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"Fills conceptual gap concerning the swing voter. Answers four questions: What is a swing voter? How to identify them? Do they differ from the rest of the electorate? What is their role? Presents a picture of this key political group, tracking them across six decades of national and local elections"--Provided by publisher

It considers opportunities for using computer agent-based modeling in studies related to political process analyses. Gives information about the historical context of computer simulation based on agent model implementation, and emphasizes the significance of T. Shelling and R. Axelrod models. It is noted usefulness of this method is applied to complex dynamic system analysis, wherein participants have complex interconnections, and their behavior depends on the situation.

Gives information about an agent-based model's main elements, especially space and agents, and describes what they can represent. Draws attention to the importance of the researcher's study goal understanding using this approach, which in turn affects the model parameters setting that determines model will be abstract, realistic, or mixed.

Considered opportunities applying agent-based modeling for the course of social and political processes forecasting, and showed the opinion of other researchers on this issue.

Provides examples of ten studies related to the analysis of various political processes, the authors of which applied this approach and their own agent models with different realism levels.

Shows possibilities applied of computer simulations for forecasting the results of future and reproducing the results of past elections, evaluating election campaign strategies, the emergence of ideological polarization, modeling political discourse, evaluating the effectiveness of implemented policies, analyzing the risks of social instability in the state under the influence of external and internal factors.

It is concluded that agent-based modeling can be a helpful tool in the hands of political scientists and noted that the use of this approach significantly expands the possibilities for analyzing complex political processes.

Though constitutionalism has resulted in the successful dissemination of liberty throughout the US, self-governance is on the decline. If the constitutional order in the US is to be successful, the tenets of public philosophy must be reemployed. It must be recognized that self-government does not work without public philosophy. It is necessary, therefore, for the discipline of political science to take upon itself the task of promoting public philosophy while providing maintenance to the Constitution. In short, whether US society continues to thrive, or whether it completely disintegrates is directly related to the ability of political scientists to rejuvenate public philosophy. K. A. Larsen

THE AUTHOR ARGUES THAT THE USE OF VIDEO TAPE IN THIS FORMAT PROVIDES BOTH AUDITORY AND VISUAL STIMULI WHICH BETTER SIMULATES AN ACTUAL INTERVIEW SITUATION, AND WHICH ALLOWS FOR A MORE ACTIVE PRESENTATION OF MATERIALS WHICH CAN BE CONTROLLED BY THE INSTRUCTOR. THIS APPROACH WAS APPLIED TO A ONE-SEMESTER COURSE ON LEGISLATIVE PROCESS WITH AN ENROLLMENT OF 25.

Political violence was a significant force in Europe between the two world wars, and the Spanish Second Republic (1931–6) was no exception to this general trend. The purpose of this article is to analyse its role in the campaign leading up to the February 1936 general election – the last to be held prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. Without doubt, this election constituted a crucial moment in Spain's new experiment with democratic competition, and for this reason, the presence and characteristics of violence during the campaign are useful tools for analysing the process of democratic consolidation and its peculiar features. Until the present, historians have possessed a certain amount of information on electoral violence in the Spain of February 1936, but this has remained incomplete and is poorly documented. Therefore, this study presents the results of a more thoroughgoing and systematic analysis of the subject, based on a rigorous examination of the available primary sources. In addition, it also introduces a reflection on the comparative prior context of interwar European politics.

THE STUDY PRESENTS A THEORETICAL DISCUSSION AND AN EMPIRICAL TEST OF A THEORY OF CLEAVAGE STRUCTURE AND CROSSPRESSURE PROCESSES: STRUCTURE OF POLITICAL CLEAVAGES, PERCEPTIONS OF CROSS-PURPOSES- PARTISAN INTENSITY. AUSTRIAN SURVEY DATA ASSERTS THE PREDICTION THAT THOSE IN CUMULATIVE CLEAVAGE POSITIONS WILL BE STRONGER THAN THOSE IN CROSS-CUTTING CLEAVAGES.