Politics and Government

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.

Amy Coney Barrett is facing the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, and as with many nominees, it’s difficult to get a sense of the future legal implications of her answers. Should the process be changed? Scott Lemieux, assistant teaching professor of political science at the UW, is interviewed.

Alicia Ing graduated from Renton High School as part of the class of 2020 and is studying at the University of Washington. Alicia is 18 years old and getting ready to vote in her first presidential election.

Daniel Chirot, professor of international studies at the UW, talks about whether radical upheavals in the social and political order must end in tragedy and disappointment on the “Thinking Out Loud” podcast.

"Facebook and Twitter have already removed dozens of Russian accounts spreading disinformation. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the problem is far worse this year than in 2016. He blames the increase in foreign trolling for Trump on the weak U.S. response to the ongoing threat. Yet that’s not the whole story. No matter how cunning the trolls or relentless the bots, Russia could not reasonably expect to achieve meaningful results in the absence of an already receptive audience," write Scott Livingston at George Washington University and W. Lance Bennett, professor emeritus of political science at the UW.

Jonathan Kanter, research associate professor of psychology at the UW, is quoted, and Mavis Tsai, senior research scientist of psychology at the UW, is referenced.