Discusses the public rhetoric created during the debate over the Panama Canal treaties. Examines three foreign policy dramas that emerged: Cold War, New World Order, and Power Politics. Argues that these dramas provide insight into how foreign policy rhetoric reflects Americans' conceptions of themselves and their global responsibility. (JD)

Provides support for the generalization that media use indirectly affects voting confidence. Also indicates that newspaper reading increases the probability of viewing television news, but that TV news viewing has little or no effect on probability of reading newspapers. (NKA)

Analyzes the commentary on the 1984 U.S. vice-presidential debate between G. Ferraro and G. Bush. Suggests that verbal references to the quantity and quality of emotion differed according to whether or not the observer politically favored the candidate. (NKA)

Recognizing the value of studying U.S. history and the contribution of the textbook to the curriculum, Gagnon examines five leading U.S. history textbooks with regard to two questions: (1) how helpful are these books for teaching democracy's ideas, practices, and adventures in the United States, and (2) what might they add to promote political…

Discussion of the use of simulation games to teach political strategy focuses on the relationship between honesty and expediency (winning). Three models of competition are developed, each involving a different relationship between truth and success, and the outcomes of a course on social situations and gaming are discussed. (16 references) (LRW)

Explains how differential coverage of politics, policy, and personality regarding the same two events in three different media--a local newspaper, an elite newspaper, and television network news--reveals three different portraits of presidential concerns and actions. (MM)

The differences between the prophetic and the political role in human rights policy are discussed. Those who resort solely to moral indignation to combat oppression are not only naive, but ineffective. (RM)

Relationships were studied between educational direction (academic or vocational) and three aspects of the sociopolitical ideology of 532 Swedish high school students. Vocational students were consistently more conservative than academic students on factors linked to social conservatism, whereas differences linked to political-economic…

Data culled from five 1980s studies show that youth today are committed to rewarding careers, good jobs, traditional values, marriage, and family. They are fixated on personal bread-and-butter issues and turn away from community and group problems. (RM)

Youth today remains marginal to the primary institutions of American life. They no longer have opportunities within the family to develop skills, exercise responsibilities, or learn adult roles. Youths spend long periods of the day segregated in schools; longer periods in passive entertainment. Alienation results in political apathy, mental…

Self-administered questionnaires were used to investigate the affective, cognitive, and behavioral political orientations of 150 Mexican American parochial high school students. Variables included attitudes toward and knowledge about Mexican, Chicano, and American political systems. Results showed acculturation having an important mediating role…

One's conceptions define what is worth learning about war and peace and why. Educators must make important choices of content. Three conceptions of peace education are discussed: those that focus on information, those that center on issues, and those dealing with attitudes. (RM)

The role of content validity in policy-relevant research is illustrated in a study contrasting results of surveys concerning public opinion toward gun control. Inadequate content validity threatened inferences about the overall level of support for gun control, but not about opinion difference between sexes or respondents of varying political…

Changing Chinese address norms are discussed, including the term "tongzhi" ("comrade") and preferred use of official titles by some Chinese officials; use of traditional terms for "Mr.", "Mrs.", and "Miss"; second singular pronouns of "ni" and "nin"; address of women; and some…

A study on the political consciousness of family groups in Warsaw confirms that current political events may be an important agent of political socialization. The rise of Solidarity and other events of 1980-81 influenced, in different ways, the perception of social differentiations among teenagers and their parents. (Author/CS)