This second edition of the authoritative Readings in Arkansas Politics and Government brings together in one volume some of the best available scholarly research on a wide variety of issues in Arkansas politics and government. The twenty-one chapters are arranged in three sections covering both historical and contemporary issues ranging from the state’s socioeconomic and political context to the workings of its policymaking institutions and key policy concerns in the modern political landscape. Topics covered include racial tension and integration, social values, political corruption, public education, obstacles facing the state’s effort to reform welfare, and others. Ideal for use in introductory and advanced undergraduate courses, the book will also appeal to lawmakers, public administrators, journalists, and others interested in how politics and government work in Arkansas.
Supported by the University of Arkansas Diane D. Blair Center of Southern Politics and Society.
Kim U. Hoffman is associate professor of public administration at the University of Central Arkansas.
Janine A. Parry is professor of political science at the University of Arkansas, where she is director of the Arkansas Poll.
Catherine C. Reese is professor of public administration at Arkansas State University.
“Arkansas’s political history and much of the country’s is the story of the continual search for plausible-sounding theories for why the great guarantees of equal rights and protections for all in federal and state constitutions really don’t mean what they say when it comes to matters like education, justice, elections, health care, gender, and sexuality. Here is an exhaustive scholarly review of those battles across a century in our little state.”
—Ernie Dumas
PART I
Foundations and Context in Arkansas Politics and Government
1. The Antievolution Law: Church and State in Arkansas – Cal Ledbetter, Jr.
2. Low Villains and Wickedness in High Places: Race and Class in the Elaine Race Riots – Jeannie M. Whayne
3. A Place at the Table: Hot Springs and the GI Revolt – Patsy Hawthorn Ramsey
4. The Arkansas Electorate – Jim Ranchino
5. Arkansas: Trump is a Natural for the Natural State – Jay Barth and Janine A. Parry
PART II
Institutions and Actors in Arkansas Politics and Government
6. “The Great Negro State of the Country”? Black Legislators in Arkansas, 1973–2000 – Janine A. Parry and William H. Miller
7. Term Limits in Arkansas: Opportunities and Consequences – Art English
8. Orval E. Faubus: Out of Socialism into Realism – Roy Reed
9. Noblesse Oblige and Practical Politics: Winthrop Rockefeller and the Civil Rights Movement – Cathy Kunzinger Urwin
10. The Big Three of Late Twentieth-Century Arkansas Politics: Dale Bumpers, Bill Clinton, and David Pryor – Diane D. Blair
11. The Evolution of Judicial Selection in Arkansas: External and Internal Explanations of Change and Potential Future Directions – Mark Nabors and J. R. Baxter
12. A Practitioner’s Guide to Arkansas’s New Judicial Article – Larry Brady and J. D. Gingerich
13. The Natural State in a Time of Change: A Survey-Based Analysis of State Party Organizations in Arkansas, 1999–2013 – John C. Davis
14. The Arkansas State Budget Process: A Unique and Reliable Approach – Kim U. Hoffman and Catherine C. Reese
PART III
Public Policy Conflicts in Arkansas Politics and Government
15. “Dedicated People”: Little Rock Central High School’s Teachers during the Integration Crisis of 1957–1958 – Graeme Cope
16. Going Off the Deep End: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Desegregation of Little Rock’s Public Swimming Pools – John A. Kirk
17. A Crime Unfit to Be Named: Arkansas and Sodomy – W. Brock Thompson
18. Keeping Hope Alive: A Case Study of the Continuing Argument for Ratification of the ERA – Lindsley Armstrong Smith and Stephen A. Smith
19. Effects of Prohibition in Arkansas Counties – Patrick A. Stewart, Catherine C. Reese, and Jeremy Brewer
20. Implementation of the Welfare-to-Work Program in Arkansas: The Importance of Inter-Agency Communication – Catherine C. Reese and David Harding, Jr.
21. Making Progress?: Education Reform in Arkansas – Gary W. Ritter and Sarah C. Mckenzie
