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Partisan Goals and Redistricting: Assessing the Views of the Legislators
Get PDFPast research efforts in congressional redistricting have focused on party bias in redistricting plans without ever directly measuring the attitudes of the state legislators. In this study we specifically measure the goals that state legislators would like to achieve as they formulate a congressional redistricting plan. Overall, state legislators possess the party loyalty necessary to produce partisan plans, but a number of conflicting demands placed upon them inhibit the full realization of party objectives
Man: Body and Will -- Hobbe\u27s Theory of Representation
No full textThis article examines the nature of the will and its connection to representation in Hobbes\u27s political philosophy. The argument is that Hobbes\u27s notion of willing is not an empty formalism but hinges upon a dynamic and fluid account of human nature which informs the sovereign and its subjects concerning the dangers of representing and being represented. The position taken stresses Hobbes\u27s use of the metaphor of the stage in his account of representation. In conclusion, the argument is advanced that Hobbes\u27s position is flawed by an emphasis upon an individualistic subjectivity which makes representation subject to insurmountable difficulties
The United States and Revolutions: Patterns of Response
Get PDFRevolutions are rare in human history. This study details and evaluates American policy toward five truly revolutionary situations in the post-World War II era: China, Cuba, Vietnam, Iran, and Nicaragua. American policy in these cases progressed through four relatively distinct phases: (1) American officials failed to recognize the seriousness of the threat to the incumbent pro-American regime. (2) Once policymakers became aware of the threatening situation, they encouraged the leader in the target state to initiate reforms. (3) Failure of the reform effort and a successful opposition movement led the U.S. to seek to guide the transition to a new regime. (4) While opposed to the regime which was eventually established, the U.S. still hoped to establish productive relations with it. The prevailing pattern in these cases is attributed to a misunderstanding of Third World realities and the processes of change there, and to exaggerated notions of American influence. The concluding portion of the article recommends ways to improve American perceptions and policy in such situations
Uncertainty, Discourse, and Democracy in John Edgar Wideman’s Writing, 1980s to Today
No full textThis article examines uncertainty as a defining characteristic in the writing of one of Pittsburgh’s most notable sons, John Edgar Wideman. Uncertainty appears in Wideman’s writing as a quality that is particularly linked to racialized experience and can herald greater possibilities for democracy than are represented within mainstream U.S. American discourse. Uncertainty, however, also forms a key feature of racial terror in Wideman’s work, the illusion of certainty appearing as a form of safety and protection.
Reading from a selection of his works, including Damballah (1981), God’s Gym (2005), and Writing to Save a Life (2016), I draw on Eva Mackey’s analysis of white settler communities and the phenomenon of uncertainty that is stimulated by their encounter with debates for Indigenous peoples’ land rights. This forms an apt allegory for the discussions of antiracism that have exploded in the public domain since the death of George Floyd, and it stimulates considerations of “safe discourse” (after Patricia Hill Collins), silence, responsibility, and “wake work” as modes of navigating uncertainty in the face of what Christina Sharpe calls the “engine of racism.” Wideman searches for narrative and ontological modes that can preserve consciousness from totalitarian structures, including race and surveillance, and the attachment to notions of certainty they present. He explores blues, silence, and the experience of rapture as spaces that extend beyond discourse, in which Black men in particular might benefit from the possibilities of uncertain forms of subjectivity that are uncolonized by racial capitalism
Reforming Public Tort Law
Get PDFThe gradual movement away from traditional common law doctrines of sovereign and official immunity over the past 40 years has generally been hailed as a victory for individual rights. The author argues that these gains must be weighed against such dangers as inappropriate judicial intrusion in administrative matters and a decline in the capacity to govern