Political Science for whom?: Knowledge in the Online Era

If the Arab Spring taught us anything, it was that the Internet has become an important mean of the dissemination of ideas, creation of interest groups, mobilization of people, and changing public opinion. Although some will insist that the Arab Spring was not a social media phenomenon but a grassroots movement, we cannot ignore the power of unhampered information presented by the millions of users during the revolution. Images posted on Flickr or Face book and videos uploaded on YouTube were being seen by the world without the framing bias and “coloring” from traditional media outlets.

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Partisan Differences in Spending Preferences after theNew Democrat and New Labour Transformations of Party Images

In this paper we wonder whether the efforts of the New Democrats and New Labour to alter their parties’ images with respect to public spending mute the differences (or lack thereof) in their supporters’ preferences for public spending between their respective major parties as observed by Lewis in the UK case and Lowery and Sigelman in the US case. 

We address this question by constructing matching UK and US data on aggregate public opinion on public spending at four points since 1980, treating the Clinton New Democrat and the Blair New Labour transformations as interventions that might be expected to alter the preferences of partisans for public spending. We find support for the thermostatic model of preferences for spending a result that raises questions about the power of party elites to shape the preferences of their supporters in the battle over the size of government.

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Greening a Machiavellian State? Insights for International Environmental Governance

This article is an appeal to common sense, once seen as the American virtue, as it may be applied to contemporary considerations of the contest over same-sex marriage. Specifically, I argue that all societies, including our own, are bound together by an underlying or fundamental common sense of a select few things. Each society builds upon these few universal fundamentals with its own particular mythic and social constructions. 

When any one society begins to lose sight of these original human fundamentals and relies instead upon new shared conceptions of its world based solely upon abstract instrumental reason, it not only risks creating social and political mistakes-these, we may be able to live with, if not correct. More importantly, when such mistakes completely detach us from our fundamental common sense of human society, we risk the loss of this very society itself. This we cannot live with, at least not together. In other words, no policy or legislation, no constitution, and no charter of rights can bind together a people determined to become unbound by their loss of a fundamental common sense of the things by which they are first constituted together as human beings. I write with hope that we Americans-humanity’s “last best hope”-are not yet so determined.

When Governors Speak Up for Justice: Punishment Politics and Mass Incarceration in the American States

The tension created by the drop in violent crime since the 1990's and the sustained increase in mass incarceration in the American states during that period constitutes a phenomenon of great theoretical and policy relevance. Previous accounts of this tension centered on theories of group conflict and instrumentalism. We introduce a rhetorical framework for understanding mass incarceration. 

We argue that a key contributor to the mass incarceration boom is the use of aggressive political rhetoric by state governors to communicate the crime problem. Using data partially derived through content analysis of state of the state addresses of governors from all 50 states, we test this rhetoric theory and evaluate its implications alongside instrumental and conflict-based explanations of mass incarceration. Our analysis indicates that gubernatorial rhetoric has strong effect on mass incarceration but that this effect is moderated by the institutional power of the governor. 

Political Science and the "Micro-Politics" Research Agenda

In the last decade, a new research agenda has emerged in political science. Under the broad rubric of “micro-politics” research, these studies focused on the close range analysis of a gamut of questions such asrebel group behavior, popular enactment of genocidal violence, reconciliatory or peace-making behaviors, and democratic citizenship. 

Combining various methodological strategies, these studies refocused attention on the non-elites (the “little people”) as the central object of inquiry. Local level dynamics-local histories, institutions, power struggles, and community-based networks-played an important role in these explanatory frameworks. This Editorial note sketches a broad overview of this agenda not only because it has attracted prominent scholars and enjoyed rapid growth within the discipline, but also because it holds substantial promise for the future of political science.

The Analysis of Tourism Policies by Different Governments and their Potential Implementation in North Cyprus Economy

Tourism sector is a pillar in the economies of countries, developed and developing ones particularly those countries in which tourism is the major source of income and foreign currencies, as well as, creating job vacancies. Since the tourism industry is gaining popularity in the 21st century,international tourist arrivals are expected to increase by 3.8% per year between 2010 and 2020, even though it was above the WTO expectations in 2014 (4%), therefore, more attention should be paid to this creative sector. Furthermore, tourism is considered as a source of economic development especially, for the developing countries.

Tourism and education are the major players TRNC economy. As the TRNC realized an apparent success in higher education and polarizing of new overseas students, it is not hard mission to share the same experience with tourism sector in order to achieve a parallel success. Accordingly, in 2014 tourism sector indicators show that tourism contributed nearby 8.7% of GDP go along with an occupancy rate of 31% up to August 2014. Consequently, higher education sector contributions were 5.6% of GDP in the same year 2014 (TRNC FACTBOOK, 2014).

The Civilization of Fear

All those who live on milk lack the experience to talk about what is right. They are still babies. However, solid food is for mature people, whose minds are trained by practice to know the difference between good andevil. Hebrews 5:13-14 GOD’S WORD For ages philosophers wonder about the fundamental difference between a human being and an animal. 

In another words, how rational creatures differ from non rational? “I am able to think, so I'm a rational creature; an animal is unable to think, so it is a non rational creature”, a person can exclaim proudly. of course, no arguing about that. Notto mention that human being is able to speak, too. Yet, sometimes human beings act as if they are completely non-rational. Oh yes, it happens.