Political ScienceOur research indicates that many whites see blacks as less human than they see members of their own racial group. More than one-third of whites we surveyed rate black people as “less evolved” than they rate whites. Furthermore, substantial proportions of white respondents say that the terms “savage,” “barbaric,” and “lacking self-restraint, like animals” describe black people well. Those who hold these dehumanizing views of black people are disproportionately likely to support Donald Trump. Continue reading… read more about How Do Trump Supporters See Black People? Ashley Jardina coauthors in Slate »
Professor Michael Munger said for Trump to win, voter turnout would need to be low. He called Clinton’s support “broad but shallow,” adding he expects Trump supporters will show up on Election Day. He said it’s also possible that polls might not be picking up on some voter sentiments that could impact the election. If the Republicans do lose the presidency, it will force them to contemplate their future ahead of the 2020 election, said professor John Aldrich, who specializes in American politics and behavior. And,… read more about What can we expect on Nov. 8, and after? »
Balcells, Laia. “The determinants of low-intensity intergroup violence. The case of Northern Ireland,” Journal of Peace Research. What accounts for low-intensity intergroup violence? This article explores the determinants of low-intensity sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, which has marked the post-1998 peace agreement period. Low-intensity violence comprises a variety of events from riots to attacks against other civilians as well as against homes and symbolic buildings such as churches. We argue that this… read more about October 2016 Duke Political Science Publications »
“Rebuilding a disciplined hierarchical party organization is about avoiding the collapse Xi and other leaders observed in the Soviet Union,” said Melanie Manion, a political scientist at Duke University. “I think Xi views the stakes for China as very high, but the stakes for Xi as a leader are also high.” Continue reading here read more about China’s Antigraft Enforcers Take On a New Role - Melanie Manion interviewed for The NYTimes »
Offshore balancers argue that their strategy represents the United States’ traditional approach to global affairs, and one that has consistently proved effective in advancing U.S. interests. In reality, however, U.S. policymakers have pursued offshore balancing only when they have been overly focused on avoiding short-term costs, such as those associated with overseas military deployments, and have thus been willing to accept a high level of strategic risk. The results have been ambiguous at best and disastrous at worst,… read more about Should America Retrench? - Peter Feaver coauthors for Foreign Affairs »
On October 6, 2016, Edmund Malesky served on the panel, "The Governance Gap: Why Does Half the World Distrust Government and What Can We Do About It?' alongside Adnan Khan, Research and Policy Director of International Growth Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science; Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International; Kyle Peters, Interim Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer and Vice-President, Operations, World Bank Group; Henry Rotich… read more about Edmund J Malesky participates on World Bank and International Monetary Fund panel »
Political science double major, George Elliot '19, who is a member of the Bass Connections project team Animal Waste Management and Global Health, wrote about the Carolina Food Summit conference for Bass Connections. On September 28 and 29, I attended the inaugural Carolina Food Summit, which focused on the ways in which food has shaped place and cultural identity in North Carolina and the wider American South. The conference also addressed some of the key economic, social and environmental challenges facing North… read more about Polisci undergrad shares experience attending the Carolina Food Summit »
Still, navigating what to do with Trump is a tricky question for [Senator Richard] Burr. David Rohde, a professor of political science at Duke University, sees Burr’s continued support as a tough political calculation, and an issue that will stick around until Election Day. “No matter what Burr does, he has a problem. If he withdraws his support from Trump, he will alienate some portion of Trump’s supporters and they may abstain, thus losing support for Burr. If Burr sticks with Trump, he will alienate some of his own… read more about Trump support puts Republican candidates in a bind, David Rohde interviewed for CBS News »
“It’s troubling to watch as a political scientist,” said Haynie, referring to the racism and xenophobia marking Donald Trump’s campaign that many scholars thought was a relic of the past. He said the election results will have an enormous effect on people of color. Citing a Pew study, Haynie said there is an increase in voter diversity as the demographics of the U.S. change and there are more eligible Latino voters. “I think this growth is the answer to what we see from Trump and his followers,” Haynie said,… read more about Kerry Haynie panels with scholars on minority electoral politics »
Jay Ruckelshaus ’16 is a senior at Duke University and an Angier B. Duke Scholar with interests that span philosophy, politics, and advocacy. Passionate about the role of ideas in democratic governance, his academic work in political theory has resulted in several publications and earned him the Faculty Scholars Award and election to Phi Beta Kappa. Ruckelshaus aspires to the ideal of scholar-citizen, complementing his academic work with civic and political involvement at the university, state, and national levels.… read more about Jay Ruckelshaus, political science alumnus, gives Duke Forward address »
Growing up in a small city near Karlsruhe, Germany, Daniel Stegmueller rarely witnessed inequality – it is much less visible than in the United States, he says. The son of a construction worker, he was “a working-class kid” and “never felt disadvantaged.” But while studying political science and economic history as an undergraduate at the University of Mannheim and at Johns Hopkins University, he began to see the role of inequality in a larger context. “I took sociology classes on the side and people described how… read more about New faculty highlighted in Duke Today stories »
I was a freshman at the University of Arkansas in 1992, and our governor, Bill Clinton, ran for president. Arkansas is a small state, and many people on campus were involved in the campaign. Being close to the excitement of a presidential campaign sparked my interest in the process. Now, as a professor, I do a lot of traveling during every presidential campaign to give talks about the election and about my research. Every four years, people suddenly become interested in election polling and whether we can trust polls… read more about Blue Devil of the Week: Sunshine Hillygus became interested in politics in college during the Clinton campaign »
According to polls, however, the big love Obama got from black voters in 2008, and the buoyancy they gave him when he ran for reelection in 2012, hasn't yet transferred to Clinton, says Kerry Haynie, a Duke University professor of political science and African-American studies. "I've traveled around Durham [North Carolina]. I did not see one campaign sign in my barbershop – not even anything about the Clinton campaign," says Haynie, who works in North Carolina, a key electoral battleground. Compared to 2008 and 2012, when… read more about US News & World Report interviews Kerry Haynie on Clinton's support rates among African-Americans »
"Giáo sư Edmund Malesky nói về sự hình thành chỉ số PCI và những kỳ vọng tương lai." Professor Edmund Malesky talks about the creation of the PCI and his expectations about future developments. Part 1: Part 2: Part 3: read more about 'Me and Vietnam' - Edmund Malesky's televised interview on Vietnam's FBNC »
More than 150,000 North Carolina students have preregistered to vote since it became legal in 2009. Nationally, those numbers can have an impact on voter turnout, boosting it by as much as five percentage points—which in the world of political science is nothing to sneeze at. "It is a big deal," Duke University professor Sunshine Hillygus said. Hillygus teaches political science and does research on preregistration. "It’s really hard to find electoral reforms that are effective at increasing turnout," she said. "There have… read more about With The End Of Voter ID Law, Preregistration Makes A Come-Back, Sunshine Hillygus interviewed, WUNC NPR »
Clinton’s challenge was to convey her policy skills without becoming too “wonkish,” and to show a steadiness that would help build trust as president to offset doubts based more on her reputation for political maneuvering, said Bruce Jentleson, a professor of public policy and political science. “The general reaction thus far is that she did this well. Pundits largely gave her the win, markets went up right away -- Dow Futures, various international stock exchanges. Whether swing voters in swing states moved toward her… read more about Reactions from Duke policy experts on the first presidential debate of 2016 »
As we saw again in this week’s debate with Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump refuses to acknowledge that, in a September 2002 radio interview with Howard Stern, he said it was “a good idea” to go to war against Iraq. In fact, he now claims that before the war began in March 2003, he voiced opposition to its initiation and worked actively to prevent it. [...] So what should we make of Donald Trump’s refusal to admit that he supported the Iraq war? Continue reading here read more about The meaning in Trump's refusal to admit support for Iraq war - Joseph Grieco writes for The News & Observer »
DAVID ROHDE, DUKE UNIVERSITY: 2010 was a real benchmark because it produced so many states in which the Republicans completely controlled the process. JEFF GREENFIELD: David Rohde is a political scientist at Duke University in North Carolina, one of the states where Republicans won control of the state legislature. DAVID ROHDE: Gerrymandering has a larger impact on bigger states. That is, the more the population, the more ways you can divide it up, the more seats you have… read more about David Rohde discusses gerrymandering in PBS NewsHour interview »
In the academy and well beyond, the problem of null results has become quite significant. Indeed, discussions of null results have made their way as far as TV commentator John Oliver’s recent discussion of science in which he poignantly notes that people generally do not like to hear about null results. And yet, maybe we would all be better off – with more money in the bank – if his headline “Nothing Up With Acai Berries” actually made it to the general public and we embraced it (see NIH).… read more about Edmund Malesky coauthors reflections on null results »
Even though the treaty to ban nuclear weapons testing was never fully enacted — more on that later — the anti-testing agenda has been successful. Since 1999, only North Korea has conducted nuclear tests. Although North Korea’s ongoing behavior has, deservedly, been met with global outrage, ironically it may be recent actions taken by the Obama administration that most jeopardize the chance for a viable testing moratorium. North Korea is testing, but not in a way that will lead others to test. President Obama, however, is… read more about Obama puts nuclear ban in jeopardy - Kyle Beardsley writes for The Post and Courier »
The AKP and many of its opponents agree on one thing: had the putsch succeeded, the repression would be far worse. And, indeed, AKP supporters far outnumber Gülenists. But the AKP has made bitter enemies over the last 14 years, and millions of Turks would have applauded the jailing of its leaders, even as many of those leaders plausibly claimed that their support for Erdoğan was feigned. Today, Turkey is further than ever from creating a society whose members feel free to speak openly and honestly. The ongoing witch hunt… read more about Turkey's Changing Freedom Deficit - Timur Kuran writes for Project Syndicate »
Transcript excerpt... VANEK SMITH: (Laughter) And there is always someone who will help us be a little bit lazier - for a profit. SMITH: And I guess in some ways with all that, you know, one-click shopping, the internet has made us lazier, and it's simultaneously created all these opportunities for people to jump in and make things even easier but to take a little slice of the profit here and there. VANEK SMITH: Exactly. Like, save us a couple of keystrokes and charge us a little more. Michael Munger is an economist at… read more about Michael Munger on NPR Planet Money podcast »
Funded by a Humanities Futures Grant from the Franklin Humanities Institute, the Interdisciplinary Political Theory Retreat was held on September 9, 2016 in 270 Gross Hall. Faculty from the history, philosophy and political science departments, as well as the Divinity School, the Law School, the Kenan Institute for Ethics and the Sanford School of Public Policy met to discuss goals and plan future events. Look for upcoming events on the Franklin Humanities Institute and Political Science websites. read more about Department hosts Interdisciplinary Political Theory Retreat »
"This Sunday marks the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The event caused shifts in global political, social and economic climates around the world, and has given birth to lots of new academic scholarship. In advance of the anniversary, Duke University asked some of its scholars to reflect on how their fields of study have been reshaped by 9/11. And we'll talk with three of them today. Joining me first is David Siegel..." Listen to The State of Things here read more about NPR The State of Things, David Siegel explains the impact of 9/11 on teaching about terrorism »
Professor Kerry L. Haynie was elected to a two year term as Co-President of the American Political Science Association's Section on Race and Ethnic Politics, at the association's annual meeting in Philadelphia, August 31-September 4, 2016. The purpose of the Section is to foster communication among scholars, recognize leadership in the field, facilitate research and publication opportunities, encourage undergraduate and student interest, and create a permanent forum for developing and… read more about Kerry Haynie elected as Co-President of the APSA's Section on Race and Ethnic Politics »
Dr. Paula D. McClain, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, Dean of the Graduate School and Vice Provost for Graduate Education at Duke University has been awarded a $327,465 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute (RBSI) for 2016-2019. This is the seventh NSF grant that Dr. McClain has received to support the RBSI program. The program is also supported by Duke University's Office of the Provost, the political science department and the American Political… read more about Three-year National Science Foundation Grant to Support the RBSI Program Awarded to Dr. Paula D. McClain »
The charge of "Islamization" is at least partly correct, says Timur Kuran, professor of economics, political science, and Islamic studies at Duke University. "Not only have Turkey's politics been Islamicized through AKP's deliberate policies, but Turkey's very large secular minority is under pressure to accept more and more religion in public life." Kuran points to the strong support the country's mosques provided to the government during the failed coup attempt as an example of this. "Never since 1923 has Islam been so… read more about German-Turkish ties hit by 'Islamization' leak - Timur Kuran interviewed »
Peter Feaver, a former Bush administration official who handled Iraq strategy and now teaches at Duke University, and who has signed two letters from national security officials opposing Mr. Trump’s candidacy, praised Mr. Trump for giving a “surprisingly serious” speech on counterterrorism. But he also said that “given how vehemently Trump has denounced Bush’s national security team, it is striking how much of this speech depends on counterterrorism ideas developed by the Bush administration. It is not a perfect copy — we… read more about Donald Trump’s Terrorism Plan Mixes Cold War Concepts and Limits on Immigrants - Peter Feaver comments in the NYTimes »
While this year the lack of an August lull is more pronounced than previously, Sunshine Hillygus, professor of political science at Duke University, told TIME the end of the August lull is also related to changes in how people read the news, including the spread of social media. “It is a reflection of changes in the media environment,” Hillygus said. Continue reading here read more about Will Politics Take Off the Month of August? - Sunshine Hillygus interviewed »