LibGuides: Political Science: Books

Featured New EBooks in Ritter Library

A Companion to Ronald Reagan by Andrew L. Johns (Editor) A Companion to Ronald Reagan evaluates in unprecedented detail the events, policies, politics, and people of Reagan's administration. It assesses the scope and influence of his various careers within the context of the times, providing wide-ranging coverage of his administration, and his legacy. Assesses Reagan and his impact on the development of the United States based on new documentary evidence and engagement with the most recent secondary literature Offers a mix of historiographic chapters devoted to foreign and domestic policy, with topics integrated thematically and chronologically Includes a section on key figures associated politically and personally with Reagan
Publication Date: 2015
Faith in the New Millennium by Matthew Avery Sutton (Editor); Darren Dochuk (Editor) The Statue of Liberty--depicted on a roadside billboard--did not carry her customary torch and tablet. Instead, she shielded her eyes from words that towered beside her, words that highway drivers could not possibly avoid: "We are no longer a Christian nation." Underneath was the name of the man who spoke them, the nation's president, Barack Obama. He had made the original statement--"Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation, at least not just"--four years earlier. Since then those words had appeared, in one form or another, not just on billboards but in a host of other venues, a visible symbol of America's divide over religion and politics. In Faith in the New Millennium, a group of leading historians explores the shifting role of religion in American politics in the age of Obama, shedding new and fascinating light on the interplay of faith and politics. Each of the sixteen contributors examines a contemporary issue, controversy, or policy through a historical lens. In an age of the 24-hour-news-cycle, where complexity is often buried under bluster, these essays make a powerful case for understanding the stories behind the news. They tackle such topics as immigration reform, racial turmoil, drone wars, foreign policy, and the unstoppable rise of social media. Taken together, they reveal how faith is shaping modern America, and how modern America is shaping faith.
Publication Date: 2016
The Four Freedoms by Jeffrey A. Engel (Editor) The specter of global war loomed large in President Franklin Roosevelt's mind as he prepared to present his 1941 State of the Union address. He believed the United States had a role to play in the battle against Nazi and fascist aggression already underway in Europe, yet his rallying cry tothe nation was about more than just national security or why Americans should care about a fight still far overseas. He instead identified how Americans defined themselves as a people, with words that resonated and defined the parameters of American politics and foreign policy for generations.Roosevelt framed America's role in the conflict, and ultimately its role in forging the post-war world to come, as a fight for freedom. Four freedoms, to be exact: freedom of speech, freedom from want, freedom of religion, and freedom from fear.In this new look at one of the most influential presidential addresses ever delivered, historian Jeffrey A. Engel joins together with six other leading scholars to explore how each of Roosevelt's freedoms evolved over time, for Americans and for the wider world. They examine the ways in which theword "freedom" has been used by Americans and others, across decades and the political spectrum. However, they are careful to note that the acceptance of the freedoms has been far from universal - even within the United States. Freedom from want, especially, has provoked clashes between those infavor of an expanded welfare state and proponents of limited government from the 1940s to the present day. In this sweeping look at the way American conceptions of freedom have evolved over time, The Four Freedoms brings to light a new portrait of who Americans were in 1941 and who they have become today in their own eyes - and in the eyes of the entire world.
Publication Date: 2016
Groundbreakers by Elizabeth McKenna; Hahrie Han; Jeremy Bird Much has been written about the historic nature of the Obama campaign. The multi-year, multi-billion dollar operation elected the nation's first black president, raised and spent more money than any other election effort in history, and built the most sophisticated voter targeting technology ever before used on a national campaign. What is missing from most accounts of the campaign is an understanding of how Obama for America recruited, motivated, developed, and managed its formidable army of 2.2 million volunteers. Unlike previous field campaigns that drew their power from staff, consultants, and paid canvassers, the Obama campaign's capacity came from unpaid local citizens who took responsibility for organizing their own neighborhoods months--and even years--in advance of election day. In so doing, Groundbreakers argues, the campaign engaged citizens in the work of practicing democracy. How did they organize so many volunteers to produce so much valuable work for the campaign? This book describes how. Elizabeth McKenna and Hahrie Han argue that the legacy of Obama for America extends beyond big data and micro-targeting; it also reinvigorated and expanded traditional models of field campaigning. Groundbreakers makes the case that the Obama campaign altered traditional ground games by adopting the principles and practices of community organizing. Drawing on in-depth interviews with OFA field staff and volunteers, this book also argues that a key achievement of the OFA's field organizing was its transformative effect on those who were a part of it. Obama the candidate might have inspired volunteers to join the campaign, but it was the fulfilling relationships that volunteers had with other people--and their deep belief that their work mattered for the work of democracy--that kept them active. Groundbreakers documents how the Obama campaign has inspired a new way of running field campaigns, with lessons for national and international political and civic movements.
Publication Date: 2015
Historic Firsts by Evelyn M. Simien The 2008 presidential election made American history. Yet before Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, there were other "historic firsts": Shirley Chisholm, who ran for president in 1972, and Jesse Jackson, who ran in 1984 and 1988. While unsuccessful, these campaigns were significant, as they rallied American voters across various racial, ethnic, and gender groups. One can also argue that they heightened the electoral prospects of future candidates. Can "historic firsts" bring formerly politically inactive people (those who previously saw no connection between campaigns and their own lives) into the electoral process, making it both relevant and meaningful? In Historic Firsts: How Symbolic Empowerment Changes U.S. Politics, Evelyn M. Simien makes the compelling argument that voters from various racial, ethnic, and gender groups take pride in and derive psychic benefit from such historic candidacies. They make linkages between the candidates in question and their own understanding of representation, and these linkages act to mobilize citizens to vote and become actively involved in campaigns. Where conventional approaches to the study of American political elections tend to focus on socioeconomic factors, or to study race or gender as isolated factors, Simien's approach is intersectional, bringing together literature on both race and gender. In particular she compares the campaigns of Jackson, Chisholm, Obama and Clinton, and she draws upon archival material from campaign speeches, advertising, and newspaper articles, to voter turnout reports, exit polls, and national surveys to discover how race and gender determined the electoral context for the campaigns. In the process, she reveals the differences that exist within and between various racial, ethnic and gender groups in the American political process at the presidential level.
Publication Date: 2016
The Irregularization of Migration in Contemporary Europe by Robin Celikates (Editor); Joost de Bloois (Editor); Yolande Jansen (Editor) Drawing together experts across the social sciences and humanities, The Irregularization of Migration in Contemporary Europe examines the political, cultural and normative dimensions of the extreme experience of migration in Europe today. It explores the connections between the transformation of our understandings of borders and migration, and the violent practices at the borders of the affluent world. How have the violent state practices at the borders of Europe come to appear as natural? How are detention, deportation and 'letting drown' related to traditions of policing, cultural 'othering' and economic exploitation in Europe? What are the specific forms of irregularization today? The authors further examine the resistances that the irregularization of migration provokes, and contribute to new ways of conceptualising and imagining migration today. This book demonstrates how 'Europe' forms part of a globalizing world in which questions of borders, violence and the irregularization of migration are at stake everywhere. Book jacket.
Publication Date: 2015

Books

Use the sublinks under the Books tab above to see lists of books useful for conducting research on Political Science topics.

Important links for book research:

OPAL - Baldwin Wallace University Ritter Library Catalog

OhioLINK - Ohio College and University Libraries Catalog

WorldCat - Worldwide Libraries Catalog

Interlibrary Loan for books not available in Ritter Library or OhioLINK

Featured New Print Books in Ritter Library

The American Vice Presidency by Jody C. Baumgartner; Thomas F. Crumblin (As told to) It is quite possible that no elected office has been more historically maligned than the vice presidency of the United States. From the beginning of American politics the office has been the object of ridicule by scholars, pundits, humorists, citizens, and even vice presidents themselves. The perception among many is that institution and its occupants are at best irrelevant. Recent history would suggest otherwise, but as it stands no book exists that takes a detailed look at the new, impactful vice presidency that s been forged since Clinton/Gore took office. The American Vice Presidency fills an important hole in the literature available to those interested in the modern vice presidency. Concise yet comprehensive, this book is the fullest and most accurate examination of the office to date, covering the origins and constitutional roots of the institution, its history, and the slow transformation of the office starting in the mid-twentieth century. Jody C Baumgartner and Thomas F. Crumblin highlight major changes in vice presidential selection as well as the new and various roles that vice presidents are being asked to play in their administrations. The book emphasizes the increasingly substantive Vice Presidencies of Gore, Cheney, and Biden and both informs and spurs the debate surrounding what form and role the Vice Presidency will take on moving forward."
Call Number: JK609.5 .B378 2015
Do Guns Make Us Free? by Firmin DeBrabander Possibly the most emotionally charged debate taking place in the United States today centers on the Second Amendment to the Constitution and the rights of citizens to bear arms. In the wake of the Sandy Hook school massacre in Connecticut, the gun rights movement, headed by the National Rifle Association, appears more intractable than ever in its fight against gun control laws. The core argument of Second Amendment advocates is that the proliferation of firearms is essential to maintaining freedom in America, providing private citizens with a defense against possible government tyranny, and thus safeguarding all our other rights. But is this argument valid? Do guns indeed make us free?   In this insightful and eye-opening analysis, the first philosophical examination of every aspect of the contentious and uniquely American debate over guns, Firmin DeBrabander examines the claims offered in favor of unchecked gun ownership. By exposing the contradictions and misinterpretations inherent in the case presented by gun rights supporters, this provocative volume demonstrates that an armed society is not a free society but one that actively hinders democratic participation.
Call Number: HV8059 .D43 2015
The Myth of the Strong Leader by Archie Brown All too frequently, leadership is reduced to a simple dichotomy: the strong versus the weak. Yet, there are myriad ways to exercise effective political leadership--as well as different ways to fail. We blame our leaders for economic downfalls and praise them for vital social reforms, but rarely do we question what makes some leaders successful while others falter. In this magisterial and wide-ranging survey of political leadership over the past hundred years, renowned Oxford politics professor Archie Brown challenges the widespread belief that strong leaders - meaning those who dominate their colleagues and the policy-making process - are the most successful and admirable. In reality, only a minority of political leaders will truly make a lasting difference. Though we tend to dismiss more collegial styles of leadership as weak, it is often the most cooperative leaders who have the greatest impact. Drawing on extensive research and decades of political analysis and experience, Brown illuminates the achievements, failures and foibles of a broad array of twentieth century politicians. Whether speaking of redefining leaders like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and Margaret Thatcher, who expanded the limits of what was politically possible during their time in power, or the even rarer transformational leaders who played a decisive role in bringing about systemic change - Charles de Gaulle, Mikhail Gorbachev and Nelson Mandela, among them - Brown challenges our commonly held beliefs about political efficacy and strength. Overturning many of our assumptions about the twentieth century’s most important figures, Brown’s conclusions are both original and enlightening. The Myth of the Strong Leader compels us to reassess the leaders who have shaped our world - and to reconsider how we should choose and evaluate those who will lead us into the future.
Call Number: JC330.3 .B75 2014
The Politics of Performance Funding for Higher Education by Kevin J. Dougherty; Rebecca S. Natow Performance funding ties state support of colleges and universities directly to institutional performance on specific outcomes, including retention, number of credits accrued, graduation, and job placement. The theory is that introducing market-like forces will prod institutions to become more efficient and effective. In The Politics of Performance Funding for Higher Education, Kevin J. Dougherty and Rebecca S. Natow explore the sometimes puzzling evolution of this mode of funding higher education. Drawing on an eight-state study of performance funding in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington, Dougherty and Natow shed light on the social and political factors affecting the origins, evolution, and demise of these programs. Their findings uncover patterns of frequent adoption, discontinuation, and re-adoption. Of the thirty-six states that have ever adopted performance funding, two-thirds discontinued it, although many of those later re-adopted it. Even when performance funding programs persist over time, they can undergo considerable changes in both the amount of state funding and in the indicators used to allocate funding. Yet performance funding continues to attract interest from federal and state officials, state policy associations, and major foundations as a way of improving educational outcomes. The authors explore the various forces, actors, and motives behind the adoption, discontinuation, and transformation of performance funding programs. They compare U.S. programs to international models, and they gauge the likely future of performance funding, given the volatility of the political forces driving it. Aimed at educators, sociologists, political scientists, and policy makers, this book will be hailed as the definitive assessment of the origins and evolution of performance funding.
Call Number: LB2342 .D674 2015