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Annual Review of Political Science - Early Publication
Reviews in Advance appear online ahead of the full published volume. View expected publication dates for upcoming volumes.
1 - 20 of 21 results
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Three Traditions of African American Political Thought: Realism, Reformism, and Nationalism
First published online: 19 April 2024More LessThis article argues that conflict rather than consensus defines the history of African American political thought. Its seminal figures have pursued justice along different and diverging lines—including advocating reformist, realist, and nationalist paths. While there is agreement that white supremacy is a form of social, economic, and political domination that should be eradicated, there is disagreement regarding its nature, effects, and resilience. This variance in judgments and inferences regarding the foundations and consequences of white supremacy leads to different accounts of social change, diverging strategic advice for realizing that change, and conflicting political theories. To press this claim, I consider the conflicting political visions of Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), W.E.B. Du Bois (1868–1963), and Marcus Garvey (1887–1940).
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Corruption and Social Norms: A New Arrow in the Quiver
First published online: 19 April 2024More LessOne key question driving innovations in corruption studies is how anticorruption reforms can be more impactful and sustainable. This is critical to understand due to the detrimental impact of corrupt practices on equality, human rights, peace, and the rule of law. A significant body of research has shown that many anticorruption initiatives do not produce the expected effect, or they achieve results that fade after the intervention ceases. Seeking to understand how to improve anticorruption outcomes, scholars have turned to causal explanations of the persistence of corruption ranging from institutional settings and individual motives to informal practices and social norms. This article explores the intersection of social norms and corruption as a contribution to improving anticorruption programming. It explains how norms impact our conceptual understanding of corruption and the vicious cycle that exists between corrupt practices and norms. Grounded in the belief that programming and social norm diagnosis need to be contextually driven, we lay out the nascent research on changing social norms that drive corruption and the consequences of ignoring them.
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Theories of Democratic Backsliding
First published online: 18 April 2024More LessWe review recent contributions to the modeling of democratic backsliding. We organize these theories according to (a) the source of constraints on the executive (vertical or horizontal restrainers) and (b) the target of backsliding (electoral manipulation or executive aggrandizement), and then use these concepts to build a scaffold for a meta-model of democratic backsliding. This meta-model allows us to describe and compare the premises and insights of this scholarship. We further apply our two-dimensional classification to more than 30 empirical papers and show how these theories can guide research design. We conclude by highlighting open issues for future research.
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Terra Incognita: The Governance of Artificial Intelligence in Global Perspective
First published online: 15 April 2024More LessWhile generative AI shares some similarities with previous technological breakthroughs, it also raises unique challenges for containing social and economic harms. State approaches to AI governance vary; some lay a foundation for transnational governance whereas others do not. We consider some technical dimensions of AI safety in both open and closed systems, as well as the ideas that are presently percolating to safeguard their future development. Examining initiatives for the global community and for the coalition of open societies, we argue for building a dual-track interactive strategy for containing AI's potentially nightmarish unintended consequences. We conclude that AI safety is AI governance, which means that pluralist efforts to bridge gaps between theory and practice and the STEM–humanities divide are critical for democratic sustainability.
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The Politics of Contagion: States, Societies, and the Control and Consequences of Infectious Diseases
First published online: 15 April 2024More LessThe study of contagion offers important but underexplored opportunities to rethink and advance our understanding of key concepts in political science. These include notably state capacity; social policy; state–society relations, especially the role of trust; nationalism and social solidarity; exclusionary dynamics, such as xenophobia, prejudice, and discrimination; and within political psychology, the role of emotions, including disgust. This article reviews studies on contagion and health within and adjacent to political science. While taking note of the surge of studies around COVID-19, this article focuses on work on infectious disease before and beyond the pandemic. It analyzes the scholarship as it sheds light on the control of infectious diseases, on the one hand, and on the consequences of that control, on the other, while also pointing to connections and feedback loops, especially as they open avenues for future research.
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Formal Theories of Special Interest Influence
First published online: 11 April 2024More LessThe impact of money on politics—whether through campaign finance, lobbying, or independent expenditure—raises key normative questions about democratic representation and accountability. In recent years there has been a deluge of new data allowing researchers to study money in politics from new and exciting perspectives. As a complement to this trend, there has also been a resurgence of interest in developing formal models to provide new theoretical insights that can help us understand how, why, and when money influences politics and policy. We review several major themes in this literature, focusing specifically on exchange-based models, informational models, and subsidy-based models. We compare and contrast the key contributions, and limitations, of each approach in understanding the role of lobbying and campaign finance in politics. We also discuss future avenues for research that incorporate aspects of each approach, which, we believe, will introduce new theoretical insights for understanding special interest influence.
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Territory and Self-Determination
First published online: 10 April 2024More LessThis article focuses on discussions of territorial rights and self-determination in the last 15–20 years. Theories of territorial jurisdiction typically combine two elements. First, they offer an account of foundational title: What gives a particular set of people a claim to be located in an area, including the right to form political institutions to govern that space? Second, they offer an account of legitimate jurisdiction: What is the moral basis of a state's right to govern the area and its population? This article begins by reconstructing prominent accounts of foundational title and legitimate jurisdiction. After canvassing these views, I highlight three areas where further work is needed, particularly as the territorial states system begins to be challenged by climate change: the appropriate balance of sovereignty and international authority in a world of global interdependence, how to rectify imperial and colonial legacies in the states system, and the just distribution of territory.
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The New Education Politics in the United States
First published online: 09 April 2024More LessDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, school district politics rose to prominence on the nation's political agenda, as school boards grappled with controversial decisions about reopening schools and implementing mask mandates. A growing number of political scientists are using newly available data and innovative research strategies to examine policy responsiveness, elections, segregation and inequality, state takeovers, interest groups, democratic deliberation, and public opinion—all while focusing on the unique context of education politics. We illuminate the distinctive institutional and policy context of US education politics and review new research in the field, including growing evidence of partisan polarization and the continuing significance of race for influencing power and decision making about schools in the United States. The field has made great strides in the last decade; we highlight the emerging themes from that already rapidly growing literature, while pointing out areas for future research.
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Disability in Political Science
First published online: 29 February 2024More LessDespite increasing interest in recent years, disability remains a neglected area of study within mainstream political science. Beginning with a brief overview of the ways that disability studies scholars have defined disability, I address the issues that have arisen in trying to measure disability as well as the limits and possibilities that follow from thinking of people with disabilities as a minority group with defined political beliefs and interests. To the extent that much of the work on disability in political science looks to the research on gender, race, ethnicity, and class as a touchstone, I consider the lessons that might be drawn from this work both as it relates to disability as a social category and regarding efforts to conceive of disability and ability in more structural and ideological terms. Turning to the literature on disability in political theory, I examine the ways that disability has been deployed to reveal the ableist assumptions that pervade canonical and more contemporary texts. I conclude by highlighting avenues for future research, including whether it is possible—or, indeed, desirable—to move beyond the civil rights and identity-based frameworks that have so defined disability politics and organizing.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Political Science, Volume 27 is June 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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From Foes to Friends: The Causes of Interstate Rapprochement and Conciliation
First published online: 21 February 2024More LessWhen, why, and how do countries move from hostile to peaceful relations, and sometimes even friendship? We draw on the interstate peace literature to identify two peace processes. Rapprochement represents a first step during which enemies might develop normal working relations. Some states then progress to conciliation and establish warm and cooperative ties. We compare rapprochement to conciliation, outline the mechanisms that drive each process, and review scholarly findings about three types of causal variables: abrupt shocks, stable contextual factors, and policy initiatives. A key insight emerges that conciliation is not simply an extension of rapprochement—the predictors of these two processes differ significantly. We then call for greater scholarly attention to the study of conciliation, interactions of causal factors, the domestic politics underlying each process, the causes of peace failure, and empirical and methodological challenges.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Political Science, Volume 27 is June 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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Organizing and Democracy: Understanding the Possibilities for Transformative Collective Action
First published online: 21 February 2024More LessDemocracy requires collective action—but not all forms of collective action are the same. Scholars need a more coherent intellectual infrastructure to differentiate distinct forms of collective action and to identify the kinds of collective action that enable democracy. We distinguish between two types of collective action: organizing, which seeks to transform individuals and groups into effective agents who can shape public outcomes, and mobilizing, which seeks to aggregate and articulate preferences in the public sphere with no explicit focus on individual or organizational change. We review work identifying the dimensions of possible transformation at the micro, meso, and macro levels, and existing evidence for it. We urge scholars to study organizing separate from (and in comparison to) mobilizing and suggest possible research strategies and questions. In doing so, we aim to provide a foundation for future research on organizing and its relationship to democracy.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Political Science, Volume 27 is June 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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Endogenous State Capacity
First published online: 21 February 2024More LessCanonical studies of the origins of state capacity have focused on macro-historical or structural explanations. I review recent research in historical political economy that showcases the role of politics—agents, their constraints, and their motivations—in the evolution of state capacity. Findings from both developed and developing countries emphasize how elite conflict, principal–agent dilemmas, and ethnic and racial differences have shaped agents’ preferences for capacity. These new studies demonstrate that state capacity can be strategically manipulated by political and economic elites, and that the various dimensions of state capacity—extractive, coercive, legal—do not necessarily move together. Refocusing our attention on the political drivers of state capacity has also shed light on why there are such stark subnational variations in the development of state capacity, particularly within large polities like India, China, and the United States. The findings point to the need for more nuanced conceptualization and measurement of state capacity.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Political Science, Volume 27 is June 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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Intellectual Diary of an Iconoclast
First published online: 15 February 2024More LessTrying to address a series of large questions—e.g., when peasants rebel, clandestine forms of resistance, state “imagination,” and the origin of the very first agrarian states—led me to abandon much of the standard political science “tool kit.” This is an account of that intellectual journey.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Political Science, Volume 27 is June 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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Strategic Humanitarianism: Host States and Refugee Policy
First published online: 15 February 2024More LessThe significant rise in the number of forcibly displaced people crossing international borders, i.e., refugees, necessitates a thorough examination of the policies implemented by receiving states to manage the arrival of these vulnerable populations. This article reviews the literature on the factors that influence refugee policies, focusing on two dimensions of host state responses: admission and integration. We argue that there may be an inherent tension between refugee admissions and refugee integration policies, as countries attempt to restrict benefits when admission numbers increase. Further, we highlight how refugee policies are influenced by international and domestic constraints and priorities that can at times be conflicting or complementary. The article ultimately advocates for a systematic analysis of the endogenous relationship between refugee policies, public perception of refugees, and migration patterns.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Political Science, Volume 27 is June 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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The Future of Work? The Political Theory of Work and Leisure
First published online: 15 February 2024More LessThe prospect of rapid technological development and automation has heightened attention toward issues of work and leisure, prompting many to ask what the future of work will be. Though this question is sometimes asked as a matter of forecasting, the path forward is not predetermined. A range of collective choices shape the conditions of people's work and leisure. It is essential for these choices to be guided by consideration of what the future of work should be. This article reviews recent literature in normative political theory about work and leisure, focusing on how they should be conceptualized, the multidimensional values and disvalues associated with both, and the grounds of people's claims to each. It highlights how the goods and bads of work and leisure are unequally shared by class, race, and gender, as well as the theoretical and practical advantages of considering people's interests in work and leisure in conjunction.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Political Science, Volume 27 is June 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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Information Politics and Propaganda in Authoritarian Societies
First published online: 09 February 2024More LessWhat role does propaganda play in the information politics of authoritarian societies, and what is its relationship to censorship? What have we learned from rival accounts in recent literature about why states produce it? While regimes clearly invest in propaganda believing that it is effective, there is still much to learn about whether, when, and how it actually is effective. We first discuss some of the tensions inherent in distinguishing between persuasive and dominating, soft and hard, propaganda. We then review efforts to understand the conditions under which propaganda changes attitudes and/or behavior in terms of propaganda's content, relational factors, aspects of the political environment, and citizens’ own predispositions. We highlight the need for more research on propaganda in authoritarian settings, especially on how patterns of its consumption may change amid crises, technological shifts, and direct state interventions.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Political Science, Volume 27 is June 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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NIMBYs, YIMBYs, and the Politics of Land Use in American Cities
First published online: 16 January 2024More LessDebates over the development and density of housing have gained visibility in recent years as housing costs have skyrocketed in many metropolitan areas. With those who seek to limit development (NIMBYs) on one side and those who seek to promote it (YIMBYs) on the other, scholarly attention has turned to understanding preferences and power in the politics of development. This article reviews scholarship relating to the politics of land use. After discussing the history of land use regulation, we describe who the important actors are (and, generally, what they want) in the politics of land use; we explain the distribution of power and inequality in the politics of land use; and we briefly review how land use regulation affects other societal outcomes. We end with a set of unanswered political questions that could push the field forward.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Political Science, Volume 27 is June 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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Latino Opinion and Action in the Struggle for America's Political Future
First published online: 04 January 2024More LessNearly 20 years have passed since this journal's last review of Latino politics. Today, American politics have shifted dramatically, even alarmingly, with Latinos absorbing and contributing to many of these changes. Yet American politics research still overwhelmingly privileges non-Hispanic Whites and their political opinions and behavior. We argue that this marginalization of Latino politics research has even fewer excuses in this era when data, methodologies, and other resources have expanded, making theory-based, empirically grounded research on Latino politics more feasible. We also argue that to better grasp what happens in contemporary politics today and tomorrow, a deeper understanding of Latinos’ political psychology is indispensable because they are a highly diverse, minoritized group whose members are acutely sensitive to structural, temporal, and situational pressures. Finally, in an overwhelmingly quantitative, empirically oriented field, we urge Latino politics scholars to more earnestly consider the normative implications of research on this growing pan-ethnic population.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Political Science, Volume 27 is June 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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Democratic Norms and the Ethics of Resistance
First published online: 05 December 2023More LessMost democratic theories recognize that democracy requires widespread adherence to both formal and informal norms that constrain the use of power and structure relationships among citizens. Most also recognize that a healthy democracy requires some forms of activism or resistance that transgress those norms to disrupt hierarchies, challenge injustices, and drive discursive innovation. Recent systemic theories of democracy show that democratic theory can incorporate these two realities without contradiction, but it is not clear whether an ethic of citizenship can do the same. This article reviews recent literature on the purposes and ethics of transgressive politics while also drawing attention to neglected questions about the functions of democratic norms and how they are maintained amid transgressions. These are questions that must be addressed by an ethic of citizenship that can navigate the tension between the authority of democratic norms and the constructive potential of transgressive politics.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Political Science, Volume 27 is June 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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State Policy and Immigrant Integration
First published online: 01 December 2023More LessThe proliferation of government policies to manage immigration has led to the emergence of an interdisciplinary literature that evaluates policy effects on immigrant integration. This review synthesizes findings from evaluations of policies regulating legal status and citizenship, the labor market, welfare, settlement, education, and cultural rights. It concludes that policies lowering immigrants’ costs of adjustment to the host country are consistently more effective in promoting integration than policies incentivizing immigrant effort through withholding resources and regulating access to rights. Policy changes the behavior of both immigrants and native-born citizens through material and psychological pathways, and considering the decision making of each side and their interdependence is crucial for understanding why estimated effects of the same policy differ across contexts and for anticipating unintended consequences. For external validity and useful counterfactuals, a closer connection is needed between empirical research and theoretical models that explicitly account for the equilibrium nature of integration.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Political Science, Volume 27 is June 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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