Essays
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Group Identity and Political Cohesion - Huddy, Leonie
This entry examines the conditions under which group identities become politicized, the psychology underlying this process, and the consequences of political identities for political cohesion and engagement. The political consequences of membership in various demographic and religious groups played a central role in the earliest voting studies and these findings have been theoretically and empirically enriched by an active research focus on social identities within social psychology. Foundational research has identified the underpinnings of cohesive group political behavior in the existence of chronic strong group identities, an established link between the group and politics, and the emergence of group norms fostering a distinct political outlook and political action. Recent research has focused on dynamic aspects of group political cohesion, including threats to the group's status, the convergence of distinct identities, and factors that arouse strong emotions likely to foster collective action. Numerous questions remain unanswered about the conditions under which group political cohesion emerges. One set of questions concerns the origins of chronically strong identities in personality factors such as agreeableness and extraversion. Another set of questions touches on the origins of group identity in situational contexts that promote uncertainty. Finally, the degree to which group leaders can elicit cohesion and conformity, and the situational elements that promote such influence, is a very promising avenue for future research. -
Information Politics in Dictatorships - Wallace, Jeremy L.
Political science has made great progress in the study of nondemocratic regime survival in the past 15 years. Democratization is only one threat that such regimes face—indeed, most nondemocratic regimes are replaced by other dictators. How do regimes learn about the threats facing them? Cutting‐edge research has pointed to elite institutions, such as legislatures and politburos, easing information problems among regime insiders. However, the ways that nondemocratic regimes gather information about local agent performance and society remain underexplored. -
Perceptions of the Legitimacy of Collective Decisions - Patty, John W.
In practical terms, political legitimacy is a subjective phenomenon, based on individuals' perceptions. These perceptions are based on four factors: the distributive efficiency of the outcomes from the decision, the distributive fairness of those outcomes, the equal access of the process used to make the decision, and the accountability of that process. In addition to discussing those factors, I also address the related questions of what factors lead individuals to make legitimacy judgments and the types of situations in which these judgments are most important. -
Presidential Power - Howell, William G.
For the better part of 40 years, the study of presidential power was understood within a strictly bargaining framework—one that emphasized presidential dependence on other political actors to do things that the president cannot accomplish on his own, and that recognized personal reputation and prestige as the keystones of presidential success. But in the past 15–20 years, the presidency field as a whole has undergone significant change. Scholars have begun to investigate a broader array of actions that presidents can take, many independently, to affect public policy; and the foundations for these actions do not depend, at least exclusively, on the particular endowments of the individual presidents who stand in office. In this short essay, I recognize a sampling of the most significant advancement in three areas of the study of presidential power: unilateral powers, the political control of the bureaucracy, and public appeals. I then underscore the importance of continued investments in theory building for the study of presidential power. -
The Politics of Disaster Relief - Oliver, Alexander J.
Severe weather events provide unexpected tests of political leadership. From the perspective of the social scientist, disaster relief provides an excellent vantage point to observe the responses of both elected officials and voters to these dramatic events that, though not caused by politics, require a distinctly political response. This essay provides an overview of the research on the politics of disaster relief in the United States. The topic is vast and we focus specifically on the response of voters and politicians in the aftermath of severe weather events. We review the foundational research, discuss more recent advances, and then address what we see as the most important issues for future research on this topic. -
The Politics of Secularism in the United States - Campbell, David E.
Secularism is on the rise within the United States. Religious nonaffiliation has increased dramatically, while other measures of religiosity—worship attendance, belief in God, belief in scripture—are waning. This essay considers the political implications of this secular turn, in light of the historically high rates of religiosity within the United States. In doing so, we distinguish between passive and active secularism and describe measures of each. Passive secularism refers to not being religious—not identifying with a religion, not attending religious services, and not believing in God. Active secularism is the affirmative adoption of a secular worldview and identity. With this distinction, we can trace Americans' growing political polarization along religious–secular lines. One form of passive secularism—religious nonaffiliation—is often triggered by a backlash to the Religious Right. More generally, both passively and actively secular voters are moving to the political left. Furthermore, while smaller in number than passive secularists, active secularists are highly engaged in politics, comprising a sizeable share of the Democratic Party's activist base.