In the Media
In the Media
Ecaterina Locoman in the Washington Post: Moldovans vote on Sunday. Here’s the man to watch.
- Faculty Member(s): Ecaterina Locoman
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On Sunday, Moldova will be holding parliamentary elections. Most observers will likely analyze this as a referendum on whether the Eastern European nation orients itself toward the West or toward Russia – and since the pro-Russian Socialists are likely to win power, will conclude that Russia has won its loyalty. But the election’s main effect will be to cement and legitimize oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc’s total controlover the country’s political life.
Eric Davis in The New Middle East: The Great Betrayal: 10 Destructive Consequences of Trump’s Withdrawal of US Troops from Syria
- Faculty Member(s): Eric Davis
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The decision by the Trump administration to withdraw US troops from Syria represents a foreign-policy decision which will have a negative impact not only on the MENA region but far beyond. At first glance, one might be asked why withdrawing 2,200 American troops from Syria should be framed in such a negative light? Unfortunately, this decision reflects much more than a simple drawdown of troops in Syria. What will be the ramifications of Trump’s decision?
Eric Davis in The New Middle East: Donald Trump goes to the United Nations: The Perils of a "Foreign Policy of Narcissism"
- Faculty Member(s): Eric Davis
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Donald Trump’s trip to the United Nations this past week highlighted not the only the United States’ retreat from its position as a powerful global political actor, but the chaotic state of current American foreign policy. Because the US holds the current Security Council presidency, Trump chaired the UN Security Council.
Hannah Walker in Perspectives on Politics' FirstView: The Civic Voluntarism of “Custodial Citizens”: Involuntary Criminal Justice Contact, Associational Life, and Political Participation
- Faculty Member(s): Hannah Walker
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A growing body of research explores the influence of involuntary criminal justice contact on political participation, demonstrating that all types of contact weaken political participation. We posit, however, that personal connections to civil society organizations (CSOs) moderate the negative effects of involuntary criminal justice contact on political participation, particularly political activism beyond registering to vote and voting. We test this proposition with individual-level and aggregate-level data from metropolitan and municipal Chicago. Our findings confirm a paradox of participation by custodial citizens. One, we demonstrate positive, statistically significant, and substantive effects of personal connections to CSOs on nonvoting political participation by custodial citizens. Two, the negative effects of involuntary criminal justice contact on voting participation among individuals and communities may endure, despite personal connections to CSOs, even in a state where the franchise is restored immediately after incarceration. Our study suggests that an associational account of political participation deepens our understanding of the political behavior of custodial citizens and their communities in the age of mass incarceration.
Hannah Walker in The Washington Post: What gets ex-prisoners politically and civically involved?
- Faculty Member(s): Hannah Walker
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In November, Floridians will vote on a constitutional amendment to automatically re-enfranchise citizens with nonviolent records after release from prison. Advocates and opponents are watching the campaign closely as a significant moment in the movement to give “returning citizens” the right to vote.
- R. Daniel Kelemen in The New York Times: E.U.’s Leadership Seeks to Contain Hungary’s Orban
- Melanye Price in The New York Times: Ayanna Pressley and the Might of the Black Political Left
- R. Daniel Kelemen in Slate Magazine: The Failure of the Center-Right
- Tatsiana Kulakevich in Washington Post's Monkey Cage: Why is Belarus cracking down on independent journalists — and the Internet?
