Maxwell School News and Commentary

"I think a good working definition of civility is a baseline of respect that we owe one another in public life, and that has long been the definition of civility," says Keith Bybee, professor of political science.

"By voting against the repeal bill last week, Katko can maintain a fig leaf of independence, while doing nothing to actually stop his Republican colleagues from enacting policies that will be disastrous for his constituents," writes Thomas M. Keck, the Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law & Politics.

"Anti-SAFE Act signs still dot the upstate countryside...That speaks to the 'cultural differences' that often lead to very different voting patterns in upstate and downstate communities," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, about Upstate New York opposition to Governor Cuomo's gun-control law.

Corri Zoli, research director for the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism, thinks there will be a significant return to the default mode of deterrence under Trump.

Elizabeth Cohen, professor of political science, says it won't be easy for Trump to withhold money from sanctuary cities as there are numerous conditions, privacy laws and civil rights protections he will need to navigate.

"To some degree... both [Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and President Donald Trump] sought to mobilize their potential followers and defeat their adversaries as one waged a struggle for civil rights for African Americans and the other for winning a national presidential election," says Louis Kriesberg, professor emeritus of sociology.

Grant Reeher is featured in the Washington Examiner article, where he analyzes the effect of Trump's political maneuvering " According to Reeher, "He [Trump] needs to both challenge the status quo and be able to work within it in order to succeed.

"The survival of our democracy requires public confidence in the country's institutions—a confidence that has been shaken by this election. Cynicism promotes resignation and non-participation and a dangerous and thoughtless acceptance of facile, misleading and false promises," writes James Roger Sharp, professor emeritus of history.