools to affect the budgeting process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2016 general election presented an unusual challenge to Republican congressional candidates: whether to market one's campaign as aligned with or against Donald Trump's controversial candidacy. In this paper, we determine what district and member-level factors influence candidate endorsements of Trump for president. Second, we study if the endorsements hurt candidates on Election Day. We find that underlying political partisanship, as measured by Mitt Romney's 2012 vote share in congressional districts, predicts much of incumbents' support for Trump, and that candidates' support did not harm them in the general election. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This selective bibliography is intended to assist legal researchers in researching the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.1 In addition to Article II, Clause 6, and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947,2 the 25th Amendment is part of the fundamental law governing presidential succession in the United States. This bibliography compiles books, book chapters, and law review articles to facilitate legal research in this area.3 When ratified in 1967, the 25th Amendment culminated nearly 175 years of Congressional effort to resolve Constitutional vagueness on certain procedure involving the temporary or permanent incapacitation of the president. While the 25th amendment did not fundamentally change the constitutional procedure of presidential succession, it did significantly clarify areas of uncertainty with the purpose of complying with the apparent intentions of the Framers of the Constitution on presidential succession.4 Since Donald Trump became president in January 2017, there has been an ongoing public debate over his provocative rhetoric and actions, and his reportedly dysfunctional presidency. In 2017, for example, questions arose about his emotional stability when he apparently tweeted threatening language involving nuclear weapons in response to statements made by Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea.5 In addition, significant concerns arose after an anonymous letter to the editor appeared in the New York Times, allegedly sent by a high-ranking administration official, stating he or she was part part of the "resistance" within the White House, which was attempting to block some of President Trump's allegedly more dangerous actions. The author reported that there was a group of similarly situated White House officials who believe that the president was unfit for office and that there was an effort to remove Trump under the Section 4 of the 25th Amendment.6 More recently, former FBI Director Andrew McCabe revealed that Justice Department officials had sought to discuss the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment with cabinet officials. Because of the critical importance of the issues involved for the nation today, this article includes sources discussing when the 25th Amendment can be invoked and whether Donald Trump's pattern of statements and behavior could give cause to invoke the 25th Amendment. As current events suggest, the issue of whether Trump should be removed under the 25th Amendment is likely to remain an issue of public concern for the foreseeable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we seek to understand the contemporary power of the presidential “bully pulpit”—the persuasive power of the nation’s highest elected office—in a context of shifting patterns of mediation. We do so by examining a major social media communication platform (Twitter) for evidence of changes in public opinion before and after President Obama’s high-profile statements on net neutrality in November 2014. This study includes novel and comprehensive data on the effects of a presidential announcement on public opinion. With social media playing a growing role in both electoral and policy discourse, this paper offers a methodological foundation for future studies in the changing nature of the presidential bully pulpit and the role of social media as a tool of mediation in political communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since golf was introduced to South Korea in the early 1900s, it has been strongly influenced by the politics that reflects socio-political contexts. Therefore, it is important to explore the political influences of golf on the context of its socio-political transformation. In this study, we explored how social and political backgrounds under each of the political administrations have affected the development of golf in South Korea. For this purpose, we utilized the socio-historical approach through document analysis to summarize the golf-related policy stances of nine presidential administrations from the Syngman Rhee government (1948–1960) to Park Geun-hye government (2013–2017). As a result, the Syngman Rhee administration pursued the construction of golf courses to bolster national security. The military regimes of Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan constructed golf courses as a means of cementing support among military circles to establish political legitimacy, and also as a means of diplomacy. The Roh Tae-woo administration initiated a construction boom in golf courses to promote sports for all. The Kim Young-sam administration announced a 'no golf' stance, while Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun-both of whom had roots in the opposition-strove to encourage golf as a means of embracing their conservative counterparts while also diluting their progressive and contrarian image. Lee Myung-bak included golf among the core strategic tourist industries, while his successor, Park Geun-hye, first prohibited public officers from playing golf before pivoting to a supportive stance later on in her administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study measures the effect of ethnic favoritism on primary education using data from the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey. In line with previous studies, this study confirms that having a coethnic president is expected to improve the likelihood of completing primary education. This study demonstrates that ethnic favoritism operates at the district level but not in the ethnic dimension, as only coethnics living in coethnic districts can benefit from it. Ethnic favoritism in the job market influences a demand-side mechanism of education by increasing the expectation of educational returns among coethnics in coethnic districts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Undoubtedly, populist political candidates from the right and the left, including Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, changed the tenor and direction of the 2016 presidential contest in the US. Much like Barack Obama’s electoral successes that were credited at least in part to his savvy social media campaigning in 2008 and 2012, since Trump’s victory, the notion that social media ‘helped him win’ has been revitalized, even by Trump himself [McCormick, R. (2016a). Donald Trump says Facebook and Twitter ‘helped him win’.The Verge. Retrieved fromhttp://www.theverge.com/2016/11/13/13619148/trump-facebook-twitter-helped-win]. This study therefore explores citizen support for populist and establishment candidates across the ideological spectrum in the US to specifically examine if using social media was related to an increased likelihood of supporting populist presidential political candidates, including Trump. Differing forms of active, passive, and uncivil social media were taken into account and the findings suggest active social media use for politics was actually related to less support for Republican populists, such as Trump, but that forms of both passive or uncivil social media use were linked to an increase in the likelihood of support to a level roughly equivalent to that of the traditional television viewing. These patterns are almost the inverse of support for Democratic populists, in this case namely Sanders. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This short essay is a reflection on the author’s own experiences with being groped on airplanes written in response to the election of the 45th president, and his proud statements and responses – both before and during the campaign – on how he violates women as a matter of course. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

“Slavery is the ground zero of race relations,” declared James and Lois Horton in their groundbreaking book,Slavery and Public History. Engaging the history and legacy of slavery is a crucial step in understanding current U.S. society especially race relations. Historic sites that have connections to slavery have begun to explore how they can more fully engage visitors in the narrative of American slavery and subsequently, inspire and enhance the conversation of race relations among contemporary visitors. Reflecting best practices, evolving scholarship, shifting audience demographics, and expanding guest expectations, three well-known historic sites – Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, George Washington’s Mount Vernon and President Lincoln’s Cottage – have developed new programs and enhanced popular offerings to interpret slavery in a more nuanced manner. These public programs, educational offerings and interpretation strategies provide audiences with a deeper understanding of the institution of race-based slavery and its legacy in the present U.S. society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The author reflects on the challenges encountered by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing in 2016 including opposing views between members, departure of Karen Postal as president due to metastatic cancer, and death of member Manfred Greiffenstein.

The article discusses the concept of hybrid media campaigning in relation to the authors' claim about how 2016 U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump utilized mass media coverage to secure the American Republican Party's nomination. Political communication in America is addressed, along with populist politicians, celebrity culture, and Trump's blend of politics and entertainment. Publicity and Trump's use of social media platforms such as Twitter during his campaign are assessed.

The article presents the Annual State of the Academy Report of the President of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN). He highlights the organizational leadership of AACN where he had the privilege to work with some of the most accomplished leaders in the field for 10 years. He also discussed the academy membership which has to continued to grow. He tackles the partnership between AACN and the American Board of Clinical Neurophysiology Inc. (ABCN)

The article describes the functions of the special collection Fond of the Presidents of Ukraine (FPU) within the V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, as well as the history of its formation, purpose, activities, and operational features. It emphasizes that the main characteristics of the institution are not only collecting and using various types of documents, but also research and informational-analytical work to popularize them among citizens and authorities. Unlike the US presidential libraries, in Ukraine the conception of the FPU envisages it as an integrated documentary and informational-analytical center to collect heritage materials and study the institution of the presidency as a whole. FPU also provides operative scholarly and informational resources to government officials, to the scholarly community, to the broad student community, and to society in general through the Internet portal of the V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine and social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The president's ability to influence the news agenda is central to the study of American politics. Although there is a large literature that examines presidential agenda-setting vis-à-vis traditional news sources, such as newspapers or broadcast television networks, there is little research that explores the effects of presidential agenda leadership of nontraditional media whether online or cable television. This study remedies this state of affairs by examining the relationship between the president's daily agenda and traditional and nontraditional daily news agendas. I argue that although the president should find similar space on all news for topics he raises in his speeches, nontraditional sources are more likely to cover other stories that reference the president. Analysis of 748 stories on the presidency for 63 days in early 2012 from 7 traditional, cable, and online news sources provides support for my argument, with cable news providing the most presidential news coverage. I conclude with some implications about what my findings mean for presidential leadership of nontraditional media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes congressional activism during an international crisis. Using the 1994 Rwandan genocide as a case, this study explores executive–congressional relations during a time when immediate policy responses are needed. A content analysis of policy statements made during committees, on the House floor, and on the Senate floor is used to investigate the specific policy ideas proposed by members of Congress. The models presented pay particular attention to the actions of Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) members, in relation to other more common predictors of congressional activism. In addition to the results for CBC members, other conclusions indicate that foreign policy leaders in Congress are international affairs policy experts without serious concerns of being defeated in their next election. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Nigeria is currently faced with serious domestic challenges. While the state is not officially at war, it is standing on the precipice, especially with the eruption of violence occasioned by the emergence of the Boko Haram sect and the tenuous peace in the Niger Delta. With the 2015 general elections on the horizon, fears of further violence and disintegration are rife, more so because of the debate over who occupies the Presidential Villa at Abuja. President Goodluck Jonathan, a southerner, seems poised for a comeback even amidst the vociferous challenge posed by the political elites of northern Nigeria. This article looks at the different scenarios that might play out in 2015. It analyses the challenges of the survival of the Nigerian state, and makes some policy recommendations that Nigeria and its people need to put into place in order to ensure its survival beyond 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To identify college presidents’ support for tobacco-free campus policies (TFCP), perceived barriers and benefits to implementing such policies, and activities that might initiate policy adoption.Participants: Participants were 405 presidents (51% of 796 delivered surveys) from a national sample of eligible 4-year institutions in summer 2012.Methods: A 4-page, 24-item cross-sectional questionnaire was mailed to potential participants in 4 waves to maximize the response rate.Results: The vast majority of presidents support TFCP (84%) and believed they should play a key role in establishing TFCP (80%). A majority agreed advocacy by campus groups was necessary to establishing TFCP. Presidents with an existing policy were twice as likely to believe advocacy was necessary for policy establishment. Presidents most commonly selected creating policy drafts and designating a committee as important to initiating TFCP.Conclusion: Advocates would benefit from focusing on presidential involvement and solutions to personnel barriers in establishing TFCP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the presidencies of Erskine Childers, Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh and Patrick Hillery during the period 1973–1990. Each of the presidential terms is examined in terms of the background of the incumbent, the circumstances of his nomination as president and his role in office. Commencing with the election of Erskine Childers, the role assumed a higher public profile, with national engagements and international travel, and this activity has become a defining feature of all subsequent presidencies. Nonetheless, each of the presidents covered in this article adopted a narrow interpretation of the role, sought to avoid conflict with the government of the day and was strongly guided by governmental definition of the role and its powers. Moreover, during the term of the Fine Gael–Labour coalition led by Liam Cosgrave (1973–1977) evidence was found of uncomfortable cohabitation between presidents and an administration from different political traditions, leading in one case to a presidential resignation, although cohabitation appears not to have been an issue during the later coalition led by Garret FitzGerald. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Eamon de Valera's 1937 constitution created the office of President. Initially viewed with suspicion and interpreted by some as a step towards dictatorship, the presidency gradually came to be seen as a remote office and place of retirement for elder statesmen. The age profile of the three presidents examined in this article and their collective time in office initially appear to confirm such observations. Theirs tended to be a quiet office with days filled entertaining or dealing with correspondence. However, the first three presidents should not be considered as passive. Their willingness to exercise their discretionary powers was an important part of ensuring that the office functioned properly and effectively. It was also during these early years that the protocols and procedures of the office were decided. Though less remarkable than the later, more active presidents, the first three office holders played an important role in ensuring the smooth emergence of the presidency. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article traces the significance of offices which preceded that of President of Ireland (the lord lieutenancy and the governor-generalship) and of models on which the President of Ireland was based, notably the British monarchy, for the post-1937 presidency. It argues that the relatively powerless role of the Irish President – a political anomaly, as the office holder is directly elected – is attributable to an important historical legacy. A key component in this is the set of attitudes towards Great Britain and its monarch that has formed a central part of Irish nationalist ideology, and that has sought to marginalise or eliminate the British presence in Ireland, as symbolised by the monarch and his or her representative in Dublin. This created a distribution of power that was strongly tilted in the direction first of the President of the Executive Council (1922–1937) and then of the Taoiseach. Reversing this political cultural bias has presented a major challenge for Irish presidents. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is long-standing belief that the Irish presidency is a unique or at least a very unusual institution. To what extent is this interpretation correct? This article compares the Irish presidency with other presidencies. It examines the spread of direct presidential elections and the gradual diffusion of constitutions with a mix of presidential and parliamentary features. It then compares the Irish President with 42 other presidencies, including countries with a directly elected president and those with an indirectly elected president. The article compares the powers of these presidents, the process of election, and the prospects for constitutional reform. The comparison shows that Ireland is now one of a small group of countries that have a directly elected but weak presidency, and that while the Irish presidency may be unusual in almost all aspects of the electoral process, the Irish case has equivalents elsewhere. The main conclusion is that the Irish presidency is not unique. In all significant respects, the presidency exhibits and has always exhibited commonalities with equivalent institutions. That said, in a number of regards the presidency has always been and/or remains relatively unusual. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The alignment between media and presidential framing following 9/11, as well as surrounding the Iraq war, has been criticized as an instance of "when the press fails." We explore this idea further by comparing presidential and newspaper framing in the case of 9/11 and the subsequent "war on terror." We argue that high president/press framing alignment after 9/11, and again during the start of the Iraq war, was largely driven by institutional incentives. Thus, "failure" of the press should be expected in these cases, as in the case of other crisis events that yield a strong rally response. Because the media and the president operate under different incentives, they exhibit different framing behaviors—and different framing dynamics. The result is that, in general, the framing messages of these two institutions sometimes align, especially at critical moments, but more often differ. And in the case of major crises like 9/11 and Iraq, we should see a distinct pattern in president/press framing alignment over time—namely, high initial alignment followed by steep decay—as incentives lead the president to "stay the course" while leading news outlets to shift their framing in line with elite and public opinion. We test this idea by applying a new measure of framing alignment to over 3,400 news stories and 500 presidential papers about 9/11 and the war. We find support for our theoretical expectations, showing that, despite their immediate similarities in the cases of 9/11 and Iraq, the president and the press exhibited increasingly divergent framing behaviors over time. [Supplementary material is available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Political Communication for the following free supplemental resource(s): crisis definition, detailed data and coding descriptions, summary statistics, a sample alignment calculation, and additional figures illustrating frame correlation and media tone] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 2008 election campaign Obama's youth, his glamorous wife, young children, and liberal politics resuscitated the memory of Kennedy, who remains the benchmark of the presidential image. This article explores how Obama shapes himself in Kennedy's image. Employing Freud's concept of the 'ego-ideal', the article examines how Obama has sought to establish himself as Kennedy's natural successor through his presentation and performance. The article compares the representation of the two presidents in the works of Annie Leibovitz, Stanley Tretick, and Richard Avedon, as well as the documentaries Primary (1960) and By the People (2009). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between semi-presidentialism and the co-ordination or leadership of national EU policy has become increasingly relevant. After all, currently 11 of the 27 European Union (EU) member states have semi-presidential systems of government. This article contributes to the literature through a comparative analysis of the ‘fit’ between semi-presidentialism and the co-ordination of national EU policy, with empirical evidence from Finland used to illustrate the challenges involved in combining semi-presidentialism with EU membership. The main argument is that semi-presidential regimes where both the government and the president have powers in foreign and/or European policy are prone to tensions, particularly when considering that domestic foreign policies are increasingly co-ordinated at the EU level and that foreign and EU policies are difficult to separate from one another. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Situated in the broader context of academic administration and senior executive university leadership, this study examined variables correlated with self-reported satisfaction and performance among community college and four-year university presidents in four densely populated north American states. The results of our analysis suggest that personal and institutional demographics as well as measures of institutional discord are significant predictors of self-reported presidential satisfaction and performance. It was found that malleable factors - such as the difference in perception between what 'is' and what 'should be' - are more influential in predicting satisfaction and performance than fixed factors, such as personal and institutional demographics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Where and how citizens get their political information remains a key component of political decision-making. While traditional media outlets remain significant, new and newly discovered forms of media are growing in importance. One media grouping, women's magazines, emerged as a full-fledged source of political information in the 2004 presidential campaign. Politics is not a routine subject for magazines like O, the Oprah Magazine; Ladies Home Journal; or Latina. Even style magazines like Vogue covered the 2004 campaign. Despite their typically “softer” focus, these magazines covered the same issues and provided the same level of attention to softer, style-based concerns as current events magazines. However, soft and hard news outlets differed significantly in the use of partisan terminology and the emphasis on strategic behavior. Women's magazines did not subscribe to the game coverage typically prevalent in presidential coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has on 14 July 2008, applied for an Arrest Warrant against Sudanese President, Al-Bashir for alleged complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. This is the first time for the ICC in its infant history to consider charges of genocide, and for that matter, also for the first time ever to consider indicting a Head of State. The Prosecutor is undeterred by concerns that his endeavour might add fuel to an already igniting situation in Darfur. He says that 'I am a prosecutor doing a judicial case'. On 4 March 2009, the ICC issued a warrant of arrest for President Al-Bashir, listing five counts of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes. This development has necessitated a return to SC Resolution 1593 to unravel some of its controversial aspects such as those relating to the sources of funding of the referral; categorisation of States with respect to their co-operation with the ICC; how complementarity applies when the alleged suspect is himself the Head of State; the unpredictable manner in which the Resolution recognises immunity for nationals of non-party States; the role of sovereign immunity; conflict prevention role of the Prosecutor; and narrowing of the gap in the US opposition to the ICC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since well before 11 September 2001, Russia has faced a significant threat of terrorism from radical Islamist groups based in Chechnya and other parts of the North Caucasus region. First as prime minister under Yeltsin, then as president, Vladimir Putin cited terrorism as justification for a comprehensive series of measures centralising power. These measures included appointing presidential envoys to federal super-districts, ending the direct election of regional governors, eliminating single-member district seats from the State Duma, expanding state control over the mass media, and tightening controls over public political activity. Efforts by parliament to assert oversight power over the security agencies, such as through investigations of their actions in the Beslan crisis, were effectively blocked. The terrorist threat thus created opportunities for President Putin to pursue a political agenda that aggrandised presidential power at the expense of the Duma and other federal-level institutions, as well as regional governments, the mass media, and civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

British cartoonists' portrayal of the United States after Watergate was affected by changes in cartooning imagery and style and by various significant features of American politics and society. The outcome was a more critical picture. Causes included a new generation of cartoonists with a sharper critical edge; a greater interest by up-market newspapers in cartoons; and a growing public tolerance of offensive imagery. Cartoonists continued to benefit from readers' familiarity with the imagery of American popular culture and with the office of President. On the American side, controversial domestic and foreign policies, the personal behaviour of particular Presidents, and the reduced mystique of the presidency, all gave more grounds for criticism. British cartoonists tended to over-represent the President at the expense of other political institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most conventional oral history takes a bottom-up approach to the past, focusing on settings where there is little in the way of a functional written record. This essay discusses the value of oral history in the opposite case of the American presidency. The written archive and journalistic record on each president is immense. Yet oral history is a valuable resource in this elite environment, too. There are routine silences in even the best of presidential papers, which oral history interviews can help fill. Moreover, the White House has become a workplace Where recorded details can be hazardous to one's political health. Accordingly, few presidential aides today keep diaries or notes of key meetings—impoverishing the archive future historians will use to study the presidency of our times. Oral history thus fortifies a weakening documentary record. This essay explores these broad issues and how they are being dealt with in the conduct of the William J. Clinton Presidential History Project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research suggests that political elites excel at controlling political and media information environments, particularly in times of national crisis, such as the events and aftermath of September 11. This study examines the creation and passage of the Patriot Act, which was proposed by the Bush administration following the terrorist attacks and quickly passed with strong support by the U.S. Congress. We argue that (a) the public communications of the Bush administration, particularly those by George W. Bush and John Ashcroft, and (b) news coverage about the legislation were instrumental in this outcome. Public communications by Bush and Ashcroft and news coverage about the Act were content analyzed to identify the timing of the messages and the themes and perspectives emphasized, and congressional debates and activities were examined for insight into their relation with administration and press discourse. Findings suggest that Bush and Ashcroft's communications, in combination with a press that largely echoed the administration's messages, created an environment in which Congress faced significant pressure to pass the legislation with remarkable speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On July 2, 1881, Charles Julius Guiteau shot President James Abram Garfield in the right flank. The President died because of infection produced by the unsterile fingers and probes repeatedly inserted into the wound. The major complaint of the wounded President was intractable pain in his legs and feet. This symptom failed to alert the doctors to the possibility of vertebral and spinal cord injury. Garfield died with sepsis after 80 days of intense national concern, and for the patient there was psychological, physical, and nutritional deprivation. His autopsy revealed the bullet was not in the pelvis as his doctors had expected, but adjacent to the first lumbar vertebra it had shattered. The trial and execution of Guiteau split the medical community into those that considered him insane and those who felt execution was justified. Guiteau was delusional and his brain revealed chronic inflammation and histological features suggestive of syphilis. At the time, and since, the propriety of the execution has been questioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2000 Republican nomination battle illustrates the waning importance of campaign momentum to winning the presidential nomination and the increasing significance of early fundraising and organization. The reform movement of the 1970s established a new presidential nomination structure, which placed a premium on building momentum by winning early contests such as the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. However, so many recent front-runners survived early defeats, suggesting the conventional wisdom needs to be revisited. In 2000, frontrunner George W. Bush, survived two substantial “bumps in the road” to go on and win his party's nomination faster than anyone in the post-reform period. This research explores how the resources obtained before the onset of the primaries prevented seemingly important early losses in New Hampshire and Michigan from denying Bush the nomination. The data examined include five measures of campaign organization obtained from quarterly and monthly reports filed with the Federal Election Commission by candidate campaigns: (1) money raised, (2) cash reserves, (3) state organizations, (4) paid staff, (5) payroll expenses and consultant fees. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The issue of legitimation by political elites has been a central concern of political scientists for many years. This article draws upon the work of Murray Edelman who was instrumental in analysing this relationship between rulers and ruled, the relatively powerful and relatively powerless, through an understanding of language, symbolism and the manipulation of information. It concludes with the contention that the Internet offers the prospect for governments to create new 'electronic faces', which act to support a symbolic architecture of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]