Policy & Society

“Obama’s speech Thursday night will not be the most important of his career, nor even his most important electoral speech…But Charlotte ain’t Denver, and this moment calls for neither hope nor change,” writes Thomas F. Schaller, professor of political science at UMBC, in his latest Salon column. Schaller suggests, ‘What it calls for instead is an unapologetic defense of four years worthy of this president’s historical measure.” He expects Obama to tout the successes of his first term, but “to do so in humble, even sober tones,” given the country’s ongoing economic challenges and a less optimistic outlook than dominated… Continue Reading Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in Salon

An article in today’s Baltimore Sun explores the Maryland GOP’s efforts to have a greater impact in the Democratic-leaning state. One aspect of this work could be capitalizing on an open seat for governor and a potentially messy Democratic primary in 2014 by remaining unified behind a single GOP gubernatorial candidate. “They can hope for a disorganized Democratic Party and fuel that dissension,” UMBC political science professor Thomas F. Schaller told the Sun. This could “put them in a position to be there like a trapeze to catch the governor’s race if it drops.”

During his speech accepting the GOP vice presidential nomination, Paul Ryan used strong language blaming President Obama for the unraveling of the bipartisan Bowles-Simpson Commission, created to develop a policy strategy for fiscal sustainability. Ryan remarked, “He created a bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way, and then did exactly nothing.”PolitiFact asked a number of experts, including UMBC political science professor Roy T. Meyers, for their take on Ryan’s remarks. “‘They?’ ‘Them?’ Why didn’t he say, ‘us?’” wrote Meyers. “It’s beyond hypocritical. It’s repeatedly and cynically dishonest.”Experts from the… Continue Reading Roy Meyers, Political Science, on PolitiFact

Social Movements and the New State: The Fate of Pro-Democracy Organizations When Democracy Is Won, from Stanford University Press, is the latest book by Brian K. Grodsky, associate professor of political science at UMBC. Reviewers have called it “exceptionally rich” and “theoretically innovative.” The book description reads: The world’s democracies cheered as the social movements of the Arab Spring ended the reigns of longstanding dictators and ushered in the possibility of democracy. Yet these unique transitions also fit into a broader pattern of democratic breakthroughs around the globe, where political leaders emerge from the pro-democracy movement that helped affect change.… Continue Reading Brian Grodsky, Political Science, Publishes New Book on Pro-Democracy Movements