November Election Research Articles

Us Labor's Plight in the Global Economy

US employment in manufacturing has been steadily declining since the 1980s. In the wake of the surprise election in November 2016 of Donald J. Trump, who received strong blue-collar support in rust-belt states, there was growing urgency to understand the plight of manufacturing. The first half of this case explores recent research on labor-market polarization, the return to education, and the local impacts of globalization, in particular the increased trade between China and the United States. The second half summarizes Amy Goldstein's Janesville: An American Story, a narrative about the social impact of the closure of the Janesville, Wisconsin, GM assembly plant. The central question becomes whether the case for trade liberalization is eroding, and whether the wave of ever more globalization is coming to an end. This case is used at Darden in the second-year elective, Managing International Trade and Investment. It would also be suitable in courses covering globalization, labor markets, or international trade. Excerpt UVA-GEM-0155 Rev. Apr. 2, 2018 US Labor's Plight in the Global Economy When Angus Deaton won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2015, some of his work with Anne Case on mortality received more attention. It was well known that mortality rates had been decreasing in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Sweden. The data for the United States, however, showed a unique turnaround between 1999 and 2013. Reversing decades of progress in mortality reduction, mortality among white non-Hispanics between 45 and 54 years old showed an increase for the first time since 1999. Mortality for all other ethnicities, and for older categories, continued to show declines (see Exhibits1 and 2). Case and Deaton traced the abnormal increase in white midlife mortality especially to suicides and drug overdoses, as well as worsening health conditions. As whites were disproportionately employed in manufacturing, economists began to examine possible links between this heightened mortality and the shrinking manufacturing sector. . . .

Situaţia economică şi politică a Banatului in anul 1946, reflectată in paginile cotidianului comunist „Luptătorul Bănăţean” din Timişoara 2/ The economic and political situation of Banat in 1946, reflected in the pages of the Communist daily «Fighter of Banat» in Timişoara

e year 1946 was economically marked by the continuation of the etatization measures, culminating in taking over the state control over the National Bank of Romania at the end of December. Politically, 1946 was dominated by the prolonged electoral campaign, shaken by violence and abuses, and by the parliamentary elections in November, forged by the Communist Party-controlled government coalition.In 1946, the pages of the Communist daily «Fighter of Banat» in Timişoara (which appeared in the autumn of 1944) re#ect, subjectively, the economic situation of Banat and the attitude of the Banat workers towards the main political events. After November 19, 1946, articles about drought, sabotage, grain collection, illiteracy, economics, economic laws, and so on.On a political level, all articles „traditional proletarians” plot the traditional parties and praise the work of the Communist Party, its „satellites” and „comrades of the road”. After the elections of November 19, 1946, the political articles of the Communist daily focus on two key themes: women’s rights (including religious a$airs – Christmas with ample connections with the situation in Moldova) and the establishment of popular tribunals (advanced proposal by the workers in Arad).In conclusion, Communist propaganda made through the «Fighter of Banat» newspaper tried to be at least as e$ective as the one launched through other Communist Party publications and its political allies in other parts of the country.

Mania for Freedom: American Literatures of Enthusiasm from the Revolution to the Civil War by John Mac Kilgore

Reviewed by: Mania for Freedom: American Literatures of Enthusiasm from the Revolution to the Civil War by John Mac Kilgore Jon Mee (bio) Mania for Freedom: American Literatures of Enthusiasm from the Revolution to the Civil War john mac kilgore Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2016 300 pp. They who have made but superficial studies in the Natural History of the human mind, have been taught to look on religious opinions as the only cause of enthusiastick zeal, and sectarian propagation. But there is no doctrine whatever, on which men can warm, which is not capable of the very same effect. The social nature of man impels him to propagate his kind. The passions give zeal and vehemence. The whole man moves under the discipline of his opinions. Although he doesn't quote it directly, John Mac Kilgore's account of American literatures of enthusiasm from the Revolution to the Civil War accords with Edmund Burke's statement from the First Letter on a Regicide Peace (1796). Mac Kilgore is very well aware of the contribution made by Burke to the refreighting of the idea of enthusiasm in the age of democratic revolutions: the period, as he sees it, when the term was regularly used—whether positively or, like Burke, negatively—to describe the "mania for freedom" of his title. Methodologically, the difficulty of enthusiasm is that it is more often a [End Page 606] term of attribution than self-description. The discourse on enthusiasm is everywhere in this period and earlier, at least from the English Civil War, and Mac Kilgore is very well read in its archive on both sides of the Atlantic. The problem is identifying what is the discourse of enthusiasm, especially when those accused of it were often not always keen on the identification. Mac Kilgore makes a genuine contribution to recent studies on enthusiasm, a subject that has become conspicuous in several fields over the last two decades, by looking at its distinctive contribution to American literature and politics. He proceeds with a particular definition of enthusiasm, effectively derived from hostile accounts of an insurrectionary tradition at odds with the conservative narrative of the prudence of the American Revolution. His method is to use the term to find a positive continuity between groups often accused of enthusiasm: "commoners, slaves, Native Americans, women, abolitionists—who activated dissent against institutional tyranny and forged transnational, counternational, or antinationalistic political affiliations in the process" (1). Primarily concerned with the literary dimension of this American tradition, he more specifically identifies "literatures of enthusiasm" as "those texts that transform writing into a species or inciter of democratic revival and revolt" (1). The term is given a particularly American purchase through its complex relationship with the foundation of the United States. Exploiting recent theoretical writing on "constituent power," mostly indebted to Antonio Negri, Mac Kilgore sees the tradition as one that refuses to cede that constituent power to the state and continually insists on the originary power of "the people" to assert its authority. Of course, one might say that tradition persists in some of the populism, especially in its anticonstitutional formations, of the Right that has played a part in recent American politics, most obviously in last November's election result, an event horizon perhaps unforeseen when this book was written. On the other hand, Mac Kilgore's identification of constituent power with enthusiasm raises questions of organization, practical politics, and forms of progressivism whose dreams of revolutionary intervention have made no claim to inspiration or any kind of prophetic tradition. Have forms of American insurgency existed beyond Mac Kilgore's enthusiastic tradition? Do they still? Mac Kilgore's primary concern is with the way normative constructions of the sphere of politics have tended to distance it from enthusiasm because of the assumption that emotion is primarily a subjective form of experience. [End Page 607] Mania for Freedom invokes instead the work of Brian Massumi and others for whom "affect" (as opposed to "emotion") summons "exteriorized, intercorporeal, and pre-personal intensity or contact that has to do with relations exceeding but including the self" (19). Within the larger history of the term, Mac Kilgore writes intelligently of the...

Eleftherios Venizelos, British public opinion and the climax of Anglo-Hellenism (1915-1920)

The paper analyses the construction of a more than favourable image of Eleftherios Venizelos in Britain in 1915-1920. Although Venizelos was highly praised and popular in Britain since at least 1913, his effort to bring Greece to the side of the Entente in 1915 made him exceptionally popular in Paris and particularly in London. Traditions of British philhellenism have been analysed, particularly the influence of two associations: the Hellenic Society founded in 1879 and, especially, the Anglo-Hellenic League established in 1913. The latter helped boost Venizelos?s image in Britain, but it also paved the way for Anglo-Hellenism, the belief of some influential Britons that the fate of modern Greece is inseparably linked with Britain. The Times leaders/editorials and key articles on Venizelos in 1915-1920 have been analysed to demonstrate the level of support and admiration that Venizelos gradually attained. The role of Ronald Burrows and the group of experts around The New Europe is particularly analysed in terms of how the image of Venizelos and Venzelist Greece was constructed. The degree of admiration for Venizelos in Britain has been dealt with through a number of periodicals and newspapers published in Britain during the Great War and through Venizelos?s biographies published in Britain with an aim to show how he became a widely respected super-celebrity. The views of leading British statesmen and opinion makers also indicate a quite high degree of identification with both Venizelos and Greek war aims in Britain in 1915-1920. The climax and the collapse of Anglo-Hellenism in 1919-20 are analysed at the end of the paper. When Venizelos lost the elections of November 1920, Anglo-Hellenism disappeared as a relevant factor in British politics, journalism and diplomacy.

Grassroots vs. Big Oil

In 2014, volunteers in Santa Barbara County, California, collected over 20,000 signatures in three weeks to qualify an anti-fracking initiative for the November election. The initiative, Measure P, met over six million dollars in opposition from oil corporations. Despite mobilizing 1,000 volunteers, the proponents of the measure failed to garner enough votes for success. Drawing on 43 in-depth interviews and participant observation with environmental groups before, during, and after the campaign, this article examines the strengths and weaknesses of grassroots organizing behind Measure P. Organizers, especially during the signature drive, successfully garnered broad-based support in the southern part of the county, an affluent and tourist-dependent area with no onshore oil drilling. Messages based on water, made more salient by California's historic drought, resonated with many residents. Yet, after qualifying for the ballot, proponents of the campaign allied with the local Democratic Party, changing their organizing practices and forestalling bipartisan support. Outreach to Latinos in all areas of the county, and particularly in the northern part, where onshore drilling takes place, was limited. Finally, the overwhelming inequality between the financial power of proponents and the oil industry influenced the outcome. Based on this case, I argue that coalition building and groundwork to develop support within all sectors of communities, especially those most dependent on fossil fuel extraction, is critical to strengthening grassroots efforts that challenge the energy status quo.

Environmental Data Justice and the Trump Administration: Reflections from the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative

Abstract The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI) was formed after the U.S. presidential elections in November 2016 to respond to the threat posed by the Trump administration to environmental data and policy, and to federal environmental agencies. During his campaign, Trump was openly hostile to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and to the science of climate change. Since taking office, Trump's administration has taken steps to radically de-fund federal environmental agencies and roll-back environmental regulations, threatening the public accessibility of federal environmental datasets and continued monitoring of environmental harms. The Trump administration has also taken down information from federal environmental websites, such as the EPA's web pages explaining climate change to kids. This situation poses specific challenges for environmental justice (EJ) activism, as many EJ organizations rely on federal datasets and information on environmental risks, industrial emissions, and ...

Evaluation in political discourse addressed to women: Appraisal analysis of Cosmopolitan’s online coverage of the 2014 US midterm elections

Before the US midterm elections of November 2014, the well-known women’s magazine Cosmopolitan decided to include politics in its contents. The editorial board stated that their aim was to encourage readers to vote and to be engaged with women’s rights advocay in the election process. To that end, Cosmopolitan created a new website, CosmoVotes, with content ranging from discussion of political issues to endorsement of specific candidates who were believed to advance women’s issues. Topics include labour rights, abortion, contraception, health, minimum wage and social equity.This paper evaluates the discourse of this new section of the Cosmopolitan website, together with readers’ responses, concentrating on evaluative language. In particular, we are concerned with differences between the editorial position and readers’ responses as viewed through the Appraisal framework (Martin and White, 2005), and the role that verbal processes play in the expression of evaluative meanings. The corpus used for the analysis consists of a selection of articles and readers’ opinions from CosmoVotes. The methodology is based on annotation of Appraisal features and processes related to the interpersonal dimension of meaning. Those features reveal how attitudes are evaluated and capture ideological positionings in this discourse. Our results show that CosmoVotes has special characteristics, such as a predominance of high intensification in the readers’ opinions, and strong negative judgements and expressions, while the magazine’s pieces on political issues are more nuanced and eschew intensification.

Mixed Signals: Democratization and the Myanmar Media

This article investigates the media context of Myanmar’s recent political reforms and transition of power. Drawing on interviews with 57 Yangon-based media professionals, the article analyzes the media’s role as both an agent and subject of political change as Myanmar prepared for parliamentary elections in November 2015. It asks to what extent changes in the Myanmar media system adhere to existing theories of the media’s role in the democratization process. Specifically, the article analyzes the features and functions of Myanmar’s media during the country’s liberalization from 2010 to 2015. The article concludes by assessing what Myanmar’s experience adds to our theoretical understanding of the media’s transformation during liberalization.

Jimmy Carter and the Sale of the AWACS to Iran in 1977

ABSTRACTIt appeared that as 1977 dawned, the political climate in the United States might render multi-billion dollar arms sales into unstable regions a thing of the past. Jimmy Carter triumphed in the presidential election of November 1976 on a popular platform of arms control and the introduction of human rights considerations into American foreign policy. His transition from that idealistic candidate to the president who agreed to sell Iran a fleet of highly advanced AWACS aircraft, as part of a record breaking $5.7 billion arms package, is therefore outwardly confusing. Yet, when examining the entrenched policy path that Carter inherited regarding arming Iran, and the larger needs of Cold War containment, the logic of Carter’s decisions essentially to betray his own policies in this case becomes clear.

Appraising Myanmar's Democratic Transition and Evolving Challenges

AbstractDemocratic transitions in Asia have received widespread interest in the political science literature since the 1990s. The Thein Sein-led government that came into power in 2010 in Myanmar has undertaken wide ranging reforms that has altered the country's political landscape. They include evolving a working relationship with the political opposition, freeing political prisoners, and the granting of amnesty to political exiles to encourage their return, the negotiation of ceasefire agreements with almost all of the ethnic insurgent armies and the inauguration of the Myanmar Peace Centre. Nonetheless, the county continues to suffer from ongoing developments that retard the process of democratization as well. A confluence of interest between the NLD, ethnic groups, and civil society organizations also prompted attempts to change the 2008 Constitution and its by-laws that prevented Aung San Suu Kyi from running for the country's presidency. That attempt and the potential for reform were scuttled by the August 2015 ‘coup’ against Thura Shwe Mann. The NLD's overwhelming victory in the November elections has significantly strengthened Suu Kyi's position and all major political actors including those from the military have been conciliatory towards the election outcome and there is cause for cautious optimism. After 6 months in power, the policy priorities of the new government are also clearer.

Democratization and New Ethnic Politics in the Mediterranean: Turkey’s Ethnic Groups at Home and Abroad

Turkey’s political scene has been quite active for the last couple of years. Important events include: Two general elections in June and November 2015, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) ending of ...

The Trump Administration and Japan: Challenges and Visions for Japan’s Foreign and Security Policy in the New Era

It is possible that Donald Trump’s success in the US presidential election of November 2016 will touch off the greatest transformation in world politics since World War Two. This is because, for the first time, the presidency of the United States—a country that since World War Two has consistently upheld the liberal world order—has been won by a man who asserts that the US national interests will take precedence over international cooperation.If so, Japan could be one of the most profoundly affected countries. Japan has thus far accepted its status as a junior partner within the US security framework and—without any significant military power of its own—has devoted itself to economic development.Although it is difficult to predict what Mr. Trump’s policies will be, there is a possibility, based on the statements he has made to date, that he will be calling for Japan to become more self-reliant. Although his comprehension of the Japan-US security arrangements is fraught with misconceptions, there is ample possibility that he will ultimately opt to maintain the current Japan-US security framework. However, given that the average defense expenditure of NATO countries is 2% of their GDPs, and that the average expenditure of OECD countries on official development assistance (ODA) is 0.7% of their GDPs, it is highly questionable whether Mr. Trump will approve of Japan’s level of defense spending (less than 1% of its GDP) or of its level of spending on ODA (approximately 0.2% of its GDP).It would not be such a bad thing for Japan to become more self-reliant in terms of security. It is almost unnatural for Japan to maintain this relationship as it is, in the form that it has taken since before Japan’s postwar reconstruction. However, in the context of international relations in East Asia, it has long been taken for granted that this is Japan’s basic stance. Changing this will be no easy task—either domestically or in terms of Japan’s relations with neighboring countries.In these respects, the authors of this paper decided to consider the question of how Japan should develop its foreign and security policy, and to offer some proposals in this regard.

Southeast Asian Economies: In Search of Sustaining Growth

The year 2016 will be remembered for its extraordinary events. It started on a promising note with the signing of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement in February 2016, after prolonged years of negotiations. This was followed by the unexpected United Kingdom vote in favour of leaving the European Union (Brexit) in June and Donald Trump's stunning victory in the U.S. presidential election in November. The latter event has now cast doubt over whether the TPP will be ratified. In Southeast Asia the death of Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, in October, also marked another historical moment. China's launching of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in January 2016 signalled a new era in global finance, as the new international bank is perceived to rival the U.S.-led World Bank. All ten economies in Southeast Asia have signed on to be members, although the ratification of Malaysia and the Philippines had not been completed at the time of writing. Within the region there have been several changes that may affect its internal cohesiveness, as well as the region's economic and political relations with external powers. These include changes in political leadership in Laos, the Philippines, and Vietnam, while rising tensions over territorial disputes in the South China Sea have strained relations between China and some countries in the region. The signing of the TPP has also been perceived by some members of ASEAN as disruptive to ASEAN integration. Amidst such changes, how did the Southeast Asian economies fare in 2016? The main objective of this chapter is to examine the growth of the ten Southeast Asian economies over the year and the main factors that have contributed to this growth. It also discusses the issues that have the potential to affect economic growth of these countries in 2017 and beyond. Economic Performance in 2016 Overall Growth Performance Global growth is projected to fall from 2015 to 2016 due to the uncertainties associated with Brexit and the global impact of the U.S. election results of November 2016. Even in the Asia Pacific, the growth rate for the region is forecast to stagnate from 2015 to 2016. Five of the Southeast Asian economies are expected to have slower growth in 2016 compared to 2015 (Table 1).

Repression and Resistance in Asia: Introduction

Pankaj Mishra’s phrase “age of anger” captures the current zeitgeist, not just in the United States and Europe but also many other parts of the world, including the East and Southeast Asian countries that are the focus of this section. Anger can be good for progressive causes. One thing that this collection of dispatches on misrule and discontent show clearly is the need to think of the current illiberal tide wreaking havoc at both ends of Eurasia, as well as to consider what happened before votes were cast over Brexit in May and in the U.S. election in November. The following pieces highlight just how widespread the disturbing trends associated with our age of anger are. But progressives will also find rays of hope in these accounts of repression in Asia, which are also full of examples of brave efforts to push back against authoritarian regimes.

Status of Corporate Integration Proposal

The September 23 issue of the Daily Tax Report brought the news that the proposed legislation from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R‐UT) offering a corporate integration plan is “almost ready” for public disclosure but may not be released until after the November election. Being a shareholder‐level‐only tax plan, the prospect of it is causing tax angst in the exempt organizations community.

Action in culture: Act I of the presidential primary campaign in the U.S., April to December, 2015

This article offers a thick description of the United States during the first nine months of the 2016 presidential election competition. It argues that this competition is organized in a theatrical way, and that this period, from April to December 2015, represents act one of the drama. It argues that performances in act one contribute to setting the cultural and interpretive conditions in which citizens will enter and act back on the drama in its subsequent acts, in state primaries and caucuses, and in the general election in November 2016. Building on the works of Roland Barthes and Clifford Geertz, the article gives a structural, or semiotic, interpretation of the dominant symbols and discourses operating in the dramatic field, and using Alexander’s cultural pragmatics, it identifies and analyzes key performances given by candidates Clinton and Trump, which crystalized particular meaning formations and lent the proceedings a sense of dynamism and flow. The article demonstrates how analyzing performances in a manner consistent with cultural pragmatic theory contributes to research on electoral politics, political authority, and legitimation processes.

‘Crimea is ours’: A discursive history

Russia could have annexed Crimea anytime in the last 25 years. The fact that it did so only in March 2014 is a puzzle. I argue that the predominant discourse of Russian national identity by 2014 made the annexation of Crimea and military intervention in eastern Ukraine both thinkable and natural to Moscow. A history of the discursive terrain of Russia from 1992 to 2014 shows how Russia’s national identity has evolved over the years, both in response to Western inactions or actions and domestic developments. But Russian identity is not a sufficient explanation for Russian behavior in Ukraine. For that, we must pay attention to the event itself: Western support for the Maidan protestors, Western failure to adhere to the February 2014 agreements reached with Moscow on a transitional government in Ukraine with Yanukovych at its head and new elections in November, the presence of disgruntled Russians in Ukraine, and perhaps most important, over a decade of US unilateralism in foreign affairs.

Whither US Immigration?

The US is the nation of immigration, with almost 20 percent of the world’s international migrants and half of the unauthorized migrants in industrial countries. Debates over the best package of enforcement, legalization, and guest workers to deal with illegal migration continue to divide Americans and Congress. These differences were sharpened in the run-up to elections in November 2016.

Back to a Predominant Party System: The November 2015 Snap Election in Turkey

Turkey’s snap parliamentary election in November 2015 took place in an environment of growing political violence and terrorism resulting from the renewal of the Kurdish conflict in the southeast and two major suicide bombings carried out by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Presenting the coalition arithmetic, the article first examines the failure to form a government after the previous election five months earlier. It then examines the campaign for the November election, including party strategies, key issues and the role of the media, before analysing the results and the election winners and losers. In restoring a parliamentary majority for the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party – AKP) that has governed Turkey continuously for the past 13 years, the November election marked the basic continuity of Turkey’s predominant party system.

The Memoirs of János Kádár’s Interpreter Vladimir Baikov: A New Source on Soviet Policy in 1956 Hungary

Among the recently published historical sources which add important details to our image of the Soviet policy in Hungary in the weeks of the 1956 revolution and its suppression, the memoirs of Vladimir Baikov are among the most important. Vladimir Sergeevich Baikov (1916–2001), born in Moscow, worked as journalist and editor of Radio Moscow (Vsesoyuznii radiokomitet) news programs in the late 1930s and early 1940s, until the attack of Nazi Germany against the USSR in June 1941. He knew English well and began work on a PhD thesis on Contemporary American Literature. The war between Nazi Germany and the USSR, however, led to significant changes in his career. He became a political instructor in the Red Army and, when World War II had ended in May 1945, he found himself in Hungary, where he stayed on for about two years as an official in the Soviet military administration. It can be assumed that there was a lack of interpreters and translators of Hungarian in the Soviet military in post-war Hungary as well as in the Soviet part of the Allied Control Commission. Hence, Baikov was charged with learning Hungarian and, thanks to his linguistic skills, he quickly succeeded. In the first chapters of his memoirs, he describes the situation in Hungary of 1945-1946, the months of the acute confrontation between the pro-Communist and anti-Communist forces, especially in the days of the parliamentary elections in early November 1945. These were to be the last free elections in Hungary up till the spring of 1990.