USAPP - American Politics and Policy at LSECollege & University
Governor Eric Greitens’ resignation will do little to help Missouri’s Democrats this fall
Less than a month ago, Missouri’s Republican Governor Eric Greitens resigned in the wake of a number of scandals including accusations of corruption and sexual misconduct. Robynn Kuhlmann of the University of Central Missouri writes that Greitens’ resignation means that politics in the Republican-dominated Show Me State are now more or less back to normal, and that state Democrats should not expect an electoral bump this fall. Even the state’s US Senator, Claire McCaskill, faces a tough race to keep her seat as her Republican challenger, state Attorney General Josh Hawley’s, political fortunes have benefitted from Greitens’ resignation.
In its latest decision, the Supreme Court has got it wrong when it says that partisan gerrymandering only hurts voters in specific districts
Last week, the US Supreme Court sent gerrymandering cases from Wisconsin, Maryland and North Carolina back to their respective states’ courts, with the unanimous opinion that state political parties could not prove that they were harmed by the gerrymandering of individual legislative districts. Alex Keena, Michael Latner, Anthony J. McGann and Charles Anthony Smith argue that the Supreme Court is wrong: gerrymandering in these states means that the majority are often not represented, which is a violation of those individuals’ political equality, whether or not they live in one of the districts in question.
This year’s mid-term election results will test just how liberal California really is
On June 5th Golden State voters selected Lieutenant Governor Democrat Gavin Newsom and businessman and Republican John Cox to face off in the fall gubernatorial election. Renée Van Vechten of the University of Redlands writes that Newsom is boldly liberal, even for a deep blue state like California. Only a new slate of more moderate state Democrats, she argues, will be able to rein in his tendencies which otherwise might prove too liberal – and expensive – for most Californians.
Studying ballot endorsements shows that even in the digital age, newspapers still matter to voters
Recent years have seen falling subscriptions and declining revenues as print media like newspapers face growing competition from their digital counterparts. But if newspapers are becoming less and less effective at conveying information to readers, do their political endorsements matter anymore? In new research which examines newspapers’ endorsements for state constitutional measures, Keven Fahey, Carol Weissert and Matt Uttermark find that while they do not mobilize voters to vote, their endorsements mean that those that do are more likely to support an amendment.
Why the Republican Party should pray for rain this November
Conventional wisdom suggests that bad weather benefits the Republican Party because it lowers turnout in general, but particularly among the Democrats. In new research, Yusaku Horiuchi and Woo Chang Kang argue that the difference in turnout caused by rain is not enough to explain the GOP’s advantage. They find that poor weather actually makes it more likely that people will vote for a Republican over a Democrat: on rainy Election Days at least 1 percent of voting age adults changed their votes from a Democratic presidential candidate to the Republican.
Book Review: Ideology and the Future of Progressive Social Movements by Rafal Soborski
In Ideology and the Future of Progressive Social Movements, Rafal Soborski provides a punchy and passionate critique of the post-ideology approach of progressive social movements from an anti-neoliberal perspective. While questioning whether all grassroots protest movements have abandoned ideology to the extent described in the book, Luke Martell finds this a distinctive and stimulating contribution recommended to all those interested in social change.
Book Review: The Market by Matthew Watson
In The Market, Matthew Watson offers a critical enquiry into what we mean when we refer to ‘the market’ and explores the consequences of allowing one particular interpretation to prevail. Delving into the history of economics, this is a valuable excavation of the emergence and triumph of the market concept as we know it, writes David Dodds, and a call to action to imagine economic alternatives to notions so often accepted as givens.
Despite reform, Mexico’s 2018 election is business as usual
On paper the 2018 Mexican presidential election should benefit from recent reforms that sought to improve electoral conditions. But the reality of campaigns awash with dark money, widespread vote buying, toothless electoral institutions, weak democratic processes within parties, and independents that aren’t very independent suggests that little has really changed, writes Rodrigo Aguilera.
How previous Presidential scandals can help us to understand the Trump Administration
Compared to his immediate predecessors, President Donald Trump’s administration is mired in scandal, with his former employees facing court cases and Trump’s charitable foundation now subject to a lawsuit over alleged misuse of funds. Peter Finn and Robert Ledger look to past presidential scandals to help predict what the endgame of the current ones may be. They write that scandals such as Richard Nixon’s Watergate and Ronald Reagan’s Iran-Contra can eventually paralyze an administration, and divert attention away from policy-making.
Why does EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt still have a job? He’s defiantly loyal to Donald Trump and effectively pushes his agenda.
More than twenty Cabinet officers and high-level White House staffers have either resigned or have been fired from Donald Trump’s administration in less than 18-months. So why does the scandal-plagued Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, still have a job? Christa Slaton of New Mexico State University writes that much of Pruitt’s durability is down to his Trumpian attitude towards his critics, denouncing attacks on him as “lies and half-truths”, his loyalty to Trump, and his effectiveness at rolling back EPA regulations.
Despite declining membership, organized labor continues to reduce economic inequality in the American states
Economic inequality is a growing problem in the US. While labor unions are one pathway to lower levels of inequality, their presence in the US is declining relative to other industrialized democracies. But to what extent does organized labor provide a check on inequality above that of public policy? Using the American states, Laura Bucci of Saint Joseph's University finds new evidence that those where unions have more members are more equal, and that this pattern is not simply because those states are more liberal. While organized labor does lower levels of inequality, state labor policy, such as enacting Right to Work laws may make the relationship more difficult to maintain over time.
Separating families at the border takes harsh immigration enforcement practices to a new extreme
The Trump Administration’s policy of separating and detaining the children of immigrant families who are crossing the US border to claim asylum has drawn condemnation both at home and internationally. Rachel E. Rosenbloom of Northeastern University School of Law writes that the practice – at a time when attempted border crossings are at a historic low – is an alarming extension of long-established policies to criminalize and lock up those who attempt to enter the US.
Competitive general elections can mean more productive legislators, but only up to a point.
The public’s levels of trust and confidence in Congress have been at rock bottom for the best part of a decade, something which may be related to the perception that lawmakers do very little whilst they are in Washington DC. But can the threat of a competitive election or a primary challenge spur a lawmaker to be more productive? Analyzing legislative effectiveness and electoral pressure, Michael J. Barber and Soren J. Schmidt find that while the safer a legislator is from a primary challenger, the more effective they are, general election challenges result in an effectiveness ‘sweet spot’. After this point, legislating becomes less effective as lawmakers need to switch resources away from lawmaking and towards campaigning.
Book Review: Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth
In Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist, Kate Raworth offers a new model for economics, based around the ‘doughnut’, which values human well-being and advocates for a ‘regenerative and distributive economy’. While the book holds multidisciplinary promise and Raworth draws upon appealing and evocative metaphors and examples to convey economic concepts in accessible terms, Maria Zhivitskaya remains unconvinced of the doughnut’s transformative potential.
Book Review: Feminism and the Politics of Childhood: Friends or Foes? edited by Rachel Rosen and Katherine Twamley
In Feminism and the Politics of Childhood: Friends or Foes?, editors Rachel Rosen and Katherine Twamley bring together contributors to explore ways to think about women’s and children’s interests without assuming them to be either antagonists or equivalents. Fabrizia Serafim welcomes the collection for providing a range of alternative theoretical constructs and practical examples of thinking relations with complexity.
Colliding worlds: Donald Trump and the European Union
Donald Trump’s decision to impose steel and aluminium tariffs on EU states has raised fears of a trade war developing. Michael Cottakis writes that the dispute not only reflects a difference in approaches to trade, but a clash of two world views. He argues that a rupture between the EU and the US would represent a death knell for the West, with US workers among the main casualties.
What provoked Trump’s tariffs: politics or economics?
Stephanie Rickard analyses recent tariffs imposed by the US, arguing that they fulfil election promises that helped Donald Trump win votes in 2016 and may pay further dividends in 2020.
