Tocqueville in Miami: Political culture and political organizing in Miami's Cuban community

This study examines the effectiveness of civic organizations focusing on leadership and the role of culture in politics. The study is based on a quasi-experimental research design and relies primarily on qualitative data. The study focuses on Miami's Cuban community in order to examine the role of public initiative in grassroots civic and community organizations. ^ The Miami Cuban community is a large, institutionally complex and cohesive ethnic community with dense networks of community organizations. The political and economic success of the community makes it an opportune setting for a study of civic organizing. The sheer number of civic organizations to be found in Miami's Cuban community suggests that the community's civic organizations have something to do with the considerable vibrancy and civic capacity of the community. How have the organizations managed to be so successful over so many years and what can be learned about successful civic organizing from their experience?^ Civic organizations in Miami's Cuban community are overwhelmingly ethnic-based organizations. The organizations recreate collective symbols that come from community members' memories of and attachments to the place of origin they hold dear as ethnic Cubans. They recreate a collective Cuban past that community members remember and that is the very basis of the community to which they belong.^ Cuban Miami's ethnically based civic organizations have generally performed better than the literature on civic organizations says they should. They gained greater access to community ties and social capital, and they exhibited greater organizational longevity. The fit between the political culture of civic organizations and that of the broader political community helps to explain this success. Yet they do not perform in the same way or in support of the same social purposes. Some stress individual agency rather than community agency, and some pursue an externally-oriented social purpose, whereas others focus on building an internal community.^

The indestructible union; rudiments of political science for the American citizen,

English edition published under title: The American nation.

¿Es su casa mi casa? Latinos, Socialization, and the Catholic Church

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

The American politics of a Jewish Judea and Samaria

This dissertation poses a set of six questions about one of the Israel Lobby's particular components, a Potential Christian Jewish coalition (PCJc) within American politics that advocates for Israeli sovereignty over "Judea and Samaria" ("the West Bank"). The study addresses: the profiles of the individuals of the PCJc; its policy positions, the issues that have divided it, and what has prevented, and continues to prevent, the coalition from being absorbed into one or more of the more formally organized components of the Israel Lobby; the resources and methods this coalition has used to attempt to influence U.S. policy on (a) the Middle East, and (b) the Arab-Israeli conflict in particular; the successes or failures of this coalition's advocacy and why it has not organized; and what this case reveals about interest group politics and social movements in the United States. This dissertation follows the descriptive-analytic case-study tradition that comprises a detailed analysis of a specific interest group and one policy issue, which conforms to my interest in the potential Christian Jewish coalition that supports a Jewish Judea and Samaria. I have employed participant observation, interviewing, content analysis and documentary research. The findings suggest: The PCJc consists of Christian Zionists and mostly Jews of the center religious denominations. Orthodox Jewish traditions of separation from Christians inhibit like-minded Christians and Jews from organizing. The PCJc opposes an Arab state in Judea and Samaria, and is not absorbed into more formally organized interest groups that support that policy. The PCJc's resources consist of support and funding from conservatives. Methods include use of education, debates and media. Members of the PCJc are successful because they persist in their support for a Jewish Judea and Samaria and meet through other organizations around Judeo-Christian values. The PCJc is deterred from advocacy and organization by a mobilization of bias from a subgovernment in Washington, D.C. comprising Congress, the Executive branch and lobby organizations. The study's results raise questions about interest group politics in America and the degree to which the U.S. political system is pluralistic, suggesting that executive power constrains the agenda to "safe" positions it favors.

The illness narratives of Hispanic American women with coronary heart disease (CHD): An ethnographic approach

Purpose. To provide a descriptive representation of the illness narratives described by Hispanic American women with CHD. ^ Design. Focused ethnographic design. ^ Setting. One outpatient general medicine clinic, one nurse-managed health promotion clinic, and informants' homes in a large metropolitan city located in southeast Texas. ^ Sample. Purposeful sampling from two different sites resulted in 17 interviews being conducted with 14 informants. ^ Method. Focused ethnographic techniques were employed in the designation of participants for the study, data collection, analysis and re-presentation. Audiotaped interviews and fieldwork were transcribed verbatim and analyzed through an iterative process of data reduction, data display, drawing conclusions and verification. ^ Findings. The developing conceptual framework that emerged from the data is labeled after the overarching experience described by informants, the experience of Embodied Exhaustion. Embodied Exhaustion, as described in this study, refers to an ongoing, dynamic, indeterminate experience of mind-body exhaustion resulting from a complex constellation of biologic, psychological and social distresses occurring over the life course. The experience consists of three categories: Taking Care of Others, Wearing Down and Hurting Hearts. Two stabilizing forces were identified: Collective Self and Believing in God. ^ Conclusions. The findings of this study emphasize the importance of framing all research, theory and practice targeting Hispanic women with CHD within a sociocentric paradigm. Nursing is challenged to provide care that extends beyond the physical body of the patient to include the social context of illness, especially the family. ^

Lifetime prevalence and risk factors for cancer in a Mexican American population with severe health disparities: The Cameron County Hispanic Cohort

Retrospective data from the Cameron Country Hispanic Cohort (1) were analyzed to assess the burden of cancer in the Mexican American population living in Brownsville TX. Data provided by the study participants for themselves and their parents and other extended relatives on cancer and related risk factors were used to determine both the prevalence of cancer and these risk factors as well as any associations between them. Lifetime incidence of cancer among the study participants was of 2.8%. Lifetime incidence of cancer among the parents of the study population was calculated for cancer in general and for specific cancer sites to determine the ranking of occurrence of each type of cancer. Some cancer types in this population were ranked higher than what would be expected when compared with national data from Hispanics in the U.S, these were: Liver cancer (3rd vs. 7th nationally in males and 6th vs. 13th nationally in females), stomach cancer (4th vs. 8th nationally in males and 5th vs. 11th nationally in females) and ovarian cancer (3rd vs. 8th nationally in females). A significant association with cancer was found for being born in the United States compared to being born elsewhere (O.R. 1.62, 95% C.I. 1.01–2.60) among study participants and the same association was also found between birth of parents in the United States regardless of gender for cancers in general (O.R. 1.38 95% C.I. 1.12–1.70), stomach cancer (O.R. 1.92 95% C.I. 1.01–3.67) and colorectal cancer (O.R. 2.93 95% C.I. 1.28–6.72). Having been born in the United States and having a family history of cancer was also found to be significantly associated with other risk factors for cancer such as obesity, diabetes and insulin resistance, both among the parents and the participant population, suggesting these interactions are complex. These high rates of cancer and particular prominence of less usual cancer such as liver and ovary in health disparities warrant evaluation of early detection strategies.^

The Economic Basis of Attitudes towards the European Community: Familiarity Breeds Content. Institute for Advanced Studies Political Science Series, 12 April 1994

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the economic basis of mass support for, and opposition to the European Community. In other words the main question is: to what extent, and in what ways, is popular support or opposition to the EC dependent upon economic circumstances and considerations? Behind this research question lies the matter of the legitimacy of the EC in the eyes of citizens across Europe. In some respects the results of this study are frustrating and inconclusive. In other respects, however, the results suggest some clear generalizations and conclusions. First, we have found rather little evidence that the EC or European unification are evaluated in primarily economic terms. Secondly, support seems to be associated more strongly with social and attitudinal variables of a non-economic kind. Thirdly, the figures suggest that diffuse and somewhat idealistic reasons for supporting unification and EC membership tend to outweigh more specific reasons. Fourthly, a solid foundation of inertia, custom, and national tradition seem to maintain support and make it grow.

National Minorities, Nationalizing States, and External National Homelands in the New Europe. Notes toward a Relational Analysis. Institute of Advanced Studies Political Science Series, 11 December 1993

Nationalism remains central to politics in and among the new nation-states. Far from »solving« the region's national question, the most recent reconfiguration of political space – the replacement of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia by some twenty would-be nation-states – only recast it in a new form. It is this new phase and form of the national question that I explore in this paper. I begin by outlining a particular relational configuration – the triadic relational nexus between national minorities, nationalizing states, and external national homelands – that is central to the national question in post-Soviet Eurasia. In the second, and most substantial, section of the paper, I argue that each of the »elements« in this relational nexus – minority, nationalizing state, and homeland – should itself be understood in dynamic and relational terms, not as a fixed, given, or analytically irreducible entity but as a field of differentiated positions and an arena of struggles among competing »stances.« In a brief concluding section, I return to the relational nexus as a whole, underscoring the dynamically interactive quality of the triadic interplay.

Die EU-Volksabstimmungen in Österreich, Finnland, Schweden und Norwegen. Verlauf, Ergebnisse Motive und Folgen = The EU referendums in Austria, Finland, Sweden and Norway. Results, motives and consequences. Institute for Advanced Studies Political Science Series No. 23, 1995

This paper analysis the 1994 EU referenda in Austria, Finland, Sweden and Norway in a comparative perspective. It shows that the results were, to some extent at least, related to how pronounced the respective elite consensus was on the necessity or desirability of EU membership. It also shows that in all cases the main motivation of the Yes voters was economic. The paper goes on to analyse the regional and social variations in voting patterns. In the concluding chapter some of the medium- and longterm effects of the referenda debates and results on Austrian, Finnish and Swedish government policy within the EU are outlined.

The European Union as a System of Differentiated Integration: Interdependence, Politicization and Differentiation. IHS Political Science Series No. 137, 10 July 2014

This paper conceptualizes the European Union (EU) as a system of differentiated integration characterized by both variation in levels of centralization (vertical differentiation) and variation in territorial extension (horizontal differentiation) across policy areas. Differentiation has been a concomitant of deepening and widening and has increased and consolidated as the EU’s powers, policy scope, and membership have grown. Turning to explanation, the paper attributes the pattern of differentiated integration in the EU to the interaction of interdependence and politicization. Differentiation among the member states (internal differentiation) results from supranational integration under conditions of high interdependence and politicization. By contrast, external differentiation (the selective policy integration of non-member states) occurs in highly interdependent but weakly politicized policy areas. These constellations are illustrated in case studies of differentiation in the internal market, monetary union, and defence.

The American political science review.

Editors: 1906-16, W.W. Willoughby and others; 1917-25, J.A. Fairlie and others; 1926- F.A. Ogg and others.

The James Sprunt studies in history and political science.

At head of title: The University of North Carolina.

Cornell studies in history and political science.

Vol. 5 issued without series title.

The Johns Hopkins University studies in historical and political science.

Editors: 1882/83-Aug./Sept. 1901, H. B. Adams.--Oct. 1901-Nov./Dec. 1907, J. M. Vincent (with J. H. Hollander and W. W. Willoughby, 1902-07)