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Research in the Department of Government is methodologically and substantively diverse. Areas of particular strength include international relations theory; international security; international political economy; Chinese politics and foreign policy; American political development; political psychology; public opinion; and American political thought. Below you will find a sample of recent books and ongoing projects.
Conventional wisdom holds that the rising middle classes are a force for democracy. Yet in post-Soviet countries like Russia, where the middle class has grown rapidly, authoritarianism is deepening. Challenging a basic tenet of democratization theory, Bryn Rosenfeld shows how the middle classes can actually be a source of support for autocracy and authoritarian resilience, and reveals why development and economic growth do not necessarily lead to greater democracy.
The Autocratic Middle Class was awarded the 2022 Best Book Prize by the American Political Science Association’s Democracy & Autocracy section and a William Riker Award Honorable Mention for the best book in Political Economy published in the past two years.
Mainstream international relations continues to assume that the world is governed by calculable risk based on estimates of power, despite repeatedly being surprised by unexpected change. In this ground-breaking work, Peter Katzenstein and Lucia Seybert depart from existing definitions of power that focus on the actors’ evolving ability to exercise control in situations of calculable risk. It introduces the concept of ‘protean power,’ which focuses on the actors’ agility as they adapt to situations of uncertainty. Protean Power uses twelve real world case studies to examine how the dynamics of protean and control power can be tracked in the relations among different state and non-state actors, operating in diverse sites, stretching from local to global, in both times of relative normalcy and moments of crisis. Katzenstein and Seybert argue for a new approach to international relations, where the inclusion of protean power in our analytical models helps in accounting for unforeseen changes in world politics.
Plato set his dialogues in 5th century BCE, when written texts were disseminated primarily by performance and recitation. He wrote them in the 4th century, when literacy was expanding. Jill Frank argues that there are unique insights to be gained from appreciating Plato’s dialogues as texts to be read—and reread. At the center of these insights is the analogy in the dialogues between becoming literate and coming to know or understand something, and two different ways of learning to read. One approach treats literacy as a top-down affair, in which authoritative teachers lead students to true beliefs. Another, recommended by Socrates in the Republic, encourages trial and error and the formation of beliefs based on students’ own cognitive and sensory experiences. The first approach to learning to read aligns with philosophy as authoritative knowledge and politics as rule by philosopher-kings. Following the second approach, Poetic Justice argues that the Republic neither endorses nor enforces fixed hierarchies in knowledge and politics but offers instead an education in ethical and political self-governance, one that prompts citizens to challenge all claims to authority, including those of philosophy.
Sabrina Karim and Kyle Beardsley argue that gender power imbalances between the sexes and among genders place restrictions on the participation of women in peacekeeping missions. Sabrina was awarded the Conflict Research Studies Best Book Prize for 2017 for this new book.
The rise of mass incarceration in the United States is one of the most critical outcomes of the last half-century. Incarceration Nation offers the most compelling explanation of this outcome to date. This book combines in-depth analysis of Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon's presidential campaigns with sixty years of data analysis. The result is a sophisticated and highly accessible picture of the rise of mass incarceration. In contrast to conventional wisdom, Peter K. Enns shows that during the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, politicians responded to an increasingly punitive public by pushing policy in a more punitive direction. The book also argues that media coverage of rising crime rates helped fuel the public's punitiveness. Equally as important, a decline in public punitiveness in recent years offers a critical window into understanding current bipartisan calls for criminal justice reform
The U.N.-backed mission, led by Kenya, must have full understanding of the local context before engaging in any political or police action, says Sabrina Karim, assistant professor of government.
Read moreResearchers have found that when it comes to politics, Black and Latino residents of rural America differ far less, if at all, from their urban counterparts than do non-Hispanic white residents.
Read moreRecognizing the importance of extended, in-country research, Amit Bhatia ’01 created a fund to help close gaps in funding for travel and other expenses.
Read moreGustavo Flores-Macías, expert in Latin American politics, discusses the significance of Sunday's vote and the upcoming challenges for Mexico’s next president.
Read moreAt its May 24 meeting, the Cornell Board of Trustees elected seven new trustees to four-year terms. The board also reelected a trustee from the field of labor.
Read moreErin Cikanek proposes that citizens are picking up from television news not just what to think but how to feel.
Read moreComing from the University of Toronto, where he is the director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Loewen begins his five-year appointment as the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Aug. 1.
Read morePeople with unstable lives are systematically underrepresented at the ballot box, finds new political science research co-authored by Jamila Michener.
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