In the Current Issue

Volume 139 - Number 3 - Fall 2024

Articles

El Cuento del Destino: Latino Voters, Demographic Determinism, and the Myth of an Inevitable Democratic Party Majority
ALVARO J. CORRAL AND David L. Leal critically assess the “demography as destiny” theory which posits that the growing number of Latino voters who disproportionately support the Democratic Party, will not only gain political influence but will tilt the electorate in the party’s favor and erode the GOP’s electoral competitiveness. By looking at trends in Latino voting behavior and partisan affiliation since 2016, the authors reveal complexities that call into question the theory and its prevailing assumptions.

Foreign-imposed Regime Change and the American War in Afghanistan
JASON BROWNLEE asks why did America’s twenty-year war in Afghanistan fail to establish a self-sustaining non-Taliban government? The author argues that the U.S. influence depended on the prospects for integrating old regime elites into the new government and on the strength on indigenous opposition forces. Both variables were unfavorable in Afghanistan and they shaped the boundaries of political order no matter how hard U.S. forces fought or how long they stayed.

How Far-Right Extremism Changed American Body Politic
BRIGITTE NACOS AND YAELIBLOCH-ELKON examine the rise of far-right extremism and violence in the United States. They argue that Donald Trump played a starring role in bringing hate speech, threats, and political violence into the political mainstream.

The Effects of Violence against U.S. Officeholders
REBECCA HERRICK AND Sue Thomas discuss the effects of violence on U.S. office holders. They use an original survey of mayors in the U.S. cities to explore the individual costs of psychological and physical violence. They find that of the mayors who suffered violence (95 percent), the more violence reported, the more likely they were to have incurred individual costs, including emotional upset, diverted attention from the job, and considerations about leaving it.

Statebuilding in the Periphery: Why States Colonize and Why They Stop
David A. Lake reviews Settling for Less: Why States Colonize and Why They Stop by Lachlan McNamee. Lake observes that in discussing settler colonialism the book builds a novel theory that pushes the research agenda outwards and identifies as an underdeveloped dimension of the book the strategic choices of the indigenes.

Can Information Persuade Rather Than Polarize? A Review of Alex Coppock's Persuasion in Parallel
Matthew Levendusky reviews Alex Coppock’s Persuasion in Parallel. He praises overall the book’s focus, data, and results arguing that it makes a very important contribution but takes issue with the book’s treatment of theories of motivated reasoning.

Export Controls and the Junction of Economics and National Security: A Review Article
Paul R. Pillar reviews Knowledge Regulation and National Security in Postwar America by Mario Daniels and John Krige. He argues that the book describes how issues of trade and commerce increasingly have been viewed in terms of security.

Violence and Democracy
Yeilim Cheong AND Stephan Haggard review Sarah Zukerman Daly’s Violent Victors: Why Bloodstained Parties Win Postwar Elections. They draw upon the book to discuss and explore the relationship between violence and democracy.

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