Suchergebnisse

Court-ordered redistricting in the mid-1960s eradicated severe disparities in the populations of U.S. state legislative districts. We examine the geographic distribution of money by states to counties. Cross-sectional analysis shows that counties with relatively more legislative seats per person prior to redistricting received relatively more transfers from the state per person. Over time, counties that lost legislative seats subsequently received a smaller share of state funds per capita. We calculate that population equalization significantly altered the flow of state transfers to counties, diverting approximately $7 billion annually from formerly overrepresented to formerly underrepresented counties, an effect missed by past studies. For those concerned with the design of democratic institutions around the world today, the American experience provides clear evidence of the political consequences of unequal representation. (American Political Science Review / FUB)

Revisits the debate between Booker T. Washington & W. E. B. DuBois at the turn of the 20th century regarding the best course through which black Americans could attain equal rights. Washington argued that accommodation, economic initiative, & self-help within the black community presented the most fruitful position, whereas DuBois advocated more radical action in the political arena against racial inequality. Three leading interpretations of this controversy are reviewed that attribute it to (1) personality clashes between Washington & DuBois; (2) structural changes in US society (eg, the rise of a black middle class); or (3) a bourgeoisie plot against racial economics. Historical evidence that challenges each of these interpretations is presented, & a new perspective on the conflict is offered that locates the differences between Washington & DuBois in their respective racial philosophies, particularly concerning their views on the importance of black social activism. Also chronicled are the deterioration of relations between blacks & whites, 1895-1915; the decline of Washington's influence; the promotion of black activism via the establishment of the National Assoc for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) & that organization's eventual formulation of a truce with more conservative blacks; the relationship between black radicals & white neoabolitionists; & the role of racial violence -- including race riots & lynchings -- in these events. K. Hyatt Stewart

Ayurveda, the classical South Asian medical tradition, was first introduced to American audiences in the mid-1980s as a holistic alternative to biomedical orthodoxy. This article argues that transplanted Ayurveda is shaped not only by aspects of American medical culture, but by millennial, heterodox elements of American religious culture, such as the loose cluster of beliefs & practices known as the New Age. Because New Age Ayurvedic practices occupy the ideological & statutory middle ground between medicine & metaphysics, they face a unique professionalizing dilemma: whether to present themselves as healing religions or as practicing branches of medicine. Drawing on an ethnographic study of this professionalizing dilemma in legal, clinical & popular arenas, this article shows that New Age Ayurveda -- far from being a monolith -- reveals a wide-ranging plurality of sub-traditions in practice. Taken together, they suggest multiple modes of reinvention & a variety of professionalizing routes that Ayurveda follows other than licensing & institutional credentialization. 85 References. [Copyright 2002 Sage Publications, Inc.]

Native American traditional medicine is alive & vibrant in many North American societies, although not all. These traditions coexist with other forms of healing, & the particular patterns of existence, interaction, & meaning vary among groups. The literature examining these issues is likewise diverse. This article explores, through a selective review of the recent literature, how social & behavioral scientists, among others, are focusing their investigations of traditional & alternative medicine in Native American communities of the United States & Canada today. Issues include how native practices have persisted & changed, how they are being used (e.g., in framing cultural identity), & how they interact with other systems, especially biomedicine & faith healing. 75 References. [Copyright 2002 Sage Publications, Inc.]

Campaign donors are sometimes characterized as investors who carefully allocate their financial resources to candidates &/or political action committees to maximize their influence. Although this theory has some veracity, it does not adequately describe all contributors. The patterns of Asian American contributions imply that their interests are strongly tied to ethnicity rather than to alternative influence-maximizing strategies. Indeed, contrary to popular belief, Asian Americans predominantly fund candidates of their own ethnicity. The campaign finance data are virtually devoid of pan-Asian coalitions. A detailed study of the behavior of Asian American donors is useful in its own right. More important, an accurate portrait of the Asian American donor highlights the crudeness of a strictly rational sketch of campaign contributors & adds to our understanding of the logic behind political behavior. 6 Tables, 3 Figures, 32 References. [Copyright 2002 Sage Publications, Inc.]

This study assesses the effects of changing electoral structure on the representation of women in American state legislatures. Specifically, how does converting from multimember districts (MMDs) to single-member districts (SMDs) affect the proportion of women serving in the state legislature? I use a quasi-experimental design, comparing election results from the four states that eliminated MMDs during the reapportionment following the 1990 census to those in eight states whose systems did not change during this period. The weight of the evidence suggests that abandoning MMDs for SMDs decreases the representation of women in state legislatures. 3 Tables, 50 References. Adapted from the source document.

Latin America has been a world pioneer of neoliberal, structural reform of social security pensions ('privatisation'). This article focuses on the diverse political economy circumstances that enabled such reform, analysing why policy makers have chosen such a costly strategy and how they have managed to implement it. First, in nine countries with diverse regimes (authoritarian and democratic) it examines the internal political process that led to the adoption of reform. There tends to be an inverse relationship between the degree of democratisation and that of privatisation, but the political regime alone cannot fully explain the reform outcomes in all cases. To expand the search for explanatory variables, other key factors that might have influenced the reform design are studied, among them relevant political actors (driving and opposing forces), existing institutional arrangements, legal constraints, internal and external economics and policy legacy.

The first in a series of articles traces the first century of colonial American taxation to shed light on the limited scope & low rates of taxation, the colonist response to taxation, & the purposes on which public funds were spent. Adapted from the source document.

Antonio Gramsci's work has been key to growth of the Partido dos Trabalhadores in Brazil & the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front in El Salvador. His influence in Latin America developed over two periods: the 1950s to 1975 when Argentina & Brazil were the principal publishers of his leftist thought & from 1975 to the present when his writings were spread throughout Latin America & received with great enthusiasm. At first, interpretation of Gramscian thought did not conflict with the Russian Revolution pattern of class struggle, but in time a more complex & open idea of Lenin's thought was seen in them. Gramsci's writings produced the national-popular culturalist model & the worker's council model, both of which attempted to understand the problems encountered by earlier transformational projects & shifted their efforts from change at the top to all of society. 19 References. L. A. Hoffman

Arguments about whether the concept of "diaspora" can legitimately be extended to describe the situation of homosexuals as a persecuted minority group are weighed, focusing on the notion of exile & whether, in the case of gays, it matters if it is self-imposed. In Latin America, it is contended that homosexuals have a long history of forced flight & exile as a result of persecution & oppression solely on the basis of their sexual orientation. The centrality of the experience of exile to the Latin American homoerotic experience is demonstrated here in an overview of seven prominent novelists who encompass this theme in their work (often because they have experienced exile as homosexuals themselves): Hector Bianciotti, Reinaldo Arenas, Daniel Torres, Luis Rafael Sanchez, Virgilio Pinera, Fernando Vallejo, & Jaime Bayly. 41 References. K. Hyatt Stewart