The increased demographic presence of Latino individuals has gradually resulted in growing political influence and representation. This growing presence and influence has altered the American political landscape, drawing sudden attention among scholars, the media, and political pundits. This article investigates four aspects of the growing…

During most of the twentieth century, Mexico was governed by one of the longest-ruling authoritarian parties in the contemporary world. Even as most Latin American countries democratized in the 1980s, Mexico remained under the control of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). It was not until the 2000 presidential election that a two-party…

The article reports on a study investigating influences on Australian politicians' decision making for early childhood education and care (ECEC) policy. The astronomical concept of dark matter is utilised as a metaphor for considering normalising, and therefore frequently difficult to detect and disrupt, influences implicated in politicians'…

During the last decade the agenda of local and global politics is heavily marked by the encounter of two powerful currents, namely democracy and political Islam. On the one hand Islam as a religion itself is facing a cultural dialectic between a modern and an authentic form, producing a synthesis which is only to be criticized again by a new…

This paper considers George A. Reisch's account of the role of Cold War political forces in shaping the apolitical stance that came to dominate philosophy of science in the late 1940s and 1950s. It argues that at least as early as the 1930s, Logical Empiricists such as Rudolf Carnap already held that philosophy of science could not properly have…

Studies have found that prior involvement in student politics while in school seems to be a good predictor of adult political engagement. While most studies of adults have obtained retrospective data on participation in school elections, there have been few studies of students about this activity. We contribute to this latter relatively unexplored…

In December 2007, political violence erupted in Kenya after a general election. Both Kenya and the international community were confronted with the question as to why citizens of a hitherto peaceful nation would engage in acts of hooliganism and violence after exercising a democratic right in a national election. This paper examines how new…

Adolescent voluntary associations are particularly well positioned in the life course to encourage voting as youth become full citizens. Extracurriculars socialize students into voting by habituating them to civic engagement and by connecting them to politically engaged cultures. We establish this argument by testing the effects of high school…

Internet technology has provided people with unprecedented abilities to filter the information they encounter, leading many scholars to fear that people will be exposed to less diversity of perspectives and fragment into homogeneous interest groups. Exposure to a wide range of topics and perspectives about political information in particular is…

With the 2008 election quickly approaching, candidates continue the scramble to fund their campaigns--collecting money from individuals, corporations, and labor unions. Students can learn a great deal about the political system by examining how politicians are financed. The vast majority of high school students do not understand the influence of…

Recounts Jimmy Carter's past experiences with education and speculates about his administration's attitudes toward education. (IRT)

The development of the institution of clientage is traced from ancient Rome to modern times. The patron-client relationships in the hierarchical nature of society and institutions in Spain and Latin America are specifically examined. (RM)

Based on ten months of ethnographic fieldwork, including more than 65 in-depth interviews with Chinese university students and higher education administrators, this study examines the roots of an emerging community service learning movement in mainland China. The dissertation focuses on a case study of a pioneering Chinese Party State-sponsored…

Legislators and higher education leaders need to recognize that there will probably always be conflict and tension between them, but both must attempt to keep this conflict and tension under control and direct it so as to provide a constructive relationship. (Author/IRT)

Describes the workings of the political system as it is important to social workers. Discusses three significant issues in politics: (1) the role of money; (2) crises as pervasive political phenomena; and (3) the habituating nature of political participation. (ABL)