Volume 136 - Number 4 - Winter 2021-22
After Trump: Enemies, Partisans, and Recovery Christopher J. Fettweis discusses what political polarization in the United States has in common with the relationship between the Cold War superpowers. He argues that in both cases the “enemy image” warps perception of the other side and prevents meaningful reconciliation. Applying insight from international relations to U.S. domestic politics, he discusses the pernicious effects of the enemy image and how to overcome it.
Volume 136 - Number 4 - Winter 2021-22
The Geopolitical Consequences of COVID-19: Assessing Hawkish Mass Opinion in China Joshua Byun , D.G. Kim , and Sichen Li examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Chinese public’s foreign policy attitudes. Drawing on original surveys fielded in China during the first six months of the global pandemic, they find that ordinary Chinese citizens are optimistic about China’s future global position, and that this optimism corresponds with the widespread perception that the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating China’s rise relative to the United States.
Volume 136 - Number 4 - Winter 2021-22
The Psychological Roots of Public Opinion toward a Militant Group: The Case of Pakistani Lashkar-e-Tayyaba Karl Kaltenthaler and C. Christine Fair explore the sources of public sympathy in Pakistan for Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. They argue that the most common and widely distributed factor influencing individual sympathy with a militant group is the expectation that the militant group will bestow a sense of personal significance on that individual.
Volume 136 - Number 3 - Fall 2021
Gender and Support for Democracy in the United States and Canada Mark Setzler and Alixandra B. Yanus examine gender gaps in support for democracy in the United States and Canada. They find that in both countries, women are modestly less supportive of democracy and key political liberties than men, but the factors that best predict support vary little by gender. They argue that women’s access to material benefits and satisfaction with political institutions have relatively little effect on support for democracy; these attitudes are best explained by civic capital and the belief that rights are protected by government.
Volume 136 - Number 3 - Fall 2021
On the Ordinary People’s Enemies: How Politicians in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands Communicate Populist Boundaries via Twitter and the Effects on Party Preferences Michael Hameleers looks at how populist discourse is constructed in different regions that offer different opportunity structures for the “us versus them” frame to be effective. He concludes that established politicians are not likely to use populist ideas on Twitter and that populist ideas only make an impact on vote choice for relatively deprived citizens.
Volume 136 - Number 2 - Summer 2021
Does Race Stop at the Water’s Edge? Elites, the Public, and Support for Foreign Intervention among White U.S. Citizens over Time Jon Green examines recent and historical relationships between individuals’ racial attitudes and their support for U.S. foreign policy interventions abroad. He argues that such relationships are persistent over time and are strongest among college-educated citizens, who are likelier to be socialized into elite- level political conflict.
Volume 136 - Number 2 - Summer 2021
The Life Cycle of Grand Strategies: The Case of the American Shift to Containment Ilai Z. Saltzman examines the way grand strategies change by identifying their “life-cycle.” He argues that replacing an existing grand strategy is a multiplayer and decentralized process incorporating the ideational inputs of various actors, and that this process is more chaotic, porous, and nonlinear than we tend to think.
Volume 136 - Number 2 - Summer 2021
How to Win a “Long Game”: The Voting Rights Act, the Republican Party, and the Politics of Counter-Enforcement Adrienne Jones and ANDREW POLSKY examine how the Republican Party engaged in counter-enforcement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, notably during the Reagan and Bush 43 administrations, in an effort to maximize the voting strength of pro-Republican voting constituencies. They argue that sustained counter-enforcement efforts lead to sharp policy oscillations when parties alternate in power and that if a party pursues the long game of persistent counter-enforcement, it may find itself with the opportunity to achieve lasting results.
Volume 136 - Number 3 - Fall 2021
Local Strategy for China’s Poverty Alleviation Campaign: Incorporating Growth Priorities into Implementation Qingshan Tan , Jiansheng Liu , and Yuxuan Dang investigate how a local government, facing the challenge of a central policy mandate, acted with innovation and autonomy to carry out poverty alleviation by grafting local interests onto the policy’s implementation in China. They argue that local states’ innovative strategy in integrating local growth objectives with pursuing and fulfilling the central policy can yield positive-sum outcomes for local-central relations and have a more significant impact on local development.
Volume 136 - Number 3 - Fall 2021
Contemporary Black Populism and the Development of Multiracial Electoral Coalitions: The 2018 Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum Gubernatorial Campaigns Sharon D. Wright Austin uses a populist theoretical framework to examine the 2018 gubernatorial campaigns of Stacey Abrams of Georgia and Andrew Gillum of Florida. She finds that although both candidates attracted the support of voters of all races, they lost because of disappointing turnout rates. She argues that this research provides evidence of the challenges black candidates encounter when seeking to win southern statewide elections through the usage of populist appeals.
