David Domke and Kevin Coe
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195326413
- eISBN:
- 9780199870431
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326413.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Religion has always been a part of American politics, but something profound has changed in recent decades. This book demonstrates that, beginning with the election of Ronald Reagan as president in ...
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Religion has always been a part of American politics, but something profound has changed in recent decades. This book demonstrates that, beginning with the election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980, US politicians have employed religion as a partisan weapon, using it in a no-holds-barred calculus designed to attract voters, identify enemies, and solidify power. The book reveals this political approach by identifying four crucial religious signals used by leading Republicans and Democrats, from Reagan to Bill Clinton to George W. Bush to the front-running candidates for the 2008 presidential election. In their emphasis on God and faith in public addresses, commemorations of tragedies and requests for divine blessing for the nation, the issue agendas pursued, and even the audiences addressed and the nature of Christmas celebrations, today's political leaders use religion for partisan gain in a manner distinct from those who came before. These signals become apparent through analysis of thousands of public communications by American politicians over the past seventy-five years, the tracking of public sentiment on several topics during the same period, and the perspectives of interest groups and political strategists. The result of these developments is an environment in the United States in which religion and politics have become almost inseparably intertwined — an outcome which benefits savvy politicians but endangers the vitality of church, state, and the entire American experiment in democracy. Less
Religion has always been a part of American politics, but something profound has changed in recent decades. This book demonstrates that, beginning with the election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980, US politicians have employed religion as a partisan weapon, using it in a no-holds-barred calculus designed to attract voters, identify enemies, and solidify power. The book reveals this political approach by identifying four crucial religious signals used by leading Republicans and Democrats, from Reagan to Bill Clinton to George W. Bush to the front-running candidates for the 2008 presidential election. In their emphasis on God and faith in public addresses, commemorations of tragedies and requests for divine blessing for the nation, the issue agendas pursued, and even the audiences addressed and the nature of Christmas celebrations, today's political leaders use religion for partisan gain in a manner distinct from those who came before. These signals become apparent through analysis of thousands of public communications by American politicians over the past seventy-five years, the tracking of public sentiment on several topics during the same period, and the perspectives of interest groups and political strategists. The result of these developments is an environment in the United States in which religion and politics have become almost inseparably intertwined — an outcome which benefits savvy politicians but endangers the vitality of church, state, and the entire American experiment in democracy.
Hal Brands
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813124629
- eISBN:
- 9780813134925
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813124629.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Containing Communism was the primary goal of American foreign policy for four decades, allowing generations of political leaders to build consensus atop a universally accepted foundation. This book ...
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Containing Communism was the primary goal of American foreign policy for four decades, allowing generations of political leaders to build consensus atop a universally accepted foundation. This book dissects numerous attempts, after the collapse of Communism, to devise a new grand strategy that could match containment's moral clarity and political efficacy. In the 1990s, the Bush and Clinton administrations eventually acknowledged that they could not reduce America's multifaceted post-Cold War objectives to a single fundamental precept. After 9/11, George W. Bush promoted the war on terror as America's new global mission, but this potential successor to containment lost much of its strength as conflicts in the Middle East weakened public morale. This book aims to shed new light on America's search for purpose in the politically volatile new world of the twenty-first century.Less
Containing Communism was the primary goal of American foreign policy for four decades, allowing generations of political leaders to build consensus atop a universally accepted foundation. This book dissects numerous attempts, after the collapse of Communism, to devise a new grand strategy that could match containment's moral clarity and political efficacy. In the 1990s, the Bush and Clinton administrations eventually acknowledged that they could not reduce America's multifaceted post-Cold War objectives to a single fundamental precept. After 9/11, George W. Bush promoted the war on terror as America's new global mission, but this potential successor to containment lost much of its strength as conflicts in the Middle East weakened public morale. This book aims to shed new light on America's search for purpose in the politically volatile new world of the twenty-first century.
Gary C. Bryner
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199242016
- eISBN:
- 9780191599736
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199242011.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
Analyses the reception given by the government of the US to the idea of sustainable development. It argues that the US has basically remained aloof from the sustainable development agenda. While ...
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Analyses the reception given by the government of the US to the idea of sustainable development. It argues that the US has basically remained aloof from the sustainable development agenda. While there was some attempt to engage with sustainable development by the Clinton presidency, the concept has not been taken up actively by US political and administrative institutions at the federal level. In the main, sustainable development continues to be seen as a problem for developing countries.Less
Analyses the reception given by the government of the US to the idea of sustainable development. It argues that the US has basically remained aloof from the sustainable development agenda. While there was some attempt to engage with sustainable development by the Clinton presidency, the concept has not been taken up actively by US political and administrative institutions at the federal level. In the main, sustainable development continues to be seen as a problem for developing countries.
Ted Gest
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195103434
- eISBN:
- 9780199833887
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195103432.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Over the years, Congress has consistently increased the jurisdiction of federal courts over crime, from 17 specified offenses when the nation was founded to several thousand now. More than 40% of ...
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Over the years, Congress has consistently increased the jurisdiction of federal courts over crime, from 17 specified offenses when the nation was founded to several thousand now. More than 40% of federal criminal provisions enacted since the Civil War have appeared since 1970. The most dramatic growth was in drug cases, which composed 5% of the federal caseload in 1947 but amounted to 36 percent just 50 years later. An Armed Career Criminal Act in 1984 allowed federal prosecutors to charge suspects who had three local felony convictions. Later laws made carjacking a federal crime and gave the FBI authority over “deadbeat dads” who cross state lines and terrorism involving abortion clinics. A few measures were struck down by the Supreme Court, including one involving use of firearms at schools and another allowing federal civil cases by sexual‐assault victims. In the executive branch, the administration of President George H. W. Bush created a program called ‘Operation Triggerlock’ to pursue firearms cases, and both Bush and successor Bill Clinton directed the FBI to put more emphasis on investigating local violent crime. By 2001, the federal government had taken a prominent role in many categories of crime prosecution that once were the province of states and localities.Less
Over the years, Congress has consistently increased the jurisdiction of federal courts over crime, from 17 specified offenses when the nation was founded to several thousand now. More than 40% of federal criminal provisions enacted since the Civil War have appeared since 1970. The most dramatic growth was in drug cases, which composed 5% of the federal caseload in 1947 but amounted to 36 percent just 50 years later. An Armed Career Criminal Act in 1984 allowed federal prosecutors to charge suspects who had three local felony convictions. Later laws made carjacking a federal crime and gave the FBI authority over “deadbeat dads” who cross state lines and terrorism involving abortion clinics. A few measures were struck down by the Supreme Court, including one involving use of firearms at schools and another allowing federal civil cases by sexual‐assault victims. In the executive branch, the administration of President George H. W. Bush created a program called ‘Operation Triggerlock’ to pursue firearms cases, and both Bush and successor Bill Clinton directed the FBI to put more emphasis on investigating local violent crime. By 2001, the federal government had taken a prominent role in many categories of crime prosecution that once were the province of states and localities.
Ted Gest
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195103434
- eISBN:
- 9780199833887
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195103432.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Before the 1960s crime wave, American police officers were little trained and spent much of their time responding to citizen calls about crime. A Law Enforcement Education Program (LEEP) in the 1970s ...
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Before the 1960s crime wave, American police officers were little trained and spent much of their time responding to citizen calls about crime. A Law Enforcement Education Program (LEEP) in the 1970s began to upgrade police education. A round of studies questioned the effectiveness of police patrol tactics. Analysts advocated more sophisticated methods, called ‘problem‐oriented policing’ and later the more general ‘community policing.’ New York lawyer Adam Walinsky promoted a concept called the Police Corps that would encourage more college‐educated officers. The reform ideas coalesced in the presidency of Bill Clinton, who successfully argued for federal funding for an additional 100,000 community‐oriented local officers, an idea that Walinsky complained was a watered‐down form of his concept (which still was instituted on a smaller scale). Clinton's Attorney General, Janet Reno, was initially skeptical of the massive federal program called ‘Community Oriented Policing Services’ (COPS), but she eventually backed it. It was not certain how many officers were hired and permanently funded—it may have been closer to 50,000—but the program did have a significant impact on police hiring in the nation. Less clear was the effect of COPS on the crime rate. The program's supporters asserted success, but other factors like the economy, demographics and alternate policing methods might have been just as important.Less
Before the 1960s crime wave, American police officers were little trained and spent much of their time responding to citizen calls about crime. A Law Enforcement Education Program (LEEP) in the 1970s began to upgrade police education. A round of studies questioned the effectiveness of police patrol tactics. Analysts advocated more sophisticated methods, called ‘problem‐oriented policing’ and later the more general ‘community policing.’ New York lawyer Adam Walinsky promoted a concept called the Police Corps that would encourage more college‐educated officers. The reform ideas coalesced in the presidency of Bill Clinton, who successfully argued for federal funding for an additional 100,000 community‐oriented local officers, an idea that Walinsky complained was a watered‐down form of his concept (which still was instituted on a smaller scale). Clinton's Attorney General, Janet Reno, was initially skeptical of the massive federal program called ‘Community Oriented Policing Services’ (COPS), but she eventually backed it. It was not certain how many officers were hired and permanently funded—it may have been closer to 50,000—but the program did have a significant impact on police hiring in the nation. Less clear was the effect of COPS on the crime rate. The program's supporters asserted success, but other factors like the economy, demographics and alternate policing methods might have been just as important.
Ted Gest
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195103434
- eISBN:
- 9780199833887
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195103432.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Much of the increase in crime that hit the US in the 1980s and 1990s was blamed on habitual offenders. For many years, prison wardens and parole boards had decided when most inmates would be ...
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Much of the increase in crime that hit the US in the 1980s and 1990s was blamed on habitual offenders. For many years, prison wardens and parole boards had decided when most inmates would be released. Legislators came to believe that this system was too lenient and enacted tougher penalties. When even these extended terms behind bars did not seem to work, activists came up with a new formulation, “three strikes and you’re out,” meaning that a third serious crime would bring a life term. Commentator John Carlson started a campaign for such a scheme in Washington State in the 1980s; it was enacted in 1993, the height of modern‐day crime totals. The concept quickly spread in California after the infamous kidnapping and killing of 12‐year‐old Polly Klaas that same year. President Bill Clinton embraced the idea for federal crimes, and at least two dozen states adopted some form of it. Experts disputed how much three strikes or any other tough sentencing laws affected the crime declines of the 1990s. Still, prison building continued at a high rate during the 1990s, with the combined population in prisons and jails approaching 2 million. Critics argued that three strikes and ‘mandatory minimum’ prison term laws were incarcerating far too many low‐level offenders who would end up back on the streets committing more crimes after years of imprisonment with little vocational or educational training. As the costs of running prisons mounted, some policymakers were seriously rethinking the punitive practices of the late 20th century, but no dramatic turnaround was in sight.Less
Much of the increase in crime that hit the US in the 1980s and 1990s was blamed on habitual offenders. For many years, prison wardens and parole boards had decided when most inmates would be released. Legislators came to believe that this system was too lenient and enacted tougher penalties. When even these extended terms behind bars did not seem to work, activists came up with a new formulation, “three strikes and you’re out,” meaning that a third serious crime would bring a life term. Commentator John Carlson started a campaign for such a scheme in Washington State in the 1980s; it was enacted in 1993, the height of modern‐day crime totals. The concept quickly spread in California after the infamous kidnapping and killing of 12‐year‐old Polly Klaas that same year. President Bill Clinton embraced the idea for federal crimes, and at least two dozen states adopted some form of it. Experts disputed how much three strikes or any other tough sentencing laws affected the crime declines of the 1990s. Still, prison building continued at a high rate during the 1990s, with the combined population in prisons and jails approaching 2 million. Critics argued that three strikes and ‘mandatory minimum’ prison term laws were incarcerating far too many low‐level offenders who would end up back on the streets committing more crimes after years of imprisonment with little vocational or educational training. As the costs of running prisons mounted, some policymakers were seriously rethinking the punitive practices of the late 20th century, but no dramatic turnaround was in sight.
Ted Gest
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195103434
- eISBN:
- 9780199833887
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195103432.003.0011
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
The high crime rates of the early 1990s and a string of sensational crimes from coast to coast set the stage in 1994 for the most extensive and costly federal anticrime bill ever. Bill Clinton had ...
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The high crime rates of the early 1990s and a string of sensational crimes from coast to coast set the stage in 1994 for the most extensive and costly federal anticrime bill ever. Bill Clinton had made crime fighting a top priority, particularly after his health care reform bill had faltered. Congress had taken the initiative, led by Democrats Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware and Representative Charles Schumer of New York. The Democrats came up with a way to put $30 billion for anticrime programs into a ‘trust fund’ created by a reduction in the federal bureaucracy. Soon it seemed that Clinton's 100,000 community police officers, a Republican demand for more prisons, and various other programs to combat violence against women and other crime problems all could be funded. Republicans backed off support of big allocations for crime prevention ideas like ‘midnight basketball’ for teens, and the National Rifle Association fought against a proposed ban on assault‐style weapons. The result was a donnybrook that kept Congress in session through most of the summer. Republicans eventually won a series of concessions on funding, although the assault weapon provision survived and the law was passed. In the process, Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill was seen as so flawed that the crime law played a significant part in the Republicans’ seizing control of the House of Representatives in the 1994 elections. Five years later, the crime law's impact on crime rates was uncertain; in fact, crime had begun to fall long before many of its provisions could have had much effect.Less
The high crime rates of the early 1990s and a string of sensational crimes from coast to coast set the stage in 1994 for the most extensive and costly federal anticrime bill ever. Bill Clinton had made crime fighting a top priority, particularly after his health care reform bill had faltered. Congress had taken the initiative, led by Democrats Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware and Representative Charles Schumer of New York. The Democrats came up with a way to put $30 billion for anticrime programs into a ‘trust fund’ created by a reduction in the federal bureaucracy. Soon it seemed that Clinton's 100,000 community police officers, a Republican demand for more prisons, and various other programs to combat violence against women and other crime problems all could be funded. Republicans backed off support of big allocations for crime prevention ideas like ‘midnight basketball’ for teens, and the National Rifle Association fought against a proposed ban on assault‐style weapons. The result was a donnybrook that kept Congress in session through most of the summer. Republicans eventually won a series of concessions on funding, although the assault weapon provision survived and the law was passed. In the process, Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill was seen as so flawed that the crime law played a significant part in the Republicans’ seizing control of the House of Representatives in the 1994 elections. Five years later, the crime law's impact on crime rates was uncertain; in fact, crime had begun to fall long before many of its provisions could have had much effect.
Michael Cox
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199240975
- eISBN:
- 9780191598999
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199240973.003.0011
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Explores the many facets of democracy promotion as a grand foreign policy strategy during the Clinton administration. It argues that far from being a Wilsonian idealist, Clinton viewed democracy ...
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Explores the many facets of democracy promotion as a grand foreign policy strategy during the Clinton administration. It argues that far from being a Wilsonian idealist, Clinton viewed democracy promotion as a pragmatic strategy to enhance US influence worldwide. In his integrated worldview, there was no necessary conflict between global order, market economics, and democracy promotion. All three were intimately connected and could reinforce each other.Less
Explores the many facets of democracy promotion as a grand foreign policy strategy during the Clinton administration. It argues that far from being a Wilsonian idealist, Clinton viewed democracy promotion as a pragmatic strategy to enhance US influence worldwide. In his integrated worldview, there was no necessary conflict between global order, market economics, and democracy promotion. All three were intimately connected and could reinforce each other.
Geir Lundestad
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199266685
- eISBN:
- 9780191601057
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199266689.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Many expected the role of the US in Europe to shrink after the end of the Cold War and with the end of the Soviet–Communist threat: Western Europe presumably did not need the US in the same way it ...
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Many expected the role of the US in Europe to shrink after the end of the Cold War and with the end of the Soviet–Communist threat: Western Europe presumably did not need the US in the same way it had during the Cold War; now, a strengthened EU could manage much more on its own. In some ways the American role in Western Europe did decline, but the surprise was how little it changed in the period under discussion (1993–2001): the unification of Germany and Western Europe's participation in the Gulf War under US leadership had set the pattern under Bush; now, under Clinton (who was elected in November 1992), America's lead was to be most clearly seen in the wars in ex‐Yugoslavia (discussed in the first section of the chapter) and in the process of NATO expansion (discussed in the second section). NATO did not collapse when its raison d’être, the Soviet Union, the enemy against which it had been directed, disappeared, and the Warsaw Pact was dissolved; on the contrary, NATO took in new members from among the former Pact members and some of the disputes that had plagued it for decades were now softened, so that France moved closer to NATO again. The third section of the chapter shows that, in return, the Clinton administration was showing a more open attitude than that of Bush to European integration (the EU), in the form of monetary and defence cooperation. The last section of the chapter makes the point that, with so many signs of change in Washington, European governments and publics were renewing their invitations to the US to stay involved in Europe: in Western Europe the invitations were weaker and more ambivalent now than in the early years after the Second World War, but in Central and Eastern Europe, finally free from Soviet control, the invitations were quite similar to those the Western Europeans had extended almost fifty years earlier.Less
Many expected the role of the US in Europe to shrink after the end of the Cold War and with the end of the Soviet–Communist threat: Western Europe presumably did not need the US in the same way it had during the Cold War; now, a strengthened EU could manage much more on its own. In some ways the American role in Western Europe did decline, but the surprise was how little it changed in the period under discussion (1993–2001): the unification of Germany and Western Europe's participation in the Gulf War under US leadership had set the pattern under Bush; now, under Clinton (who was elected in November 1992), America's lead was to be most clearly seen in the wars in ex‐Yugoslavia (discussed in the first section of the chapter) and in the process of NATO expansion (discussed in the second section). NATO did not collapse when its raison d’être, the Soviet Union, the enemy against which it had been directed, disappeared, and the Warsaw Pact was dissolved; on the contrary, NATO took in new members from among the former Pact members and some of the disputes that had plagued it for decades were now softened, so that France moved closer to NATO again. The third section of the chapter shows that, in return, the Clinton administration was showing a more open attitude than that of Bush to European integration (the EU), in the form of monetary and defence cooperation. The last section of the chapter makes the point that, with so many signs of change in Washington, European governments and publics were renewing their invitations to the US to stay involved in Europe: in Western Europe the invitations were weaker and more ambivalent now than in the early years after the Second World War, but in Central and Eastern Europe, finally free from Soviet control, the invitations were quite similar to those the Western Europeans had extended almost fifty years earlier.
Stephen Spector
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195368024
- eISBN:
- 9780199867646
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368024.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, Judaism
This chapter assesses the claim that evangelical pressure forced Bush to recast his position on Israel’s incursion into the West Bank in the spring of 2002. People who know and admire Bush consider ...
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This chapter assesses the claim that evangelical pressure forced Bush to recast his position on Israel’s incursion into the West Bank in the spring of 2002. People who know and admire Bush consider that ludicrous. David Frum says that Bush initially left Israel to the State Department. After 9/11, though, the Middle East was far more urgent to Bush. When he abruptly stopped demanding that Israel withdraw, says Frum, he was breaking away from traditional American policy. By the summer of 2002, Bush had charted an entirely new course. The chapter addresses various theories about why Bush allied with Israel so firmly. Some observers attribute it to his personal relationship with Sharon. Another perspective is that the Bush administration maintained a hands-off policy because of Bill Clinton’s failure to achieve a diplomatic breakthrough. Another issue was a debate in the administration about whether to act first on Iraq. John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt argue that Bush’s policy was influenced by a powerful but loosely defined Jewish Lobby. In the summer of 2007, the Bush administration sought to prop up the Fatah-led government in the West Bank and to sponsor Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Christian Zionists denounced the new peace initiative.Less
This chapter assesses the claim that evangelical pressure forced Bush to recast his position on Israel’s incursion into the West Bank in the spring of 2002. People who know and admire Bush consider that ludicrous. David Frum says that Bush initially left Israel to the State Department. After 9/11, though, the Middle East was far more urgent to Bush. When he abruptly stopped demanding that Israel withdraw, says Frum, he was breaking away from traditional American policy. By the summer of 2002, Bush had charted an entirely new course. The chapter addresses various theories about why Bush allied with Israel so firmly. Some observers attribute it to his personal relationship with Sharon. Another perspective is that the Bush administration maintained a hands-off policy because of Bill Clinton’s failure to achieve a diplomatic breakthrough. Another issue was a debate in the administration about whether to act first on Iraq. John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt argue that Bush’s policy was influenced by a powerful but loosely defined Jewish Lobby. In the summer of 2007, the Bush administration sought to prop up the Fatah-led government in the West Bank and to sponsor Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Christian Zionists denounced the new peace initiative.
Douglas A Hicks
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195337174
- eISBN:
- 9780199868407
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337174.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter explores a particular application of the well-accepted view that effective leaders both understand and help shape their institution’s culture. Language and religious symbols make a vital ...
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This chapter explores a particular application of the well-accepted view that effective leaders both understand and help shape their institution’s culture. Language and religious symbols make a vital difference in developing a vision of society. This chapter analyzes three cases in which leaders acted to transform public culture towards inclusion vis-à-vis America’s religious diversity: William and Mary President Gene Nichol and his decision about the Wren cross; Keith Ellison, a U.S. Muslim congressman, and his swearing-in using a Quran; and former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his statements on religion in public schools and on religion in the federal workplace. These cases suggest that good leadership requires facing the dilemmas that religious symbols can create, and then transforming them into opportunities to expand American public culture. Each case sheds light on what leaders should and should not do to shape the culture.Less
This chapter explores a particular application of the well-accepted view that effective leaders both understand and help shape their institution’s culture. Language and religious symbols make a vital difference in developing a vision of society. This chapter analyzes three cases in which leaders acted to transform public culture towards inclusion vis-à-vis America’s religious diversity: William and Mary President Gene Nichol and his decision about the Wren cross; Keith Ellison, a U.S. Muslim congressman, and his swearing-in using a Quran; and former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his statements on religion in public schools and on religion in the federal workplace. These cases suggest that good leadership requires facing the dilemmas that religious symbols can create, and then transforming them into opportunities to expand American public culture. Each case sheds light on what leaders should and should not do to shape the culture.
Thomas F. Farr
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195179958
- eISBN:
- 9780199869749
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179958.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Robert Seiple, a Republican evangelical, was chosen by President William Clinton to lead his administration's religious freedom initiative. Initially the administration hoped that Seiple's ...
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Robert Seiple, a Republican evangelical, was chosen by President William Clinton to lead his administration's religious freedom initiative. Initially the administration hoped that Seiple's appointment would forestall the IRF Act itself. When the Act was passed anyway, Seiple became the first IRF Ambassador at Large, a position established by the Act. Within the Department, however, the bureaucracy reverted to its default position of isolating the new initiative within the bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, itself out of the mainstream of foreign policy. Seiple fought for a permanent staff but ultimately acquiesced in functional and bureaucratic isolation, choosing instead to travel widely. His legacy lies in the dens of persecution abroad, and with his having won the “battle over China,”—i.e., convincing Secretary Madeleine Albright to designate China as a “country of particular concern” under the IRF Act. Seiple also began the “Islamic Roundtable” at State, a prescient idea whose time was yet to come.Less
Robert Seiple, a Republican evangelical, was chosen by President William Clinton to lead his administration's religious freedom initiative. Initially the administration hoped that Seiple's appointment would forestall the IRF Act itself. When the Act was passed anyway, Seiple became the first IRF Ambassador at Large, a position established by the Act. Within the Department, however, the bureaucracy reverted to its default position of isolating the new initiative within the bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, itself out of the mainstream of foreign policy. Seiple fought for a permanent staff but ultimately acquiesced in functional and bureaucratic isolation, choosing instead to travel widely. His legacy lies in the dens of persecution abroad, and with his having won the “battle over China,”—i.e., convincing Secretary Madeleine Albright to designate China as a “country of particular concern” under the IRF Act. Seiple also began the “Islamic Roundtable” at State, a prescient idea whose time was yet to come.
David Domke and Kevin Coe
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195326413
- eISBN:
- 9780199870431
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326413.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter describes two key moments that signaled the rise of a new religious politics in America: the presidential nomination acceptance addresses of Ronald Reagan in 1980 and Bill Clinton in ...
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This chapter describes two key moments that signaled the rise of a new religious politics in America: the presidential nomination acceptance addresses of Ronald Reagan in 1980 and Bill Clinton in 1992. It then briefly identifies a series of changes that have taken place over the past several decades, all of which point to an increasingly close relationship between religion and politics. Political leaders have taken advantage of and contributed to these changes by employing the God strategy, in which they carefully craft their public communications to appeal to people of faith.Less
This chapter describes two key moments that signaled the rise of a new religious politics in America: the presidential nomination acceptance addresses of Ronald Reagan in 1980 and Bill Clinton in 1992. It then briefly identifies a series of changes that have taken place over the past several decades, all of which point to an increasingly close relationship between religion and politics. Political leaders have taken advantage of and contributed to these changes by employing the God strategy, in which they carefully craft their public communications to appeal to people of faith.
Sarah E. Kreps
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199753796
- eISBN:
- 9780199827152
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199753796.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
When the Clinton Administration sent the United States military into Haiti in 1994, it first sought United Nations authorization and assembled a large coalition of allies. With a defense budget ...
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When the Clinton Administration sent the United States military into Haiti in 1994, it first sought United Nations authorization and assembled a large coalition of allies. With a defense budget twenty times the entire GDP of Haiti, why did the US seek multilateral support when its military could quickly and easily have overpowered the 7,600-soldier Haitian army? The US has enjoyed unrivaled military power after the Cold War and yet in eight out of ten post-Cold War military interventions, it has chosen to use force multilaterally rather than going alone. Why does the US seek allies when, as the case of Haiti so starkly illustrates, it does not appear to need their help? Why in other instances such as the 2003 Iraq War does it largely sidestep international institutions and allies and intervene unilaterally? This book answers these questions through a study of US interventions after the post-Cold War. It shows that even powerful states have incentives to intervene multilaterally. Coalitions and international organization blessing confer legitimacy and provide ways to share what are often costly burdens of war. But those benefits come at some cost, since multilateralism is less expedient than unilateralism. With long time horizons—in which threats are distant—states will welcome the material assistance and legitimacy benefits of multilateralism. Short time horizons, however, will make immediate payoffs of unilateralism more attractive, even if it means foregoing the longer-term benefits of multilateralism.Less
When the Clinton Administration sent the United States military into Haiti in 1994, it first sought United Nations authorization and assembled a large coalition of allies. With a defense budget twenty times the entire GDP of Haiti, why did the US seek multilateral support when its military could quickly and easily have overpowered the 7,600-soldier Haitian army? The US has enjoyed unrivaled military power after the Cold War and yet in eight out of ten post-Cold War military interventions, it has chosen to use force multilaterally rather than going alone. Why does the US seek allies when, as the case of Haiti so starkly illustrates, it does not appear to need their help? Why in other instances such as the 2003 Iraq War does it largely sidestep international institutions and allies and intervene unilaterally? This book answers these questions through a study of US interventions after the post-Cold War. It shows that even powerful states have incentives to intervene multilaterally. Coalitions and international organization blessing confer legitimacy and provide ways to share what are often costly burdens of war. But those benefits come at some cost, since multilateralism is less expedient than unilateralism. With long time horizons—in which threats are distant—states will welcome the material assistance and legitimacy benefits of multilateralism. Short time horizons, however, will make immediate payoffs of unilateralism more attractive, even if it means foregoing the longer-term benefits of multilateralism.
David B. Audretsch
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195183504
- eISBN:
- 9780199783885
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195183504.003.0002
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This chapter identifies economic growth and the creation of jobs in a globalized economy as a fundamental priority of public policy. Half a decade into the new century, most developed countries had ...
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This chapter identifies economic growth and the creation of jobs in a globalized economy as a fundamental priority of public policy. Half a decade into the new century, most developed countries had grown accustomed to worrying about where economic growth is going to come from. The mandate for public policy to support economic growth spans all levels of policy, from the local and community, to the city and regional, and to the national and even supra-national, as evidenced by the priority on developing policies to promote economic growth by the G-8.Less
This chapter identifies economic growth and the creation of jobs in a globalized economy as a fundamental priority of public policy. Half a decade into the new century, most developed countries had grown accustomed to worrying about where economic growth is going to come from. The mandate for public policy to support economic growth spans all levels of policy, from the local and community, to the city and regional, and to the national and even supra-national, as evidenced by the priority on developing policies to promote economic growth by the G-8.
Michael Nelson, Barbara A. Perry, and Russell L. Riley (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780801454066
- eISBN:
- 9781501706202
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801454066.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This book uses hundreds of hours of newly opened interviews and other sources to illuminate the life and times of Bill Clinton. Combining the authoritative perspective of these inside accounts with ...
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This book uses hundreds of hours of newly opened interviews and other sources to illuminate the life and times of Bill Clinton. Combining the authoritative perspective of these inside accounts with the analytic powers of some of America’s most distinguished presidential scholars, the chapters offer a major advance in our collective understanding of the Clinton White House. Included are chapters on the major domestic and foreign policy initiatives of the Clinton years, as well as objective discussions of political success and failure. This is the first book to make extensive use of previously closed interviews collected for the Clinton Presidential History Project, conducted by the Presidential Oral History Program of the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. These interviews explored officials’ memories of their service with President Clinton and their careers prior to joining the administration. Interviewees also offered political and leadership lessons they had gleaned as eyewitnesses to and shapers of history. Their spoken recollections provide invaluable detail about the inner history of the presidency in an age when personal diaries and discursive letters are seldom written. The authors had first access to more than fifty of these cleared interviews. The book provides a multidimensional portrait of Bill Clinton’s administration, drawing largely on the observations of those who knew it best.Less
This book uses hundreds of hours of newly opened interviews and other sources to illuminate the life and times of Bill Clinton. Combining the authoritative perspective of these inside accounts with the analytic powers of some of America’s most distinguished presidential scholars, the chapters offer a major advance in our collective understanding of the Clinton White House. Included are chapters on the major domestic and foreign policy initiatives of the Clinton years, as well as objective discussions of political success and failure. This is the first book to make extensive use of previously closed interviews collected for the Clinton Presidential History Project, conducted by the Presidential Oral History Program of the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. These interviews explored officials’ memories of their service with President Clinton and their careers prior to joining the administration. Interviewees also offered political and leadership lessons they had gleaned as eyewitnesses to and shapers of history. Their spoken recollections provide invaluable detail about the inner history of the presidency in an age when personal diaries and discursive letters are seldom written. The authors had first access to more than fifty of these cleared interviews. The book provides a multidimensional portrait of Bill Clinton’s administration, drawing largely on the observations of those who knew it best.
JEFFREY C. ALEXANDER
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199744466
- eISBN:
- 9780199944163
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199744466.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
As election campaigns work the binaries, they try to simplify the meaning of every issue that comes up, bringing it into semiotic alignment with one side or the other of the great divide. Candidates ...
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As election campaigns work the binaries, they try to simplify the meaning of every issue that comes up, bringing it into semiotic alignment with one side or the other of the great divide. Candidates are purified so that their characters can be folded into heroic narrative arcs of a democratic kind. Hillary Clinton came to symbolize equality and mobility, wisdom and maturity, a modern enlightened woman breaking the glass ceiling. Barack Obama became the great emancipator. John McCain was the wounded prisoner of war who breaks the bonds of enslavement and comes back as a corruption-fighting maverick. By election time, citizen voters make the crucial decision about the civil and uncivil qualities of candidates. However this voting public as such is not physically active in the democratic struggle for power. Democracy is representative not only in the exercise of power but also in the struggle for it.Less
As election campaigns work the binaries, they try to simplify the meaning of every issue that comes up, bringing it into semiotic alignment with one side or the other of the great divide. Candidates are purified so that their characters can be folded into heroic narrative arcs of a democratic kind. Hillary Clinton came to symbolize equality and mobility, wisdom and maturity, a modern enlightened woman breaking the glass ceiling. Barack Obama became the great emancipator. John McCain was the wounded prisoner of war who breaks the bonds of enslavement and comes back as a corruption-fighting maverick. By election time, citizen voters make the crucial decision about the civil and uncivil qualities of candidates. However this voting public as such is not physically active in the democratic struggle for power. Democracy is representative not only in the exercise of power but also in the struggle for it.
Dale Maharidge
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520262478
- eISBN:
- 9780520948792
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520262478.003.0013
- Subject:
- Anthropology, American and Canadian Cultural Anthropology
Back in the 1980s, Dale Maharidge read Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950–1980, by Charles Murray, who was later dubbed America's “most dangerous conservative” by the New York Times ...
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Back in the 1980s, Dale Maharidge read Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950–1980, by Charles Murray, who was later dubbed America's “most dangerous conservative” by the New York Times Magazine. His 1984 book argued that the government social service network, which he deemed a failure, had to be abolished in order to save the poor. The book was embraced by the Reagan administration and congressional Republicans. When President Bill Clinton signed welfare reform into law in 1996, co-opting the issue, he was in fact embracing Murray's argument. On Murray's web page at the American Enterprise Institute, Losing Ground is called the “intellectual foundation” for that legislation. Murray got just about everything he dreamed of in that book. By 2000, welfare was no longer the issue. Murray wanted Michael S. Williamson to describe a specific intact family and Dale was befuddled by his sharp dismissal of Maggie Segura.Less
Back in the 1980s, Dale Maharidge read Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950–1980, by Charles Murray, who was later dubbed America's “most dangerous conservative” by the New York Times Magazine. His 1984 book argued that the government social service network, which he deemed a failure, had to be abolished in order to save the poor. The book was embraced by the Reagan administration and congressional Republicans. When President Bill Clinton signed welfare reform into law in 1996, co-opting the issue, he was in fact embracing Murray's argument. On Murray's web page at the American Enterprise Institute, Losing Ground is called the “intellectual foundation” for that legislation. Murray got just about everything he dreamed of in that book. By 2000, welfare was no longer the issue. Murray wanted Michael S. Williamson to describe a specific intact family and Dale was befuddled by his sharp dismissal of Maggie Segura.
Ross English
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719063084
- eISBN:
- 9781781700228
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719063084.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
The role of the Congress is essential to any study of American government and politics. It would be impossible to gain a complete understanding of the American system of government without an ...
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The role of the Congress is essential to any study of American government and politics. It would be impossible to gain a complete understanding of the American system of government without an appreciation of the nature and workings of this essential body. This text looks at the workings of the United States Congress, and uses the Republican period of ascendancy, which lasted from 1994 until 2000, as an example of how the Congress works in practice. The book illustrates the basic principles of Congress using contemporary and recent examples, while also drawing attention to the changes that took place in the 1990s. The period of Republican control is absent from many of the standard texts and is of considerable academic interest for a number of reasons, not least the 1994 election, the budget deadlock in 1995 and the Clinton impeachment scandal of 1999. The book traces the origin and development of the United States Congress, before looking in depth at the role of representatives and senators, the committee system, parties in Congress, and the relationship between Congress and the President, the media and interest groups.Less
The role of the Congress is essential to any study of American government and politics. It would be impossible to gain a complete understanding of the American system of government without an appreciation of the nature and workings of this essential body. This text looks at the workings of the United States Congress, and uses the Republican period of ascendancy, which lasted from 1994 until 2000, as an example of how the Congress works in practice. The book illustrates the basic principles of Congress using contemporary and recent examples, while also drawing attention to the changes that took place in the 1990s. The period of Republican control is absent from many of the standard texts and is of considerable academic interest for a number of reasons, not least the 1994 election, the budget deadlock in 1995 and the Clinton impeachment scandal of 1999. The book traces the origin and development of the United States Congress, before looking in depth at the role of representatives and senators, the committee system, parties in Congress, and the relationship between Congress and the President, the media and interest groups.
Kimberly J. Morgan and Andrea Louise Campbell
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199730346
- eISBN:
- 9780199918447
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730346.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter examines the ideational and political movements advocating market-based forms of delegated governance since the 1970s. In part, the embrace of marketizing reforms reflected the ...
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This chapter examines the ideational and political movements advocating market-based forms of delegated governance since the 1970s. In part, the embrace of marketizing reforms reflected the refinement of ideas about the inefficient and oppressive nature of government as juxtaposed with the dynamism, efficiency, and liberating qualities of markets and individual choice. Some conservative and centrist policy-makers also believed the American state was inherently weak—a self-fulfilling prophecy given their longstanding resistance to building effective bureaucratic capacity at the federal level. In a context of rising health care costs, some policy-makers sought ways to make private insurers do the tough work of disciplining health care interests, delegating to these non-governmental authorities responsibility for meting out pain to medical providers. We trace this impulse through the push for allowing HMOs to administer Medicare benefits; the gathering enthusiasm for managed competition and the Clinton health care reform effort of 1993/94; proposals that emerged in the 1990s for complete Medicare voucherization; and the movement for Health Savings Accounts.Less
This chapter examines the ideational and political movements advocating market-based forms of delegated governance since the 1970s. In part, the embrace of marketizing reforms reflected the refinement of ideas about the inefficient and oppressive nature of government as juxtaposed with the dynamism, efficiency, and liberating qualities of markets and individual choice. Some conservative and centrist policy-makers also believed the American state was inherently weak—a self-fulfilling prophecy given their longstanding resistance to building effective bureaucratic capacity at the federal level. In a context of rising health care costs, some policy-makers sought ways to make private insurers do the tough work of disciplining health care interests, delegating to these non-governmental authorities responsibility for meting out pain to medical providers. We trace this impulse through the push for allowing HMOs to administer Medicare benefits; the gathering enthusiasm for managed competition and the Clinton health care reform effort of 1993/94; proposals that emerged in the 1990s for complete Medicare voucherization; and the movement for Health Savings Accounts.
