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In the very beginning of Plato's Republic, Polemarchus and a few associates emerge to interdict the passage of Socrates and Glaucon as the two are returning home to Athens. When Socrates asks if he might persuade his interlocutors to let the two Athenians pass, Polemarchus says that his group simply will not listen, and that Socrates and Glaucon "better make up [their] mind to that (ο?τω διανο∊?σ&thetas;∊)." The present paper seizes upon this highly enigmatic phrase as a point of departure for interrogating the relationship between free thought and political power at the founding of political theory. The paper draws on the history of ancient Greek religious practices and a particular psychoanalytic topology put forward by Jacques Lacan, in order to demonstrate that this enigmatic and overtly politicized opening of the Republic memorializes a dialectical relationship, always present but repressed, between political forces and the "pure thought" of philosophical theory. Along these lines it is shown how Plato situates even the very philosophical high point of the Republic, the theory of forms, in a political topology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While considerable attention has been devoted to institutional arrangements as a determinant of citizen coproduction (citizen participation in public services production), much less attention has been given to modeling the theoretically expected individual-level determinants and their interaction with the government initiatives that intentionally try to increase citizen coproduction. This leaves an unclear ground for empirical testing of the effects of both the individual-level factors and government initiatives. This paper proposes a number of theoretical models which combine the various suggested individual-level determinants of citizen coproduction. Moreover, the paper models the interaction of the individual-level determinants with the government initiatives in the explanation of citizen coproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the modern Western world war is not only exorcized from the social domain but also seen as inherently evil even though armed force is constantly used as an instrument of policy. Credibility as a security political actor still calls for possession of armed force. War as a phenomenon also underpins much of the social and cultural reality even when it is not actually being waged. The paper addresses this fundamental divide between the Western common conception, and rhetoric, of war and the contrasting evident, widespread Western use of armed force and the hidden role of war in the structure of peaceful societies. What are the implications for war studies? Is war as a social phenomenon adequately theorized or is war too elusive for a coherent study? The paper outlines a proposal for an approach to the study of war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the recent exchange in Psychometrika illustrates (Green and Yang 2009; Sijtsma 2009), 60 years after the original paper (Cronbach 1951), the psychometric community is still trying to instruct readers on how to meaningfully interpret and report Cronbach's α. Most students of public opinion know that α is not the most sophisticated measure of a scale's internal consistency (Borsboom 2006; Bentler 2009). However, it remains the most often cited measure of reliability. More disturbingly, most researchers use a "large enough" coefficient α to illustrate something that is not mathematically warranted (unidimensionality or trait strength). Given the slippage between advanced statistical methods and those who use reliability analysis in applied public opinion research, this paper sets out to illustrate a new way to think about Cronbach's α and to show how the size, and therefore "statistical significance," of α is largely a function of the number of items in the analysis and the number of subjects taking the test. Through Monte Carlo simulation, this paper simplifies interpretations of α by clearly deriving the limits of its usefulness, illustrating its sensitivity to sample and scale sizes, and providing users with an additional measure to make α comparable across different scales and samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether consciously or not, political theory has traditionally approached Aristotle by way of stark contrasts with his teacher Plato. Whether in terms of a contrast between the particular and the universal, multiple appearances and the singular form, or the empirical and the metaphysical, this distinction has attained the status of presumed truth in much of philosophy and political theory. This paper draws on the work of the philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer in order to cast doubt on this categorical distinction between Aristotle on the one hand and Plato on the other. By drawing our attention to the sense in which both Aristotle and Plato concern themselves with the same problem--the idea of the good--Gadamer uncovers convergences and parallels that are potentially fruitful for political theory. This paper concludes by applying this insight to a particularly fraught segment of the contemporary political theoretical landscape--the appropriation of Aristotle in the philosophy of social science. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the role of the philosophy of science and the philosophy of social science in political science and cognate disciplines. Why have the philosophy of science and the philosophy of social science played such a major role in key debates within the political sciences? What if anything can we learn from them? Why do we need to turn to these disciplines for cognitive support anyway? Many political scientists treat these meta-theoretical debates with suspicion deeming them to be an unwanted distraction to the development of a body of knowledge of political processes and events. One of the great paradoxes of the modern age is that the natural sciences only entered what has come to be known as their 'mature' stage when they left philosophy behind. Why can the social sciences not effect a similar separation? This paper examines the function and aims of the philosophy of science in theoretical debates within political science. It argues that for ontological, epistemological, conceptual, cognitive and moral reasons the social sciences simply cannot proceed on that basis. The social world itself is shot through with philosophical concepts and any science of that world needs to be cognizant of the role these concepts play in structuring behaviour. It is not that we need to bring philosophy into political science, but that it is already in in a myriad of ways. The question then becomes one of uncovering the often implicit philosophies that structure all inquiry, even those that deny it a role. As Keynes remarked those who disliked theory, or claimed to get along better without it, they are simply in the grip of an older theory. This applies as much to theories of what good political science is as much as to theories of political behaviour. An analysis of these issues demonstrates that the attempt to construct an 'autonomous theory of politics' is an impossible dream that already reflects an implicit philosophy of science. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the ways in which feminist scholarship is creatively unsettling the disciplinary imaginary of International Relations, by disturbing the very notion of the legitimate units in the organisation of knowledge and by challenging the centre-periphery organisation of disciplinary topography. This 'silent revolution' in IR is observed by looking at a series of position-takings and dialogues that occurred during the past two decades in IR academic publications, regarding the 'feminist question' in IR. In the space of these dialogues, feminists in IR have talked about their disciplinary self and also about the way their niche of scholarship fits into the discipline of IR more broadly. Beyond discussing feminist forms of creativity, the paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the production of novelty in intellectual fields and to explore the overlooked connection between programmatic texts (or talk of self) and disciplinary change. Making sense of disciplinary change is no longer a case of recording trends, but a case of observing local modes of subversive action, performed by reflexive artisans, in a unique intellectual locality. Within this conception of change, feminist 'talk of self' is recuperated as a complicated case of resistance to domestication. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Signing a treaty is the first in a series of steps that must ensue for treaties to be domestically implemented. Later steps in the process of treaty implementation often allow domestic actors to re-shape the legislation necessary to give domestic meaning to international agreements. Like most legislative processes, this is a matter of bargaining amongst different branches of government and competing political parties. The result is often that treaties are either not implemented through domestic law or are implemented inadequately as a result of divergent preferences amongst domestic actors. By studying the variance in ratification and implementation practices across countries, this paper tests how domestic political disagreement can lead to less than ideal implementation of treaties, and thus to compliance failures. The paper tests this argument using an econometric model that compares ratification and implementation procedures in all OECD countries, and includes a case study to process trace the mechanisms that lead to weak implementation. Understanding the domestic politics that surround treaty implementation not only helps us understand one of the primary causes of compliance failure; it also sheds light on how to improve treaty design and monitoring practices to reduce insufficient implementation and weak compliance by states. This paper brings together the international law, international relations, and comparative politics literatures and shows how all these fields are essential for understanding compliance with international agreements. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mainstream IR's claims to objectivity relies on a dramatic absence of self-reflection concerning its own historical emergence. My paper calls for a shift in attention, which exposes IR's debt to imperialism. As the inherited imperial hegemony of IR has been exposed by a variety of works in postcolonial studies and critical IR, it bears particular relevance to the independence model of Hawai'i, what I am calling the Hawaiian State Discourse. Hawaiian State discourse is proving hugely persuasive in shifting the language and vocabulary through which the Hawaiian-American relationship is discussed and understood. This has involved a popular shift in consciousness among Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) from victimization to empowerment. Whereas, for the last 30 years resistance to U.S. imperialism was confined to the idiom of colonization, HSD appropriates international law to expose the illegal U.S. occupation of Hawai'i. This speaks to a condition of ambivalence in postcolonial reason. IR's claims to truth, reason, and political objectivity offers hope to Kanaka Maoli. However, I argue that it is precisely the constitutive exclusions of Eurocentric genealogies of modernity that must be interrogated. Rather than describing what a particular phenomenon is, I argue for the critique of how its representation and therefore its privileged position in "qualified knowledge" structures is actively produced and reproduced. This calls attention to the generative force of law and European Enlightenment notions of realism in hegemony. Instead of dismissing the political movement towards justice for Hawaiians through the resuscitation of the Hawaiian State, this paper complicates and thus augments Hawaiian State Discourse by analyzing its epistemic closures and ontological commitments. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical realism is an approach that directs social researchers towards analysis of causal complexes, rather than singular causal factors; structures and ideologies rather than behaviour and law-like patterns of social interaction; holistic interdisciplinary studies rather than narrow research fields; and emphasises the interaction of explanatory and normative assumptions in social science. This paper aims to elucidate what a critical realist research focus might contribute to the analysis of processes of democratisation, specifically the analysis of economic conditions of democratisation. This paper argues that while critical realism does not provide a new theory of democratisation, it can make some limited contributions in 1) challenging generalising and predictive positivist accounts, 2) in emphasising multiple and conditioning forms of causation involved in analysis of democratisation, 3) in emphasising methodological pluralism in the field and 4) in highlighting the role of political and normative assumptions embedded in studies of democratisation. This paper does not seek to develop a new theory of democratisation but rather, more modestly, seeks to highlight the kinds of considerations that a researcher in International Relations might keep in mind in approaching an empirical field of study from a critical realist perspective. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Western European countries differ according to the ways in which they organize local government, not least in the manner in which mayors are selected, in the mayors' statutory positions and responsibilities, and the institutional relations between the council and the mayor/executive board. The institutional arrangements have been modified in several countries. Focal question in the paper is whether the institutional reforms have resulted in a revitalization of local politics and democracy. A first measure to revitalize local politics is a separation of local political powers. In Germany, the UK, Italy, and the Netherlands powers of the council as the representation of the citizenry at the one hand, and the Mayor or the Executive Board at the other, have been separated. They now both have their more or less exclusive statutory powers, tasks and responsibilities, in some cases resulting from the introduction of directly elected mayors. Question then is, whether these policies lead to a revitalization of local politics. Secondly, in a number of Western European countries governments have introduced direct elections for the mayor's office. Despite differences between countries, in all cases the assumption is, that direct mayoral elections do make a difference and that directly elected mayors will appear to be strong leaders. Question, however is to what extent is mayoral performance affected by selection procedures and the statutory position of the mayoral office? The results of a number of comparative empirical studies will be presented in the paper. It will become clear that there are huge differences in mayoral performance. Several factors influencing that performance will be identified. The most important conclusion is that mayoral selection procedures and statutory positions do affect mayoral performance, although not as much as expected. Other factors are at stake. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the conceptual development and practice of SSR within the framework of theories of state and state formation. This involves highlighting the importance of contextual understanding - both in terms of understanding the operational context in the existing structures of host states, as well as understanding the historical and theoretical complexities in social engineering. Using theories of state and state formation to inform the field of SSR is significant as it brings SSR closer to the existing discourses of state-building and post-conflict peace-building, as well as provides a theoretical foundation for such activities. The useful merger of development and security created the concept of SSR. The concept now needs an injection of state formation theory to be further developed.Although considerable advances have been made in our understanding of the processes of nation-building and SSR, we argue that the dominant formulations, as expressed in handbooks, strategic documents and policy formulations, need to be problematized in two respects. First, substantial parts of the literature, handbooks and official documents are characterized by a reliance on social engineering and on "methods" to effect complex socio-political transformations, a belief underpinned by a lack of contextual understanding of the aims (state-building) as well as the operative environments (target countries). Second, attempts to provide a rich context have focused on the processes of conflict prior to intervention, the conduct of intervention itself and on its aftermath. While this is important, we argue that more attention should be given to existing structures of state, society and polity in order to understand the possibilities of success of state-building and SSR. The processes of SSR are laudable and present important steps towards more holistic conceptions of security and international development. However, the findings of this paper cautions against having too high expectations on the possibility of SSR fulfilling its goals of creating states that are both stable and democratic and accountable. Instead, we should distinguish carefully what level of ambition is realistic for each specific project depending on local circumstances. A contextual understanding based on existing state-, society- and polity structures enable the design of better benchmarks and objectives as well as more realistic policies. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benjamin's attempt to conceptualize the political has been often regarded as a failure. For many readers of him, Benjamin produces contradictions rather than lessons by oscillating between subject and object, discontinuity and continuity, and theology and political theory. Challenging this view, this paper attempts to rearticulate Benjamin's unique understanding of the political and reevaluate his contribution to political theory. In so doing, this paper is divided into three parts. First, I highlight the concept of "phantasmagoria of history" as Benjamin's central diagnostic notion. Phantasmagoria of history refers to the way of doing history that constructs the mythic continuity between past and future, and prefigures the future unfolding of the new with the boundaries of the fateful. The deadly effect of it is the complete submission to the status quo, which obliterates not just the vision of the change but the energy to enforce it. Secondly, emphasizing that Benjamin's novel conception of history is developed as a prescriptive conceptual tool against phantasmagoria of history, I will examine the "dialectically reversed remembrance" and "pathos of nearness" as its central notions. It is well known that Benjamin focuses on the ruins from the past and advocates discontinuity as opposed to "homogenous, empty time," but it is often dismissed as romantic, nostalgic, or undialectical. As I shall argue, however, Benjamin's historical method is to be understood as a specific way of experiencing the present, not the past. Lastly, I highlight Benjamin's view of the political as the production of the new historical time when the "truthful" is actualized and, in doing so, try to find a possible way to reconcile Benjamin's theological and political motifs. In my view, Benjamin neither resorts to God in dealing with politics nor neglects the unforeseeable nature of human affairs. Rather, he attempts to create moments of political praxis when the yet-unknown forms to imagine future emancipation appear "like" (not "as") a miracle. Overall, this paper will argue that Benjamin understands the political as a process that replaces the "fateful" acceptance of the given with the "truthful" moments of engagement. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to CodeRecent literature on qualitative and quantitative social science methodology focuses on issues of causal inference and hypothesis testing given existing data (Brady and Collier 2005; King et al. 1994). Another literature has focused on the antecedent question of concepts in social science research, along with the related questions of conceptual validity and conceptual stretching (Adcock and Collier 1999; Goertz 2006; Sartori 1970). The step that lies between the formulation of social science concepts and strategies of causal inference is coding. Despite its obvious importance, methodologists have yet to identify a standard approach to process of turning conceptual variables into real variables that analysts can study using qualitative and/or quantitative methodologies. Yet clearly, both qualitative and quantitative researchers make implicit coding decisions in nearly all positivist (and much non-positivist) social science research. All too frequently, coding practices are opaque, ad hoc, and only weakly linked to concept or theory. This presents an obvious barrier to knowledge cumulation in the social sciences.This paper proposes a "Coding Standard" to remedy this problem. In the spirit of Adcock and Collier (1999), the Coding Standard is a unified framework that unites the enterprise of coding conceptual variables for qualitative and quantitative researchers alike. The Coding Standard applies in particular to discrete (nominal, ordinal, and categorical) variables. It stresses four vital components of coding: theory, clarity, generality, and replicability. Theory is the conceptual basis of any coding scheme, and stipulates the possible values a variable can take (see Goertz 2006). Clarity refers to the existence of straightforward operational definitions of a variable's values, grounded in observable empirical facts (i.e., what phenomena must an analyst observe to identify the existence of "political protest"?). Generality refers to the ability of coding schemes to travel outside of their original empirical domains, and if not, the provision of clear theoretical reasons why not (i.e., can one code government types from the "Varieties of Capitalism" literature in Latin America?). Replicability refers to the ability of a naïve researcher to recreate a coding decision or a dataset and achieve the same findings (if a new researcher attempted to recreate the Polity dataset, would she create an identical dataset?). Replicability links the Coding Standard to King's (1995) "Replication Standard" as well as recent work by Lindley (2006) on replicability in small-n research.After introducing the Coding Standard, the paper adjudicates thirty coding applications in modern political science. Examples are drawn randomly from a sample of the top comparative politics and international relations journals from the past five years. The emphasis lies on small-n research: in sharp contrast to what practitioners often claim are the comparative strengths of small-n research, qualitative projects are often the most significant violators of best practices as identified by the Coding Standard. The analysis shows that weak coding practices are a common problem in both qualitative and quantitative work, suggesting that wider attention to the Coding Standard is a crucial step in building progressive research programs in social science. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The volume and variety of ideas and accompanying policy research available to members of Congress and executive branch officials are enormous and have grown tremendously in the past thirty-five years. For all of the resources invested in the production of this work, there is remarkably little evidence of how it is used by policymakers to inspire, formulate, or improve the content of public policy (Shulock 1999, Rich and Weaver 1998, Whiteman 1985, 1995). It is well established that expertise can be influential in agenda-setting (Kingdon 1995, Baumgartner and Jones 1993) and that ideas can inform the direction of policy change (Derthick and Quirk 1985, Hall 1989, Campbell 2004). But how does that happen? And what are the differences between ideas and expertise - and among the types of expertise and ideas made available to policymakers? In this paper, I examine how public policy think tanks package and present their ideas and research to inform - and influence - policymakers. I analyze, in particular, how the greatly expanded number of nonprofit think tanks have deliberately organized in ways to cater to demands from policymakers for supportive rather than original material. Aggressive marketing strategies have become dominant across the range of organizations involved in providing research in national policymaking (Rich 2004). And a tension has developed between the provision of ideas versus expertise by think tanks (Rich 2005).The analysis draws on new data from a national survey of think tank leaders who take different approaches to producing and promoting their work. I combine these findings with qualitative findings from 65 new interviews with those at research organizations and those that support them at private foundations and within government. A major portion of the paper explores the relationships between funders and researchers - and the effects of these relationships on how think tanks seek to promote ideas and expertise in American policymaking. The paper reveals a diversity of strategies for how ideas - and expertise - achieve traction in policymaking. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that complexity theory offers a way to build on and supersede the limitations of historical institutionalism. The argument, however, is not grounded in an epistemological debate regarding the appropriateness of complexity theory, including the likely most widely discussed application of complexity theory - neo-Darwinian evolution, in contradistinction to more traditional research approaches to political science. This debate is a crucial one, to be sure, as political science as a discipline seeks to continually improve its scientific inquiry. Rather, this paper suggests that while some phenomena studied by political scientists are most appropriately addressed through such approaches as linear rational choice or functionalist analyses, many of the subjects of study appear to be phenomena for which complexity theory is better suited. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the sixth in a series in which the political careers of civilizations/world systems receive snapshot codings of their overall power structures at feasible intervals. The narratives are produced by collating histories with large frames of reference. The codings are done using a nominal variable, polarity, with seven available values. Previous articles in the series have examined the Indic system 550 BC--AD 1800, the Far Eastern 1025 BC--AD 1850, the Southwest Asian c. 2700--1500 BC, the Northeast African c. 2625--1500 BC. The Northeast African and Southwest Asian systems and sequences merged c. 1500 BC to form the Central system. In the immediately previous article, the power structure of the Central Civilization/World System was appraised over its first 800 years at 10-year intervals, from 1500 BC to an arbitrary stopping point of 700 BC. The current paper reports the continuation of the coding, from 700 BC to an equally arbitrary stopping point of 400 BC. The predominant forms of the systemic power structure are examined in their relation to two competing theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offer some preliminary reflections on ways we might situate the Supreme Court in time as a distinctive political institution. To date, American politics scholars have worked to fold the Court into models of politics and development designed with other institutions in mind. I survey these efforts, and cite some prominent developments in the work of Baumgartner and Jones (public policy model) and David Mayhew (against electoral realignments) that may help us to think more effectively in the future about the Court. The paper marks the beginning of my theoretical thinking about a broader book project whose topic is the nature and development of constitutional liberalism in the twentieth century as seen through the prism of the thought of three seminal liberal Supreme Court justices who span the century, from its ascendency, to its peak, and it current decline: Brandeis, Brennan, and Breyer. Some reflections on each of these justices, independently, and in relation to one another, and in relation to political liberalism more generally, is included. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This papers examines the current state of American politics in the light of some traditional conservative political ideals. Drawing particularly on Edmund Burke's concerns about the dangers of unrestrained political will, the paper argues that many of the institutions to which we have looked to temper raw political will have been undermined. Finally, the paper suggests that because the American right has been the major protagonist in, and beneficiary of, the present erosion of countervailing institutions, it falls to the left to protect these conservative political ideals. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The professionalisation of politics in Western industrialised nations has been well documented (Borchert 2003). The extension of the franchise and the gradual introduction of salaries for elected representatives has led, in most nations, to the formation of a political class who share a common interest in preserving and promoting the means to pursue a political career. However, there is variation across nations and across time, in some cases professional politicians are divided by sociological and ideological differences and fail to form a coherent political class. This paper exams variation in one country, Britain, across time. It assesses whether the increasing homogeneity amongst politicians educational and class background has produced a more unified group. Alternatively it considers whether the entry of a more diverse group of politicians, particularly women, has fractured the political class. This paper establishes that there are differences in the early career backgrounds of men and women MPs. It provides evidence of a political class, where attitudes to professionalisation are consistent across party and other divides, and a gendered political class where attitudes to reforming working hours and providing childcare facilities are fractured by sex, cohort and party. Finally it provides an agenda for future research into gender differences in Parliamentary careers. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arguing that political risk in international business is a multifaceted phenomenon, this paper draws upon earlier theoretical and empirical research and utilizes a variety of publicly available sources to develop a framework for political risk assessment. A composite political risk index is created, covering 192 countries and territories for the period 1996-2003 and consisting of three sub-dimensions: socio-political instability and grievances, political institutions, and economic governance. In the course of the paper, the multidimnesional nature of political risk and the link between sources of political risk and political risk effects are thoroughly discussed. The construction of the index is described in detail, and the main results of the estimation are examined and commented upon. We also conduct a time-series cross-section analysis of the relationship between our index and foreign direct investment inflows, finding that political risk, broadly defined, significantly affects multinational companies' location decisions. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper starts from the position that the ?Transatlantic Crisis? of the early 2000s has also on the face of it been a crisis for EU collective action in external policy: instead of a ?Europe that can say no? in the light of US challenges, there appears to have been a failure to produce any consensus on policy. Most obviously, the chaos of EU Member State responses to the approach and conduct of the Iraq war raised questions about the continuing feasibility of EU collective action in such episodes, throwing doubt for some on the future development of ?European foreign policy?. But this turbulent episode must be placed within the broader context of developments in EU external collective action and EU-US relations, and can usefully be analysed through concepts of collective action theory. The paper pursues such an analysis, first by reviewing the implications of a ?Europe that can say no? to the US, next by briefly summarising the narratives provided by other approaches, and then by setting out relevant collective action concepts. It then argues that collective action possibilities and processes in EU external policy lie on a spectrum delineated by a number of key factors and that therefore analysis and evaluation should take account of the unevenness and variation between sectors of policy. In this light, the ?EU crisis? of the early 2000s becomes part of a much broader picture in which the EU has scored notable successes as well as policy failures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the current state of qualitative research methods in political science and political communication, through a review of textbooks, conference papers, key earlier works, and recent controversies. Despite advances during the past quarter century, qualitative methods of research, analysis, and writing remain at the margins due to the positive philosophical orientation of political science. Although they have provided a staging ground for complaints against that orientation in recent debates, qualitative approaches to knowledge serve principally as a tool for exploratory work and as a foil to police the boundaries of mainstream political science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does public opinion respond to the production of major legislation? A central pillar of representative democracy is that elected officials are held accountable for their actions. There is a rich literature exploring the electoral effects for legislators who deviate from their district’s opinions, and there are numerous anecdotal arguments about the consequences of scandals and foibles for both legislators and executives. However, public policy is neither made by individual Members of Congress nor exclusively by executive actions. The most significant policies are enacted through laws passed by Congress and signed by the president. Scholars have very little understanding of how the public assigns credit or blame for the net output of the legislative system. This paper addresses this question directly. As part of a larger project, this paper will examine the impact of the passage of major legislation on congressional approval. Because approval ratings are collected from individuals but legislation is produced over time, the paper employs hierarchical statistical techniques to answer this question. This method has enjoyed some popularity in education and psychological research, but has not seen frequent use in political science. Concurrent research by the author indicates that while presidential approval is responsive to the production of the system, congressional approval is unaffected. Credit and blame for the joint activities of the political system are laid at the feet of the president, not Congress. This has implications for interbranch power dynamics as well as research on public opinion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contemporary political theory there is widespread agreement that we should recognize difference within our societies. However, the philosophical foundation for this recognition remains problematic. Attempts to ground recognition in various, traditional frameworks have been frought with difficulty. Therefore, in this paper, I try to examine what we specifically mean by providing recognition. I do so by considering two closely intertwined issues. First, I consider whether is recognition provided by one individual to another, or whether the state can provide recognitoin by some means. Second, I look at the debate between Fraser and Honneth over the difference between redistribution and recognition. Through this discussion I show that recognition is provided by individuals to one another. Because of this fact, it is difficult to imagine how the state can supply recognition to individuals or require individuals to give recognition to others. Due to these limits, recognition requires clearer moral grounding. The state cannot take simple, traditional actions to provide recognition. Instead, recognition of difference, as theorists like Honneth call for, can only be grounded in broader categories of political obligation than theliterature usually considers. Thus, recognition calls for strong philosophical support to justify fairly intrusive policies. Indeed, we should explore the possibility that the recognition called for by many political theorists requires a committment that is supererogatory in nature. I close my paper by suggesting that responsibility may be a good candidate for providing the strong moral grounding that recognition requires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of a new and original data set ten years in the making, the authors explain the sources of socialist party reformism and radicalism in 18 countries in Europe, North America and Australasia prior to World War I. In this paper, we evaluate the validity and persuasiveness of alternative hypotheses with a structural equation model against the data we have gathered. In so doing, we build on, and partly refute, explanations put forward by Seymour Martin Lipset (in his Presidential Address to the APSA), Peter Katzenstein (in Small States), and Adam Przeworski and Henry Teune (in Paper Stones). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]