Political Science and International Studies Faculty Publications

 

Recent Submissions

  • Civic Health Report 2013
    Orr, Susan; Levy, Dena B.; Burek, Ashley; Ewing, Krishaon; Kehl, Allyson; The College at Brockport (2013-01-01)
    This report is an initial attempt to assess the Civic Health of The College at Brockport. By “Civic Health” we mean the civic, social and political strength of a community. Civic strength is characterized by the level of community involvement and the capacity of a community to work together to resolve collective problems. Social strength captures the social ties, networks, level of trust, and shared understanding in a community. Political strength gauges the extent of citizens’ engagement with government. In this first Civic Health Report we present data addressing most, but not all, aspects of Civic Health. We focus on the College at Brockport student body. In future years we plan to expand the range of indicators we assess and extend the project to include faculty and staff ? clearly two important constituencies in the college community.

  • Can Attitudes Predict Outcomes? Public Opinion, Democratic Institutions and Environmental Policy
    Shum, Rob; The College at Brockport (2009-01-01)
    The ‘post-materialist’ value hypothesis, positing heightened concern for the environment, should predict eventual convergence in environmental policies. In the meantime, surprisingly wide variations persist, even when controlling for income levels. Is there a role for public opinion to explain better the divergences and outcomes observed in environmental policies? This paper explores a possible mechanism by which widely hypothesized income effects on policy can occur via pressure from public opinion. By building upon a median voter model of environmental policy-making and developing an extension to include voter information characteristics, we test these effects on air pollution outcomes of varying (global, regional and local) scales. The results provide evidence of significant effects, but suggest two antecedent conditions necessary for political and opinion variables to have an effect: redistributive opportunities, and credible frameworks for addressing collective action problems. The implication is that relying on democratic reform alone may not suffice to improve environmental performance if underlying collective action problems are not addressed.

  • State Aid to Religious Schools: From Everson to Zelman a Critical Review
    Chadsey, Mark J.; The College at Brockport (2004-01-01)

  • Onward Christian Soldiers: American Dispensationalists, George W. Bush and the Middle East
    Saiya, Nilay; The College at Brockport (2012-10-01)
    The goal of this paper is twofold. First, it attempts to explain why dispensationalist Christians were successful at influencing American foreign policy during the administration of George W. Bush, particularly towards the Middle East. Specifically, I connect this success to their ties to Washington neo-conservatives, the personal faith of Bush himself and his links to conservative Christians, and their broad cultural appeal and grassroots strength. Second, it will present two brief case studies on the influence that dispensationalism has had on US policy towards Israel and Iraq during the administration of George W. Bush.

  • Thomas Jefferson and The Establishment Clause
    Chadsey, Mark J.; The College at Brockport (2007-01-01)
    Perhaps no other founder has influenced our understanding of the meaning of the Establishment Clause more than Thomas Jefferson. His name is frequently invoked when scholars or the Supreme Court attempt to discover the original intent of that crucially important provision of the Bill of Rights.

  • Effects of Economic Recession and Local weather on Climate Change Attitudes
    Shum, Rob; The College at Brockport (2011-01-01)
    What drives popular opinion on climate change? Recent failures to mobilize popular opinion in favour of the mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been blamed on the unseasonably cool local weather and the unhealthy state of the economy. Using data from the European Union (EU), this article examines the effects of both annual temperature variations and economic growth rates on people’s attitudes regarding the mitigation of GHG emissions. It is found that although the state of the economy has a significant effect on people’s attitudes towards the mitigation of GHG emissions, variations in the annual temperature do not. Thus, while pessimism regarding policy changes during bad economic times appears justified, pessimism based on isolated spells of unseasonably cool weather does not.

  • Case Studies of the Impact of Federal Aid on Major Cities: City of Rochester
    Liebschutz, Sarah F.; The College at Brockport (1980-04-01)
    This report was prepared under a grant to the Brookings Institution from the Office of Program Evaluation of the Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, under the authority of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA).