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The superpowers' Cold War nuclear arsenals have been frequently mocked as "arsenals of folly" that greatly exceeded the requirements of deterrence. This paper instead demonstrates that the U.S. arsenal was principally driven by the political economy of U.S. military commitments to Europe. Ultimately the least bad option for the United States given constraints was to plausibly threaten nuclear first use, which in turn required plausible damage limitation by destroying Soviet nuclear forces. This paper demonstrates that this logic inexorably drove U.S. nuclear doctrine and posture, and in fact had the desired effect on the Soviet leadership of making nuclear first use seem plausible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper lays out an argument that, to the extent that the urban politics subfield has moved from the center to the periphery of political science, it is because the subfield has neglected to develop a contemporary, theoretically grounded version of cultural explanation to go along with its attention to institutions and political economy. The paper then introduces such a cultural theory - one that crosscuts the usual class and race divisions in urban inquiry. The paper shows how taking this form of explanation seriously could bring the study of local electoral politics closer to themes that are energizing the American politics field more broadly. It also shows that more serious attention to cultural explanation promises to enrich our efforts to understand urban development politics and policymaking and conflicts involving the politicization of routine city services by radicalized activists as well as conflicts over more purely morality issues. The paper concludes with an acknowledgment of a remaining challenge - conceptualizing how race and ethnicity relate to the new conceptualization of unconventional versus traditional sub-culture in the U.S. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching abroad poses unique challenges and rewards for US-based academics. This paper provides a primer that addresses these challenges, drawing from my experience teaching a course on the political economy of international migration in Morelia, Mexico. The paper provides recommendations on how U.S.-based instructors can make their teaching abroad experiences as productive as possible for students and themselves. Challenges included housing, language, the distracting local environment and a diverse classroom drawn from universities, community colleges and the host institution. Opportunities included numerous guest speakers, fieldtrips and the first hand accounts of local students. This paper serves as a useful primer for readers unfamiliar with study abroad programs, for faculty interested in applying to such programs, or for those already preparing to teach abroad. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the complexities of the intersection of racial and gender construction(s) with respect to the public sphere and private sphere dichotomy. Through the analysis of black women’s social conditions, this paper argues that the historical constructions of race and gender and the historical period of analysis affect the applicability of the "public-private dichotomy" to black women’s experiences. Consequently, racial exclusion and gender discrimination induced black women’s consciousness and their socio-political development. Although social capital theory accounts for the importance of social networks, norms, and trust in building social relations, we need a conceptualization of social capital theory that accounts for the complexities of racial and gender construction(s) and their effect on racially "divided publics," racio-gendered spheres, and racial uncertainty. Therefore, this paper presents black socio-political capital and racio-sexual social capital as frameworks most appropriate for analyzing black women’s conditions during this era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most frequently debated questions during the 2008 election cycle concerns the politics of the white working class. Can Barack Obama appeal to this group on the basis of his economic proposals, or will John McCain capitalize on their supposed discomfort with Obama's race and unique cultural background? At the heart of this debate is confusion as to how to identify the white working class. Are they low-income or merely those without a college education? In this paper, I propose a new conceptualization and measurement strategy that incorporates both education and income. I also introduce a theoretical framework that emphasizes the complimentary roles played by multiple issue dimensions and populist appeals in campaign's efforts to draw support from the white working class. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a quarter century of surprising neglect, the intersection of American politics and rising economic inequality has emerged as a central subject of inquiry within the discipline. This new research is welcome and needed. Yet recent scholarship on inequality and American politics continues to betray some of the major blind spots that fostered the neglect of this crucial topic for so long. In this paper, we argue that these blind spots must be directly confronted and overcome to fashion a convincing analysis of the relationship between rising inequality and the changing landscape of American politics. By a "convincing analysis," we mean an analysis that is (1) consistent with the known facts about economic inequality—namely, the meteoric gains at the very top of the economic ladder that have occurred since the 1970s—and (2) identifies not just plausible but realistic causal pathways connecting inequality to public policy and vice versa. We argue that none of the major recent analyses, valuable as they are, meets these twin tests. A chief reason is that they look for their answers in models, methods, and causal relationships that systematically shift attention away from outcomes and explanations that must be part of the picture. In response, we sketch out an alternative perspective that draws heavily on the tools of comparative political economy to bring into focus the role of organized interests and large-scale policies in shaping and mediating distributional outcomes. We then use this perspective to illuminate three fundamental policy shifts of recent decades that are at the heart of the stunning rise in inequality yet largely missed by existing accounts: the drop in effective tax rates at the very top, the dramatic transformation of corporate governance, and the decline of unions relative to employers. Far from apolitical or inevitable, these shifts can only be explained by reference to the organizational transformation of American politics since the 1970s. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have shown that the ways in which beneficiaries of policies are portrayed by elites have an important impact on the preferences of the public regarding these policies. This paper builds upon these theoretical insights, but unlike the existing literature, which focuses mainly on domestic policies and relies on experimental settings, we analyze foreign policy issues from a comparative perspective. More specifically, we examine the respective attitudes of the American and Mexican public toward political and economic ramifications of NAFTA ten years after the agreement was signed using data from national samples from both countries. This comparative framework allows us to examine two different elite frames of similar issues in both countries, thus significantly improving the external validity of the study. Using the data from 2004 Chicago Council of Foreign Relations, CIDE, and COMEXI public opinion surveys conducted in Mexico and the U.S we analyze the impact of affective attitudes toward both domestic and international groups benefiting from the economic changes caused by NAFTA interacted with elite political framing. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conference paper about the influence of the U.S. economic issues on the outcome of the 2004 election is presented. It analyzes the common notion that economic issues benefit Democrats. It examines why surveys taken at various points over time show that the public trust Democrats more than Republicans on Social Security, Medicare, education, health care, and assisting the poor. It presents the quarterly measure of the extent to which economic perceptions help or hurt the Republicans vis-à-vis the Democrats.

Most people agree that the distribution of wealth in the United States is less equal than it should be, and many have suggested ways to achieve fairer distributions, but not many have taken on the task of explaining how fairer distributions can be sustained over long periods. Just as the New Deal reforms have been and are being undermined today, new measures that would emulate them also could be undermined. This paper presents three ideas for sustaining fairer distributions of wealth. First, it suggests using a modified Pareto (power law) formula to define wealth distributions and solicit consensus on the features of fair distributions. Second, it endorses the idea of implementing wealth taxes and suggests that public support for wealth taxes might be secured by combining them with direct transfers of tax proceeds to less-wealthy households. Third, it introduces a new method for strengthening political accountability–a web-based system that would link residents in local communities for the purpose of publishing and reviewing each other’s candidate endorsements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is the military and economic rise of China a threat to powers such as Japan and the United States? This paper examines this question using the theoretical predictions of realist theories (classical realism, neo-realism, and power transition theory), liberal theories (classical liberalism and neo-liberalism), and constructivist theory. While the qualitative analysis of Chinese, American, and Japanese behavior indicates some support for each theory, classical liberalism and constructivism are most strongly supported by the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do areas with higher levels of social capital have stronger economies? Robert Putnam’s concept of social capital is said to provide widespread benefits, not the least of which are vibrant, productive economies. Putnam presents a logical, compelling case for the salutary effects of social capital, but what he does not present is any coherent data -- beyond anecdotal evidence -- to show that there is a consistent correlation, let alone a causal connection, between social capital and economic performance in the US. This paper will thus present an empirical analysis of social capital and economic performance for the American states. The 14-variable state-level social capital index presented by Putnam in Bowling Alone will be used to gauge variations in social capital across states. This is compared against state-level output data, measures of physical capital and measures of human capital. The results show a mild but statistically significant correlation between social capital and economic performance, but only when social capital is combined with other predictors of economic performance. Furthermore, social capital is shown to be a far less significant factor than more traditional economic indicators. In sum, although there may be an economic payoff to higher levels of social capital, it is relatively small and only accrues if other drivers of economic performance are already secure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's view on trade protection in the U.S. She mentions its role as a mechanism of non-income based redistribution which raises community diversity rather than support for policies on the basis of race and income. She also notes her analysis on the transfer programs Welfare, Social Security and limits on imports for manifesting the contribution of racial diversity to the security of trade.

The article explains that the conception of corporate governance as a politically constructed juridical nexus brings together comparative law and political economy. It discusses how corporate governance reform became integral to the regulatory framework of finance capitalism. It looks at the relationship between shifting interest group alignments and the strategies of state actors in partisan political conflict. It examines the political and coalitional underpinnings of U.S. and German corporate governance reform.

Economic theory treats trade; migration and outsourcing as policy substitutes in relatively open political economies with significant factor mobility. We use survey data of elites and the general public in the United States to study attitudes toward the processes of trade, outsourcing, and migration. We use this data to examine whether an economic dimension is sufficient to account for preferences toward these issues. We find significant differences between mass and elite attitudes with elite responses more closely conforming to expectations of an underlying economic dimension, but this dimension fails to fully account for mass or elite attitudes towards these processes. Even when their effects in the labor market are similar there is a second dimension for immigration that makes these policies not substitutable in the minds of the voters. Using attitudes toward these processes and other, non-attitudinal data, we find systematic evidence of a non-economic dimension based on identity or cosmopolitanism. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to forty years worth of research, dissent always increases repression whereas state coercive behavior has varied influences on dissident activity. If the outcome of punishment is uncertain, however, the question remains: why would authorities continue to apply repression? Addressing this "puzzle of coercive persistence," I explore diverse hypotheses using information about activities undertaken by the U.S. government against a Black Nationalist organization in the late 1960s and early 1970s called the Republic of New Africa. From the results, persistence is attributed to: 1) a long-term plan to eliminate challengers deemed threatening to the U.S. political-economy and 2) the influence of particular agents of repression who were essentially engaged in a crusade against Black radicals. Both factors increased the likelihood that relevant authorities would continue to apply coercion despite failures; indeed, within this context, such an outcome actually called for additional repressive behavior. These insights are used to outline a new area of research for conflict scholars. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the effect of presidential war-talk on consumer attitudes and behavior. Using time series data running from January 1978 through June 2003, we use vector autoregression to show that increased presidential war-talk produces declining consumer confidence and personal consumption. We also find that presidential war-talk may increase consumer perceptions of negative economic news. The analysis also contained limited evidence that negative economic news can lead presidents to increase war-talk. Given the dual leadership responsibilities of the U.S. president for the economy and foreign policy, our results suggest that presidents should use war-talk cautiously to maintain stable economic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses an anomaly in the U.S. macro political economy. Awareness of the anomaly in the political economy; Evidence of multiple regimes in the political economy; Connection between social systems and the idea of equilibrium; Explanation for regime switching in macroeconomics.

In 1992, the Clinton campaign ran on the slogan, "It’s the economy, stupid!" Eight years later, Al Gore "lost" to George W. Bush, despite the fact that many Americans believed the economy was the best it had been in their lifetimes. While economics matters in politics, an even more important calculation in determining how citizens vote is their sense of a candidate’s and a particular pary’s public values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]