UC Davis experts: National policy issues

The UC Davis faculty has a broad expertise regarding national policy isues. If you need information on a topic not listed, please contact Claudia Morain at the UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-9841, cmmorain@ucdavis.edu or Julia Ann Easley, News Service, (530) 752-8248, jaeasley@ucdavis.edu.

• Middle East policies and the election
• Politicians' accountability in a war
• The economy and politics
• Campaign finance
• Inequality and social programs
• National security and military affairs
• Social welfare and reproductive health

Middle East politics and the election

UC Davis Jewish history scholar David Biale can discuss the relationship between this year's election politics and the underlying political agendas of the Bush and Sharon governments for a war with Iraq. Biale says both governments believe a decisive victory in Iraq may trigger other governments to change (such as Iran), creating a pro-American alignment and putting Islamic fundamentalists "on the run." Israeli leaders hope a decisive victory in Iraq would take the pressure off them to deal with the Palestinian demands, Biale says. Biale is the editor of the first major anthology of Jewish history since 1969, "Cultures of the Jews: A New History," published this month by Schocken Books. Contact David Biale, History, (530) 752-1640 (office), (510) 524-9607 (home), dbiale@ucdavis.edu.

Politicians' accountability in a war

Scott Sigmund Gartner, associate professor of political science at UC Davis, is an expert in the political impact of war and casualties, military decision making, military strategy, and measuring progress in war. Gartner wrote Strategic Assessment of War, which studies how military progress is evaluated in wartime, and has published many articles on war, strategy, the impact of casualties on public opinion and politics, and U.S. foreign policy. Contact: Scott Gartner, Political Science, ssgartner(at)ucdavis.edu.

The economy and politics

How can we evaluate the positions of the candidates on tax policy, the national debt, and the future of Social Security and Medicare? Steven M. Sheffrin, dean of the Division of Social Sciences and a professor of economics, has written extensively in these areas. A former financial economist with the U.S. Treasury, a Brookings Economic Policy Fellow and a member of the board of the National Tax Association, Sheffrin is an expert on fiscal policy and politics. Contact: Steven M. Sheffrin, economics, (530) 754-8925, smsheffrin@ucdavis.edu.

Campaign finance

The collapse of Enron Corp. illustrates the potential dangers of big business corporations' prominent place in campaign finance, says UC Davis law professor and corporate law scholar Thomas Joo. He can talk about the current constitutional challenges to the new campaign finance law and the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, from a corporate law perspective. Contact: Thomas W. Joo, School of Law, (530) 754-6089, twjoo@ucdavis.edu.

Inequality and social programs

Economic historian Peter Lindert is an expert on historical trends in the inequality of income, wealth and living standards in the United States since the 18th century, as well as social programs and the welfare state. The director of the Agricultural History Center at UC Davis, he is co-author of "American Inequality: A Macroeconomic History," which introduced improved measures of the quality-of-life changes associated with industrialization. President of the Economic History Association for 2001-02, he is writing a book on safety nets and economic growth since Adam Smith. Contact: Peter Lindert, Economics, (530) 752-1983, phlindert@ucdavis.edu.

National security and military affairs

Emily O. Goldman, a UC Davis political science associate professor, can provide comment on the threats to and vulnerabilities of U.S. security today. She is a consultant and researcher for the U.S. Department of Defense, analyzing the ways in which innovations in information technology will change how nations wage war. Goldman says our military and intelligence systems are set up to deal with threats like the Soviet Union. There is a real competition between the hierarchical way the military is organized and the non-hierarchical way terrorist networks work internally and with each other. Contact: Emily O. Goldman, Political Science, eogoldman@ucdavis.edu. After Aug. 20, she can be reached at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, (202) 691-4000.

Social welfare and reproductive health

Social welfare and abortion are shaping up, once again, as presidential campaign topics. Sociology professor Carole Joffe has expertise in both areas. She is the author of the books "Family Intruders: Childcare Professionals and Family Life," and "Doctors of Conscience: The Struggle to Provide Abortion Before and After Roe v. Wade." She also is the author of the forthcoming "The Crisis in Abortion Provision and Medical Activism in the 1990s" in R. Solinger, (Ed.), "The Fifty Years War: Abortion Politics in the United States, 1950-2000." Contact: Carole Joffe, Sociology, (530) 752-9108, cejoffe@ucdavis.edu.

Media contacts:

• Claudia Morain at the UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-9841, cmmorain@ucdavis.edu
• Julia Ann Easley, News Service, (530) 752-8248, jaeasley@ucdavis.edu
  

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