Suchergebnisse

The Commission-based process of local government electoral redistricting in England seeks to balance the tensions between both neutral & party political & mathematic & organic approaches to boundary drawing. We evaluate the success of this process by assessing the impact of redistricting on electoral equality & the strength of the political parties in each local authority. On one hand, the Commission appears to be effective in achieving vote equality by reducing the variability between electoral units in the ratio of electors to councilors. On the other hand, the way that submissions are made to the Commission, together with aspects of social & electoral geography over which it has no influence, can allow one party to receive more electoral benefit than another from redistricting. 5 Tables, 23 References. Adapted from the source document.

Offers some fundamentals for writing a publishable academic article in the form of a dozen rules of thumb: (1) Write with an explicit purpose in mind. (2) State the purpose early & provide a clear thesis. (3) Keep the scope of the thesis manageable. (4) Stick to an uncomplicated logical structure. (5) Explicitly acknowledge possible limitations & weaknesses in your argument. (6) Respect your opponents' position. (7) Situate your argument in the literature. (8) Market that argument to the appropriate audience & demonstrate its significance. (9) Close the article with a relevant & provocative conclusion. (10) Distinguish between the more & less dispensable elements of the article. (11) Have an objective or even opposed scholar read the article prior to submission. (12) Edit the article carefully prior to submission. J. Zendejas

Offers remarks on having participated as expert witnesses for the plaintiffs in the US Supreme Court case McConnell v. FEC (2003), which addressed the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Act. The plaintiff's case process is detailed. Concluding that political science played a marginal role in the decision, which centered on the extent to which the campaign finance system was corrupting the political process, it is asserted that the Supreme Court glossed the complexities of campaign finance & proffered a shallow analysis of the issue. Despite the ending up on the short end of the decision, the authors call for continued participation of political scientists in public affairs; in addition, continued debate on the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Act is urged. 13 References. J. Zendejas

In closing a symposium marking the 25th anniversary of Derthick's Policymaking for Social Security (1979), the author recounts her objectives in writing the book, citing excerpts from the contributors & noting that the program has become contentious, although perhaps not in the manner she had hoped for in her closing chapter. In light of Social Security's anticipated third financial crisis, Derthick wonders if the government is capable of acting, particularly as there seems to be no sense of the kind of urgency that wrought the necessary reforms during the prior two crises. J. Zendejas

Outlines the book publishing process for political scientists. Discussion opens with a comparison between a successful dissertation vs successful book & the revisions required to make the transition from the former to the latter. How to identify appropriate publishers & then solicit them is addressed, along with some of the things an editor might be looking & their production limitations. The problem of multiple submissions is then considered, as well as variations in publishers' review processes, particularly in terms of time frame. Following manuscript acceptance, issues related to contract negotiation & marketing are looked at. In closing, some remarks are offered about publishing conditions in political science in terms of the three types of books produced for intradisciplinary/scientific, classroom, or interdisciplinary or lay audiences, & the sometimes unrecognized lack of overlap between them. 1 Reference. J. Zendejas

Introduces a symposium on the present state & future direction of US political science. Here, some remarks are offered on what kind of science can & should political science be. Problems with modeling political science after economics are noted, asserting that, ultimately, its an unsuitable model that has left political science without its own distinctive methodology. US political science's identity is delineated & subject to critique, focusing on the disciplines failure to confront the theory-practice nexus &, as such, is useless. This is illustrated with the example of how political science would confront the question, "What is democracy?". J. Zendejas

Introduces a symposium on the involvement of political scientists in litigation, using the US Supreme Court case McConnell v. FEC (2003), wherein the McCain-Feingold law was upheld by a 5-4 majority. Focus is on the issues confronting academics taking part in such litigation: eg, balancing scholarship vs advocacy, writing for different audiences, working with lawyers, & professional consequences of testifying. Contributions are briefly summarized. 5 References. J. Zendejas

Describes the design of a moot court suitable for the undergraduate & high school levels. The features of moot courts are identified before comparing them to mock trials & delineating the benefits of doing a moot court. Important considerations for facilitators center on costs & format as well as decisions related to the integration of modern communication technology into the moot court experience. Issues to be addressed in case selection include choosing a real vs fictitious case & the case's complexity, while choosing a date to hold the court is another consideration. Graded assignments for the moot court are discussed, along with the instructor's three-stage role: pre-oral argument, oral argument, & post-oral argument. The need for rules is noted, & remarks are offered on assigning student roles, seen as one of the most important & difficult tasks of the instructor. Course design is viewed as a key to preparing & motivating the students for the moot court. Three strategies are used in evaluating student performance, & the importance of student feedback is made apparent for exposing & confronting difficulties with the moot court. J. Zendejas

Presents a forecasting model for the 2004 US presidential election. Components include a prospective item from the Index of Consumer Sentiment in the Survey of Consumer Attitude & Behavior & incumbency advantage vs penalty (ie, party control of the White House). Data from 1956-2000 elections are applied & out-of-sample forecasts are used to test the equation. The model performs reasonably well, & a Bush victory is forecast. 3 Tables, 14 References. J. Zendejas

Legislative redistricting in the states is highly contentious due, at least in part, to its partisan implications. But does the method by which states draw legislative districts affect partisan competition in the elections that are held in these districts? We examine the effects of three methods used by states to draw district boundaries on competition in congressional elections. Specifically, we evaluate the effects on competition of legislative, judicial, & commission redistricting plans enacted prior to the 1992 & 2002 congressional elections. We find that more competitive elections occur when courts & commissions are directly involved in the redistricting process, as opposed to when redistricting is handled only in the state legislative process. 2 Tables, 2 Appendixes, 40 References. Adapted from the source document.

Offers a case study of the efforts by the political science department at Chapman U to develop a student assessment plan centered on five question clusters. After delineating the advantages of a strong assessment plan, the implementation process is described, highlighting the development of the department's mission statement, goals, & learning objectives; operationalization of the goals in the form of knowledge, skills, & values as learning outcomes. Ten suggestions are then offered to confront the political realities attendant with an institutional building effort like learning outcomes assessment plan development. 9 References. J. Zendejas

A challenge to Giovanni Sartori's "Where Is Political Science Going?" (2004), which asserted that US political science was headed nowhere, describes three programs that demonstrate the disciplines continued intellectual vitality: John Rawls's individualist theory of justice; the median voter theorem; & Stein Rokkan's historical & comparative project on the development of modern democracy. These research programs are seen to combine the normative, analytic, & empirical domains in a fruitful manner. Further, scholars involved in these programs belie the notion that political science is solely an American endeavor. J. Zendejas

Introduces a special journal issue discussing how rearranging voters into districts affects the power of political parties, the careers of incombents, & the representation of minorities.