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Is the South Still Different? Democrats in the House of Representatives 1981-1990
Get PDFFor several decades southern Democrats constituted a conservative bloc within the Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives. After the enfranchisement of southern blacks in the J 960s and the development of a two party system in the South, many southern Democratic representatives began to compile more moderate voting records. By the 1980s, some scholars were emphasizing the greater unity of the Democratic caucus. This paper examines regional differences among House Democrats in several policy areas. It is argued that, on most issues, the Southern Democratic delegation is still a distinctly conservative bloc within the Democratic caucus
Organizational Reform of Public Institutions by Federal Courts: The effectiveness of participatory approaches
Get PDFSince the 1950s Federal Courts have become extensively involved in the reform of public institutions in response to the complaints of minority and disadvantaged groups. Many judges, cognizant of the unusual and complex nature of their task, have chosen novel participatory forms of case management. Using the case literature, this paper tries to identify the major forces which influence this choice, and explores the conditions under which participatory structures may or may not be instrumental in achieving institutional reform. Toward these ends, we propose several hypotheses as the basis for future systematic study of the development and outcomes of these non-traditional methods of case management
Measuring the Impact of Institutional and Occupational Affiliation on the Stances of Soviet Officials in the 1980-81 Polish Crisis
Get PDFFollowing from the bureaucratic politics/interest group approach to Soviet foreign policy decision-making, the purpose of this article is to determine whether the stances of Soviet officials in the 1980-81 Polish crisis were effected by their institutional, occupational, or ethnic affiliation. The study found that overall, there was not a strong relationship between group affiliation and tendency orientation. However the results indicate that there were definite coalitions of groups and individuals espousing differing stances on Poland, and that there was a significant difference between the Politburo and Secretariat and the overall score for all other groups
Primates, Coalitions and Small Group Politics
No full textMany scholar\u27s have commented upon the tendency for human decision-making to be subject to shifting coalitions. Madison, among others, noted that this could lead to instability. This paper suggests that there is a biological basis to this propensity. Two case studies of "chimpanzee politics" are examined; both indicate that chimpanzee coalition behavior seems to be underlaid by a kind of cost-benefit calculus. Since chimpanzees are humans\u27 closest relatives, this implies the possibility that human coalition behavior has an evolutionary basis. Implications for human politics are discussed
Tacit Knowledge in Plato
Get PDFApplying the concept of tacit knowledge to several key areas in Plato\u27s political theory illuminates obscurities and mitigates incoherencies in his thought, revealing a less totalitarian emphasis. It also provides a promising avenue for resolving a central epistemological problem that has occupied Western philosophy since its inception, namely, the fonnulation of a consistent version of skepticism
Nominalism and Conceptualism in Hobbes\u27s Political Theory
No full textHobbes developed two theories of language, each with peculiar implications for his views on reason and truth, and each applied throughout his political philosophy. As a nominalist, Hobbes argues that individuals subsume particular things under general names by an act of will. Nominalism supports his view of the moral anarchy of the state of nature, and helps justify an arbitrary sovereign. Conceptualism allows Hobbes to picture the sovereign as a rational rule-creator and his subjects as rule-followers. Either theory, however, taken alone, contradicts important parts of Hobbes\u27s political project. The contradictions between the two theories result from difficulties inherent in the attempt to reconcile reason and passion in politics
Decentralization of Environmental Enforcement: The Pennsylvania Air Quality Program
Get PDFThis article examines the consequences of one organizational structure (regional decentralization) on the enforcement of environmental regulations. Using interviews conducted with the staff of and data drawn from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the results of this study suggest that the reporting structure in the Pennsylvania air quality program sometimes produces conflicting directives to the various regional offices while also making efforts to arrive at a common approach to enforcement more difficult
