Politics and Government

You probably already know that in certain corners of the internet, people are earnestly arguing that the Earth is flat. A few decades ago, they’d have been printing leaflets or newsletters. Now they can spread their misinformation to a much wider online audience. Mark Alan Smith, professor of political science at the UW, is quoted.

As tech companies have faced growing oversight from Congress in recent years, they have ramped up their contributions to political campaigns, including to Northwest lawmakers. Tech workers have become another important source of campaign funds, though their interests are not always aligned with those of their employers. Margaret O’Mara, professor of history at the UW, is quoted.

After Donald Trump won the presidential election in 2016, people in liberal areas were in shock — and wondering what a Trump presidency would mean for the country. A week after the election, we asked academics to write their thoughts. With hindsight being 2020, KUOW revisits the most prescient of those pieces, including those by 10 UW faculty members.

Young people have historically driven social and political movements. The program “Student Election Connection” is channeling that engagement into votes. Jake Grumbach, assistant professor of political science at the UW, is interviewed.

Jake Grumbach, assistant professor of political science at the UW, says the increase in minority voters in Washington is due in large part to children of immigrants coming into the electorate. However, he notes that Latino and Asian American voters turn out at lower rates than African American and white voters.

Leela Fernandes, director of the UW Jackson School of International Studies, joins former Attorney General Rob McKenna and KUOW's Ross Reynolds for a preview of the final presidential debate.

The pace of voting in this year’s election is well beyond anything the state saw in 2016. After the ballot is put into a drop box, a rigorous collection process follows. James Long, associate professor of political science at the UW, is quoted.

This week could mark the official end of the long love affair between Washington, D.C., and Silicon Valley. The U.S. Justice Department and 11 state attorneys general have filed a blockbuster lawsuit against Google, accusing it of being an illegal monopoly because of its stranglehold on Internet search. Margaret O’Mara, professor of history at the UW, is quoted.

Experts and lawmakers warn that undoing the last four years of immigration policy requires more than just a new president. Sophia Jordán Wallace, associate professor of political science at the UW, is quoted.

“Societies that reject scientific knowledge and research, for whatever reason, remain weak, poor, backward and dependent. They also tend to be despotic. Scientific work demands much freedom, including the pursuit of phenomena and ideas that may run counter to religious, cultural, or political beliefs sacred to some and useful to others,” writes Scott Montgomery, a lecturer of international studies at the UW.

A sitting Boston mayor was last unseated in 1949. How unusual is a seven-decade stretch of incumbency dominance? A Boston Globe review of 18 of the nation’s most populous municipalities found a mixed bag when it comes to the reelection success of sitting mayors. Margaret O’Mara, professor of history at the UW, is quoted.

“Many scholars have studied various aspects of mail-in voting, looking at how secure it is, how susceptible to fraud it might be, and what voting officials need to do to handle an influx of ballots arriving by mail,” writes Jeff Inglis, The Conversation’s politics + society editor. Jake Grumbach, assistant professor of political science at the UW, and Charlotte Hill, of the University of California Berkeley, are referenced.

Daniel Bessner, who holds the Joff Hanauer Honors Professorship in Western Civilization, is the featured commentator in a CNN story about whether the U.S. should impose age limits on elected leaders.

Mark Alan Smith, professor of political science at the UW, talks about polling in the 2016 election and what it can tell us about the 2020 election. 

“Democrats project the image of one big happy pro-climate family, united against a common foe. This has fed the expectation that the Biden administration will transform U.S. climate policy. Trump turned the climate action switch off, but Biden will turn it back on,” write Nives Dolšak, professor of marine and environmental affairs at the UW, and Aseem Prakash, professor of political science at the UW.