Political Science Research Articles

2024 NCSA Presidential Address: Back to the Future: The Past and Potential Future Impacts of Natural Disasters

ABSTRACT The 2024 NCSA Presidential Address discusses the past and potential future impacts of natural disasters, including COVID-19, on the American people. This NCSA conference talk is based on two edited volumes previously published by Lexington Books in 2021 and 2023. Relevant theories, such as critical demography and historical categorical inequality, are introduced as starting points in the narrative. Next, descriptions of contributions to the volumes are provided, which covered topics such as criminal justice, demographics, economics, history, political science, and sociology to show how effects of natural disasters vary by economic and social class in the United States. Contributors also discussed specific dynamics related to COVID-19, including media responses to COVID-19, differential impacts on the poor, specific impacts on college students through technology, and how the intersection of race, class, and gender matter for natural disaster research. This talk examines social and political mechanisms in disaster response and relief, and then offers potential solutions to the accelerating inequality in America.

Conflicting identities: cosmopolitan or anxious? Appreciating concerns of host country population improves attitudes towards immigrants

Abstract This paper connects insights from the literature on cosmopolitan worldviews and the effects of perspective-taking in political science, (intergroup) anxiety in social psychology, and identity economics in a vignette-style experiment. In particular, we asked German respondents about their attitudes towards a Syrian refugee, randomizing components of his description (N = 662). The main treatment describes the refugee as being aware of and empathetic towards potential worries in the German population about cultural change, costs, and violence associated with refugee inflows. This perspective-taking by the refugee increases the reported ability to empathize with the refugee and, especially for risk-averse people, reported sympathy and trust. We argue that acknowledging the potential concerns of the host population relieves the tension between an anxious and a cosmopolitan/open part of people’s identities. Moreover, relieved tension renders people less defensive; i.e. when one aspect of identity is already acknowledged (expressing anxieties), it has less influence on actual behavior (expressing sympathy). In addition, previous contact with foreigners and a higher willingness to take risks are important factors in determining an individual’s willingness to interact with refugees.

A research agenda to support economic resilience in US oil and gas producing communities

Abstract Major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions will require a transition away from fossil fuels, including oil and natural gas. However, little research has examined the implications of such a transition for the workers and communities who depend on these industries to support local and regional economic wellbeing. In this perspective, we lay out a research agenda that can help inform policymakers as they seek to craft effective policies to support affected communities. We focus on the United States, the world’s largest oil and gas producer, and identify three key policy areas where new scholarship is needed to inform policymaking: economic and workforce development, public finances, and environmental remediation. Although it is not a comprehensive research agenda, we identify dozens of distinct research questions that will require a mix of methods and disciplinary lenses, including basic data gathering, community engagement, program evaluation, policy analysis, political analysis, and more. The goal of this article is to encourage scholars to take up these topics and expand them in the years ahead to ensure that oil and gas communities become more economically resilient in the face of deep uncertainty over the future of the domestic and global energy system.

Fairness, tika and political science in Aotearoa New Zealand: Some “inconvenient evidence”

This article is a rejoinder to Annie Te One and Maria Bargh’s article, published in the previous edition of The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, exploring whether the political science discipline in Aotearoa New Zealand is keeping pace with change with respect to Māori politics content in university political science programs, the number of Māori employed in the political science profession and the content of New Zealand's Political Science journal. While acknowledging the importance of their case, an assessment of the empirical evidence and further analysis of the data and the methods used by Te One and Bargh refutes their allegations in relation to all three issues. As one of the co-editors of Political Science, I note that, from 2012 to 2022, the acceptance rate of articles on Māori politics was 91.7% and that of Māori authors submitting on a Māori topic was 100%. Recognition and change are underway.

Tradition and Disruption in Latinx and Latin American Political Thought

Abstract This article presents Latinx political thought as a distinctive tradition in political theory that reworks central concepts in response to historical experiences of conquest, colonialism, migration, and transnational politics. In reconstructing this tradition, we argue that its problem space converges with US-based Latin American political thought. The article first traces a genealogy of Latinx political theory and then explores three realms of theorizing around which Latinx and Latin American political thought cluster: sovereignty and state violence, peoplehood, and transnationalism. We explain how the surveyed works disrupt and enrich political theory accounts of these problems. In arguing for the recognition of this field as a tradition, the article also aims to make it intelligible as an area of concentration for PhD students in political science.

Malta: Political Developments and Data in 2023

AbstractThe year in politics was marked by the exposure of a number of scandals, chief among which concerned the privatisation of three public hospitals. Polls still continued to give the governing Labour Party a strong lead over the opposition Nationalist Party, which showed little sign of recovery. The economy performed well, but inflation hit people's spending power, and sustained growth continued to be reflected in overcrowding and congestion. The abortion debate closed in an anti‐climax. A brighter picture emerged in foreign relations as Malta took its place in the UN Security Council and was chosen to chair the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Development of the theory of the socialist state in political publications and legal documents of the stalin period of soviet history: problems and contraditions

The article is devoted to an extended analysis of the most important texts of the Stalin era, in which the theory of the socialist state was presented. Based on historical and political analysis, the author traces and reconstructs the history of the development of Soviet political and legal thought of the Stalin period of Soviet history towards the creation of a well-founded and structured theory of the socialist state. This work was complicated by serious problems that arose due to serious contradictions between the theory they were creating and the most important Marxist principles, as well as with the main postulates of the Leninist doctrine of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The author comes to the conclusion that these reasons ultimately led to the situation that the theory of the socialist state created from the early 1930s to the early 1950s did not achieve internal structure and consistency. The Soviet theory of the state did not resolve its internal contradictions, of which the most important was the dualism of dictatorship and democracy. Thus, the Soviet theory of the socialist state of the Stalin era did not achieve internal harmony and logic.

Economic Responses to Nazi Aggression in Europe: Albert Hirschman and Paul Rosenstein-Rodan on the Economic Sovereignty of Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract Germany's expansion in Central and Eastern Europe was not just one among many aggressive moves by the Third Reich but the central strategy of the Nazi imperial project on the continent. Prominent economists, politicians, and think tanks agreed that crucial to this project was Germany's economic domination of the area, and they committed to developing a new vision for a postwar international order that avoided the instability and turmoil of the interwar years. This article discusses the analyses of the crisis of Central and Eastern Europe and solutions to it that Albert Hirschman and Paul Rosenstein-Rodan, then both virtually unknown and working independently one from the other, produced during World War II—Hirschman with a focus on the international dimension and Rosenstein-Rodan with a focus on the domestic one. This article offers a synthetic discussion of how the war deeply affected their economic thinking and how, in turn, their analyses became foundational elements of new and important disciplinary fields in the postwar decades, such as international political economy and development economics.

THE COLLAPSE OF MODERN DEMOCRACY

This scientific article will demonstrate the birth, evolution and crisis of modern democratic regimes. As notorious knowledge, democracy arose from the fall of the monarchical absolutist regime, when human rights appeared accompanied by constitutionalist movements. The evolution was gradual, the result of the social demands that emerged, noting at first the French ideological tripod, namely, freedom, equality and fraternity, reflecting on the social constitutions of social character. It turns out that with the increase of social demands, the state apparatus itself became unable to meet them, despite the existence of social constituent letters enumerating a catalog of human rights. Thus there is the occurrence of the phenomenon of apparent democracy, in which there is a constitutionally foreseen sequence of human rights, together with appropriate legislations, but are not met by the public power, collapsing the system. At the same time, other elements that contribute to the end of democracies are observed, and can point out the partisan political articulations, the search for perpetuation in power, the confidential meetings, the votes for a certain matter and so on that configure what they are what Political scientist Norberto Bobbio defines how the “rules of the game” democratic. Finally, it is appropriate to mention the occurrence of the invisible power of democracy, where not only the subjects hides, but also the content of decisions until the moment they must become public, always having other objectives.

A conflict of visions: Ideas shaping wildlife trade policy toward African megafauna

Abstract Among factors that threaten wild populations of African megafauna, wildlife trade has gained prominence as a global policy issue, with concerted international campaigns aiming to influence the trade of species such as elephants, rhinos and lions. Trade policy is strongly contested, confounding attempts to develop coherent approaches across jurisdictions and through international mechanisms such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This undermines conservation efforts. Understanding the drivers of such conflict may help to address this problem. Scholars of political science increasingly recognise the power of ideas as drivers within policy processes. Guided by this literature, we developed an analytical framework and conducted a thematic analysis to examine the ideas driving wildlife trade policy conflict. Our nested case study approach examined debates over trade policy toward African elephants, rhinos and lions at two levels: the international policy arena of CITES and within a single country, South Africa. Informed by earlier literature, we tracked the evolution of international trade policy debates over a 4‐year period (2016–2019) and analysed submissions to a national policy review process in South Africa that took place during 2020. During the study period, state and non‐state actors contributed to vigorous trade policy debates within seven key thematic issues across the case study species. Arguments were driven by both cognitive ideas, which specify cause‐and‐effect relationships, and normative ideas, which are values‐based and especially salient elements of anti‐trade stances. Fusing these cognitive and normative ideational elements, we identified three distinct overarching narratives relating to wildlife trade policy. These three narratives align with broader environmental policy and political narratives and elucidate inherent tensions within the CITES arena. They also reveal differing ethical interpretations and perceptions of risk and precaution. Policy implications. Wildlife trade policy conflict is driven at least in part by competing ideological visions, which may be entrenched by the CITES Appendix listing system. The structural role of CITES in perpetuating this polarisation—and the consequences thereof—warrants further research. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Using Prediction Markets as a Tool for Classroom and Civic Engagement

Keeping students actively engaged in their courses and seeking ways to help them understand how to apply course content to real-world scenarios remains a central focus of political science education. In an effort to address this enduring challenge, we implement a prediction market focused on the 2022 congressional midterm elections in our introductory and upper-level political science courses. Using original survey data, obtained through the administration of pre and post surveys, we find statistically significant increases in feelings of pride, hope, trust, and efficacy among market participants. More broadly, we discuss the ways in which this semester-long project, using both the prediction market and classroom assignments, fosters increases in the desire for civic participation and the possibility of sustained civic engagement that extends beyond the classroom. Throughout the paper we seek to provide a useful guide for anyone seeking alternative methods of classroom and civic engagement and different ways by which to achieve it in a variety of courses.

Political economy analysis of health taxes (tobacco, alcohol drink and sugar-sweteened beverage): qualitative study of three provinces in Indonesia

ObjectiveEfforts to implement health tax policies to control the consumption of harmful commodities and enhance public health outcomes have garnered substantial recognition globally. However, their successful adoption remains a complex...

Micro Meets Macro Meets Political Science: Political Ideology, Partisanship, and Organizations

Micro Meets Macro Meets Political Science: Political Ideology, Partisanship, and Organizations

On the usefulness of turning to the experience of the Warsaw Pact Organization

At the beginning of the 2020s, the formation of a new world order became obvious. In parallel, there are two large-scale processes. One of them is a partial reformatting of connections within camps of Western democracies, the other is the emergence of a community of a number of states outside the West. The emergence of this commonality presupposes a noticeable increase in cooperation of the armed forces between interested players. Here it becomes necessary to use experience of functioning of specialized structures without the participation of Western countries. Studying the experience allows us to take into account a number of schemes that have proved their effectiveness and usefulness, primarily developed under the auspices of the Warsaw Pact Organization. Their wasps thinking is becoming especially in demand in the context of a noticeable tightening of the Western approach to contain opponents – Russia, China, Iran. The article points out the limited attention to the internal affairs of domestic historiography and political science, despite the obvious value of the experience of functioning of this organization. The author notes that a significant part of the gaps in the study of the strategy and practice of internal affairs can be filled by the fundamental work “Organization of the Warsaw Pact. 1955–1991. Story. Strategy. Policy”, prepared by a team of authors under the leadership of V.A. Zolotarev.

Liberals and Conservatives Rely on Very Similar Sets of Foundations When Comparing Moral Violations

Applications of moral foundations theory in political science have revealed differences in the degree to which liberals and conservatives explicitly endorse five core moral foundations of care, fairness, authority, loyalty, and sanctity. We argue that differences between liberals and conservatives in their explicit ratings of abstract and generalized moral principles do not imply that citizens with different political orientations have fundamentally different moral intuitions. We introduce a new approach for measuring the importance of the five moral foundations by asking U.K. and U.S. survey respondents to compare pairs of vignettes describing violations relevant to each foundation. We analyze responses to these comparisons using a hierarchical Bradley–Terry model which allows us to evaluate the relative importance of each foundation to individuals with different political perspectives. Our results suggest that, despite prominent claims to the contrary, voters on the left and the right of politics share broadly similar moral intuitions.

The Use of Machine Learning Methods in Political Science: An In-Depth Literature Review

In the past decade, applying machine learning methods in political science has grown in popularity. The increase in data volume and sources motivated researchers to turn to these data-driven methods as an alternative to classical statistics. Several review papers have proposed theoretical typologies for applying machine learning in social sciences. We present an overview of how and why machine learning methods are actually implemented in the field of political science. The aim of this study is to conduct an empirical analysis of the political science literature that uses machine learning as a research method. We applied the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) framework for systematic review studies to systematically select 339 articles (1990–2022) from Web of Science and Scopus, evaluated their relevance based on a set of inclusion criteria, and created a database with the key characteristics. Overall, we observed that political scientists have embraced machine learning as empirical method based on the increased use in the past 10 years. We found that the use of machine learning is the most prevalent in political communication and conflict and peace studies, and that topic modeling, support vector machine, and random forest are the most used methods. Our results indicate that reporting on optimizing machine learning models through hyperparameter tuning could be more transparent, and researchers should conduct their own benchmarking when choosing the most suitable model.

Thinking solidarity and translation together: Towards a new definition of solidarity

In a cross-disciplinary roundtable discussion on the feminist politics of translation,Judith Butler (Nagar et al., 2017, p. 113)aptly notes that “there can be no solidarity without translation, and certainly no global solidarity”. This article is the first dedicated attempt to definesolidarity from within translation studies: it redefines the concept to foreground the role of translation, understood as a hermeneutic, interpersonal and semiotic process, in solidarity development. The article is also the first to bring together scholarship on solidarity from philosophy, political science and sociology, on the one hand, and translation studies, on the other. I show that insights from translation studies supplement scholarship on solidarity in the other disciplines, where translation is largely overlooked. I also apply analytical categories from those disciplines to discussions of solidarity in translation studies and demonstrate the de factodifferent understandings of solidarity behind translation scholars’ use of the term, thus initiating a discipline-wide theoretical conversation on the concept. Moreover, upon noticing that the roleof translation in generating solidarity is not captured in any existing definition, I redefine solidarity as a sense of interconnection and commonality in difference –developed through caring, careful and inherently incomplete translation –that pursues inclusion and impels action towards common good. Finally, I signal how the definition can inform our understanding of the interlingual human translator as an active agent, adept at forging and facilitating solidarity.

“Political engineering”: Continuity and novelty in political theory

This article discusses the development of the study of “political engineering” and the theoretical discourse used to formulate the continuity and novelty of future studies. It begins by identifying previous studies that serve as the theoretical foundation, and a literature review method is employed to identify the similarities and differences among existing studies, which are then used to formulate new conceptions. The findings indicate that the perspective of “political engineering” has a strong basis and foundation to be developed as a major field of study in Political Science. This is not only due to the variety and development of studies in recent decades, but also because the needs for political science to transform into applicable, practical knowledge capable of addressing contemporary challenges are increasingly urgent. The conception of “new political engineering” focuses on behavior engineering, using psychological mechanisms referred to as hope and fear, directly targeting actors (with or through institutions) and no longer making political institutions the main object of study. Instead, it extends to campaign messages, marketing management, system functions, political institutions, policy products, and policymakers to explain and direct voter behavior.

Critical Evaluation Of Judicial Independence Question In The International Court Of Justice

In view of developments in world politics in recent years, such as an upsurge in nationalism, doubts about multilateralism, the Covid pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, an inquiry concerning the peaceful resolution of international disputes is in order. How capable are international dispute resolution mechanisms of satisfying demands and preserving their reputations at such a critical time? The fundamentally political entities involved are likely to remain very disparate, a fact that can only worsen their widely acknowledged poor image in this respect without instituting any remedial measures. As a judicial body, however, the ICJ would hardly be allowed such latitude. Concerns about the impartiality of ICJ judges have already been expressed on the grounds of their perceived allegiance to their home countries, an issue that the existing political zeitgeist only makes more controversial. No solutions are readily available to alleviate all concerns. The current article takes several normative assessments into consideration, arguing that these can devalue the authority of the ICJ’s judgments. It then provides insight into how to recognise and deal with the persistent problem of judicial independence within the ICJ.

The Political and Mental Aspects of Ukraine Integration with Europe

This research paper examines Ukraine’s path towards European integration. From the 10th to the 12th centuries, Ukraine – then known as Kyivan Rus’ – was a strong independent state, but due to internal conflicts and conquests, it became weakened and fell under the influence of other state entities. From the 17th century onwards, as a result of the Pereyaslav agreements (1654 and 1659) between the Cossacks and Moscow, Ukraine found itself increasingly under the sway of Russia, a situation that persisted until the collapse of the “prison of the peoples”, the Soviet Union. Despite Russian propaganda portraying Ukraine as an integral part of Russia for a long time due to shared history and culture, in reality, modern Ukraine and Russia are two different countries with distinct political systems, development trajectories, identities, mentalities, fundamental values, and traditions. Ukrainian society, though subjected to Sovietization during communist times and later targeted by political and propaganda actions from the Russian Federation, stands fundamentally opposed to the authoritarian Russian society and closer to the democratic European community. For centuries, Russian authorities sought to colonize and exploit Ukraine for their own interests, attempting to erase Ukrainian identity, language, traditions, and rewriting Ukrainian history, yet they failed to fully assimilate the Ukrainian people despite numerous manipulations and crimes against them. The European, Western development trajectory of Ukraine and its desire to break away from Russia’s sphere of influence is one of the main reasons for the current full-scale war. The greatest similarities between Ukraine and European states at the level of mentality include Ukrainian love for freedom, individualism, and desire for democracy, in contrast to Russian despotism and authoritarianism. These distinct features of the Ukrainian mentality have historically preserved and revived the Ukrainian nation, aiding in its further development and providing hope for its future not only geographically and economically but also mentally and spiritually.