Suchergebnisse

Relational goods provide a theoretical explanation for the puzzling fact that rational individuals engage in collective action, including political participation. Relational goods facilitate provision of public goods, although they are not public goods themselves. A relational good only exists when non-anonymous others share the good, the «identity» characteristic, but these might not be specific individuals in direct contact. «Indirect» relational goods, shared with persons of a certain type, such as a certain social identity, can also increase participation. It remains theoretically problematic how well-defined the «other» must be for a relational good to exist. The indirect relational goods provide key opportunities for elites to mobilize participation. Support for the role of relational goods in collective action comes from substantial empirical work (using survey data and field experiments) examining the roles of publicity, group identification, and mobilization in increasing political participation. ; Los bienes relacionales ofrecen un marco teórico capaz de explicar el desconcertante hecho de por qué los individuos racionales participan en la acción colectiva, en la que se incluye la participación política. Los bienes relacionales facilitan la provisión de bienes públicos, aunque estos no sean en sí mismos bienes públicos. Un bien relacional sólo existe cuando se comparte un bien con otros sujetos no-anónimos –la característica de «identidad»– pero estos podrían no ser individuos específicos en contacto directo. Bienes relacionales «indirectos», compartidos por personas de un determinado tipo, como puede ser una cierta identidad social, también pueden aumentar la participación. Sigue siendo una problemática teórica el saber cómo definir bien la figura del «otro» para que pueda existir un bien relacional. Los bienes relacionales indirectos proporcionan oportunidades básicas para que las elites puedan lograr movilizar la participación. El apoyo del papel que desempeñan los bienes relacionales en la acción colectiva viene ratificado por un sustancial trabajo empírico (basado en encuestas y en trabajos de campo) que examina los papeles de la publicidad, de la identidad de grupo y de la movilización de una creciente participación política.

Latinos are a large and growing portion of the US population but are less numerous among participants in politics than their numbers would suggest. Predictions of the future rates of participation among Latinos depend heavily upon understanding the causes of current rates. A substantial proportion of the disparity in participation rates between Latinos and non-Latinos can be accounted for by the numbers of noncitizens and by other factors related to a large pool of immigrants, differences in socioeconomic resources, and the young age distribution of Latinos. However, these summary statements obscure differences across types of participation. They also obscure differences across Latinos of different national origins. Much of the analysis done to date of the Latino National Political Survey (LNPS) has made clear that Puerto Ricans, Mexican-Americans, and Cuban-Americans can differ as much from each other as members of each group differ from non-Latinos. This paper uses the LNPS data to examine the factors related to different types of political participation among US Latinos of different national origins. Borrowing from the standard participation literature, we consider the impact of resources, engagement, and recruitment. The Latino population provides an especially useful case for testing hypotheses about the impact of mobilization upon activity. Political leaders have actively appealed to Latino ethnicity both in structuring political competition and in seeking support. I have proposed elsewhere that the success of such appeals in increasing participation will hinge in large part upon whether or not the targeted public believes itself well-represented by the leaders. The LNPS contains several items relevant to perceived representation. This paper will use the LNPS data to test the effect of perceived representation upon political participation, while taking account of the other factors that affect levels of activity.

Strategies employed by the directors of Arnold Schwarzenegger's gubernatorial replacement campaign in CA to deal with his alleged sexual misconduct are studied. Overviews of the circumstances surrounding Schwarzenegger's supposed sexual misconduct, the relatively small gender gap in his popularity among male & female voters, & male & female voters' level of support for the recall of CA Governor Gray Davis are provided. Several measures undertaken by the Schwarzenegger campaign that contributed to his electoral success are identified: framing the allegations as sexual harassment rather than sexual battery; delineating opposition campaigns as "smear campaigns" designed to attack Schwarzenegger's personal past; emphasizing Schwarzenegger's close connection to sundry prominent Democrats; & equating Schwarzenegger's alleged sexual misconduct with that committed by former President Bill Clinton. Despite these factors, it is argued that the American public's inability to develop a consistent approach when addressing politicians' sexual impropriety was the primary reason for the Schwarzenegger campaign's success. The implications of the Schwarzenegger campaign's success for women's rights movements are also contemplated. 2 Tables, 7 References. J. W. Parker

There is limited solid evidence on the determinants of partisan preference among Latinos in the United States. This study makes use of the Latino National Political Survey to explore the partisanship of Mexican-Americans, Cuban-Americans, and Puerto Ricans on the mainland and, in comparison, that of non-Latino whites (Anglos). We particularly focus upon the relationships between learning, demographic factors and partisanship. Our national data generally validates the overall pattern of preferences found in more limited studies: strong Republican Party preferences among the Cuban-Americans and Democratic partisanship within the other two groups. We also find that the demographic correlates of preference vary substantially across these ethnic groups. One result that does hold for all three Latino groups is an increase in Democrat Party identification with experience of U.S. politics (as measured by age or time in the United States). This result supports a learning-theory view of Latino partisanship. We also find that those Latinos who are more integrated into their ethnic culture are more likely to support the party dominant for their group. When we turn our attention to factors that distinguish independents from partisans, we find fewer differences across groups. Higher education and older age tend to be associated with partisanship as has been found for the general US population. For both direction and independence, religion matters for Anglos and Puerto Ricans but not the other two groups. Finally, we examine strong versus weak attachment among partisans and again find age effects. This research demonstrates how learning theories of partisan identification can be elucidated by analyzing an understudied sub-population of Americans. It also underscores the importance of resisting the impulse of grouping all Latinos under a single heading in the study of their political behavior.

The peer-reviewed papers gathered here are representative of the work presented at the first graduate student conference organized by the Center for the Study of Democracy, in February 2005. The conference focused on the development of democracy to better understand the fundamentals of the process. The conference drew submissions from Ph.D. candidates from seven schools in the Southern California area, covering a range of disciplines, methodologies, geographic concentrations and substantive questions about democratic development in the "established" democracies, consolidating democracies, or democratic transitions.