PS: Political Science & Politics articles from March 1998

PS: Political Science & Politics archives from March 1998

A more representative United States House of Representatives?
March 1, 1998... Editor's Note: The first five articles in this symposium are adaptations of papers the authors delivered at the 1997 APSA Annual Meeting as part of a panel entitled "How Can the U.S. House Be Made More Representative?" The articles are...

Reforming the House: three moderately radical proposals.
March 1, 1998... Most observers of the United States House of Representatives undoubtedly agree that in many respects, large and small, the House does not perform its representative function very well. Not being an expert on the details and intricacies of House...

Dead law: the federal election finance regulations, 1974-1996.
March 1, 1998... I think it is clear, Mr. President, that the few remaining pillars holding up our crumbling election system finally collapsed. Senator Russell Feingold, addressing the U.S. Senate (January 21, 1997) The campaign finance system in America......

Building a representative house in Scotland and the role of women in the developmental process.
March 1, 1998... Nineteen ninety-seven will be remembered as the year when a large majority of the people in Scotland voted in a two question referendum to establish a Scottish parliament (74.3%) with tax-varying powers (63.5%) (Jones 1997). Elections will take...

Making the House more representative: hidden costs and unintended consequences.
March 1, 1998... Perhaps the most intriguing element of the current milieu of political reform is the fact that the United States Supreme Court seems to be standing in the way of many reform measures. In several recent decisions, the court has either struck down...

If it ain't broke bad, don't fix it a lot. (House of Representatives)
March 1, 1998... The House of Representatives is one of the most dynamic of governmental institutions. Formally and informally, the House regularly revises its rules, procedures, practices, and structures to adapt and adjust to, among other things, membership and...

Too much of a good thing: more representative is not necessarily better. (House of Representatives)
March 1, 1998... Reform sentiments are much in evidence on the American political scene as we approach the end of the century, and improving the way public opinion is represented in political institutions is often the major motivation of reformers. This is clear...

Cooperation through threats: the Northern Ireland case.
March 1, 1998... On February 9, 1996, after a seventeen-month cease-fire, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) set off a bomb in East London. Less than a week later, the London police found and destroyed a bomb that the IRA had left in a telephone booth in the West...

Can the rational choice framework cope with the culture?
March 1, 1998... Editor's Note: This essay is drawn from a 1997 APSA Annual Meeting roundtable entitled "Can the Rational Choice Framework Cope with Culture?" It was presented by the Comparative Politics Division, chaired by Nancy Bermeo of Princeton University,...

Encouraging the better angels: on designing the introductory course in American politics.
March 1, 1998... What do we want to accomplish by teaching? In the simplest terms, we want our students to learn; that is, we want them to think, and perhaps less importantly, to know. We also want them to work. But most of our own training is in research, not...

The challenge of the large lecture class: making it more like a small seminar.
March 1, 1998... Large lecture classes are frequently regarded as a necessary evil.(1) Such classes have to be offered in many colleges and universities to meet high student demand with limited faculty resources, but teaching a large lecture class can be a...

Teaching the politics of Islamic fundamentalism.
March 1, 1998... Ever since the Iranian revolution of 1979, in which a group of fundamentalist Shi'i clerics outmaneuvered liberals, socialists, and non-fundamentalist Islamists, Islamic fundamentalism has become the dominant force in much of the Islamic world....

Battling the six evil geniuses of essay writing.
March 1, 1998... Essay questions, term papers, "takehome" finals, research papers, and project reports are standard components of most political science courses. Professors may ask students to write an essay as part of a midterm of final exam, or to hand in...

The American National Election Studies: a progress report.
March 1, 1998... This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first of what became the American National Election Studies. In October 1997, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a four-year extension of its funding for the National Election Studies...

Coming soon to your department: institutional effectiveness plans.
March 1, 1998... Institutional effectiveness came to Francis Marion University with a vengeance in late 1995.(1) Known informally as "IE," institutional effectiveness refers to a formal system in which a university establishes specific goals, determines how well...

Gee! I've never spent $5.5 million before: the six fallacies of NSF proposal writing. (National Science Foundation)
March 1, 1998... It is often mysterious to junior faculty, and even some who are senior, how decisions are made about funding research proposals. What do reviewers look for? What problems are common? Perhaps most important, what facilitates success? Having...

Richard W. Cottam. (University Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh)(Obituary)
March 1, 1998... Richard W. Cottam, 72, University Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh died on August 29, 1997 after a long and courageous struggle with cancer. Cottam was born in Provo, Utah, and received his B.A. from the...

Francesco Kjellberg. (political scientist)(Obituary)
March 1, 1998... It was with great surprise and deep sorrow that colleagues and friends of Francesco Kjellberg received the news of his death on October 5 of this year. Though it was well-known that Franco recently had confronted cancer, it was generally believed...

William Webster Lammers. (political scientist)(Obituary)
March 1, 1998... It is with great sadness that we report the death of William Webster Lammers on October 7, 1997. He died at the USC/Norris Cancer Hospital in Los Angeles at the age of 60. Bill was born in Waseca, Minnesota, and he received his A.B. in history...

Robert Dale Miewald. (professor of political science at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln)(Obituary)
March 1, 1998... Robert D. Miewald, professor of political science at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, died October 18, 1997. Bob was born in Chinook, Montana, May 16, 1938. As a boy, he came to know ranching and farming on the Montana plains. After selling...

Edward S.T. Su. (professor of political science at Texas A&I University)(Obituary)
March 1, 1998... Edward S. T. Su died November 10, 1997, after an extended illness. He was 76 years old. Dr. Su taught political science at Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M University-Kingsville) from 1967 until he retired as a full professor, in 1989. Su...