Showing papers in "The Forum in 2014"
25 citations
TL;DR: The volume of televised political advertising plateaued in 2014, as did levels of negativity as mentioned in this paper, and the most interesting story about this advertising was the extensive involvement of outside groups, many of which did not disclose their donors.
Abstract: The volume of televised political advertising plateaued in 2014, as did levels of negativity. Yet the most interesting story about this advertising was the extensive involvement of outside groups, many of which did not disclose their donors. In many of the most competitive Senate races, groups surpassed the parties—and sometimes even the candidates—as the primary sponsors of political advertising. We speculate on what these patterns from 2014 are likely to mean for advertising in 2016.
22 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that the modern presidency has embraced the role of party leader, even in the management of the bureaucracy, the arena in which the modern presidential claim to transcend partisanship was nurtured.
Abstract: Abstract Scholars and pundits have usually depicted Barack Obama as a prisoner of partisan rancor in Congress, which has been especially fierce on the Republican side of the aisle. We argue, to the contrary, that he has actively – if sometimes reluctantly – embraced the role of party leader, even in the management of the bureaucracy, the arena in which the modern presidency’s claim to transcend partisanship was nurtured. The Administration’s public celebration of unilateralism – typified by the “We Can’t Wait” initiative – is emblematic of a far-reaching development within the presidency and American politics: the rise of an executive centered party-system, which relies on presidential candidates and presidents to pronounce party doctrine, raise campaign funds, campaign on behalf of their partisan brethren, mobilize grass roots support and advance party programs. Although this development poses hard challenges to collective responsibility and the rule of law that undergirds it, Obama’s innovative administrative tactics may be the harbinger of a new paradigm that extols unilateral presidential policymaking as a habitual solution to partisan polarization.
16 citations
TL;DR: This paper expose the falsity of Gove's claims to rigour, but also promote an alternative model of curriculum and pedagogy, not only in the history of progressive education but also in aspects of current practice.
Abstract: Whereas the previous government, regarding education primarily as a means to an end, showed little interest in questions of curriculum content, Gove’s counter-revolution involves the enforcement of a deeply authoritarian politics of knowledge. An adequate response to such cultural and curricular conservatism needs to expose the falsity of Gove’s claims to rigour, but also to promote an alternative model of curriculum and pedagogy. The salient features of such an alternative are visible, not only in the history of progressive education but also in aspects of current practice – aspects that are ignored or marginalised in dominant discourses of education.
15 citations
TL;DR: The origins, evolution, and impact of the Obama administration's Race to the Top (RTTT) competitive grant program and the broader context of the debate over President Obama's aggressive use of executive power are analyzed in this article.
Abstract: Abstract This article offers an analysis of the origins, evolution, and impact of the Obama administration’s Race to the Top (RTTT) competitive grant program and places it in the broader context of the debate over President Obama’s aggressive use of executive power. Faced with divided control and partisan gridlock in Congress – which has been unable to reauthorize ESEA, the largest federal education program – the Obama administration has opted to make education policy from the executive branch. While many observers have questioned the expansive interpretation of statutory and regulatory authority that undergirds RTTT – and the NCLB waiver process – there is little doubt that the efforts have had a significant impact on the national political discourse around education and pushed many states to propose or enact important policy changes, particularly around charter schools, common core standards, and teacher evaluation processes. Along with health care, education reform is likely to be remembered as the most significant policy legacy of the Obama administration. However, while the Affordable Care Act was drafted by Congress and secured through the “normal” legislative process, the Obama education agenda has largely been designed and enacted through unilateral executive branch authority. As a result, these actions may well set significant precedents for the separation of powers as well as for education policy.
15 citations
TL;DR: This article argued that government policy is no longer the solution to the difficulties we face, but the greatest problem, which is not only the torrent of new policy that rains down on each sector, the constant changes in direction and the automatic rubbishing of any discomforting evidence, but also the failure of successive ministers to appreciate that reform has to be accompanied by continuity if the stability of our educational institutions and the quality of their courses are to be preserved.
Abstract: We are specialists with considerable experience of the different phases of education who have come independently to the same conclusion: that government policy is no longer the solution to the difficulties we face but our greatest problem. ... It is not only the torrent of new policy that rains down on each sector, the constant changes in direction and the automatic rubbishing of any discomforting evidence. ... It is also the failure of successive ministers to appreciate that reform has to be accompanied by continuity if the stability of our educational institutions and the quality of their courses are to be preserved.1
15 citations
TL;DR: The Cambridge Primary Review was superseded by the Cambridge primary review trust in 2013 as discussed by the authors, and this article is the text of the keynote delivered at the Trust's London launch on 23 September 2013.
Abstract: FORUM has marked the progress of the Cambridge Primary Review by three previous articles from Robin Alexander, the Review’s director, and by critiques and responses from several others, notably FORUM’s Michael Armstrong. In 2013 the Review was superseded by the Cambridge Primary Review Trust, and this article is the text of the keynote delivered at the Trust’s London launch on 23 September 2013. It briefly assesses the Review’s impact to date, warning that to attempt to do so is a rather more complex enterprise than some commentators allow. It then outlines the Trust’s four programmes and seven priorities, tracing the latter back to the Review’s conclusions and the debate they provoked. Finally, the article returns to one of the Review’s (and this author’s) abiding themes: the public discourse of educational policy and policymakers’ handling of evidence. In both matters, the current government, like its predecessor, is found severely wanting, and the author argues that these discursive and evidential deficits not only continue to frustrate educational progress but are also in themselves profoundly anti-educational, not to say ill-educated.
14 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines instances of teacher action and asks: are these moments of teacher resistance or the beginning of a teacher resistance to neoliberal school reform? ‘Mr Horn, could you please come see me in my office?’ Momentarily transported back in time to my own middle school years, I bravely answered, ‘Sure, Mrs Thomas. I’ll be down in a minute.’ This was the first time Mrs Thomas, my principal, had called me to her office, but as I nervously weaved my way through the noisy halls of Pioneer Middle School and
Abstract: Public school teachers in the USA are working in an era of intense interference from neoliberal reform policies. Corporate-driven forces are working to dismantle unions, narrow curricula, replace neighborhood schools with charter schools, tie student test scores to teacher evaluations and replace university-prepared career teachers with ‘elites’ from Teach for America who have five weeks of teacher training and a two-year commitment to teach in ‘high need’ schools. Nevertheless, teachers across the USA are engaging in social action to combat neoliberal reforms. This article examines instances of teacher action and asks: are these moments of teacher resistance or the beginning of a movement of teacher resistance to neoliberal school reform? ‘Mr Horn, could you please come see me in my office?’ Momentarily transported back in time to my own middle school years, I bravely answered, ‘Sure, Mrs Thomas.[1] I’ll be down in a minute.’ This was the first time Mrs Thomas, my principal, had called me to her office, but as I nervously weaved my way through the noisy halls of Pioneer Middle School and down the stairs, I was pretty sure why I had been summoned and only wondered why it had taken so long. About a week before, I had been formally observed by one of my assistant principals, Mrs Vaughn. All teachers at Pioneer were observed regularly by administration, and for language arts and math teachers, observations were in place to closely monitor our compliance with the prescribed America’s Choice curricula (America’s Choice, n.d.). Two years earlier, Pioneer had failed to make annual yearly progress (AYP) for five consecutive years, and in accordance with No Child Left Behind (NCLB) policy, and because it was a Title I school, Pioneer had been restructured. Through the restructuring process, a completely new administrative team had been brought in, 65% of the teaching staff was
12 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that elite polarization is an asymmetric phenomenon driven by Republicans primarily motivated by economic issues and that modern elite polarization emerged starting with the 1980 election, which is consistent with the literature.
Abstract: Scholars generally agree that political elites in the US are polarized. Yet most of our evidence, especially longitudinal evidence, is built on proxy meas- ures of elite ideology that fail to identify the unique dimensions that drive the cleavages between the parties. And our understanding of when elite polarization reemerged is also unclear. This study leverages the party platforms, along with the tools of content analysis, to shed new light on elite polarization. We find that, consistent with the literature, elite polarization is an asymmetric phenomenon driven by Republicans primarily motivated by economic issues. Further, we show that modern elite polarization emerged starting with the 1980 election.
12 citations
TL;DR: The 2014 congressional elections illustrate how party coalitions have adapted to practices that enable them to raise and spend money outside this formal regulatory framework as discussed by the authors, and demonstrate how party leaders in Congress and these candidates have now embraced the outside campaign strategy to wrest some control from other elements of the party.
Abstract: The campaign finance system has fragmented campaign activity in response to rules that are unworkable in a strong party system. The 2014 congressional elections illustrate how party coalitions have adapted to practices that enable them to raise and spend money outside this formal regulatory framework. For several election cycles, partisan interest groups have used outside campaign organizations to circumvent rules that constrain candidate and party committees. The 2014 elections illustrate how party leaders in Congress and these candidates have now embraced the outside campaign strategy to wrest some control from other elements of the party. Recent changes to campaign finance rules may shift additional money toward traditional committees, but outside groups like Super PACs are now established features of US political campaigns. DOI 10.1515/for-2014-5032
TL;DR: The authors provide an overview of the APC framework used to study political generations and illustrate the difficulty of distinguishing cohort from age and period effects, and reflect on the difficulty in explaining generational differences.
Abstract: Political scientists often use the lens of generations when studying how the political views of citizens develop and how the polity as a whole evolves. This essay provides an overview of the topic: distinguishing work on lineage generations from that on political generations while also addressing their intersection; describing the Age-Period-Cohort (APC) framework used to study political generations and illustrating the difficulty of distinguishing cohort from age and period effects; and reflecting on the difficulty of explaining generational differences. The essay closes with a discussion of the many ways in which America's youngest citizens are politically different from their elders.
TL;DR: In this paper, the hidden implications for teachers and pupils of taking on secondary-school roles within the primary-school context are discussed. But the authors highlight the wide-ranging, yet nuanced impacts of the use of setting, examining the shift towards subject-based thinking and the erosion of the pastoral-centred holistic ethos of primary education.
Abstract: Embedding setting (subject-based ability-grouping) into the primary-school environment creates structural conflict - physically and culturally - fundamentally changing the nature of primary schools through the imposition of secondary practices and cultures and the loss of pastoral care. This article examines the hidden implications for teachers and pupils of taking on secondary-school roles within the primary-school context. It highlights the wide-ranging, yet nuanced impacts of the use of setting, examining the shift towards subject-based thinking and the erosion of the pastoral-centred holistic ethos of primary education.
TL;DR: In this paper, an approche scientometrique for analysing the production, themes, and influences of RIC articles is presented, in which the authors adopt a scientometrized approach to analyze the production and themes of articles in RIC.
Abstract: Au cours des deux dernieres decennies, on note une forte croissance de la recherche sur l'interpretation en langue chinoise (RIC), comme en temoigne le nombre d'articles publies. Le present article adopte une approche scientometrique pour analyser la production, les themes et les influences theoriques de ces articles au fil du temps. Les auteurs, les universites et les regions les plus productifs, de meme que les formes de collaboration, ont ete analyses afin de permettre une comprehension plus approfondie du paysage de la RIC. Il apparait que la ‘culture’ globale de la discipline est restee immuable : aucune de ses influences theoriques et themes n’est devenu plus populaire au fil du temps. Cependant, en matiere de collaboration entre chercheurs et de politique universitaire, des limites persistent et font obstacle a la realisation de son potentiel de croissance.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze the change in the social connectedness of Congressional members and find that more members are traveling than in the past, but these trips are on average much shorter in duration, potentially reducing the opportunities for building relationships among them.
Abstract: Abstract In the aftermath of the polarization that has taken hold in Congress, some have pointed to the changing social connectedness of Congressional members as a possible cause, effect, or both. In this article, we take an initial look at this element of the story by analyzing one aspect of change over time in what are known as CODELs. We outline our data collection of these foreign trips taken by House members in two distinct periods and show how the use, users, and locations of these trips have changed. Among other changes, we find that more members are traveling than in the past, but that these trips are on average much shorter in duration. As a result, members of Congress are spending less time together during foreign travel, potentially reducing the opportunities for building relationships among them.
TL;DR: This article examined independent spending in state elections before and after the Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC and found that the decision did not have much of a direct effect on business spending, despite public expectations.
Abstract: This article examines independent spending in state elections before and after the Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC. We find that the decision did not have much of a direct effect on business spending, despite public expectations. Increases were higher in the aggregate in states that prohibited corporate spending before the decision. However, the major growth was not in the business or labor sectors, but in the network organiza- tions of political parties - and most particularly the national organizations of state elected and party officials. Contrary to some contemporary views, these developments cannot be understood as a displacement of within-state money from parties to interest groups. Instead, national party organizations were oper- ating across state lines, deciding whether to contribute to formal party com- mittees or their party allies as local circumstances might dictate. This complex movement of money belies any theorizing that would treat a decline in the pro- portional role of formal party spending as equivalent to a zero-sum increase in the non-party power of interest groups. Rather, we see the pattern of independ- ent spending as part of a larger story of change in American political parties. These changes now include vertically networked parties operating across levels of jurisdiction, alongside the horizontal networks receiving attention in recent scholarship.
TL;DR: In this article, a history student at Cal Poly holds interests in Ancient Egyptian history/ Egyptology, history of theology, history occult-ism and history of anarchism, and enjoys reading, writing, and making music.
Abstract: History at Cal Poly. He holds two A.A. degrees from Cuesta College, one in History and the other in International Studies. Kevin hopes to one day be a history professor or work in the music industry. As a history student, Kevin holds interests in Ancient Egyptian history/ Egyptology, history of theology, history occult-ism and history of anarchism. He also enjoys reading, writing, and making music.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest that parental legacy is enduring and can help us understand key moments in individual's political trajectories, and that parental socialization operates both as a channel of continuity and a channel for attitudinal change.
Abstract: Abstract According to scholarly wisdom, family socialization accounts for the formation but not the further development of political norms and practices. Thus, although it yields high levels of partisan similarity between parents and children, its influence diminishes as the offspring accumulate experience with politics. This study is an attempt to qualify this view, suggesting that parental legacy is enduring and can help us understand key moments in individual’s political trajectories. In so doing, parental socialization operates both as a channel of continuity and a channel of attitudinal change. Examples from different cohorts and periods illustrate the nuanced role of parental politicization on the formation of offspring’s political outlook.
TL;DR: In this article, a newly created dataset makes it possible to go looking for the mass ideologies most common in American politics across the postwar years and distinguish five great ideological groups: Liberals, Conservatives, Populists, Libertarians, and Moderates.
Abstract: Abstract A newly created dataset makes it possible to go looking for the mass ideologies most common in American politics across the postwar years. For this purpose, it is necessary to distinguish five great ideological groups: Liberals, Conservatives, Populists, Libertarians, and Moderates. These prove to have distinct voting behaviors, not just in the ballot for President but also in the propensity and manner by which they split their tickets. They have distinct perceptions of the main organizational referents in politics, both political parties and organized interests, while the distinction between objectively measured versus self-identified ideologies proves to be consequential as well. Finally, these ideological groups do not just evolve differently across the postwar years; they alter the substantive content of major-party coalitions at both the rank-and-file and the activist levels while doing so.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors apply fresh insights gleaned from historical-institutionalist scholarship to investigate the full range of options that are available to presidents inheriting the opportunity to reorder politics and demonstrate how institutional displacement, layering, conversion, and drift can be used together to recalibrate the equilibrium of a "path-dependent" system and thus alter develop-mental pathways.
Abstract: Modern "reconstructive" presidents face an institutional environment that affords strong veto possibilities to defenders of the status quo, making today's politics resistant to the "order shattering" and "order creating" style of change most frequently associated with the leadership type. This project responds to the possibility that the rise of these conditions suggests the end of such recon- structive politics. It applies fresh insights gleaned from historical-institutionalist scholarship to investigate the full range of options that are available to presi- dents inheriting the opportunity to reorder politics. Mathematical simulation, via Polya's urn model, is used to demonstrate how institutional displacement, layering, conversion, and drift can be used - independently and together - to recalibrate the equilibrium of a "path-dependent" system and thus alter develop- mental pathways. This not only suggests that modern presidents can still reorder and rejuvenate politics in a constrained environment; it updates expectations and warns of potential dangers.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that, in order to counter this attack, we need to build a movement around an alternative vision of education, and argue that the Stand Up for Education campaign, through posing five key demands and a three-strand strategy to campaign for them, provides an opportunity to outline an alternative and build such a movement.
Abstract: Over the past four years, the UK coalition government has made significant progress in transforming the state education system. This transformation has its roots in a longer-term restructuring of education. This article argues that, in order to counter this attack, we need to build a movement around an alternative vision of education. Further, it argues that the Stand Up for Education campaign, through posing five key demands and a three-strand strategy to campaign for them, provides an opportunity to outline an alternative and build such a movement.
TL;DR: This paper argued that teachers have begun to identify and occupy nomadic spaces capable of subverting State narratives and building new opportunities for professionalism. And they suggested that responsibilities come with the creation of new spaces for professional dialogue and development if teachers are to move centre stage in the wider educational system.
Abstract: The past 30 years have seen a series of major shifts in English education. Central to these changes has been the growth of data systems which now measure and control the work of teachers to a huge degree. This form of data-led surveillance was predicted in the work of Gilles Deleuze, a totalising process where data become more important than the individuals to which they relate. This article considers the ramifications of the development of a ‘Society of Control’ within education before arguing that teachers have begun to identify and occupy nomadic spaces capable of subverting State narratives and building new opportunities for professionalism. The development of teacher-led professional development and the use of social media have both led to new opportunities for professional dialogue and debate which are important in counteracting policy developments enacted by those outside the profession. Finally, it is suggested that responsibilities come with the creation of new spaces for professional dialogue and development if teachers are to move centre stage in the wider educational
TL;DR: The Nachsorge-and cancer-Survivorship Programme zielen entsprechend den vielfaltigen Folgen und Unterstutzungsbedurfnissen der Patienten auf den Ausbau einer langerfristigen wie umfassenden medizinischen and psychosozialen Versorgung der Patientens.
Abstract: Wahrend die psychosozialen Folgen einer Krebserkrankung und -behandlung im Rahmen der medizinischen Primarbehandlung empirisch gut belegt sind, steht die Untersuchung der Langzeitfolgen erst am Anfang. Zu den haufigen psychosozialen Folgeproblemen zahlen vor allem Fatigue, Schlafstorungen, kognitive Funktionseinschrankungen, Einschrankungen des Korperbilds und der Sexualitat, Infertilitat, psychische Belastungen und hier insbesondere Angst vor Wiederauftreten der Erkrankung und Depressivitat, Einschrankungen der Lebensqualitat, soziale Folgen und berufliche Belastungen. Nachsorge- und Cancer-Survivorship Programme zielen entsprechend den vielfaltigen Folgen und Unterstutzungsbedurfnissen der Patienten auf den Ausbau einer langerfristigen wie umfassenden medizinischen und psychosozialen Versorgung der Patienten.
TL;DR: It is shown that 2012 Congressional candidates were fearful about letting potential contributors know that their donations would be made available on the Internet, along with their address, employer, and other personal information, which may in fact limit participation in the political process, including among small donors.
Abstract: In a recent issue of The Forum, Fortier and Malbin call for more research into the effects of disclosure requirements for campaign finance. In this paper, we report the results of a field experiment designed to assess whether such rules dissuade potential contributors due to privacy concerns. The paper is unique in that we explain why the field experiment never happened, and what we can learn from its "failure." Specifically, we show that 2012 Congressional candidates were fearful about letting potential contributors know that their donations would be made available on the Internet, along with their address, employer, and other personal information. In trying to learn directly about whether contributors would be spooked by this knowledge, we ended up learning indirectly, through the actions of candidates, that privacy concerns may in fact limit participation in the political process, including among small donors.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the Roberts Court and its relationship to the Obama administration following the 2014 midterm election, arguing that the Court's more conservative, divided, and polarized decision-making reflects the politics of the post-1968 electoral regime.
Abstract: Abstract This article examines the Roberts Court and its relationship to the Obama administration following the 2014 midterm election. We begin by analyzing how the Court has been structured by electoral politics during the past 40 years, arguing that the Court’s more conservative, divided, and polarized decision-making reflects the politics of the post-1968 electoral regime. We then consider the impact of the 2014 midterm election. Republican control of the Senate will constrain the president’s ability to shape the federal courts going forward. It will most likely leave the composition of the current Supreme Court intact, leave Justice Kennedy as the pivotal swing vote, while elevating the Court as a campaign issue in the 2016 presidential election.
TL;DR: In this paper, a Bachelor of Arts in History and Philosophy was obtained from the Polytechnic University of Pomona and he was particularly interested in nineteenth and twentieth-century American social history.
Abstract: Polytechnic University of Pomona and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in History and Philosophy. Academically, he is particularly interested in nineteenth and twentieth-century American social history. He is a native of Fresno, California and enjoys evening bike rides and spending time with his cats, Jim and Honey. CONTRIBUTOR BIO
TL;DR: The authors examines the broad logic of those efforts, and delineates five areas where the Obama administration has been particularly aggressive: in its (1) recess appoint- ments; (2) refusal to defend federal law (notably, the Defense of Marriage Act) in court; (3) use of prosecutorial discretion in declining to pursue violations of immigration and drug laws; (4) useof waivers; and (5) utilization of the regula- tory process to interpret the meaning of statutes, as with the Clean Air Act and the Affordable Care Act.
Abstract: In his 2014 State of the Union address Barack Obama pledged to act without Congress on a variety of fronts, following up his "we can't wait" cam- paign of unilateralism before the 2012 election. The partisan furor this engen- dered tended to obscure the longstanding efforts of presidents to "faithfully execute" the law in a manner that aligns with their policy preferences. This paper examines the broad logic of those efforts, and delineates five areas where the Obama administration has been particularly aggressive: in its (1) recess appoint- ments; (2) refusal to defend federal law (notably, the Defense of Marriage Act) in court; (3) use of prosecutorial discretion in declining to pursue violations of immigration and drug laws; (4) use of waivers; and (5) its utilization of the regula- tory process to interpret the meaning of statutes, as with the Clean Air Act and the Affordable Care Act. Presidents do have flexibility in many cases; but this ends where they seek to alter the plain "letter of the law."