| July 2006
Politics & Government: Bush Administration | Elections | Federal Government | Congress | Judicial System |
Government Initiatives: | Homeland Security | Social Security & Welfare | Tax Reform |
Politics & Government:
C1 - The Veto-Free Presidency: George W. Bush (2001-Present)
Dunn Tenpas, Kathryn
Issues in Governance Studies, July 2006, online edition
President Bush has only vetoed a single bill after more than five years in office (he sent the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act back to Congress in mid-July 2006). This is extremely unusual. “Perhaps the most unique feature of the Bush administration is its protracted period of unified party control of the government, a stark contrast to the divided governments of George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. How does a unified government affect the presidential veto? Does it inhibit a president’s exercise of the veto, thus impeding our political system’s critical checks and balances?” The author looks at the historical context of the veto to provide insight into the Bush administration’s veto-free tactics and strategies. Katryn Dunn Tenpas is Visiting Fellow, The Weidenbaum Center at Washington University in St. Louis.
Fulltext
C2 - The End of the Bush Revolution
Philip H. Gordon
Foreign Affairs, Jul/Aug 2006.Vol.85, Iss. 4; pp75-86
"The Bush administration's "revolutionary" foreign policy rhetoric has not changed, but its actual policies have: after squandering U.S. legitimacy, breaking the domestic bank, and getting the United States bogged down in an unsuccessful war, the Bush doctrine has run up against reality and become unsustainable. The counterrevolution should be welcomed -- and, if possible, locked in." Philip Gordon is a Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution and a co-author, with Jeremy Shapiro, of Allies at War: America, Europe, and the Crisis Over Iraq. Fulltext
C3 - 2004 Presidential Election: Contributions and Contributors in the 2004 Presidential Election Cycle
Panagopoulos, Costas, Bergan, Daniel
Presidential Studies Quarterly, June 2006, v36, #2, pp155-172 (Special Issue)
“The 2004 presidential election was unique in that the main contenders-Howard Dean, John Kerry, and George W. Bush-decided to reject public financing during the primary elections. In fact, fundraising did not appear to be problematic for either major party nominee during the entire election cycle, and both major parties collected and spent unprecedented sums of money to execute campaign activities. This study will assess data available from the Federal Election Commission to examine the amounts and sources of funding for the 2004 presidential election. Using available survey data from the 2004 National Election Study, we also investigate the characteristics of contributors and analyze their motivations for giving.” Costas Panagopoulos and Daniel Bergan are postdoctoral fellows at the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University. Fulltext
C4 - Issue Knowledge and Perceptions of Agreement in the 2004 Presidential General Election
Kenski, Kate; Hall Jamieson, Kathleen
Presidential Studies Quarterly, June 2006, v36, #2, pp243-260 (Special Issue)
“Using post-election data from the 2004 National Annenberg Election Survey, this study finds that compared to the 2000 election, candidate issue knowledge was relatively high by the end of the 2004 general election… In the context of [the] debate on the importance of political knowledge, we ask four questions about the 2004 presidential election: To what extent did voters in 2004 learn the presidential candidates' issue positions? Did those citizens with higher levels of political knowledge make different voting decisions from their less informed counterparts? On those issues where there was a mismatch between citizens' perceptions of agreement and actual agreement on the issues, could citizens have learned the candidates' actual issue positions from the presidential debates or the press? And, were candidate ambiguity and heuristic confusion possible culprits in the instances in which there was a mismatch?” Kate Kenski, University of Arizona. Kathleen Hall Jamieso, Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication of the University of Pennsylvania, Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center. Fulltext
C5 - Partisanship, Party Coalitions, and Group Support, 1952-2004
Stanley, Harold W.; Niemi, Richard G.
Presidential Studies Quarterly, June 2006, v36, #2, pp172-189 (Special Issue)
“Recent changes in partisan support suggest the beginning of a new group basis for the party coalitions. For the Republicans, the changes define group support more sharply than has been the case for many years-a combination of southern whites and a strong religious base of Catholics, regular church-goers, and Protestant fundamentalists. For Democrats, the changes are defined in terms of losses-of Catholic, union household, and regular church-going voters-not sufficiently offset by the increased support of women and the growing Hispanic population. The problem for Republicans is to maintain and enhance a heterogeneous coalition, including a fragile religious combination. The problem for Democrats is to find new coalition partners or regain support that the party has lost.” Harold W. Stanley, Chair in American Politics and Political Economy at Southern Methodist University. Richard G. Niemi, Professor of Political Science at the University of Rochester. Fulltext
C6 - The Bush Effect: Polarization, Turnout, and Activism in the 2004 Presidential Election
Abramowitz, Alan I; Stone, Walter J.
Presidential Studies Quarterly, June 2006, v36, #2, pp141-155
“The 2004 presidential election produced a dramatic increase in voter turnout and in a variety of campaign activities beyond voting. In this article, we demonstrate that the main reason for this increased turnout and activism was the intense polarization of the American electorate over George W. Bush… Our findings do not support Morris Fiorina's suggestion that polarization turns off voters and depresses turnout. Instead, they support the rational choice theory of turnout proposed by Anthony Downs: polarization energizes voters and stimulates participation. Whether turnout and activism remain at the levels seen in 2004 will depend on whether future presidential candidates produce a similar degree of polarization in the electorate.” Alan I. Abramowitz, professor of political science at Emory University. Walter J. Stone, professor and chair of political science, University of California. Fulltext
C7 - The Winning Strategy
O'Leary, Kevin
Campaigns and Elections, Apr 2006, v27, #3, pp2-9
“O'Leary analyzes the strategies that Democrats need to employ in order to capitalize on the upcoming congressional elections. One such approach is to appeal to local Democrat-leaning voters on issues that matter to them.” Kevin O'Leary is a journalist and political scientist based in California. Currently, he is a research fellow at the Center for the Study of Democracy at UC Irvine. Fulltext
C8 - The State of American Federalism, 2005: Federalism Resurfaces in the Political Debate
Dinan, John
Publius, Summer 2006, v36, #3, pp327-365
Federalism has not figured prominently in the political consciousness for the last several years but stringent new federal requirements in the Temporary Aid to Needy Families reauthorization, congressional intervention in the Terri Schiavo case, the response to Hurricane Katrina, state and local governmental opposition to the No Child Left Behind Act have generated debate about the appropriate mix between federal, state and local roles. More generally there is also concern at the state level about environmental, health-care, and labor issues. In addition, federalism issues figured quite prominently in the Snate confirmation hearings for Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. John Dinan, Department of Political Science, Wake Forest University ( North Carolina). Order Article
C9 - Rethinking Redistricting: How Drawing Uncompetitive Districts Eliminates Gerrymanders, Enhances Representation, and Improves Attitudes toward Congress
Brunell, Thomas L.
PS, Political Science & Politics, January 2006, v39, #1, pp77-86
Brunell seeks to better understand the relationship between whether a voter casts a ballot for the winning candidate in US House elections and that voter's evaluations of her representative. He also discusses the benefits of fundamentally rethinking the way in which one draws congressional and state legislative districts, as well as addresses likely concerns that might be raised about drawing districts this way. Thomas L. Brunell is associate professor of political science in the school of social sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas. Fulltext
C10 - The Kennedy Court
Cole, David
Nation, July 31, 2006, v283, #4, pp6-9
“The article profiles U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and examines his political philosophy as compared to the other Supreme Court justices. Kennedy is portrayed as a crucial swing vote on the Supreme Court. Specifically detailed is Kennedy’s opinion in the Supreme Court ruling on military detainees.” David Cole, Georgetown University in Washington. Fulltext
C11 - A Check Against Fear
Mahler, Jonathan
New York Times Magazine, July 9, 2006, pp13-14
”The article discusses the ruling U.S. Supreme Court in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote the majority decision, ruled that the military tribunals to try enemies captured during the war on terror were illegal, as they violated the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Details related to the war on terror and its consequences for the U.S. government are examined.”
Jonathan Mahler, a contributing writer for New York Times. Fulltext
Government Initiatives:
C12 - Evaluating the Societal Response to Antiterrorism Measures
Grosskopf, Kevin R.
Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, v3, #2, 11p
This article evaluates public perceptions of security measures within the contexts of traditional crime and terrorism. “Emergency managers, urban planners and building designers have embraced antiterrorism measures to create a human environment that is difficult to attack, resilient to the consequences of terrorist attack, and protective of its populations and assets. However, quick to adopt a “guns, guards and gates” posture following 911, it has become apparent that many antiterrorism measures may actually intensify and reinforce public perceptions of vulnerability and fear. Kevin R. Grosskopf , University of Florida. Fulltext
C13 - Imperfect Federalism: The Intergovernmental Partnership for Homeland Security
Eisinger, Peter
Public Administration Review, July/August 2006, v66, # 4, pp43-53
“The terror attacks of September 11, 2001, posed a set of security challenges for the nation's cities that the increasingly decentralized federal system was poorly prepared to meet. Although it was generally agreed that domestic security required a close intergovernmental partnership, strong national leadership and support were lacking in creating and guiding this partnership… This article explores the strains in the intergovernmental homeland security partnership, their causes, and efforts to adapt and reform.” Peter Eisinger is the Henry Cohen Professor at the Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy at the New School, New York. Order article
C14 - Updated Long-Term Projections for Social Security
Congressional Budget Office, Updated June 2006, online edition, 26p
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) first released long-term (100-year) Social Security projections in The Outlook for Social Security (June 2004). The findings include: “At the present time, Social Security revenues are greater than outlays, but as the baby-boom generation continues to age, outlays will grow substantially faster than revenues. CBO projects that outlays will begin to exceed revenues in 2019 and that the Social Security trust funds will be exhausted in 2046. SSA would then no longer have the legal authority to pay full benefits. In the years following trust fund exhaustion, payable benefits would be substantially lower than scheduled benefits because annual outlays would be constrained to equal annual revenues. CBO’s projections of benefit levels indicate that future beneficiaries will receive higher retirement benefits — and pay higher Social Security taxes — than current beneficiaries do, even after adjustments for inflation and for the reductions that occur after the trust funds are exhausted. However, those benefits will represent a smaller percentage of their preretirement earnings than is the case now.” Fulltext
Tax Reform
C15 - Is There a Right Way to Promote Health Insurance through the Tax System?
Antos, Joseph
American Enterprise Institute, Working Papers, June 9, 2006, online edition
"The exclusion of employer contributions to health premiums has skewed the development of the insurance market, resulting in generous coverage for higher-income workers but leaving millions of others uninsured and facing rapidly rising health costs. The paper considers four recent reform proposals: capping the exclusion, tax credits for insurance, tax incentives for high-deductible insurance and health savings accounts, and full tax deductibility of out-of-pocket spending. Such proposals could promote greater efficiency and equity in the health market, but insurance market reforms are also needed to minimize potential disruption to employer risk pools.” Joseph Antos, specialist in health care and retirement policy at AEI. Fulltext
C16 - Fundamental Tax Reform: An International Perspective
Owens, Jeffrey
National Tax Journal, Machr 2006, v59, #1, pp131-155
"This paper examines trends in tax reforms. The analysis is limited to the experience of 30 OECD countries, and focuses particularly on changes since the year 2000. The paper analyses the general trend of reductions in both tax revenues and rates and the diversity in tax policies across OECD countries, reflecting the diversity in both economic circumstances and policy objectives. Developments in tax administration are also briefly dealt with. Some of the challenges for tax policymakers and administrators that are likely to arise over the next few years are identified, and possible alternative approaches to solving them are put forward." Jeffrey Owens, OECD Centre for Tax Policy & Administration. Fulltext
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