Maxwell School News and Commentary

"The Problem with Primaries," written by Richard Barton, assistant teaching professor of public administration and international affairs, was published in American Purpose. "To free political parties from fringe candidates, we need to eliminate primaries that favor extremes," says Barton.

"Pandemic Politics: The Deadly Toll of Partisanship in the Age of COVID" (Princeton University Press, 2022), co-authored by Professor and Chair of Political Science Shana Kushner Gadarian, was reviewed in Foreign Affairs. "Their book is a sophisticated study, based on voluminous data, of U.S. politics as revealed by the strains and stresses of the pandemic," writes Jessica T. Mathews. 

This article, written by Professor of Political Science Margarita Estévez-Abe and published in the Japanese Journal of Political Science, examines the biographies of female local politicians in Tokyo's 23 Special Ward assemblies to understand the rise of Mama Giin.

There is a "mismatch between policies about abortion and attitudes about abortion at the state level," Shana Gadarian, professor of political science, tells Axios.  While opinions around abortion are "relatively nuanced," even "Republican voters tend to be more pro-choice than the policies that we're seeing in Republican states," Gadarian adds.

“That seems to be what the outcome was—it was a non-outcome outcome. Maybe that’s not the worst thing in the world because I think we do need a presidential election year in which to try to establish some kind of direction on this,” Grant Reeher, professor of political science, tells CNN.

America's first third party, the Anti-Masonic Party, was founded on the conspiracy theory that an elite group of Freemasons were secretly controlling the U.S. government. Freemasonry continued to grow in the United States during the first two decades of the 19th century, in part because it was a good way for people who wanted to enter politics to network, says Mark Schmeller, associate professor of history.

"If Lee Zeldin were to beat Kathy Hochul, that would be basically a political earthquake in the state of New York," Grant Reeher, professor of political science, tells WRVO. "That would change the whole complexion of how the state's politics are going to go in the next four years."

"Upending the New Deal Regulatory Regime: Democratic Party Position Change on Financial Regulation," authored by Richard Barton, assistant teaching professor of public administration and international affairs, was published in Perspectives on Politics.

Both parties have prized veterans as candidates over the years because of the public’s trust in the military and their perceived expertise on foreign policy and government operations, Grant Reeher, professor of political science, tells Military Times.

“Pandemic Politics: The Deadly Toll of Partisanship in the Age of COVID," co-authored by Professor of Political Science Shana Kushner Gadarian, draws on a wealth of new data on public opinion to show how pandemic politics has touched all aspects of Americans’ lives.