The study of educational politics in the U.S. has been locked within an intellectual straightjacket variously called pluralism, pragmatism, or behavioral science. Explains the field's shift from a behavioral paradigm to a policy paradigm. Discusses various policy research and analysis streams, contributions of educational politics study to policy…

Describes a classroom exercise designed to heighten student interest in and understanding of political labels. Presents a survey to help students place themselves on the political spectrum. Suggests that discussion following such a survey will help students understand peoples' reactions to change. (DK)

Describes an ongoing project that is investigating the correlation between journal cost and citation ratings in the fields of political science and genetics. Previous studies that relate journal costs to other variables are reviewed; the conceptual framework is explained; limitations of the study are considered; and further research is suggested.…

Discusses political education in the postwar Federal Republic of Germany. Describes a U.S. led reeducation program founded upon principles of denazification and democracy and examines German responses. Identifies the influence of the Soviet Union upon West German education. Analyzes the growth of political education in the 1960s, its maturation,…

Discusses the difficulties of providing unity in introductory political science classes. Argues that beginning students will better understand politics if they are shown how to conceive of political figures and events in the same terms as their own experience. Urges a definition of politics that stresses people's relations to one another rather…

Describes the state of confusion that exists among the Canadian government, society, and the Canadian Indian Community. Reviews the ongoing constitutional debate in Canada. Calls for better communication between the Canadian majority population and Canadian Indians. (CFR)

Explored the interactive effects of three major variables affecting message acceptance: (1) source credibility; (2) degree of recipient involvement; and (3) locus of control. Canadian students (381) evaluated a political party's views and credibility. Found credibility had an impact on message acceptance and externally controlled recipients were…

Explores relations between political orientation and cognitive style among Israeli university students. Finds that intolerance of ambiguity contributed significantly to political orientation and that the political Left showed more complex cognitive styles than the Right. Notes implications for testing competing hypotheses about cognitive style and…

Responds to the article "Making the Past into Prologue: A Response to Professor Bennett" by Stephen T. Leonard. Argues against various points made by Leonard. Believes that concern for civic education and scholarly research are not at odds with one another and can be combined. (CMK)

This annotated bibliography, a semiannual series, presents a selection of recent scholarly and general reference works, published in 2000. Works are in the following areas: dictionaries; religion; literature; film; music; political science; history; archaeology; and science and technology. New editions of standard works are highlighted at the end.…

Discusses the four aspects of Max Weber's argument against including advocacy in the political science classroom. Believes that Weber's critique is a useful starting point for considering the issue in relation to contemporary education. Describes two models, critical thinking and civic education, that present advocacy in the political science…

Discusses how theory and science are integrated into "Introduction to International Relations" and "International Relations Theory", two undergraduate courses at Pennsylvania State University (University Park). Highlights five issues that are used in the author's approach to teaching theory and science. (CMK)

Information literacy is becoming an integral component of the higher education curriculum. Following a brief explanation of information literacy, highlighting links to the teaching of Politics at the tertiary level, this article shares lessons learned during a pilot study involving embedding information literacy on a third year Politics course at…

Studies suggest that course-integrated information literacy instruction is an effective way to enhance the quality of student research. However, many political science professors are unfamiliar with the growing information literacy movement in higher education today, with strategies for integrating information literacy into their courses and…

This paper chronicles the life of Democratic Congressman "Tip" O'Neill, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1977-1986. O'Neill's life is recounted, including: (1) encountering the patronage practice in Boston politics; (2) experiences in the Massachusetts legislature; (3) work with the Kennedy brothers and Lyndon Johnson;…