Faculty Research

10/22/09

  • Dr. Toni-Michelle Travis

Passion for Politics:  GMU professor edits latest edition of 'Almanac of Virginia Politics.'

2/13/09

  • Research by Dr. Daniel Druckman

             Journal Article:

             Message Framing Surrounding the Oslo I Accords

            

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between the secret negotiations and the public rhetoric of Palestinian and Israeli leaders leading up to the Oslo I Accords. To accomplish this goal, we coded public statements made by Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the months preceding the accords and the events that unfolded during the talks. We hypothesized that the Palestinian leaders, as nonstate actors, would engage in outbidding by showing a more aggressive, backward-looking orientation in public. Israeli leaders, as state actors, would engage in frontstage–backstage behavior and display a more balanced public rhetoric. The results showed that the Palestinians focused on justice issues framed as mistrust and backward looking. This public framing was associated with retreat in the private talks. In contrast, the Israelis

switched between positively and negatively framed rhetoric with forward-looking and affiliative statements correlated with lack of progress and backward-looking and mistrust rhetoric associated with progress in the talks.


2/9/09

10/6/08

  • Article by Professor Daniel Druckman  

    Research findings on the value of simulation or role play exercises for learning social science concepts have been mixed. Three decades of research has shown that classroom simulations increase students' motivation but generally do not improve learning more than other teaching techniques. On the other hand, many designers of simulation scenarios have claimed that the design process enhances their understanding of concepts. The experiments reported in this article address the issue of relative short and long -term learning and motivational gains from role-play and design activities. Students in two countries -- Australia and Israel -- were given a lecture about three negotiation concepts. Half (in each country) were assigned randomly to design scenarios that highlighted these concepts; the other half enacted the scenarios designed by their classmates. Who learned more? For the answer click here to open.

3/6/08

  • Professor Michael McDonald

    Want to know how many people participated in an election? Professor McDonald supplies these to academics and the media through his website dedicated to voter turnout. His turnout statistics appear in many academic textbook and research projects, and are used by numerous media outlets.  Please visit his website here:
    http://elections.gmu.edu/voter_turnout.htm

10/8/07

  • Article by Professor Peter Balint

    Community-based conservation projects in rural areas of poor countries often struggle to meet expectations. Based on field research in Zimbabwe in 2006, this paper explores the underlying conditions that undermine progress. Please click here to open. For links to related papers, please click here.

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9/13/07

  • Article by Professor Timothy Conlan

    While most Republican presidents have sought to devolve power to the states, the  George W. Bush administration has increased federal spending and deficits, preempted state authority, and centralized decision making in areas of traditional state and local concern.  This article explores the political, managerial, and philosophical roots of such “big government conservatism” and considers its implications for American politics.  Please click here to open.
     
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