Describes a college course which will help students develop an appreciation of the systematic study of politics. Students learn to scientifically explore political behavior and events and develop knowledge of elementary research design principles and problems in preparation for a subsequent elective course in political science research methods.…

Presents method for determining basic party voting strength by analyzing voting units at the county level. The method considers the lowest Democratic or Republican vote ever cast in a contest, the number of voters who have switched support from time-to-time, and secondary voters (who only occasionally support their party). (Author/KC)

Identifies problems involving teaching American government on the college level to students from other nations. Recommends a modified comparative, cross-cultural approach and shares experiences gained from pilot testing such an approach. (Author/DB)

Provides a biographical sketch of Reinhold Niebuhr. Focuses upon an examination of the essential ideas of the mature Niebuhr. Makes the point that his ideas transcend political labels, and discusses the political legacy of this influential thinker. Calls for social theorists to apply his insights to the contemporary situation. (KO)

Surveys Thucydidean scholarship attempting to determine how the "Tragedy of Athens" should be interpreted. Highlights views of Thucydides as dramatic poet and as scientific historian, comparing his work to that of Aristotle and Plato. Concludes that Thucydides was a political theorist and that his narrative of the Peloponnesian War is…

Politics without history has no roots; history without politics bears no fruits. If one inquires into the content of the relation between politics and history, then one discovers it is defined by symbiotic dependence. Those who are trained in history also take into account the political dimensions of history, and those educated in political…

This author, a teacher of political science and liberal studies, states his belief that challenging students to examine and analyze radical ideas develops their capacity to think clearly and skeptically. Following in this spirit, this essay examines the discrepancy between the stated objectives of American foreign policy and its practice. The…

This year's crop of "Emerging Scholars"--The Class of 2008--includes a math biologist who was only the second woman to receive the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in math; a geneticist who recently became one of 20 winners of the National Science Foundation's Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers; and an extensively published…

This forum reconstructs a roundtable discussion about the academic responsibilities of International Relations professors with respect to their undergraduate students. Specifically, participants discuss the proper pedagogical role of professors' personal political beliefs and the best ways to encourage undergraduate students to engage political…

Theorists on human rights can be divided into two camps: those who believe that rights are asserted by and ascribed to groups, and those who believe that rights may be properly predicated to individuals only. Of late, the latter group has gained dominance. This paper, by presenting a rhetorical analysis of individualism in regard to rights,…

Five abstracting and indexing services covering the field of political science were examined in order to ascertain if a causal relationship exists between how they are structured and how effective they are in producing citations on a given topic. Using the topics of communism, democracy, elections, and revolution, two hypotheses were formulated…

Most institutional approaches to the understanding of government and politics describe all the variables of a particular case. The systems model, however, attempts greater generality in its consideration of four variables: the system, the environment, response, and feedback. Examples of the model's applicability to recent political events are…

The history of the United States Constitution is outlined in this account of the 1787 Constitutional Convention. The document is grouped according to 12 topical headings, which follow a brief account of the participation of George Washington and James Madison. Section 1 deals with the conceptualization and development of the Articles of…

A take-home international relations final exam in the form of a group conversation allows the student to fill in opinions in the characters of "Me." In some instances real student responses have been included in "Me's" place, in others they have been left empty to perserve the flavor of an exam. (JH)

Political scientists in public law were surveyed for information relating to the current status of public law, the significance of methodological orientations, and recent research developments. (Author/KM)