American Political Science Association Research Articles

How Academic-Based Survey Research Organizations Inform and Influence the Development of Subnational Public Policy

This field note describes how public polling produced by academic-based survey research organizations provides state and local policymakers with information regarding public preferences. Utilizing a case study from Maryland, we describe how one such organization—the Goucher College Poll—informed the policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic in realtime. Although the American Political Science Association was founded with an eye toward applied research, academic-based survey research organizations are among the few institutions in the discipline that continue to carry out this mission in earnest.

Report of the Editors of Perspectives on Politics to the American Political Science Association,

Report of the Editors of <i>Perspectives on Politics</i> to the American Political Science Association,

Political Science as a Dependent Variable: The National Science Foundation and the Shaping of a Discipline

From 1965 to 2020, the National Science Foundation constituted the single largest funding source for political science research. As such, the NSF played a central role in defining the cutting-edge of our discipline. This study draws on historical records of the American Political Science Association to examine the political and administrative contexts that shaped the funding priorities of the NSF Political Science Program. Additionally, the study presents a new dataset and analysis of the nearly three thousand projects funded over the 55-year life of the program. The dataset shows that NSF funding was principally channeled toward quantitative research, whereas qualitative methods received little support, and work advancing normative, critical, or interpretive approaches received virtually no support. The archival record and awards-level data make visible the material forces that shaped knowledge production, and they underline the NSF’s instrumental role in consolidating behavioralism and marginalizing non-positivist approaches. The study sheds new light on the history of the discipline and helps to contextualize some of the distinctive features of American political science.

The Pandemic andPolitical Behavior: Staying the Course

Political Behavioris the official journal of the Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior organized section of the American Political Science Association. It publishes research on the political behavior of citizens, political activists, and political officeholders in the United States and around the world. From the perspective of its Journal Impact Factor, the journal’s reputation and impact have grown steadily in recent years. The first and last listed authors of this article served as co-editors-in-chief ofPolitical Behaviorfrom 2019 through 2022. The middle three listed authors served as editorial assistants during this same period.

TRAINING IN HEALTH AND AGING POLICY MID CAREER—REFLECTING ON A POTENTIAL INFLECTION POINT

Abstract The Health and Aging Policy Fellowship (HAPF) trains fellows to understand policymaking with the goal to improve the lives of older people across life domains. Comparatively few mid-career or more senior experts in healthcare or aging have direct experience with federal or state policymaking, or working to inform evidence-based health policy. As a senior physician faculty member at a School of Medicine and School of Public Health, in recent years the author has worked at state and local levels to inform evidence-based health policy. The HAPF offered an opportunity for the author to improve knowledge and understanding of decision-making and policymaking in Washington DC and at the federal level. Fellowship-sponsored training improved fellows’ understanding of health policy and potential effectiveness in federal health policy environments. Trainings through HAPF, the American Political Science Association, and Academy Health provided greater breadth and depth of knowledge on roles of various agencies, executive and congressional policymaking, and understanding factors influencing policymaking. This training enhanced the author’s readiness for fellowship activities in a U.S. Senate office. Exposure to experts in health and aging opened the door to fellows’ participation in efforts to improve opportunities for healthy aging and to advance age-friendly health systems. Work in the U.S. Senate includes exposure to federal, state, non-governmental stakeholders who can work together to influence policy to improve the lives of aging and older people. The author will highlight specific examples of training, policy opportunities, and policy challenges in the context of his fellowship.

Is that ethical? An exploration of political scientists’ views on research ethics

What do political scientists think about research ethics? What research practices do they find acceptable? Using a survey conducted with the American Political Science Association, we explore perceptions of ethics among 362 political scientists. We find that political scientists do not place much relative weight on ethics when evaluating research. We do, however, find that researchers view different modes of inquiry as having different potential harms. Furthermore, using a conjoint experiment, we find that factors like author affiliation, study location, method, and sample size shape evaluations of study ethicality. Our results contribute to the growing body of metascience by expanding understanding of ethics in political science research.

Surviving in a male academia: gender gap, publication strategies and career stage in South European political science journals

Women’s underrepresentation in top political science journals has been a central concern of both the American Political Science Association and the European Consortium of Political Research, which have promoted studies to assess the extent and features of the gender gap. However, so far in Southern Europe, research on this topic has been scarce. Our work adds to the literature by presenting new data on three journals: the Italian Political Science Review, the Spanish Political Science Review and South European Society and Politics. The research has three main goals: to gauge the gender gap in the three journals; to examine whether gender influences publication preferences; and to investigate how career intersects with gendered publication strategies. The analysis is built on a database of almost 800 articles and about 1400 authors, published in these three journals in 2011–2022. Our main findings are that South European journals reveal a gender gap similar to other international journals, where just one-third of authors are women; that this publication gap is accompanied by gendered publication strategies; and that the routes men and women follow to succeed in academic publishing diverge at every career stage. Finally, we argue that women's preferred strategies may not offer the optimum path to career success.

Attitudes and Opportunities Regarding Teaching and Pedagogical Training during the COVID-19 Pandemic

In 2018, we sought to understand the difference in pedagogical training opportunities and demand within political science departments across the U.S. through surveys of political scientists. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic forced faculty to rethink the way they do assessment and lectures resulting in stress and burnout. To measure attitudes, resources, and opportunities for teaching and teacher-training in this new environment, we once again surveyed American Political Science Association (APSA) members. Using APSA membership provides a large pool of political scientists, however as a sample it may skew toward more tenure and tenure-track faculty at larger universities. With that caveat, almost all APSA members in our 2021 survey reported that their in-person courses were converted to a remote, hybrid, or web assisted format in the 2020 to 2021 period. While morale and confidence in teaching declined during the pandemic, interest in offering alternative forms of teaching like synchronous remote courses increased. Respondents found pedagogy training more important following the pandemic, despite a decline in participation. Furthermore, interest in this training remained stable between prepandemic and postpandemic periods. These findings suggest that declining participation in these activities is more reflective of a lack of time and institutional rewards rather than less interest in training opportunities. These shifting attitudes call for increased opportunities for pedagogy training. As with prior findings, incentives would encourage political scientists to increase their participation in pedagogy training as many do not feel rewarded for their teaching efforts.

Submitting to Politics &amp; Gender: Advice from the Editors

For nearly 20 years, Politics &amp; Gender has been a leading outlet for research on women, gender, and politics. As past and current editors,1 we are happy to share our advice for early career researchers interested in submitting manuscripts to the journal. We believe that as the official journal of the Women, Gender, and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association, the content of Politics &amp; Gender should reflect the diversity of authors, methods, and topics found across the broader gender and politics research community. However, not all authors have the full information on how to best prepare their manuscripts—or, indeed, what to expect during different parts of the review process (see Anlar and Phillips 2023).

Report of the Editors of Perspectives on Politics to the American Political Science Association Council, 2022-2023

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FPG-AFSP associate group panels American Political Science Association Meetings August 30th–September 1, Los Angeles

FPG-AFSP associate group panels American Political Science Association Meetings August 30th–September 1, Los Angeles

The Realities Facing Graduate Students: Before, During, and After the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT Committees from the American Political Science Association (APSA) on the status of graduate students in political science conducted digital surveys in 2018, 2020, and 2022. Distributed using listservs from APSA, the surveys asked about a range of realities facing graduate students including employment opportunities, industry or academic support, and overall well-being. Analysis of the data pre-, during-, and post-pandemic revealed high anxiety in 2018 as part of students’ experience looking for jobs. By 2020 and 2022, anxiety worsened, such that the well-being of graduate students in political science should be addressed. We recommend a change in the structure of graduate academic programs to include stronger institutional support and an emphasis on alternative paths for work that does not entail teaching at an academic institution.

Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment

In 2019 Professor Ahmet Kuru published his acclaimed Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment: A Global and Historical Comparison. I say ‘acclaimed’ not as an endorsement but merely to point to accolades it received, such as the jointly awarded and prestigious 2020 American Political Science Association’s Jervis-Schroeder Book Award. Moreover, it was keenly promoted by Kuru and publishers via a global book tour including Harvard, on top of receiving reviews in Foreign Affairs and numerous political science and history journals. More recently, its arguments featured in a widely reported op-ed penned by former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in the wake of the Taliban reconquest of Afghanistan, where he characteristically decries ‘Islamism’ as “a first-order security threat to the west”.

Power from Below: An Interview with Nargess Mustapha, Co-Founder of Hoodstock (2022 Cloward & Piven Award Recipients)

Every year, the caucus for critical political science of the American Association of Political Science grants the Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven Award to an activist group in the region of the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA). In 2022, APSA took place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. This year’s recipient of the award is Hoodstock, a movement-based organization that aims to eliminate systemic inequalities and build supportive, inclusive, safe, and vibrant communities. The author and interviewer is a graduate student in Political Science at McGill University where she conducted fieldwork on people power and intersectional organizing in Montreal. In the following piece, she interviews one of the cofounders of Hoodstock.

Climate and the American Political Science Association

Climate and the American Political Science Association

Misinformation in Experimental Political Science

The American Political Science Association recently cautioned against the use of misinformation (giving research participants false information about the state of the world) in research with human subjects. This recommendation signals a growing recognition, as experimental research itself grows in prevalence in political science, that deceptive practices pose ethical problems. But what is wrong with misinformation in particular? I argue that while this question certainly has an ethical dimension, misinformation is bad for inference too. Misinformation moves us away from answering questions about the political world effectively. I propose a straightforward, intuitive solution to this twofold problem: tell the truth.

Public administration and political science: From monogamous marriage to professional partnership

Public administration and political science: From monogamous marriage to professional partnership

Introduction: Entrenchment and Health Equity.

Introduction| September 27 2022 Introduction: Entrenchment and Health Equity Eric M. Patashnik Eric M. Patashnik Brown University Eric M. Patashnik is Julis-Rabinowitz Professor of Public Policy, professor of political science, and chair of the Department of Political Science at Brown University. Patashnik is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Patashnik is the author and editor of several books including Unhealthy Politics: The Battle over Evidence-Based Medicine (with Alan Gerber and Conor Dowling, Princeton University Press, 2017) and Reforms at Risk: What Happens After Major Policy Changes Are Enacted (Princeton University Press, 2008). He has served as president of the Public Policy Section of the American Political Science Association and is a former editor of Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.eric_patashnik@brown.edu Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google J Health Polit Policy Law 10234128. https://doi.org/10.1215/03616878-10234128 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Eric M. Patashnik; Introduction: Entrenchment and Health Equity. J Health Polit Policy Law 2022; 10234128. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/03616878-10234128 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search Books & JournalsAll JournalsJournal of Health Politics, Policy and Law Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright © 2022 by Duke University Press2022 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal Issue Section: Introduction You do not currently have access to this content.

Daniel Robert McClure. Winter in America: A Cultural History of Neoliberalism from the 1960s to the Reagan Revolution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2021. Pp. 464. $95.00 (cloth); $34.95 (paper).

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsDaniel Robert McClure. Winter in America: A Cultural History of Neoliberalism from the 1960s to the Reagan Revolution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2021. Pp. 464. $95.00 (cloth); $34.95 (paper).Jefferson DeckerJefferson DeckerRutgers University Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Political Thought Volume 11, Number 4Fall 2022 Published in association with the American Political Thought organized section of the American Political Science Association and the Jack Miller Center Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/722110 Views: 19Total views on this site For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Kathleen Belew and Ramón A. Gutiérrez, eds. A Field Guide to White Supremacy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2021. Pp. 424. $85.00 (cloth); $24.95 (paper).

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsKathleen Belew and Ramón A. Gutiérrez, eds. A Field Guide to White Supremacy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2021. Pp. 424. $85.00 (cloth); $24.95 (paper).Ramon LopezRamon LopezClemson University Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Political Thought Volume 11, Number 4Fall 2022 Published in association with the American Political Thought organized section of the American Political Science Association and the Jack Miller Center Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/722114 Views: 50Total views on this site For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.