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The given text is a book review from the Journal of Religious History. The first part of the review discusses a book titled "Sacred Foundations: The Religious and Medieval Roots of the European State" by Anna Gryzmała-Busse. The reviewer states that while the book acknowledges the role of the medieval Church in the development of European states, it is more focused on the origins of the modern state and may not satisfy medievalists. The second part of the review discusses another book titled "Thomas Drew and the Making of Victorian Belfast" by Sean Farrell. The book explores the role of Thomas Drew, an evangelical clergyman, in shaping ultra-Protestant attitudes in Belfast during the 19th century. The reviewer describes Drew as a complex figure who combined evangelical passion with efforts to suppress Catholicism and maintain Protestant dominance. [Extracted from the article]

"The Democracy Amendments: Constitutional Reforms to Save the United States" by John Davenport is a book that examines the structural faults of the contemporary Constitution and proposes 25 amendments to restore the Republic. Davenport addresses common defects such as the undemocratic Senate, the size of the House, and life tenure for federal court judges, as well as components of America's political experiment that have evolved. While the book makes a valuable contribution to the discussion of constitutional reform, it has some editing errors and questionable linguistic choices. Additionally, Davenport's framing of the undemocratic Senate as "geographical apartheid" is criticized for equating it with the systematic terror inflicted on an entire race. The author also overlooks the possibility of a revolutionary convention to scrap the entirety of the 1787 Constitution and start over. Overall, the book is recommended for those interested in the future of the American polity and constitutional reform. [Extracted from the article]

Declining levels of trust in the media in Western democracies have drawn the attention of political scientists, but much less attention has been paid to East Asia. This paper sets out to examine the logic behind media trust in three different types of regimes in East and Southeast Asia: countries with, partial, and no press freedom, respectively. Our findings show that while respondents' trust in government and support for socioideological control of the government have consistent and significant associations with their media trust across all 12 countries, Internet usage, online political participation, support for media censorship, and patriotic belief have different associations with the variable being studied as the degree of press freedom varies. The findings indicate that citizens are well aware of the role mass media plays in the political system and thus their trust in the media reflects the expectation‐perception gap of the government‐media relationship accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the book "How the West Lost the Peace: The Great Transformation Since the Cold War" by Philipp Ther, the author examines the post-Cold War West and explores the reasons for its perceived decline. Ther attributes much of the blame to neoliberalism and right-wing populism. He provides a personalized perspective, drawing from his experiences living and working in various countries. The book covers topics such as the economic and political transformations in the United States, Germany's challenges following reunification, Italy's economic crisis and the rise of populism, and the impact of COVID-19 on Europe. While the book offers interesting insights, some readers may find certain anecdotes distracting or irrelevant. [Extracted from the article]

An important challenge facing political decision making today is inequality in representation. Political scientists have shown that the preferences of certain groups—especially those who have higher incomes or are better educated—systematically preponderate in political decision making. Trying to elucidate the mechanisms behind these findings, this research note explores one specific possible driver of representational inequality: that politicians downplay the opinions of disadvantaged groups, and here specifically, of the lower‐educated. By means of a survey experiment with politicians, we test the idea that politicians have a hard‐wired inclination to assume that the opinions of citizens who have received lower (i.e., vocational) education are less thoughtful than the opinions of citizens who followed a higher (i.e., general) education. The findings are somewhat ambiguous but the expectation is at least partly corroborated by the evidence. The findings illustrate the psychological foundations that may ultimately make politicians disregard the preferences of the lower‐educated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographers and urban studies scholars tend to rely on policy mobilities approaches to explain processes of policy spread, whereas political scientists and public policy scholars usually draw on either policy diffusion or policy transfer. I challenge this widespread scholarly practice of selecting approaches based on the association with a certain discipline. Instead, first and foremost, the specific research aim(s) and question(s) should shape the choice of theoretical lens. Analytical or policy outcome‐oriented studies should rely on policy diffusion and policy transfer, while a policy mobilities approach is best suited for more (policy) critical analysis. The approaches can also complement each other to a certain degree. Analytical and policy outcome‐oriented approaches need a stronger critical perspective while policy mobilities scholars need to underpin their critique with constructive suggestions on how to improve established practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nineteenth and early twentieth century Liberal Party has been well served by British political historians. By contrast, research on the post‐1945 Liberal Party and Liberal Democrats has become a specialised field, with strong empirical foundations (including in biographies and political science work) but few connections with the larger narratives that historians tell about postwar Britain. This article explores how the story of the 'long Liberal revival' from the late 1950s to the 2010–15 coalition might be reintegrated with contemporary historiography, including debates about deindustrialisation, class dealignment and the rise of 'popular individualism'. It argues that careful attention to the nature and limits of Liberals' political agency can help us understand the changing meaning and significance of third‐party politics in Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

However, the close-knit cooperation in the 16th and 17th centuries between commoners and priests employed as local state officials and the systematized and state-regulated use of petitions to legitimize rule also stand out as Scandinavian traits. We learn from I Bringing the People Back In i that state and society need not be enemies since, in Scandinavia, state officials often communicated or even encouraged and supported the popular petitions. How did state and society co-evolve historically in the Western world, and how did patterns of state-society interactions shape the development of liberal democracy and the state's propensity to deliver desired public goods?. [Extracted from the article]

Since the consolidation of democracy and the inception of reforms thereof in Ghana, one raging subject matter that has over time come under intense scrutiny, and persistently, altogether eminently preoccupied the attention of political scientists, pollsters, marketers and strategists in particular, has been one bordering on voter's behavior. Understanding voter's behavior is crucially indispensable to reshaping the democratic process and devising political strategies. In spite of this, there is however a paucity of research focus targeted at unraveling the distinct behavior patterns and underpinnings relative to voters' choices. Against this backdrop, the main idea of this research is to explore the antecedents of voters' choice. The theory of consumer behavior has been used as the theoretical framework. Using the survey approach, data was elicited from card bearing registered voters and analyzed with the aid of the structural equation modeling technique. Results of data (n = 363) analysis revealed a confluence of voters' choice antecedents anchored on; quality, trust, attractiveness, expertise and image. Based on the results, study implications are discussed, and suggestions for future research are subsequently delineated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to this perspective populism can be a form of mobilization, a type of political regime, a communicative style, a I forma mentis i or a thin-centered ideology (Zulianello 2017). Many researchers are questioning whether new populism, as a phenomenon has specificities with respect to historical populism. There is an ongoing debate on the reasons that favored the emergence of the new populism, and probably the causes are multiple and involve different plans: from the structure of the political offer to the economic-social dimensions. Although, according to Mudde and Cristóbal Rovira (2017), whatever the variant, the new populism is a diverse set of ideas with three common characteristics: anti-establishment, authoritarianism, and nativism. [Extracted from the article]

Thackeray and Toye point out that increasingly MPs have been regarded "less as independent persons" than as "standard-bearers of their parties committed to manifesto pledges" they had not themselves drawn up (p. 5), and Toye's chapter positions Churchill as 'one of the last custodians of an older model of political independence'. I Electoral Pledges in Britain i , an ambitious and absorbing edited collection from David Thackeray and Richard Toye, places the art of promise-making at the heart of a complex "ecosystem of political persuasion" (p. 7). Manifestos played a role in "the working-out of ideological conflicts" - in purporting to act as "custodians of the manifesto", Labour rivals were signalling "their identity as socialists of one form or another" to an internal party constituency as much as to the electorate (Wickham Jones, p. 230). [Extracted from the article]

I If Then i is a riveting narrative history of the Simulmatics Corporation, "Cold War America's Cambridge Analytica" (pp. 1-2), from its founding in 1959 to its bankruptcy in 1970. Amid the tumult of New Left critique and campus protests, Pool resigned from MIT and Simulmatics declared bankruptcy in 1970. [Extracted from the article]

Reframing the state in terms of its "scarcity" seems simple, and yet it radically shifts how we think about its capacity to shape society, and the expectations we have for how society should react to state actions. Strong societies and weak states: State-society relations and state capabilities in the third world. Upon immediate reflection, the title of Noah Nathan's new book, The Scarce State, is hardly remarkable. [Extracted from the article]

There are several theses in political science that are usually explicitly called 'laws'. Other theses are generally thought of as laws, but often without being explicitly labelled as such. Still other claims are well‐supported and arguably interesting, while no one would be tempted to call them laws. This situation raises philosophical questions: which theses deserve to be called laws and which not? And how should we decide about this? In this paper we develop and motivate a strategy for thinking about laws in political science which integrates two core concepts: spatio‐temporal stability and social mechanisms. The proposed strategy is a set of guidelines that political scientists can use to reflect on and argue about specific cases within their discipline, not a clear‐cut demarcation criterion. We defend and motivate this strategy and apply it to two cases (one with respect to state repression, one about parliamentary elections). After we have developed and motivated our strategy for political science, we show that our proposal is relevant for other disciplines in the social sciences. We explain how our views fit into critical realism and embed them in the debate on laws in general philosophy of science and in the philosophy of the social sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last few years, especially after the Brexit referendum and the 2016 U.S. elections, there has been a surge in academic interest for misinformation and disinformation. Social, cognitive, and political scientists' work on these phenomena has focused on two main aspects: Individuals' (and by extension societies') vulnerability to misinformation;Factors and interventions that can increase individuals' (and societies') resistance to misinformation. In this article, we offer a critical review of the psychological research pertaining to these two aspects. Drawing on this review, we highlight an emerging tension in the relevant literature. Indeed, the current state of the art of the political misinformation literature reflects the combined operation of two opposing psychological constructs: excess gullibility on the one hand and excess vigilance on the other. We argue that this conceptualization is important in both advancing theories of individuals' and societies' vulnerability to misinformation and in designing prospective research programs. We conclude with proposing what, in our view, are the most promising avenues for future research in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pensions provision in the UK has been undergoing upheaval for several decades, as an already liberal regime has gradually been further liberalised, resulting in the rollout of defined contribution provision via the pseudo‐compulsory automatic enrolment system. Yet, the system is dysfunctional, insofar as it replaces the institutional guarantors essential to pensions provision with hazy notions of individual responsibility. The ability of capitalism to reproduce itself is jeopardised as a result. Increasingly, the state, despite scaling back the state pension system, is intervening to subsidise and substitute for a marketised system. Despite the significant risk of poor outcomes for millions of savers in the automatic enrolment system, and the integral role of the state in private provision, pensions policy receives little attention in political debates, or by political scientists. This is driven in part by a lack of salience among the public, which is itself a result of the peculiar temporality of pensions. Yet it is a product also of the disciplinary norms of political science, and the positionality of political scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global population is increasing at an alarming rate, posing a threat on the supplies of basic needs and services. However, population increase does not seem to be a common agendum of the global scientists and political leaders. People in the developed countries are more concerned about new technologies and their products. Pseudo‐threats related to the uncertainties of genetic engineering of crops and their outputs present on consumers are more audible and controversial than the real difficulties the world is experiencing at the moment and in the future. This review presents brief summaries of the real reasons to worry about and the uncertainties about genetically modified organisms. This article also presents the real uncertainties shared by consumers and scientists with respect to the past, present, and future of genetically engineered organisms. Developments in the field of precision genetics in the recent years and the implications on regulatory, breeding, and socio‐cultural dimensions of the global settings are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost all the vast academic and political debate which has arisen around soft power in the last fifteen years or so still starts with Nye, and the question of power in international relations today. But there are also: 'Antonio Gramsci (hegemony), Pierre Bourdieu (symbolic power), Michel Foucault (disciplinary power), or Jürgen Habermas (communicative power)'. £20 Thirty years have gone by since the Harvard political scientist Joseph Nye Jr. launched his concept of soft power on its extraordinary career. [Extracted from the article]

On a hopeful note, they point out that the most important advantage that democracies have against dictators is the idea of liberal democracy itself - today's dictators do not have any solid competing ideas. Dictators have been around since the beginning of human history. What makes spin dictators distinctively different from fear dictators?. [Extracted from the article]

What is the effect of electoral uncertainty on a legislature's preference for bureaucratic insulation? Previous research argues that an increase in electoral uncertainty results in an increase in a legislature's preference for bureaucratic insulation, delegation of a program to an independent agency or multiple agencies, for a government‐regulated program. However, there is disagreement among political scientists on how to conceptually or empirically measure electoral uncertainty and bureaucratic insulation. I use the common conceptual definitions of electoral uncertainty and bureaucratic insulation from the legislative delegation literature in a within‐subject experiment of U.S. state legislators and legislative staff to assess the causal effect of electoral uncertainty on their preference for one of the four strategies of bureaucratic insulation. Once a legislature is subject to electoral uncertainty, I find that the respondents are more likely to delegate to an independent agency and multiple agencies that collectively implement a program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topic of abortion has been among the most salient and polarizing issues on the European continent since the 1960s. However, abortion referendums have not received much attention from political scientists—to date, there is no comparative analysis of such popular votes. This article goes beyond the usual models of single case/country analyses and examines nationwide referendums on this policy in four European countries from the last four decades. The analysis focuses on twelve referendums and aims to identify the factors behind the pro‐choice or pro‐life outcome of a referendum by exploring the impact of relative consensus within the parliament, support of the head of government and medical experts, and the level of secularization of the country. The findings suggest that these factors have a substantial influence on the outcome. Related Articles: Carmines, Edward G., Jessica C. Gerrity, and Michael W. Wagner. 2010. "How Abortion Became a Partisan Issue: Media Coverage of the Interest Group‐Political Party Connection." Politics & Policy 38 (6): 1135‐1158. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2010.00272.x Doan, Alesha E., and Corinne Schwarz. 2020. "Father Knows Best: 'Protecting' Women through State Surveillance and Social Control in Anti‐Abortion Policy." Politics & Policy 48 (1): 6‐37. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12337 LaFrance, T. Casey, and Brian Frederick. 2007. "Economic Status versus Same‐Sex Marriage Referenda in the 2004 Democratic Presidential Vote in 'Appalachian' Counties." Politics & Policy 35 (2): 298‐317. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2007.00061.x [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our best account of something like Final Five Voting - nonpartisan elections via ranked ballot in single-seat districts - holds that "the party organizations soon discovered... that they could throw the whole weight of the party organization behind [preferred] candidates" (Maxey, 1922, pp. 84-55). "Elections machinery" encapsulates two issues: party control of the party label, then how winners are chosen (e.g., via plurality). Immediately, the book targets two audiences: those who cannot win major-party primaries and those who might "launch a startup: a new political party" (p. 5). [Extracted from the article]

From the Texas textbook debate to the March for Science, visible displays of activism illuminate how deeply politicized the science‐religion interface has become. However, little is known about the extent to which scientists' attitudes about science and religion are politicized. Using original survey data from 1,989 U.S. academic biologists and physicists, we examine the degree to which political views shape how scientists perceive the relationship between religion and science, religious authority, their personal religious identity, and views on dominant scientific theories. Findings suggest that, indeed, the science‐religion interface holds political meaning for scientists, but in different ways across the political spectrum. Specifically, for politically liberal scientists, atheism and the conflict narrative are particularly politicized belief structures, while politically conservative scientists emphasize religious identity to distinguish themselves from political liberals. Findings point to the critical role of politics in shaping scientists' attitudes and identities, which may have implications for the scientific enterprise, both at the lab bench and in the political sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: The case against inequality should be open‐and‐shut. Evidence shows that the happiest and healthiest people live in countries with low inequality. Yet, the argument that inequality constitutes perhaps the most pressing challenge the world faces today is an idea whose time has not yet come. Purpose: Since the impact of inequality extends well beyond the economic realm, the scope of analysis must be broadened, taking a multidisciplinary perspective, including historians, sociologists, psychologists, moral philosophers and political scientists. Approach and methods: Mostly a concise summary of the main findings of the literature and research from a wide range of disciplines. Findings: The findings in these different disciplines must be brought together and complemented by deliberate efforts to convey them to the public at large. They show that inequality has a deep and far‐reaching influence on people and society. Policy implications: Inequality will not be brought down by paying more lip service to it or by conducting more research that stays in an ivory tower. Only if we come to understand that inequality engenders near universal harm will we muster the courage to address it. Equity‐adjusted averages must replace standard statistics on human development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture now faces grand challenges, with crucial implications for the global future. These include the need to increase production of nutrient‐dense food, to improve agriculture's effects on soil, water, wildlife, and climate, and to enhance equity and justice in food and agricultural systems. We argue that certain politics of constructive collective action—and integral involvement of agricultural scientists in these politics—are essential for meeting grand challenges and other complex problems facing agriculture in the 21st century. To spur reflection and deliberation about the role of politics in the work of agricultural scientists, we outline these politics of constructive collective action. These serve to organize forceful responses to grand challenges through coordinated and cooperative action taken by multiple sectors of society. In essence, these politics entail (1) building bonds of affinity within a heterogenous network, (2) developing a shared roadmap for collective action, and (3) taking sustained action together. These emerging politics differ markedly from more commonly discussed forms of political activity by scientists, e.g., policy advisory, policy advocacy, and protest. We present key premises for our thesis, and then describe and discuss a politics of constructive collective action, the necessary roles of agricultural scientists, and an agenda for exploring and expanding their engagement in these politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bernstein observed that 'democracy is a condition of socialism to a much greater degree than is usually assumed, i.e., it is not only the means but also the substance', while Piketty adds to this that 'history shows that inequality is essentially ideological and political, not economic or technological'. Piketty is aware that neither world government nor a world tax inspector are either desirable or possible, and that demanding unanimity creates a serious obstacle to major reform (think of the UN veto here). [Extracted from the article]

By any standard, the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic has been abysmal, with countless unnecessary deaths and suffering. Although the human impact is most important, the pandemic has also had enormous consequences on the U.S. political system. Health policy and politics scholars, particularly from political science orientations, are ideally equipped to evaluate the pandemic response from a political perspective. In this study, we report on the results of a two‐wave survey of academic health policy researchers in April/May (N = 239) and September (N = 158) 2020. Respondents noted an outsized influence of public health, medicine, and economics, while noting limited public engagement of social scientists like sociologists and political scientists. The perceived expert influence declined over the two waves, while assessment of electoral consequences to favor Democrats grew. Respondents also offered a sober perspective on federal and state responses to the pandemic, forecasting lasting implications for health policy and political dynamics for years to come. Given their expertise, health policy and politics scholars appear uniquely qualified to enter the public and policy discourse going forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To many scientists and political authorities, the development of a vaccine against Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) will be the way to restore normality to civil life in this time of a devastating pandemic. Expectations for a vaccine are high while the case numbers continue to rise. As of mid‐August 2020, more than 20 million people have been infected and more than 760 000 lives have been lost worldwide. The threat of this virus to health, the economy and to society is so great that the wish for a fast track vaccine is understandable, but how realistic is it? This survey article tries to give an overview of vaccine candidates in development, including preclinical and clinical testing, and it mentions some of the societal problems of vaccine acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several explanations of the current syndrome affecting advanced democracies make reference to a process of cultural change that has been triggered by the complex and interrelated phenomena known as globalization. The rise of populist‐authoritarian parties, the advent of post‐truth politics and the increasing dissatisfaction with democracy are seen by many political scientists as rather direct consequences of social and economic transformations which had changed the context in which the democratic process takes place. The main limitation of this literature is that it treats culture as a black box receiving inputs from the social context and translate them into political consequences. By doing so it cannot explain why the same conditions produce different consequences in different contexts and it is silent on the criteria to develop anti‐crisis policies. This article argues that some of the insights offered by the Semiotic Cultural Psychology Theory, most notably the idea that cultural evolution is moved by the need to find affect‐laden, simplified interpretations of the reality to restore the capacity of making sense on an uncertain socio‐political context, can enhance the ability of political scientists to understand the current political phenomena and to develop methodological criteria to counteract the current scenario of democratic crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we call for a closer analysis of the role of the nation state in shaping the geographies of knowledge created through public–private infrastructure collaborations, focusing on the empirical case of smart grids. We draw on contributions from economic geographers and political scientists, identifying an empirical and analytical blind spot around how states shape knowledge production and mobility in regulated infrastructure economies. We argue that national state institutions have strong influence through their initial framing of what is relevant knowledge, and the geography of its applicability. The type of knowledge valued by the state institutions in our two case studies of public–private smart grid initiatives is that which can be rescaled to apply to national energy systems, by being stripped of its local context. In practice, however, many types of knowledge are produced through smart grid experiments, including tacit, context‐specific knowledge. In this short paper we demonstrate the need to be attentive to both corporate and policy theories about types of knowledge and their mobilities, in order to better understand the geographies of smart grid and other regulated infrastructure knowledges. In this paper we call for a closer analysis of the role of the nation state in shaping the geographies of knowledge created through public–private infrastructure collaborations, focusing on the empirical case of smart grids. We draw on contributions from economic geographers and political scientists, identifying an empirical and analytical blind spot around how states shape knowledge production and mobility in regulated infrastructure economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: This article leads off a special symposium comprised of a select group of public choice economists and political scientists that assembled to reflect on the important contribution that Arthur T. Denzau and Douglass C. North's seminal piece on Shared Mental Models (1993) has made over the last quarter of a century. Relatedly, we apply concepts from Denzau and North's Shared Mental Models to suggest a modified model of the Nash equilibrium used in non‐cooperative game theory to help us operationalize the "learning path" by which we can move from "siloed" thinking to a wider "systems" view of organizations, our environment, and indeed, the world. Our model has implications for the way we respond to economic crises, financial meltdowns, and global health epidemics, such as the COVID‐19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I contribute to the debate on Ulrich Beck's idea of 'methodological cosmopolitanism' from a political science perspective. How fruitful is Beck's idea for the study of world politics? How can a political science perspective turn 'methodological cosmopolitanism' into a more transdisciplinary subject of debate? Guided by these questions, I speak to two audiences. First, I offer political scientists a distinct strategy for empirical 'cosmopolitan political science' research. At the heart of this strategy is a novel object of research, the 'cosmopolitan outlook', understood as a discourse that breaks with the 'national outlook' to open possibilities for a world beyond 'reflexive modernization'. With that, I shift the perspective from structure to discourse and broaden the normative grounds on which to assess cosmopolitan reality. Rather than just considering the emergence of normative cosmopolitan ideals, I build into cosmopolitan research the normative, empirical question of whether we see an emergence of a world beyond reflexive modernization. Second, I address scholars outside the field of political science who are interested in methodological cosmopolitanism by offering the 'cosmopolitan outlook' as a novel object of study that could also be explored from other disciplinary perspectives and by proposing they put the question of the purpose of methodological cosmopolitanism centre stage. This question can, I argue, constitute grounds for substantial debates on methodological cosmopolitanism not already precluded through disciplinary premises and concerns. Contributing to such a transdisciplinary debate, I distinguish between the long‐term and immediate purpose of methodological cosmopolitanism, the former being about the development of a cosmopolitan language and grammar and the latter about empirical explorations of the reality of the 'cosmopolitan outlook', eventually and in a collective and transdisciplinary endeavour building up to contribute to the former. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caleb Perry Patterson was a leader in the discipline of political science during a long career. He is remembered as the founder of the national political science honor society, Pi Sigma Alpha, and as a charter founder of the Southwestern Political Science Association (now the Southwestern Social Science Association). Both were founded a century ago, in 1920. While his role in founding those organizations is one of his legacies, his career was much more than that. He was a notable educator, an activist in the politics of his time, and a prolific scholar. He used an oratorical presentation style to inspire generations of students, and through promotion of constitutional values, he encouraged independence of thought. One prominent Texas political observer summed up his impact as encouraging students of all political stripes to "love the thing that is America" and to provide critical thinking during the McCarthy Era. With Patterson as his reference, he concluded that "the only thing that can save us is the professors, really." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: As peace agreements have increasingly been put to a popular vote in places such as Northern Ireland, South Sudan, and Colombia, there is a corresponding practical and theoretical interest in understanding what factors influence public opinion toward the peace? We contend that support for peace in Colombia, as in other postwar contexts, is most powerfully shaped by individuals' assessments of two critical factors—the level of violence experienced and trust in the conflict actors. More specifically, we hypothesize that greater experience with violence by the conflict actors and greater levels of trust regarding these actors are the critical dimensions of support for peace. Methods: We use a regression model of support for the Colombian peace agreement more generally, as well as voters' intentions regarding the peace agreement vote. Results: We find that support for peace is most heavily dependent on contextual violence and trust. However, those who most trusted the conflict actors were among those least likely to indicate they intended to vote, which may help explain why the peace referendum failed. Conclusion: Maintaining public support for the Colombian peace agreement will depend on rebuilding trust and providing government security and assistance in previously marginalized areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Research on political socialization has shown that political and civic experiences during high school can impact later political engagement. However, political scientists are increasingly realizing that nonpolitical experiences, dispositions, and attributes in childhood and adolescence can play a role in shaping political participation. Building on recent studies in developmental psychology, we examine whether and how student characteristics and behaviors in adolescence are related to political engagement in adulthood. Methods: Using data from the Project Talent study, a national longitudinal study of a representative sample of high school students in the United States, we find that several behaviors and attributes related to one's high school experience have long‐term effects on voter turnout. Results: Responsible students and those with high levels of interest in school are more likely than their counterparts to vote when they reach adulthood. Conclusion: The effects of the school‐related measures we examine (1) persist for more than a decade after high school ends, (2) are similar in magnitude to the effects of classic predictors of political engagement such as parental political activism, and (3) hold even in the presence of controls for general personality traits, cognitive ability, resources such as parental socioeconomic status, socialization experiences, and demographic variables. Our results have implications for how to increase political participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insteadofcoupsoremergencypowers,theforemost threat for democracies nowadays is a slow democratic erosion, defined by Ginsburg and Huq as: 667 8 F. Zakaria, "The Rise of Illiberal Democracy" (1997) 76 Foreign Affairs 22; J.-W. Mu Èller, 'The Problem with "Illiberal Democracy"' Project Syndicate, 21 January 2016),at. HOWTOSAVEACONSTITUTIONALDEMOCRACYbyTOMGINSBURG AND AZIZ Z. HUQ (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2018, pp. 295, $35.00) It would not surprise any comparative constitutionalist or political scientist that we are witnessing a crisis of constitutional democracies around the world. As its title hints, in contrast with other titles as "how democracy dies" or "how democracy ends", 7 it carries an optimistic tone by asking "how to save a constitutional democracy", a question that is accompanied by a set of constitutionaldesignandothermechanismsthatcanrespondtothethreatsand assistinprotectingtheconstitutionaldemocraticorder. [Extracted from the article]

I (Le Soir de Bamako; ORTM 19/6) i Low Turnout The constitutional referendum was marked by low voter turnout, with voting generally restricted to urban centres, French broadcaster I RFI i reported. B The referendum on a new charter goes ahead amid voter apathy and insecurity. b Voting took place in Mali on June 18th on a new constitution in the ruling junta's first electoral test, with insecurity and political disagreement preventing voting in some areas. "I am convinced this referendum will pave the way for a new Mali, a strong Mali, an efficient Mali, a Mali in the service of the well-being of its population", Goita said. [Extracted from the article]

For instance, in response to persistent Congressional criticism of the NSF, Atkinson asked the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to evaluate the NSF's social science programs. In the decidedly unfavorable political climate of the early Reagan years, Solovey, concurring with Larsen (1992), concludes that COSSA's multi-pronged lobbying efforts helped slow down the erosion of NSF support for many of the social sciences. Solovey's analysis of Atkinson's NSF career is particularly illuminating, since Atkinson was the first social scientist to become director of the NSF. [Extracted from the article]

New for the authors is the acknowledgement that state and society are mutually constitutive and that the state's developmental tasks often include I transforming i society in ways that foster economic initiative. What is the state's role in economic development? But in many of the societies in which they have existed historically, serfdom and slavery were no mere "norms" but instead highly developed systems of property rights, enforced by the state. [Extracted from the article]

Like sectarianism, gender is a topic that has long been of interest to scholars and policymakers alike, but (again like sectarianism) has also been subject to culturalist and essentializing assumptions. This October issue has as its focus the scholarship on gender issues in the region. This issue of the I Digest of Middle East Studies i is the second of two special issues in this year's volume of the journal. [Extracted from the article]

The book offers a novel theoretical, conceptual, and empirical contribution to the institutional analysis of the politics of immigration policy making: Spatial and temporal stability and change in liberal and restrictive immigration policies across policy arenas are the products of distinct types of political insulation with their distinctive policy logics that inform the capacity of policy makers. A book for students, scholars and policy workers interested in patronage, clientelism, bureaucratic structure and performance, and distributive politics in Latin America. Each year, the International Political Science Association's Research Committee on the Structure of Governance sponsors the Levine Prize. [Extracted from the article]

The article explores the difference between ordinary and constitutional politics in a democracy based on the works of political scientists and legal and political theorists. It identifies the reasons why democratic dualism remains underdeveloped in both bodies of work, including the fact that empirical political scientists ignore their difference. Also discussed are the reasons why the threat of the fraction is more problematic in constitutional politics than in ordinary politics.

Objective: Appalachia—historically a culturally and politically unique region of the United States—has been effectively ignored by contemporary political scientists. Using a unique measure of Appalachian residence, this article analyzes racial attitudes, religion, and Appalachian opposition to the 2008 presidential candidacy of Barack Obama. Methods: I use regression analysis to assess the extent to which Appalachian residents differ in their levels of perceived racial favoritism, identification as born‐again Christians, and frequency of church attendance, as well as whether these variables can mediate the seeming regional effect of Appalachia in a standard vote choice model. Results: I first demonstrate higher levels of perceived racial favoritism and, especially, higher levels of a particular type of religiosity in the region. I then assess whether these measures can mediate Appalachian distinctiveness in presidential vote choice. When perceived racial favoritism, church attendance, and born‐again Christian status are controlled for in regression models, Appalachian regional opposition to the 2008 Obama candidacy disappears statistically. Conclusion: While race and religion both "matter," I find it is religion that seems to matter more in explaining Appalachian distinctiveness, particularly relative to traditional southern distinctiveness. This provides a new vantage point from which to assess southern politics debates about subregional variation and the relative roles of race and religion, as well as sets the foundation for further analyses of Appalachia and American politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Despite declining trust in government institutions, political scientists have observed increasing political participation across activities, including grassroots lobbying. We argue that higher levels of trust in the state political system as a whole—diffuse political trust—and in state legislatures—specific political trust—should increase the likelihood that citizens contact their state legislators about policy matters because higher levels of trust tend to correlate with believing that the policy‐making process produces equitable political outcomes. Methods: We use observational data from a nationally representative survey sample taken in 2015. Results: We find mixed results: whereas diffuse political trust predicts participation in grassroots lobbying at the state level, specific political trust does not. Conclusion: This finding implies that more general feelings of political trust exert greater influence on grassroots lobbying behavior than do more institution‐specific indicators of trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: What motivates clergy political attitudes and behavior? We investigate this using a questions‐as‐treatment randomized experiment focusing on Roman Catholic priests in the United States. Our results suggest substantial utility in using a question frame referencing the distinct institutional expectations that clergy regularly confront. Specifically, when randomly primed to consider the expectations of institutional reference groups, clergy exhibit significantly higher levels of conservatism and report higher levels of political engagement, which is in line with their church's institutional preferences more generally. Our findings underscore the need for experimental methodology to make increased inroads into understanding political outcomes in religious contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay raises several issues triggered by Norah Mackendrick's (2017) piece “Out of the Labs and into the Streets,” which appeared in “The Forum.” Using that essay as a springboard, I reflect on the complicated relationship between science and politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A vibrant democratic society requires continuous innovation to actualize and encourage democratic ideals through participation, but no universal answers exist as to which kinds of participation are best suited to achieve this. This article demonstrates that different types of participation correlate with different citizen ideals, implying that the remedies to democratic deficits depend on which ideals need to be strengthened. Citizen survey data is used to examine the relationships between two types of citizen participation – in voluntary associations and workplaces – and three empirical citizen ideals: the virtuous citizen, the critical citizen and the trustworthy citizen. The results suggest that voluntary associations make space for all three ideals, while workplace participation tends to be characterized specifically by the critical citizen's ideal of reason‐giving and critical reflection. The article ends by discussing the implications of these results: new democratic designs should be more effective if tailored to address context‐dependent weaknesses in democratic practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Tony King combined scholarship with a real‐world grasp that few could match. This was evident both in his public activities and in his published work. His studies of legislatures and of career politicians changed the way in which issues were viewed and he was skilled at identifying emerging trends before anyone else. He analysed the failings of government, but always as a practical improver. He was a natural communicator in the Bagehot tradition, as evidenced in his writings on the constitution, and he wanted a less adversarial political culture. He showed political scientists that it was possible to combine good scholarship with an ability to communicate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Oftentimes, political scientists wish to measure how attitudes or behaviors have changed from one generation to the next. One obstacle to this analysis is that certain attitudinal and behavioral variables (e.g., political participation or policy preferences) correlate with the age of the respondent. In seeking to model both age- and cohort-based changes in attitudes, researchers are left having to impose constraints within the generalized linear model framework to solve problems of underidentification. Methods. This article uses a method that has been developed to work around this exact problem: the intrinsic estimator. Results. By using this approach to traditional ageperiod- cohort (APC) models, the IE is one solution to underidentified models of political change. Conclusions. This article summarizes the identification problem in APC methodology and then illustrates the advantages of the IE to the traditionally used constrained generalized linear modeling (CGLIM) approach with specific applications to trends in American political attitudes regarding spending on space exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hannah Arendt was fearful not only of a populist President speaking in the name of the people and unbound by legality. She was also concerned that popular support could be harnessed by those responsible for limiting it. In other words, she was fearful of the American Supreme Court relying on popular support. This is the meaning of her obscure depiction of the American Supreme Court as 'the true seat of authority in the American Republic' but unfit to power. I argue that Arendt's characterization of authority as requiring 'neither coercion nor persuasion' means that the Court's source of legitimacy is expertise rather than public support. Yet the current dominant understanding among American Justices as well as scholars is that public support is the source of the Court's authority. In Arendt's mind, such an understanding means that the Court has become the seat of power. The corruption of the Court's authority and constitutional law as a language of expertise capable of resisting public opinion will inevitably follow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]