Category Archives: Politics

National Deficit Outlook Unchanged Under Obama: UMD Policy Analysis

Public Policy’s Philip Joyce Offers Election Policy Fact Check

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – From a public policy point of view, the national debt accumulation since President Obama took office is largely a result of policies put in place prior to his inauguration, says a new analysis by University of Maryland expert Philip Joyce. He adds that Obama’s policies will make little impact in the debt over the next decade. (more…)

Read More

New Report Reveals Food, Water Disparities along U.S.-Mexico Border

A UA study has found poverty, water scarcity, food insecurity and interdependence between the United States and Mexico along the border

The U.S.-Mexico border is the border in the world with the greatest disparity in access to food and water needed for human survival, according to a report commissioned and published by the Southwest Center at the University of Arizona. (more…)

Read More

Haitians Struggle with the Costs Associated with Crime

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— As violent crime continues to rise in Haiti, more households are helping their children cope with the trauma as well as deal with burdensome funeral and burial costs, a new University of Michigan report indicated.

Violent crimes were more common in densely packed zones in Haiti’s largest urban communities, including Port-au-Prince, Les Cayes and Gonaives.

Researchers released the new survey that looks at the economic costs of violent crime in Haiti. The report is the second in a monthly series that features longitudinal surveys of 3,000 households from August 2011 and July 2012. (more…)

Read More

Rose McDermott: The Political Genome

A recent review of research co-authored by Rose McDermott highlights the role that genes play in political preferences, an area of study that began to draw significant attention in the last decade. McDermott speaks with Courtney Coelho about this growing field of research, its evolutionary roots, and whether it means anything for the prediction of future election results.

The connection between biology and political science is relatively new, but it’s one that has grown rapidly, with a boom in research linking genetics and political preferences in the last decade. Rose McDermott, professor of political science, has done research on this topic and recently co-authored a review, published in Trends in Genetics, of studies in recent years. (more…)

Read More

Richard Arenberg: Defending the filibuster

In Defending the Filibuster: The Soul of the Senate, political scientists and former Senate staffers Richard Arenberg and Robert Dove argue that the solution to recent criticism of the filibuster is not to do away with it. Arenberg speaks with Courtney Coelho about the history of Senate debate, how its use has been distorted in recent years and why reforms, not abolishment, are key to preserving Senate minority rights.

A new book co-authored by Brown University political scientist Richard Arenberg argues that the filibuster, used to extend debate on pending legislation in the Senate, is a necessary entity, giving a voice to the minority and preserving the Constitution’s principles of checks and balances. The filibuster has come under fire in recent years, with critics saying it serves no purpose other than to perpetuate partisan polarization and stall the decision-making process. (more…)

Read More

From Town Hall Forums to Xbox LIVE, Microsoft Focuses on Involving Young People in the Political Process for 2012 U.S. Presidential Election

Company’s latest efforts are part of an ongoing initiative to close the “opportunity divide” facing the next generation.

REDMOND, Wash. — August 23, 2012 — In the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, young people emerged as a force to be reckoned with. They canvassed neighborhoods, worked phone banks and, on Election Day itself, streamed to the polls in numbers eclipsed only by the 1972 election. But in 2012 it appears young people may be less engaged in the political process, even though the issues at the forefront — jobs, education, student loan debt — are ones that affect them directly.

Charles Hauser has heard all this firsthand. A student at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C., he admits he doesn’t think his peers are as involved politically as they could be. “I have heard some young people say they don’t feel their votes count,” he says. “I also feel it is harder to be actively involved when there is so much turmoil economically.” (more…)

Read More

Chain of Violence: Study Shows Impact on Palestinian and Israeli Children

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Children exposed to ethnic and political violence in the Middle East are more aggressive than other children, a new study shows. And the younger children are, the more strongly they are affected, in a “chain of violence” that goes from political and ethnic strife, to violence in communities, schools, and families, and ends with their own aggressive behavior. (more…)

Read More