In the Current Issue

Volume 136 - Number 3 - Fall 2021

Articles

Contemporary Black Populism and the Development of Multiracial Electoral Coalitions: The 2018 Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum Gubernatorial Campaigns
Sharon D. Wright Austin uses a populist theoretical framework to examine the 2018 gubernatorial campaigns of Stacey Abrams of Georgia and Andrew Gillum of Florida. She finds that although both candidates attracted the support of voters of all races, they lost because of disappointing turnout rates. She argues that this research provides evidence of the challenges black candidates encounter when seeking to win southern statewide elections through the usage of populist appeals.

How to Stop Jihadist Foreign Fighters
FREE
Daniel Byman argues that the threat volunteers for al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and other jihadist groups pose is potentially grave, but that effective policy can profoundly reduce the danger. He argues that governments can disrupt the recruitment and travel of foreign fighters, hinder their time in war zones, and improve policing and intelligence gathering when they return.

Local Strategy for China’s Poverty Alleviation Campaign: Incorporating Growth Priorities into Implementation
Qingshan Tan, Jiansheng Liu, and Yuxuan Dang investigate how a local government, facing the challenge of a central policy mandate, acted with innovation and autonomy to carry out poverty alleviation by grafting local interests onto the policy’s implementation in China. They argue that local states’ innovative strategy in integrating local growth objectives with pursuing and fulfilling the central policy can yield positive-sum outcomes for local- central relations and have a more significant impact on local development.

On the Ordinary People’s Enemies: How Politicians in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands Communicate Populist Boundaries via Twitter and the Effects on Party Preferences
Michael Hameleers looks at how populist discourse is constructed in different regions that offer different opportunity structures for the “us versus them” frame to be effective. He concludes that established politicians are not likely to use populist ideas on Twitter and that populist ideas only make an impact on vote choice for relatively deprived citizens.

Gender and Support for Democracy in the United States and Canada
Mark Setzler and Alixandra B. Yanus examine gender gaps in support for democracy in the United States and Canada. They find that in both countries, women are modestly less supportive of democracy and key political liberties than men, but the factors that best predict support vary little by gender. They argue that women’s access to material benefits and satisfaction with political institutions have relatively little effect on support for democracy; these attitudes are best explained by civic capital and the belief that rights are protected by government.

Secularity and Non-Religion in American Politics: A Review Essay
FREE
Mark Alan Smith reviews the recently published book Secular Surge: A New Fault Line in American Politics, by David E. Campbell, Geoffrey C. Layman, and John C. Green. Smith highlights the book’s value in distinguishing secularity from non-religion, along with the insights gained from the authors’ empirical analyses. Smith concludes that the conceptual framework in Secular Surge can usefully guide future research on religion and politics.

view additional issues