Procedural Contexts, Party Strategy, and Conditional Party Voting in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1971–2000

In this article, we provide a critical review of the evidence and arguments about party polarization in the House of Representatives during the late 20th century. We show that inferences about party polarization are significantly affected by voting reform in the early 1970s. We observe that a decomposed roll-call record alters our view of the timing of changes in party polarization and therefore requires that we reconsider explanations of the trend. We revisit explanations of party polarization and establish a strong case for placing substantial emphasis on party strategies in explanations of party polarization in floor behavior during the 1980s and 1990s.     

Willard Straight, The First World War, and "Internationalism of all Sorts": The Inconsistencies of An American Liberal Interventionist

Willard D. Straight was a banker-diplomat and one of the most prominent early twentieth-century advocates of a greater international role for the USA. From the beginning of the war he argued the Mahanist line that American security depended upon the British fleet and in its own interest the United States should therefore intervene. At the same time he perceived the war as offering a golden opportunity for American bankers and businessmen to make international commercial gains at the expense of Britain. In 1915 this outlook led him to leave the insistently pro-Allied banking firm of J. P. Morgan & Company for the National City-affiliated American International Corporation, which was consciously designed to expand American overseas investments. Throughout the war Straight, who died in late November 1918, consistently argued that an Anglo-American alliance must be the essential foundation of any postwar international order — a position also taken by Theodore Roosevelt — but Straight also demonstrated significant and growing suspicion of and hostility to Great Britain. The numerous inconsistencies in his thinking seem to have sprung from the fact that, rather than being a well thought-out position, his internationalism arose primarily from an indiscriminating psychological need to have his country play a great but poorly defined role on the world stage.     

Roberts: Public Entrepreneurship and Innovation

This article presents a conceptualframeworkofpublic entrepreneurship. Public entrepreneurship is defined as the generation ofa novel or innuuative idea and the design and implementation of the innovative idea into publicsector practice. The conceptualfiamework is used to distinguish between public entrepreneurs and other actors in the policy process, and to clarify the differences between policy, political, executive, and bureaucratic entrepreneurs. Taking a functionalist perspective, the article difmentintes between individual and coZkctiue entrepreneurship and ginezates pmpaitims to move us cher to a theory of public entrepreneurship.     

Symptoms of depression in adolescence: A comparison of Anglo,African, and Hispanic Americans

This research investigated differences in prevalence of depressive symptoms among adolescents from diverse ethnocultural groups. Data from a national survey of persons 12–17 years of age (n=2200) were analyzed, comparing symptom levels of Anglo, African, Mexican, and other Hispanic Americans using a 12-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Overall, the results indicate differences in rates of depression. Females reported more symptoms of depression than males in every ethnic group. Among the ethnic groups, Mexican American males reported more depressive symptoms than other males and the same was true for Mexican American females, although to a lesser extent. Logistic regression of three different caseness scores (16+, 21+, 31+), adjusting for age, gender, perceived health, and occupation of the primary wage earner in the household, indicated that only Mexican American adolescents reported more depressive symptoms than the Anglo majority. The relative risk ranged from 1.46 to 1.83.Supported in part by grants MH44214 and MH44773 from the National Institute of Mental Health, by the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, and by the Center for Cross-Cultural Research.Holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in sociology and social psychology from the University of Kentucky at Lexington. Major research interests are in the areas of the epidemiology of adolescent psychopathology and the role of culture and ethnicity on psychological functioning, in particular depression and anxiety.Holds an M.A. in demography from the Free University in Brussels, an M.S. in Statistics from Dacca University in Bangladesh, and a Ph.D. in biostatistics from the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston. Major research interests are the application of statistics to epidemiological research and clinical trials.     

The Eurasian Economic Union: a case of reproductive integration?

The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) appeared in January 2015 as the latest and most ambitious attempt at reconnecting the post-Soviet space. Building on the Customs Union between Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan (2010), and successfully extending membership to Armenia and Kyrgyzstan (2015), the EAEU not only connects a market of over 182 million people, but has the stated aim of utilizing European Union experience to achieve deep integration in a fraction of the time. Based on original fieldwork conducted in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia, this article examines the kind of integration project currently under construction, as well as the EAEU’s ability to make a significant impact in the region. As argued, despite early achievements, the EAEU is very much limited to reproducing sovereignty rather than transforming it, marking a clear disconnect between rhetoric and reality. Moreover, when viewed from the perspective of the three “I”s – institutions, identity, and international context – even this modest reality faces significant barriers.