Volume 123 - Number 1 - Spring 2008

Are African Voters Really Ethnic or Clientelistic? Survey Evidence from Ghana
STAFFAN I. LINDBERG and MINION K. C. MORRISON look at voting rationales in Ghana’s 1996 and 2000 elections and find that citizens in a new democracy like Ghana are more ‘‘mature’’ democratic voters than the literature would have us to expect. While voting is no doubt patterned along ethnic and tribal lines, it appears that voting behavior is also explained at the individual level by rational policy calculations constrained by classic information problems.

Volume 122 - Number 1 - Spring 2007

Between Passion and Deliberation: The Christian Right and Democratic Ideals
JON A. SHIELDS unearths a surprising relationship between the Christian right and democratic ideals. Although Christian right leaders are strident in the context of mobilization, they also encourage their activists to embrace civility and public reason in the public square. This fact highlights a deeper tension between the democratic ideals of participation and deliberation.

Volume 122 - Number 1 - Spring 2007

Is America a Christian Nation?
Hugh Heclo argues that both secular and religious political activists have found it advantageous to demonize each other by using the idea of America as a Christian nation. Citizens can gain a more mature understanding of the relationship between Christianity and American nationhood by considering different domains of variation in America’s alleged Christian-ness.

Volume 121 - Number 3 - Fall 2006

“I’m Changing the Climate, Ask Me How!”: The Politics of the Anti-SUV Campaign
SARAH PRALLE examines the politics of the anti-SUV campaign in light of its similarities to and differences from other moral reform movements in the United States. She argues that the campaign confronts fundamental tensions in American political culture around issues of consumption and the role of the automobile but that it fails to fully resolve them.

Volume 116 - Number 3 - Fall 2001

Rethinking Media Politics and Public Opinion: Reactions to the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal
Regina G. Lawrence and W. Lance Bennett offer an alternative interpretation of public opinion during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Rejecting the “prosperity” explanation, they explore four dimensions of public reactions to the Clinton impeachment that are not well explained by simpler models.

Volume 110 - Number 1 - Spring 1995

Environment and Trade: The NAFTA Case
Annette Baker Fox examines how the inclusion of environmental provisions in the NAFTA negotiations broke a rule the United States and Canada regularly observed in their dealings with each other – not to link unrelated issues.  By going against tradition, American environmental groups successfully enlarged their role in foreign trade matters.

Volume 101 - Number 1 - 1986

Religion and the Future of American Politics
A. James Reichley examines the current and likely future roles in American politics of five major religious groups: Roman Catholics, mainline Protestants, white evangelical Protestants, black Protestants, and Jews.  He warns that if any of these groups pursue their particular interests too aggressively, they may undermine the essential part played by religion in nurturing democratic values.

Volume 90 - Number 4 - Winter 1975-76

Environmental Preservation and Politics: The Significance of
Robert S. Gilmour, John A. McCauley