Political Science and Public Policy

Four out of five respondents in the latest Elon University Poll would support an amendment to the state constitution that would make all public business of any government body in North Carolina open and available to the public.

Sharon Spray, associate professor and chair of the Department of Political Science, and Laura Roselle, professor of political science, have published the second edition of their book, Research and Writing in International Relations. The textbook presents step-by-step guidance and resources needed to compose political science research papers that go beyond description and into systematic and sophisticated inquiry.

Two Elon University students have been named finalists for a 2011 Truman Scholarship, a prestigious national fellowship awarded each year to college juniors with goals of working in education, government, the nonprofit or advocacy sectors, or elsewhere in public service.

A majority of North Carolinians opposes making permanent a one percentage point increase in the state sales tax that was implemented two years ago, even as the state faces a $3 billion budget shortfall, according to the latest Elon University Poll.

Sometimes, for some people, it’s not clinging to a job or an idea that requires strength - it’s knowing when to let go. For former Oklahoma congressman J.C. Watts, that meant knowing when to leave Washington. In a Wednesday morning question-and-answer event, Watts reflected on his political life and shared with students the things he learned about himself through a career of public service.

America has “squandered” opportunities afforded it by the World War II generation, a prominent former congressman said Tuesday, and current lawmakers on both sides of the political divide need to put aside partisanship to solve national problems. J.C. Watts, the 2010-2011 Isabella Cannon Distinguished Visiting Professor of Leadership, offered those observations in an evening lecture attended by hundreds of people inside McCrary Theatre.

Kerstin Sorensen, an assistant professor of political science, authored an article to be published in the March 2011 issue of Scandinavian Political Studies, the official journal of the Nordic Political Science Association.

George Taylor, professor of political science, was an invited participant in a roundtable discussion at the Southern Political Science Association conference in New Orleans, January 5-9, 2011.