State Political Culture Research Articles

Politics, preparedness, or resources Examining state responsiveness to the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. states are often the primary decision makers during a public health crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic led to several different reopening processes across states based on their unique characteristics. We analyze whether states' reopening policy decisions were driven by their public health preparedness, resources, COVID-19 impact, or state politics and political culture. To do so, we summarized state characteristics and compared them across three categories of reopening scores in a bivariate analysis using the chi-square or Fisher exact test for the categorical variables and a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the continuous variables. A cumulative logit model was used to assess the primary research question. A significant factor in a state's reopening decision was the party of the governor, regardless of the party in control of the legislature, state political culture, public health preparedness, cumulative number of deaths per 100,000, and Opportunity Index score.

Civic Inspiration or Civic Disillusionment? The Mixed Legacy of the Wisconsin Idea

Abstract The Wisconsin Idea is a widely acclaimed late nineteenth-century vision for Wisconsin higher education that promotes democratic engagement, the search for truth, and developing knowledge of importance to Wisconsin citizens. While the Wisconsin Idea is often celebrated as an enduring feature of public higher education in Wisconsin, this paper points to a myriad of cultural, economic, and political forces that have reshaped its meaning. Among these forces, fragmenting purposes of higher education, globalization, and changes in state political culture have edited understandings of the Wisconsin Idea in ways that have eliminated its moral and democratic purposes. These shifts that occurred throughout the twentieth century and early twenty-first mirror changes in the broader American higher education landscape. Ultimately, such changes have resulted in divided lives among students, faculty, staff, and administrators that seek wholeness, connection, and deep civic purposes in their work. This paper retraces the Wisconsin Idea’s history and concludes with a discussion about ways in which its early notions might be revived to inspire new thinking about higher education’s role in society.

Partisan registration of faculty in flagship colleges

ABSTRACT This is a study of 12,372 professors in 116 colleges that are the four top US News-ranked colleges in each of 30 states that collect political registration data. We devised the sample to highlight variation in registration arising from individual, college-level, and state-level characteristics. We find an overall Democratic-to-Republican registration ratio of 8.5:1, but age, gender, field, region, and religious affiliation modify the ratios of Democrats to Republicans. This is the first application of logistical modeling to archival faculty registration data. The logistical models mostly confirm the univariate findings but reveal that state- and college-level dummy variables retain their significance when individual, field, and college rank are controlled. Organizational cultures of academic institutions and state political cultures along with better-understood influences of personal and institutional characteristics may influence the propensity of colleges to engage in or deviate from preponderately Democratic hiring.

Crime, Politics, and the Future of India's Democracy

Abstract The review essays by Sunila S. Kale, Sandipto Dasgupta, and Michael J. Watts on Milan Vaishnav's When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics and Steven Pierce's Moral Economies of Corruption: State Formation and Political Culture in Nigeria raise a number of theoretically interesting questions about corruption, criminality, and their historical embeddedness. In particular, they force a rethinking of the commonly accepted notion that in many contexts the state, far from being seen as the remedy to citizens' core grievances, is the very source of the grievance to begin with. Paradoxically, elected representatives who helm the state apparatus are often the only actors with the authority and delegated powers to reform the state, something that they have few incentives to do.

Crime, Corruption, and Political Order in Nigeria and India

Abstract The subjects of crime and corruption remain perennially important for social scientists concerned with the nature of power, authority, and order. Steven Pierce's Moral Economies of Corruption: State Formation and Political Culture in Nigeria and Milan Vaishnav's When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics present two very different approaches to the study of crime and corruption, both rich, complex, and lucidly conveyed. As a scholar of South Asia, Kale's approach in the essay is to use insights from Pierce to reflect on the methodological and theoretical choices in Vaishnav's account of India's criminal politicians. In discussing each author's contributions, rather than providing a comprehensive account, Kale focuses on the parts of their arguments that are useful for comparative discussion.

El relato de gesta en el discurso político

The text analyzes the speeches emerged by seven candidates to the state government of Veracruz in 2016, during the TV series Voto Informado Veracruz, in order to analyze symbolic aspects of the state's political culture. The theorical support affirms that the communication provides to the political culture, stories that are manifested through the values, attitudes and behaviors of the actors involved in the narration, that is, they come from the collective imagination. This activity aims to reproduce myths through the discursive structure. For the analysis of the speeches emerge by seven candidates, were used teniques of the propositional analysis and structural analysis of the narrative. The results show that political discourse is represented as a story of feat - which includes its own symbolic product - and is the one that predominates before the social demands of the population and the ideologies of each party. The final discussion questions the different ideologies of political parties, which are blurred by the structure of the mythical story.

ENACT-ing Leadership at the State Level: A National Educational Network for Engaged Citizenship in State Legislatures

The Educational Network for Active Civic Transformation (ENACT) is a nationwide network that serves as a hub for the pedagogical efforts of educators in 16 different states, with the ambitious goal of having an ENACT Faculty Fellow in all 50 states. However, ENACT courses go a step further engaging students directly in experiential learning exercises designed to affect policy change by working with policy advocacy groups, preparing policy briefs, engaging in strategic outreach and messaging, and meeting directly with policymakers in their state capitals to advocate for political change. In this paper, we argue that state politics represents a fruitful, yet often neglected, space for the development of political leadership skills. Accordingly, we will present ENACT as a pedagogical model for empowering students, enhancing their capacity for political leadership. Yet we also remain attuned to localized variation in the policy-making environment and state political culture.

Book Review: Steven Pierce, Moral Economies of Corruption: State Formation and Political Culture in Nigeria

Book Review: Steven Pierce, <i>Moral Economies of Corruption: State Formation and Political Culture in Nigeria</i>

Steven Pierce. Moral Economies of Corruption: State Formation and Political Culture in Nigeria.

Steven Pierce. Moral Economies of Corruption: State Formation and Political Culture in Nigeria.

Moral Economies of Corruption: State Formation and Political Culture in Nigeria by Steven Pierce Durham, NC: Duke University, 2016. Pp 282. $25.95 (pbk).

Moral Economies of Corruption: State Formation and Political Culture in Nigeria by Steven Pierce Durham, NC: Duke University, 2016. Pp 282. $25.95 (pbk).

Definitely Not Moralistic: State Political Culture and Support for Donald Trump in the Race for the 2016 Republican Presidential Nomination

ABSTRACTThis study analyzes the important role state political culture played in the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Donald Trump appealed to demographically distinct types of voters in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries and caucuses that varied considerably from previous Republican presidential nominees. Relative to the demographics of the primary electorates, however, this study finds that state political culture played an outsized role in determining Donald Trump’s relative level of support in a particular state. When state demographics are utilized in ordinary least squares regression models as independent variables with state partisanship and Daniel Elazar’s state political culture typology, political culture proves to be a significant determinant of the level of support given to Trump in a state. States that are characterized by a more moralistic political culture are considerably more likely to have given Trump a lower share of the vote while voters in states that are characterized by a more traditionalistic or individualistic culture were more likely to support Trump.

Moral Economies of Corruption: State Formation and Political Culture in Nigeria. Steven Pierce. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016. 286 pp.

Moral Economies of Corruption: State Formation and Political Culture in Nigeria. Steven Pierce. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016. 286 pp.

Female Candidates, Sociopolitical Subculture, and State Attorney General Elections

ABSTRACTRelatively few women have served as state attorney general; even fewer have been elected. Those women who won election to this important office did so in spite of its masculine stereotypical image. Here, women's participation and success in attorney general elections is examined in terms of state political culture, specifically as it relates to political women. Connections are apparent between a state's female sociopolitical subculture and attorney general elections, in terms of female candidate emergence, primary candidates’ ultimate electoral success, and a state's history of electing women to this stereotypically male office.

The Volk of New Jersey? State Identity, Distinctiveness, and Political Culture in the American Federal System

The legal literature on federalism has long taken for granted that Americans no longer meaningfully identify with, or feel strong loyalties to, their states. This assumption has led some scholars to reject federalism altogether; others argue that federalism must be reoriented to serve national values. But the issue of identity and loyalty sweeps far more broadly, implicating debates about the political safeguards of federalism, the ability of states to check national power, and the likelihood that states will produce policy innovations or good opportunities for citizen participation in government. The ultimate question is whether American federalism lacks the cultural and psychological support to sustain itself.This article is the first comprehensive effort to assess whether contemporary American states are meaningfully distinctive from one another and whether contemporary Americans identify with their states. The death of state identity is an empirical claim, but no proponent of that claim has ever marshalled empirical evidence to support it. It is also a claim unique to legal scholarship: Scholars in political science, history, economics, cultural psychology, and other disciplines have developed extensive literatures on state political cultures. This article surveys those literatures and collects evidence on the states’ geographic, demographic, and policy diversity, states’ impact on political preferences, relative trust in state and federal institutions, state’s distinct historical narratives, and the impact of individual mobility among the states. I conclude that reports of the death of state identity are greatly exaggerated — and that has important implications for American federalism.

Psychological Factors, Influencing the National Political Culture within a Multi-Ethnic Society, Role of Socialization and Globalization for the Multinational State Political Culture Development

This article contains a psychological analysis of the national political culture factors within a multinational state. On this basis, the psychological aspect of social relationship among the representatives of different ethnicities is reflected. The impact of ethnos on the political culture is shown. The main values and determinants of political culture are described; the analysis of the political socialization is reflected; its main types are presented. Also, the national issue within a multinational state is analyzed. The globalization process analysis is performed and its role and impact on the multinational state is reflected. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p2559

POSTRACIAL POLITICS?

AbstractThis paper examines the claim that the historical election of Barack Obama demonstrated a new era of postracial politics in America (Ceaser et al., 2009). Drawing on arguments in the recent American political development literature (King and Smith, 2005; Novkov 2008), this research proposes a racial tension theory to link Obama’s White voter support to the deep-seated racial tension at the state level. In doing so, a theoretic and empirical solution is offered to solve the problem of high correlations between the major contextual variables measuring Black density (Key 1949), racial diversity (Hero 1998), state political culture (Elazar 1984), and social capital (Putnam 2000). The converged findings based on multiple methods clearly show that the state-level White support for Obama in both 2008 and 2012 was directly related to the racial tension of a state. In contrast, racial tension did not affect the White vote for John Kerry, the Democratic nominee in the 2004 Presidential election.

Racial Context and the 2008 and 2012 US Presidential Elections

White voter support was a key to Barack Obama’s historical win of the Presidency in 2008, which begs the question of whether America had entered into an era of post-racial politics. Obama’s white support, however, declined in his 2012 reelection. To account for the variation in Obama’s white voter support in states, this article examines the previous contextual explanations of white voting behavior. Drawing on arguments in the recent American political development literature (King and Smith 2005, Novkov 2008), this research proposes a new racial tension theory to link Obama’s white voter support to the deep-seated racial tension at the state level. In doing so, a theoretic and empirical solution is offered to solve the problem of high correlations between the major contextual variables measuring black density (Key 1949), racial diversity (Hero 1998), state political culture (Elazar 1984) and social capital (Putnam 2000). The converged findings based on multiple methods clearly show that the state-level white support for Obama in both 2008 and 2012 was directly related to the racial context of a state. Overall this study reveals the enduring, rather than vanishing, effect of race.

Dating Violence Policy: Making the Grade

Dating violence rates affect an unacceptably high percentage of youth. This paper tests a model to understand the considerable variation in state dating violence policy comprehensiveness. Independent variables in the model are state political culture, partisan control of political institutions, prevalence of dating violence, and median household income. Bivariate results show partial support for preliminary hypotheses. Regression analysis indicates that strength of Democratic Party control of governmental institutions is the only variable in the model that achieved statistical significance. Implications and recommendations for future research are provided.

State Political Culture, Higher Education Spending Indicators, and Undergraduate Graduation Outcomes

Issues concerning higher education today (e.g., rising costs, declining public trust, changing state economics) have created new demands for postsecondary institutions to demonstrate their productivity. We examine whether differences in states’ political cultures (i.e., underlying traditions, values, and public policy choices) are reflected in variability between state finance policy indicators and institutional variables that explain undergraduate graduation rates. To test our proposed model, we use longitudinal data on state indicators and institutional variables that explain differences in graduation rates compiled over an 11-year period. Our findings suggest that differences in political culture represent mediating factors between states’ economic contexts and higher education appropriations, which help explain variation in their graduation rates over time.

Alabama Getaway: The Political Imaginary and the Heart of Dixie (review)

Reviewed by: Alabama Getaway: The Political Imaginary and the Heart of Dixie Michael Bowen Alabama Getaway: The Political Imaginary and the Heart of Dixie. By Allen Tullos. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2011. 364 pp. $69.95 (cloth). ISBN 978-0-8203-3048-8. $24.95 (paper). ISBN 978-0-8203-3049-5. In Alabama Getaway, Emory professor Allen Tullos delivers a superbly written takedown of the state's political culture and collective memory explaining why Alabama rates second only to Mississippi in jokes made at its expense. Borrowing his title from the Grateful Dead, Tullos treads the line between historical narrative and political treatise, offering both an explanation for how the state got into such poor shape and suggestions for how it can improve. His tendency for well-crafted satirical phrases gives this pointed narrative of lost opportunities and missteps a comedic tone as he reminds the reader of how far Alabama has come, yet how far it still has to go. Tullos ties together a disparate group of attitudes and value judgments into what he calls the "Heart of Dixie." This "political imaginary," as he terms it throughout the book, holds a great deal of sway over the state's citizenry and limits the debates and public policy choices of its legislators. Chapter one brilliantly surveys the individual elements of the Heart of Dixie mentality. Using episodes from both Alabama history and the writings of its expatriate authors, Tullos reveals how the state's extreme conservatism chokes its economic and spiritual growth. The homophobia of Judge Roy Moore meshes almost seamlessly with the white flight to the Birmingham suburbs and Alabama Power's omnipresent opposition to climate change legislation. The Heart of Dixie is most openly expressed through the "sez-you" idea, a shorthand term for Alabama's obstinate refusal to take, or even acknowledge, criticism and its unwillingness [End Page 153] to address its failing education and taxation systems. The evidence Tullos assembles here gives the reader a clear understanding of how all-encompassing and restrictive this political imaginary is and the role it has played in retarding Alabama's progress. The middle third of the book is the Heart of Dixie in practice. After an extended treatment of the Alabama prison system, the most prominent embodiment of the state's systemic racism and punitive spirit, Tullos takes the reader on a tour of the last fifty years of Alabama politics. Out of this story, two villains emerge. The first, the 1901 state constitution, codified the power of elite landholders through a regressive tax system that overburdened the middle and lower classes. The second, Governor George Wallace, enshrined the "sez-you" system through his 1963 stand at the schoolhouse door in Tuscaloosa and his penchant for race-baiting throughout his career. Both represent the Heart of Dixie at its worst and Tullos persuasively argues that the state will not address its systemic racism and inequality until it scraps the constitution and moves past the legacy of Wallaceism. The final third of the book presents alternative visions to the Heart of Dixie, largely through the work of Civil Rights leaders and other African Americans who have continued the fight through the present. Chapters six and eight are groupings of anecdotes that highlight numerous examples of progressive political and judicial action. These serve as a stark contrast to the sketches of chapter one and clearly indicate that progress is possible in Alabama—just at a slower pace than nearly everywhere else. Here again, Tullos does an excellent job of linking history with contemporary events to illuminate a possible path to change. Despite covering such wide-ranging ground, Tullos's argument holds together fairly well. The one outlier is the chapter on Condoleezza Rice. As a native of Birmingham Rice is certainly fair game, but Tullos focuses almost exclusively on her role in the 2003 Iraq War. Rice's middle-class parents sheltered her from grassroots activism and looked down on the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and his local movement for social justice. Rice transcended her hometown to become the first female African American Secretary of State, and one could make an argument that Rice's upbringing and experiences are proof...