It is our pleasure to present Volume 107 Issue 2. The majority of the articles in this issue are manuscripts that were originally processed by the UNT team. As always, we will continue the tradition of providing a brief introduction summarizing the basic arguments of each article that appears in the issue. The introduction is organized to provide the reader with a quick glimpse of the content of the issue, so as to pique the interest of the reader. Thus, rather than a synthesized essay, our introductions will provide clear and straightforward summaries of each piece.
This issue contains several articles that should be of great contemporary interest to the readers of the Review. We believe that the articles that appear in this issue speak to a number of timely and enduring questions in political science, as well as opening exciting new lines of research. These include such questions as: What is the relationship between electronic communication and political protest and violence? What was the real meaning of “Marbury v. Madison”? What impact does the presence of openly gay legislators have on the views and voting behavior of their straight counterparts? How do individuals form opinions on public issues when they have limited substantive knowledge or direct experience? How are patterns of social and ethnic identification shaped by conflict? And, of course, the continuing debate over the importance of “genopolitics” in American political behavior.
IN THIS ISSUE
In “Technology and Collective Action: The Effect of Cell Phone Coverage on Political Violence in Africa,” Jan Pierskalla and Florian Hollenbach address the impact that the spread of cell phone technology has had on violent collective action in Africa. In a very timely argument, they contend that the increased availability of cell phones on the continent has allowed political groups to overcome collective action problems more easily and to improve in-group cooperation and coordination. Combining spatially disaggregated data on cell phone coverage and on the location of organized violent events in Africa with careful empirical analysis, they convincingly demonstrate that the availability of cell phone coverage significantly and substantially increases the probability of violent conflict. This article should prompt considerable interest in the effects of electronic communication on political mobilization more broadly.
In “Capitol Mobility: Madisonian Representation and the Location and Relocation of Capitals in the United States,” Eric Engstrom, Jessie Hammond, and John Scott examine an important but seemingly underappreciated component of American political development and institutional design—the geographic placement of capital cities. They argue that decisions to locate capitals in the United States have been made in accordance with the theory of representative government that originated in this country, especially as articulated by James Madison. Using historical census and political boundaries data, the authors convincingly demonstrate that the original placement and subsequent relocation of state capital cities, as well as the placement of Washington, DC, follow a consistent pattern of being at or near the population center of the relevant jurisdiction, thereby maximizing citizens’ access to their seat of government.
In “Cold Case File: Indictable Acts and Officer Accountability in Marbury v. Madison,” Karen Orren and Chris Walker do some sleuthing to uncover a long-lost secret of this most familiar of all Supreme Court cases. The failure of James Madison, and by extension his boss Thomas Jefferson, to deliver Marbury's commission was potentially a criminal act. Therefore, one of the delicate matters that Justice John Marshall was confronted with in this case was the possibility of triggering prosecutions of members of the Jefferson administration and a government crisis of the first magnitude in the young republic. Marshall's clever side-stepping of this outcome is remembered today only for launching judicial review; however, Orren and Walker argue that it also had the fateful consequence of inaugurating the tradition in American constitutional law of virtual immunity from prosecution of public officials. Digging deeply into English and colonial American legal history, they argue that this immunity was by no means required by the precedents Marshall had before him.
Andrew Reynolds, in a novel piece titled “Representation and Rights: The Impact of LGBT Legislators in Comparative Perspective,” presents cross-national data to demonstrate that more and more openly gay candidates are winning office. More important, his analyses show that the presence of openly gay legislators has a transformative effect on the views and voting behavior of their straight counterparts. Importantly, it does not take a large proportion of openly gay legislators for their presence to have an impact on the passage of laws that enhance gay rights. Even small gains by openly gay legislators in winning elective office pay large dividends in social and legal progress.
In “Politics in the Mind's Eye: Imagination as a Link between Social and Political Cognition, Michael Bang Petersen and Lane Aarøe offer a new explanation for how individuals form opinions on public issues when they have limited substantive knowledge or direct experience. They argue that individuals use their imagination, often referred to as “decoupled cognition,” to produce vivid mental pictures of relevant events and groups in mass politics. Using these vivid mental pictures as input, psychological mechanisms of social cognition help process and facilitate individuals’ reasoning about public issues. One of the strengths of this article is the repeated testing of their theoretical idea from a variety of angles. First they develop and thoroughly validate a scale for measuring individual differences in imagination. Then they conduct seven primary studies, with five separate samples of individuals in the United States and Denmark, using explicit, implicit, and behavioral measures to test their empirical hypotheses.
Nicholas Sambanis and Moses Shayo in “Social Identification and Ethnic Conflict” address three important questions in the study of ethnic conflict: When do ethnic cleavages increase the risk of conflict? Under what conditions is a strong common identity likely to emerge, thereby reducing that risk? How are patterns of social identification shaped by conflict? They develop a simple model to address these questions and demonstrate how conflict and identification patterns reinforce each other. In particular they show how a small group of ethnic radicals can derail a peaceful equilibrium, leading to the polarization of the entire population, and they illustrate this process via the careful reexamination of several historical cases.
Gary King, Jennifer Pan, and Margaret Roberts in “How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression” examine how censorship of social media posts is practiced in China. In an impressive empirical effort, they located, downloaded, and analyzed the content of millions of social media posts originating from nearly 1,400 social media services all over China that were transmitted BEFORE the Chinese government was able to censor them. Using computer-assisted text analysis in Chinese, they find that—contrary to previous thinking on the subject—posts with negative criticism of the state and its policies are not more likely to be censored. Indeed, criticism of the state, its leaders, and policies is somewhat tolerated as an outlet for social frustrations. The authors argue that state censorship is targeted at curtailing collective action by silencing comments that seek to or spur social mobilization, regardless of content. This piece provides a new way of looking at the role of censorship and social communication in China.
In “Crossing the Line: Local Ethnic Geography and Voting in Ghana,” Nahomi Ichino and Noah Nathan, examine the proposition that voters support co-ethnic politicians because they expect politicians to favor their co-ethnics once in office. They point out that, because most of the goods that politicians can provide are nonexcludable, then this should affect the voters’ assessment of the ability of a co-ethnic candidate to deliver benefits. In fact, what they find (using a new dataset of geo-coded polling-station-level election results along with survey data from Ghana) is that similar voters are less likely to vote for the party of their own ethnic group, and more likely to support a party associated with another group, when the local ethnic geography favors the other group. They argue that this finding helps explain why there is not a direct correlation between ethnic identity and voter choice in Africa (and by implication elsewhere), and the study highlights the role of geography in explaining the role of ethnicity in politics.
Finally, in this issue we present a special forum section that focuses on the debate over genopolitics. In this section two sets of authors criticize an article published in the APSR in Volume 106, Issue 1. That article by Evan Charney and William English, titled “Candidate Genes and Political Behavior,” was quite critical of earlier work that had argued in favor of the genetic basis for political behavior. In two rebuttals of the Charney and English piece, James Fowler and Christopher Dawes in “In Defense of Genopolitics” and Kristen Diane Deppe, Scott Stoltenberg, Kevin B. Smith, and John Hibbing in “Candidate Genes and Voter Turnout: Further Evidence on the Role of 5-HTTLPR” refute the criticisms of the genopolitics approach that appeared in the Charney and English article. In their rejoinder, Charney and English defend their findings and reiterate their criticism of existing work on genopolitics. This forum should do much in stimulating further debate over the role of genopolitics in the study of political behavior, not only in the United States but in other countries as well.
INSTRUCTIONS TO CONTRIBUTORS
The American Political Science Review (APSR) publishes scholarly research of exceptional merit, focusing on important issues and demonstrating the highest standards of excellence in conceptualization, exposition, methodology, and craftsmanship. A significant advance in understanding of politics—–whether empirical, interpretive, or theoretical—–is the criterion for publication in the Review. Because the APSR reaches a diverse audience, authors must demonstrate how their analysis illuminates or answers an important research question of general interest in political science. For the same reason, authors must strive to be understandable to as many scholars as possible, consistent with the nature of their material.
The APSR publishes original work. Submissions should not include tables, figures, or substantial amounts of text that already have been published or are forthcoming in other places. In many cases, republication of such material would violate the copyright of the other publisher. Neither does the APSR consider submissions that are currently under review at other journals or that duplicate or overlap with parts of larger manuscripts submitted to other publishers (whether of books, printed periodicals, or online journals). If you have any questions about whether these policies apply in your case, you should address the issues in a cover letter to the editors or as part of the author comments section during online submission. You should also notify the editors of any related submissions to other publishers, whether for book or periodical publication, during the pendency of your submission's review at the APSR—–regardless of whether they have yet been accepted. The editors may request copies of related publications.
The APSR uses a double-blind review process. You should follow the guidelines for preparing an anonymous submission in the “Specific Procedures” section that follows.
If your manuscript contains quantitative evidence and analysis, you should describe your procedures in sufficient detail to permit reviewers to understand and evaluate what has been done and—–in the event the article is accepted for publication—–to permit other scholars to replicate your results and to carry out similar analyses on other datasets. With surveys, for example, provide sampling procedures, response rates, and question wordings; calculate response rates according to one of the standard formulas given by the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Standard Definitions: Final Dispositions of Case Codes and Outcome Rates for Surveys (Lenexa, KS: AAPOR, 2006).Footnote 1 For experiments, provide full descriptions of experimental protocols, methods of subject recruitment and selection, payments to subjects, debriefing procedures, and so on. In any case involving human subjects, the editors may require certification of appropriate institutional review and/or conformity with generally accepted norms.Footnote 2
The strength of evidence necessary for the publication of quantitative empirical findings cannot be captured by any single criterion, such as the conventional .05 level of statistical significance. The journal's coeditors—following the evolving disciplinary standard among reviewers—–will evaluate the strength of findings on a range of criteria beyond statistical significance, including substantive significance, theoretical aptness, the importance of the problem under study, and the feasibility of obtaining additional evidence.
In addition, authors of quantitative or experimental articles are expected to address the issue of data availability. You must normally indicate both where (online) you will deposit the information that is necessary to reproduce the numerical results and when that information will be posted (such as “on publication” or “by [definite date]”). You should be prepared, when posting, to provide not only the data used in the analysis but also the syntax files, specialized software, and any other information necessary to reproduce the numerical results in the manuscript. Where an exception is claimed, you should clearly explain why the data or other critical materials used in the manuscript cannot be shared or why they must be embargoed for a limited period beyond publication.
Similarly, authors of qualitative, observational, or textual articles, or of articles that combine such methods with quantitative analysis, should indicate their sources fully and clearly enough to permit ready verification by other scholars—–including precise page references to any published material cited and clear specification (e.g., file number) of any archival sources. Wherever possible, use of interactive citations is encouraged. Where field or observational research is involved, anonymity of participants will always be respected, but the texts of interviews, group discussions, observers’ notes, and the like, should be made available on the same basis (and subject to the same exceptions) as with quantitative data.
For articles that include candidate gene or candidate gene-by-environment studies, APSR uses the same policy as the journal Behavior Genetics.Footnote 3 In relevant part, that policy states that an article will normally be considered for publication only if it meets one or more of the following criteria:
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• It was an exploratory study or test of a novel hypothesis, but with an adequately powered, direct replication study reported in the same article.
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• It was an exploratory analysis or test of a novel hypothesis in the context of an adequately powered study, and the finding meets the statistical criteria for genome-wide significance—–taking into account all sources of multiple testing (e.g. phenotypes, genotypes, environments, covariates, subgroups).
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• It is a rigorously conducted, adequately powered, direct replication study of a previously reported result.
Articles should be self-contained; you should not simply refer readers to other publications for descriptions of these basic research procedures.
Please indicate variables included in statistical analyses by italicizing the entire name of the variable—–the first time it is mentioned in the text—–and by capitalizing its first letter in all uses. You should also use the same names for variables in text, tables, and figures. Do not use acronyms or computational abbreviations when discussing variables in the text. All variables that appear in tables or figures should have been mentioned in the text, standard summary statistics (n, mean, median, standard deviation, range, etc.) provided, and the reason for their inclusion discussed. However, tables and figures should also be comprehensible without reference to the text (e.g., in any figures, axes should be clearly labeled). Please bear in mind also that neither the published or online versions of the APSR normally can provide figures in color; be sure that a grayscale version will be comprehensible to referees and readers.
You may be asked to submit additional documentation if procedures are not sufficiently clear. If you advise readers that additional information is available on request, you should submit equally anonymous copies of that information with your manuscript as “supplemental materials.” If this additional information is extensive, please inquire about alternate procedures.
Manuscripts that, in the judgment of the co-editors, are largely or entirely critiques of, or commentaries on, articles previously published in the APSR will be reviewed for possible inclusion in a forum section, using the same general procedures as for other manuscripts. Well before any publication, however, such manuscripts will also be sent to the scholar(s) whose work is being addressed. The author(s) of the previously published article will be invited to comment to the editors and to submit a rejoinder, which also will be peer-reviewed. Although the APSR does publish forums it does so very rarely. We do not publish rejoinders to rejoinders.
The APSR accepts only electronic submissions (at www.editorialmanager.com/apsr). The website provides detailed information about how to submit, what formatting is required, and what type of digital files may be uploaded. Please direct any questions regarding new submissions to the journal's editorial offices at apsr@unt.edu.
Manuscript Formatting
Manuscripts should be no longer than 12,000 words including text, all tables and figures, notes, references, and appendices intended for publication. Font size must be at least 12 point for all parts of the submission, including notes and references, and all body text (including references) should be double-spaced. Include an abstract of no more than 150 words. Explanatory footnotes may be included, but should not be used for simple citations. Do not use endnotes. Observe all of the further formatting instructions given on our website. Doing so lightens the burden on reviewers, copyeditors, and compositors. Submissions that violate our guidelines on formatting or length will be rejected without review.
For submission and review purposes, you may locate tables and figures (on separate pages and only one to a page) approximately where they fall in the text, but with an in-text locator for each, in any case (e.g., [Table 3 about here]). If your submission is accepted for publication, you may also be asked to submit high-resolution digital source files of graphs, charts, or other types of figures. Following acceptance, all elements within any tables submitted (text, numerals, symbols, etc.) should be accessible for editing and reformatting to meet the journal's print specifications (e.g., they should not be included as single images not subject to reformatting). If you have any doubts about how to format the required in-text citations and/or bibliographic reference sections, please consult the latest edition of The Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010) and review recent issues of the APSR.
Specific Procedures
Please follow these specific procedures for submission:
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1. Before submitting any manuscript to the APSR, download a PDF of the Transfer of Copyright Agreement from the Editorial Manager login page at http://www.editorialmanager.com/apsr and be sure its terms and requirements, as well as the permissions granted to authors under its provisions, are acceptable to you. A signed agreement will be required for all work published in this journal.
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2. When you submit (at www.editorialmanager.com/apsr), you will be invited to provide a short list of appropriate reviewers of your manuscript. Do not include on this list anyone who has already commented on the research included in your submission. Likewise, exclude any current or recent collaborators, institutional colleagues, mentors, students, or close friends. You may also “oppose” potential reviewers by name, as potentially biased or otherwise inappropriate, but you will be expected to provide specific reasons. The editors will refer to these lists in selecting reviewers, though there can be no guarantee that they will influence final reviewer selections.
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3. You will also be required to upload a minimum of two separate files.
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a) An “anonymous” digital file of your submission, which should not include any information that identifies the authors. Also excluded should be the names of any other collaborators in the work (including research assistants or creators of tables or figures). Likewise do not provide in-text links to any online databases used that are stored on any personal websites or at institutions with which any of the co-authors are affiliated. Do not otherwise thank colleagues or include institution names, web addresses, or other potentially identifying information.
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b) A separate title page should include the full manuscript title, plus names and contact information (mailing address, telephone, fax, and e-mail address) for all credited authors, in the order their names should appear, as well as each author's academic rank and institutional affiliation. You may also include any acknowledgments or other author notes about the development of the research (e.g., previous presentations of it) as part of this separate title page. In the case of multiple authors, indicate which should receive all correspondence from the APSR. You may also choose to include a cover letter.
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4. Please make sure the file contains all tables, figures, appendices, and references cited in the manuscript.
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5. If your previous publications are cited, please do so in a way that does not make obvious the authorship of the work being submitted to the APSR. This is usually best accomplished by referring to yourself and any co-authors in the third person and including normal references to the work cited within the list of references. Your prior publications should be included in the reference section in their normal alphabetical location. Assuming that in-text references to your previous work are in the third person, you should not redact self-citations and references (possible exceptions being any work that is “forthcoming” in publication and that may not be generally accessible to others). Manuscripts with potentially compromised anonymity may be returned, potentially delaying the review processes.
Further Questions
Do not hesitate to consult the APSR Editorial Offices with more specific questions by telephone (940-891-6803) or by sending an e-mail to apsr@unt.edu
ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO THE APSR
Back issues of the APSR are available in several electronic formats and through several vendors. Except for the last three years (as an annually “moving wall”), back issues of the APSR beginning with Volume 1, Number 1 (November 1906), are available on-line through JSTOR (http://www.jstor.org/). At present, JSTOR's complete journal collection is available only via institutional subscription (e.g., through many college and university libraries). For APSA members who do not have access to an institutional subscription to JSTOR, individual subscriptions to its APSR content are available. Please contact Member Services at APSA for further information, including annual subscription fees.
Individual members of the American Political Science Association can access recent issues of the APSR, Perspectives, and PS through the APSA website (www.apsanet.org) with their username and password. Individual nonmember access to the online edition will also be available, but only through institutions that hold either a print-plus-electronic subscription or an electronic-only subscription, provided the institution has registered and activated its online subscription.
Full text access to current issues of the APSR, Perspectives, and PS is also available online by library subscription from a number of database vendors. Currently, these include University Microfilms Inc. (UMI) (via its CD-ROMs General Periodicals Online, Social Science Index, and the online database ProQuest Direct), Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) (through its online database First Search as well as on CD-ROMs and magnetic tape), and the Information Access Company (IAC) (through its Expanded Academic Index, InfoTrac, and several online services [see later discussion]). Others may be added from time to time.
The APSR is also available on databases through six online services: Datastar (Datastar), Business Library (Dow Jones), Cognito (IAC), Encarta Online Library (IAC), IAC Business (Dialog), and Newsearch (Dialog).
The editorial office of the APSR is not involved in the subscription process to either JSTOR for back issues or the other vendors for current issues. Please contact APSA, your reference librarian, or the database vendor for further information about availability.
OTHER CORRESPONDENCE
The American Political Science Association's address, telephone, and fax are 1527 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 483–2512 (voice), and (202) 483–2657 (fax). E-mail: apsa@apsanet.org. Please direct correspondence as follows.
Information, including news and notes, for PS:
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Dr. Robert J-P. Hauck, Editor, PS
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E-mail: rhauck@apsanet.org
Circulation and subscription correspondence (domestic claims for nonreceipt of issues must be made within four months of the month of publication; overseas claims, within eight months):
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Director of Member Services
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E-mail: membership@apsanet.org
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Reprint permissions:
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E-mail: Rights@cambridge.org
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Advertising information and rates:
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Advertising Coordinator,
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Cambridge University Press
EXPEDITING REQUESTS FOR COPYING APSR, PERSPECTIVES, AND PS ARTICLES FOR CLASS USE AND OTHER PURPOSES
Class Use
The Comprehensive Publisher Photocopy Agreement between APSA and the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) permits bookstores and copy centers to receive expedited clearance to copy articles from the APSR and PS in compliance with the Association's policies and applicable fees. The general fee for articles is 75 cents per copy. However, current Association policy levies no fee for the first 10 copies of a printed article, whether in course packs or on reserve. Smaller classes that rely heavily on articles (i.e., upper-level undergraduate and graduate classes) can take advantage of this provision, and faculty ordering 10 or fewer course packs should bring it to the attention of course pack providers. APSA policy also permits free use of the electronic library reserve, with no limit on the number of students who can access the electronic reserve.
Both large and small classes that rely on these articles can take advantage of this provision. The CCC's address, telephone, and fax are 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750–8400 (voice), and (978) 750–4474 (fax). This agreement pertains only to the reproduction and distribution of APSA materials as hard copies (e.g., photocopies, microfilm, and microfiche).
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has created a standardized form for college faculty to submit to a copy center or bookstore to request copyrighted material for course packs. The form is available through the CCC, which will handle copyright permissions.
APSA also has a separate agreement pertaining to CCC's Academic E-Reserve Service. This agreement allows electronic access for students and instructors of a designated class at a designated institution for a specified article or set of articles in electronic format. Access is by password for the duration of a class.
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APSR Authors
If you are the author of an APSR article, you may use your article in course packs or other printed materials without payment of royalty fees and you may post it at personal or institutional websites as long as the APSA copyright notice is included.
Other Uses of APSA-Copyrighted Materials
For any further copyright issues, please contact the APSA Reprints Department.
INDEXING
Articles appearing in the APSR before June 1953 were indexed in The Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature. Current issues are indexed in ABC Pol Sci; America, History and Life 1954–; Book Review Index; Current Contents: Social and Behavioral Sciences; EconLit; Energy Information Abstracts; Environmental Abstracts; Historical Abstracts; Index of Economic Articles; Information Service Bulletin; International Bibliography of Book Reviews of Scholarly Literature in the Humanities and Social Sciences; International Bibliography of Periodical Literature in the Humanities and Social Sciences; International Index; International Political Science Abstracts; the Journal of Economic Literature; Periodical Abstracts; Public Affairs; Public Affairs Information Service International Recently Published Articles; Reference Sources; Social Sciences and Humanities Index; Social Sciences Index; Social Work Research and Abstracts; and Writings on American History. Some of these sources may be available in electronic form through local public or educational libraries. Microfilm of the APSR, beginning with Volume 1, and the index of the APSR through 1969 are available through University Microfilms Inc., 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 (www.umi.com). The Cumulative Index to the American Political Science Review, Volumes 63 to 89: 1969–95, is available through the APSA.
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