A Review of “Decision Points”

Abstract

A large body scholarship demonstrates that the population size of an electoral district affects elections in important ways, yet little is known about the implications of population size for campaigning and fundraising. I posit that the challenges of running a campaign in a populous electorate require candidates to focus their fundraising efforts on the wealthy. I analyze campaign finance records published by the Federal Election Commission during the 2006–2014 Senate elections and find that Senate candidates running in large states receive fewer donations per capita from in-state donors, but they tend to receive larger donations on average and more money from contributions of $1,500 and above. In sum, candidates running in populous states appear to rely upon comparably smaller pools of wealthy constituents writing larger checks to finance their campaigns. In the context of rising campaign costs, these findings suggest that constituency population growth may exacerbate representational inequalities between citizens and contribute to the growing influence of the wealthy in U.S. politics.     

The Fluted Point tradition and the Arctic Small Tool tradition: What’s the connection?

This paper presents a comparative study of two colonizing populations in the Americas: the Fluted Point tradition (FPt) and the early Arctic Small Tool tradition (ASTt) with the aim of understanding the role of lithic technologies in the colonization process. The FPt and ASTt are seen as residentially mobile groups with comparatively little reliance on food storage and minimal transportation aids. At the same time they also produced very similar flaked stone technologies that differed greatly from all later groups, being characterized by standardized core reduction, excellence in manufacture, production of a wide range of often hafted tools, use of the highest quality toolstones and a reliance on flaked stone, as opposed to ground stone, tools. The main advantage of these technologies is that they are not only flexible but can be rapidly produced. It is suggested that the key variable accounting for these choices is the lack of efficient transportation aids. In colonizing situations, the limited transport capabilities force populations to: (a) rely more on less predictable search and encounter methods of resource procurement and in turn, residential mobility to position people with regard to resources and (b) place a high premium on efficient time allocation to meet the excessive demands needed to maintain social contacts and mating networks amongst very low density populations.     

On the Grounds of the Fresh Water Pond: The Free-Black Community at Five Points, 1810–1834

During the first few decades of the nineteenth century a sizable African American community thrived in lower Manhattan. This district was centered near the Fresh Water or Collect Pond just north of the heavily settled city. By 1840 much of the original community was gone and almost forgotten in the lore surrounding the later and more notorious Five Points. Evidence of the vibrant neighborhood may be found in the presence of social and religious structures including the original A.M.E. Zion Church and the African Mutual Relief Society, located for a brief period of time near the Fresh Water Pond. In this paper documentary sources are used to illuminate the lives of Five Points' early residents. These are lives and struggles not necessarily visible in the archaeological record.     

Churchill's ‘Iron Curtain’ Speech in Context: The Attempt to Achieve a ‘Good Understanding on All Points’ with Stalin's Soviet Union

More than 70 years ago, on 5 March 1946, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered his ‘iron curtain’ speech at Westminster College in Fulton. The speech immediately attracted worldwide attention and proved to be highly controversial. Most contemporaries in East and West and the vast majority of subsequent historians interpreted the speech as Churchill's call for western resistance to Stalin's expansionist policies and the continuation of the wartime ‘special relationship’ between Washington and London. This article argues, however, that Churchill's speech has been misunderstood. When set in the context of Churchill's other pronouncements on world affairs during his time as leader of the opposition between 1945 and 1951 and in view of his vigorously pursued ‘Big Three’ ‘summit diplomacy’ with Moscow and Washington after he returned as Prime Minister in 1951, the ‘iron curtain’ speech must be seen in a different light. It becomes clear that this famous speech was not Churchill's sabre-rattling call for commencing or energizing the East--West conflict with the Soviet Union. Quite to the contrary, his speech was meant to prevent the escalation of this conflict and avoid the dangerous clash between the world's greatest powers that soon became known as the Cold War.