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Un-Submerging the State with iGov

iGov would offer citizens an easy way to track their relationship with the federal government over their lifetimes. Each citizen would have his or her own iGov account, through which the federal government would be able to present the accumulation of the benefits that a person has ever received from across the government. A single […]

Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power

Internet Voting: How Awesome?

But I suspect that most political scientists start these conversations the same way: the main barrier to participation in the United States is not technological, its attitudinal.  As long as most Americans don’t find politics and elections central to their daily lives, then even the simplest, most innovative, most socially networked elections system will not […]

Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power

Take Five

Take Five seeks to to invigorate the Public Diplomacy discussion with contributions from a wide range of authors, from experienced Public Diplomacy figures to scholars and young professionals newly venturing into the field. The site is a venue for fresh ideas about the way that America conducts its diplomatic relations abroad and about the impact […]

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Let’s Have More Journals Like This

Last month, I learned about a publication that has been quickly gaining popularity, the Journal of Negative Results in BioMedicine (JNRBM). Published, presumably, by a gang of dour curmudgeons who hate everything, JNRBM openly welcomes the data that other journals won’t touch because it doesn’t fit the unspoken rule that all articles must end on […]

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Misperceptions, Foreign Policy, and Iran

This is a guest post by political scientists Stephen Benedict Dyson and Jeremy Pressman. ***** In an article in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs, Michael Cohen and Micah Zenko rightfully draw attention to the way in which threats to U.S. national security appear overblown today. But because they understandably focus on demonstrating the relative […]

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Social Conservatives in the GOP Primary

Simon Jackman has a post up at Model Politics examining the role of social conservatism in the GOP primary.  Via email, Lynn Vavreck sends these thoughts: Note how much closer Romney’s supporters are to voters in general on these moral issues (relative to Santorum’s).  On most of these things, Santorum’s voters are extremely isolated.  If […]

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Does Romney’s Wealth Pay Dividends for Santorum?

That’s the title of Lynn Vavreck’s and my latest post at Model Politics.  We compare Obama, Romney and Santorum in terms of how voters perceive their personal wealth and their concern for the poor, the middle class, and the wealthy.  Here is one key graph: And here’s the takeaway: …compared to Romney, Santorum appears to […]

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Frontrunners and Underdogs

This is a guest post by political scientist Brandon Rottinghaus. ***** The Romney campaign recently came under scrutiny for first suggesting that, because of his history in the state and as a frontrunner for the nomination, Michigan was a “must win”—but then backtracking.  The campaign claimed they were not altering their strategy based on a […]

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Should the U.S. Intervene in Syria? A Response to Anne-Marie Slaughter

This is a guest post by former guest-blogger and University of Chicago political scientist Paul Staniland: ***** Anne-Marie Slaughter has a provocative op-ed in today’s New York Times calling for intervention in Syria. She argues that simply arming the opposition will trigger a proxy war. Instead, she advocates creating “no-kill zones” that are explicitly defensive, […]

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There Is a Religious Left

We are able to uncover considerable evidence of a religious left among Christians, and the big news is that it matters electorally.  Having a strong communitarian view of faith is associated with voting for Democratic candidates. That is political scientist Ken Wald in this interview.  For more, see Jordan Ragusa’s post at Rule22.

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