Policy Feedback and the Politics of the Affordable Care Act

There is a large body of literature devoted to how “policies create politics” and how feedback effects from existing policy legacies shape potential reforms in a particular area. Although much of this literature focuses on self‐reinforcing feedback effects that increase support for existing policies over time, Kent Weaver and his colleagues have recently drawn our attention to self‐undermining effects that can gradually weaken support for such policies. The following contribution explores both self‐reinforcing and self‐undermining policy feedback in relationship to the Affordable Care Act, the most important health‐care reform enacted in the United States since the mid‐1960s. More specifically, the paper draws on the concept of policy feedback to reflect on the political fate of the ACA since its adoption in 2010. We argue that, due in part to its sheer complexity and fragmentation, the ACA generates both self‐reinforcing and self‐undermining feedback effects that, depending of the aspect of the legislation at hand, can either facilitate or impede conservative retrenchment and restructuring. Simultaneously, through a discussion of partisan effects that shape Republican behavior in Congress, we acknowledge the limits of policy feedback in the explanation of policy stability and change.     

21世纪的中国考古学

中国考古是世界上国别考古中时空最大、体量最宏、内容最为丰富的考古学体系,本世纪中国考古最大的成就就是考古学文化时空体系的建立与完善,以及对传统的中国历史体系的修正和补充。２１世纪,中国考古学不但应当在揭示华夏传统的形成以及人类、农牧和文明国家三大起源问题上有所贡献,更应依赖自身的优势,对考古学以及整个人文科学的理论建设做出贡献。     

Political Science and U.S. Health Policy in the Era of the Affordable Care Act

Few laws have a profound and lasting impact on an entire political system. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), despite its incremental nature and bipartisan heritage, has been one of those remarkable landmarks. Even a decade after its passage, the political struggle is far from over, as the ACA is still facing near constant threats from the incumbent president, Congress, the courts, statehouses, attorneys general, and governors across the nation. How have political scientists responded to the continued struggle? This article provides an overview of the effects of health reform and the ACA on political science research since 2008. While political scientists have written much about the subject, coverage has been distinctly uneven within the discipline. Indeed, it has almost been entirely confined to scholars of public and health policy. Nonetheless, there have been important contributions across disciplinary fields. This article provides an overview of contributions embedded within the study of federalism, policy feedback effects, and political framing. It concludes by emphasizing the need for more engaged scholarship on health policy issues from across the entire discipline, and by highlighting other areas of study that could benefit from broader attention by political scientists.     

The Politics of Cognitive Dissonance: Spin,the Media,and Race (and Ethnicity) in the 2008 US Presidential Election

This article examines the roles of spin, the media, and race (and ethnicity) in influencing voter behavior in the 2008 US presidential election. It invokes the concept of cognitive dissonance to explain how political strategists effectively propagandize – i.e., “reinvent their candidates” and “reinvent their opponents' actual record” – in order to successfully garner votes for their candidates. In particular, it considers spin and how spin and the media are used to shape public opinion by causing voters to distrust the veracity, credentials, and records of opposing candidates and to set the policy agenda. It also discusses how race, ethnicity, gender, and policy issues were used in the 2008 US presidential election campaign, and describes the impact of “spinning” on voter behavior and the election outcome. Equally important, it discusses the implications of the Obama victory for Canadian governance in two pivotal areas: domestic race relations and direct parliamentary representation of minorities. The article closes with a brief discussion of the symbolism attributed to Barack Obama's electoral victory by both American and Canadian voters.     

知己知彼，百战不殆

《史学理论研究》在1992年第4期刊登了我的一篇短文:“牢固地建立史学理论这门学科”,文中探讨了三个问题:第一,能否说史学理论这门学科已经牢固地建立起来了?我提出三个标准,现在看来,有的已经达到,有的基本上达到,有的尚需努力才能达到。第二,下一步需要做什么?我认为首先应巩固阵地,不要让已经取得的成就丢失掉。第三,如何正确地贯彻执行邓小平同志的三句话:“思想更解放一点,胆子更大一点,步子更快一点”?我认为在这些方面,编辑同仁做得很好,成绩不小,值得庆贺。1994年第4期又刊出我的“当代中国史学的成就与困惑”长文,该文试图总结197…     

21世纪中国史学实证研究的前芽

有的学者在总结近代中国史学发展历程时．对于近代史学的新形势,有“新史学方法论的三种体系”的分析。以为“新史学方法论体系之一”,即：“王国维、陈寅恪、汤用彤、柳诒徵为代表的民族文化主体论史学流派,提出了近代新史学方法的一个重要类型。他们强调在传统学术方法的基础上．结合近代西方学术方法发展出新史学方法。”而“新史学方法论体系之二”的表现,是“胡适、傅斯年等提出了近代新史学方法的另一种发展方向”。     

新时期甘肃省博物馆陈列展览与科学研究综述

新时期,甘肃省博物馆坚持科学发展,科研成果辈出.博物馆作为文化遗产事业的主要承载平台之一,其功能具有文化遗产事业的共性--教育、科研、经济功能,博物馆的公益性主要体现在教育和科研两项功能上.近年来,国家和各级政府对文博工作高度重视,社会各界对文博工作大力支持,博物馆要抓住机遇、开拓创新,大力推进博物馆事业的发展.     

Challenging a Terrorist Tag in the Media: Framing the Politics of Resistance and an Iranian Opposition Group

Scholars have shown that media framing has a powerful effect on citizen perception and policy debates. Research has provided less insight into the ability of marginalized actors to promote their preferred frames in the media in a dynamic political context. The efforts of an exiled Iranian opposition group to get its name removed from official terror lists in the United States, United Kingdom, and EU provides a valuable platform to examine this problem. Using content analysis, I explore how the group promoted its frames in the opinion sections of major world news publications over nine years (2003–2012). I then examine the extent to which journalists aligned to its frames, as opposed to rival official frames, over time in the larger arena of news. The results support research showing that by nurturing small opportunities, marginalized political actors can expand media capacity and influence, but these effects are mediated at least in part by critical or focusing events that make rival frames less salient. The study sheds light on the complex relationship between activists, the government, and the media. It has implications for the ability of marginalized political actors to get their frames into public discourse. It also has implications for terror tagging and media coverage of other controversial issues.     

Regional Journals in Geography: A Vision for the 21st Century*

Abstract

This paper (originally published in The North West Geographer, 1997, 1(1), 2–17)) contributes to the debate on journals in geography and the production of geographical knowledge by considering a hitherto neglected issue – the role of regional journals of geography. Initially, an overview is provided which considers issues such as the status of the regional journal within the discipline and its fortune relative to the changing concerns of geography in the late 20th Century. A case study of The Manchester Geographer then critically appraises this particular journal's contribution to geographical knowledge. Finally, and in conclusion, some suggestions are offered which it is believed would ensure that regional journals perform a useful and unique role in the production of geographical knowledge in the 21st Century.     

From Corporatism to Public Utilities: Workplace Pensions in the 21st Century

For many Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, workplace pensions have been an important mechanism for supplementing state‐sponsored social security. Notwithstanding significant differences between developed economies in the significance attached to workplace pensions, provision has been typically encouraged through preferential tax policies on benefits and compensation packages. If relevant for the baby‐boom generation, it is doubtful that these arrangements will be as important for future generations. As state‐sponsored social security has been discounted in terms of promised value and entitlement, traditional workplace pensions have been closing and replaced by retirement saving instruments that are neither as lucrative nor as dependable. Retrenchment in workplace pensions has prompted governments to consider and, in some cases, develop different types of retirement savings institutions. This paper charts the decline of traditional workplace pensions, the apparent inadequacy of alternatives such as money‐purchase (defined contribution) schemes, and the rise of what are referred to as ‘public utilities’: government sponsored savings institutions designed to compensate for the decline (in coverage and promised value) of workplace pensions albeit at a more modest level than that associated with traditional defined benefit schemes. Reference is made to the experience of the USA, the UK, and Australia with passing comments of related developments in Germany and continental Europe. It is argued that the rise of public utilities in this domain is indicative of the transformation of corporate capitalism over the past 25 years and the realisation that the costs of neoliberalism may be so significant that governments have to take responsibility, once again, for underwriting retirement welfare.     

20世纪江苏考古工作的回顾与21世纪的展望

对江苏20世纪的考古工作进行了客观的总结,并对21世纪江苏的考古工作进行了科学的展望。     

Mobile Peoples: Pastoralists and Herders at the Beginning of the 21st Century

Bruce Trigger's and Adam Smith's comparative studies of state-level societies provide new theoretical approaches and are important components in a resurgence of explicit comparative analysis of early states by archaeologists. Trigger presents a massive systematic comparison of seven ancient states on an unusually large number of themes, whereas Smith carries out more intensive comparisons of a smaller sample on more limited themes. These well-written works make significant contributions to a number of areas, including empirical analysis, theory, and comparative methods.     

21世纪以来海外华侨华人社会的变迁与特点探析

论文从华侨华人的人口统计特征、华侨华人社会内部的差异性与认同的多元性、与祖籍国联系的密切以及在居住国地位的提高四个方面,分析解读了21世纪以来海外华侨华人社会发生的巨大变化,并就后疫情时代加强华侨华人研究提出几点思考。论文认为,应该客观理性认识日益复杂多变的国际环境;要严格界定和区分“华侨”与“华人”的概念,并且审慎思考“华侨华人”与“华人散居者”这一术语在英文语境中的接轨;应该从国际移民视角审视和看待中国的海外移民和侨务工作,消除偏见误解,为中国移民正名,为中国侨务工作正名。