Social Studies

Protecting Academic Freedom: Using the Past to Chart a Path Toward the Future

Joy Ann Williamson-Lott | 30 Jul 2018

This blog accompanies the Forum on Academic Freedom published in History of Education Quarterly. In the past decade or so, there has been an uptick in assaults on academic freedom across the globe.  Whether through watch lists, denial of visas to travel to professional conferences, firings, or detentions and jail sentences, professors and teachers are battling for the freedom to regulate their own professional lives against government (and even administrative) officials who invoke national security and patriotism to justify suppression and enforce a particular consensus on contentious issues.…

The Great Keyishian Case: lessons in academic freedom from the Cold War

Marjorie Heins | 27 Jul 2018

When the History of Education Quarterly asked me to contribute to a symposium on academic freedom, I could hardly refuse. I had recently written a book about how anti-communist witch hunters in the late 1940s and 1950s attacked teachers and professors, and about the Supreme Court’s eventual (and much-belated) response in 1967–striking down a typical state loyalty law and announcing that academic freedom is a “a special concern of the First Amendment, which does not tolerate laws that cast a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom.” That case was called Keyishian v.…

Meet the New Owners of Corporate America

Jan Fichtner | 23 May 2018

A seismic shift is going on in finance still largely unnoticed by the public. People and institutions are increasingly investing their money into index tracker funds instead of actively managed mutual funds.…

Iran and the nuclear deal: the politics of procrastination

Ali M. Ansari | 22 May 2018

Over a decade ago I attended a meeting in London with senior Iranian foreign ministry officials discussing prospects for a resolution of the burgeoning crisis over Iran’s nuclear programme.…

How Bureaucratic Leadership Shapes Policy Outcomes: Partisan Politics and Affluent Citizens’ Incomes in the American States

Journal of Public Policy | 26 Nov 2018

Unified control of policymaking by a single political party is perhaps necessary, but not sufficient for observing policy outcomes consistent with majoritarian policy preferences.…

More bang for your buck: tax compliance in the United States and Italy

Journal of Public Policy | 25 Oct 2018

Sven Steinmo states in his book Taxation and Democracy, “Governments need money. Modern Governments need lots of money.” This is no less true today than it was twenty-five years ago when he wrote it.…

The dynamics of policy change in authoritarian countries

Journal of Public Policy | 24 Oct 2018

In democratic countries, actors inside and outside the state have various channels for expressing their concerns and influencing policy agendas. In contrast, in authoritarian countries, less inclusive institutions lead to different dynamics of policy change.…

Do the 50 American States Give Voters What They Want on Health and Immigration?

Journal of Public Policy | 23 Oct 2018

The 50 American state governments have been faced with many questions related to healthcare and immigration in the past two decades.…

Gender-Submission Gap and Women’s Underrepresentation in Political Science Journals

Carissa L. Tudor and Deborah J. Yashar | 19 Sep 2018

Women are running for U.S. public office in record numbers, offering hopes of seriously tackling the gender gap in political representation.…

When less public participation may be better public participation

Journal of Public Policy | 8 Aug 2018

Currently, policymaking is torn between two demands. On the one hand, issues become increasingly complex, calling for the incorporation of expertise in the policymaking process and increasingly complex decision-making procedures.…

How the Social Determinants of Indigenous Health became policy reality for Australia’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan

Matt Fisher | 5 Jun 2018

Significant health inequities persist between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous Australians, resulting from the past and continuing impacts of colonisation and contemporary social, economic and cultural inequalities.…

The Evolution of Human Trafficking Policy and Its Effect on Human Trafficking Attitudes

Journal of Public Policy | 30 May 2018

Despite a near unanimous agreement that human trafficking is a morally reprehensible practice, there is confusion around what qualifies as human trafficking in the United States.…