Vanderbilt Political Review Winter 2014 | Page 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS Interview 4 TABLE OFFeature CONTENTS DR. JOHN R. ZALLER A visiting scholar at Vanderbilt’s Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions Domestic 6 NINETY MILES FROM ARMAGEDDON A reflection on the semicentenial anniversary of JFK’s death by CHRISTIAN TALLEY ‘16 8 DINNER TABLE POLITICS With SNAP and farm subsidies, politics trumps reason by ALISON SHANAHAN ‘15 10 PAPER V. PRACTICE The controversial Common Core curriculum by KATIE FUSELIER ‘17 12 A BREAK IN THE CYCLE The struggle between purists and pragmatists in the Republican Party by POULUMI BANERJEE ‘17 DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING? Current inequality debates distract from the true 14 issues at hand 16 THE WARRIOR’S DILEMMA Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in the Afghanistan War by EMMETT MCKINNEY ‘16 Guest 18 TARGETED INCARCERATION A look at pervasive inequality & crime policy by BRITTANY FRIEDMAN ‘11 International 22 WILL FREEDOM ENDURE? Long-term success in Afghanistan is far from guaranteed by VIVEK SHAH ‘17 24 TREASURE ISLAND(S) Murky international law has fueled tensions in the East China Sea by SUFEI WU ‘15 26 REASONS FOR OPTIMISM Analyzing concerns about Pakistan’s nuclear program by GREGORY BERNSTEIN ‘17 by JULIE BABBAGE ‘14 3