Hispanics

Iowa has seen significant demographic changes in the past decade as its Latino population has grown. How this trend intersects with voting patterns and political attitudes is of strong interest to scholars and election observers, of course, because of the Iowa Caucuses’ importance in the presidential nomination process.

Interest groups are a feature of American politics, but studies of their actual effect on issues has been relatively scarce. A 2008 study by the International Monetary Fund, “Do Interest Groups Affect U.S. Immigration Policy?” seeks to quantify if and how different groups influence policy.

In this era of economic globalization, the race for innovation and future growth among nations has prompted a profound debate about how the U.S. is preparing its next generation of workers and leaders. While the United States has responded vigorously to global challengers in the past — the Soviet Union in the era of Sputnik, Japan in the 1980s — the potential for a dramatic loss of competitiveness is more acute than ever.

Problems facing Latinos and African-American men continue to represent a nationwide social challenge. Sustained disparities in socioeconomic well-being across race and ethnicity imply that efforts must be undertaken to bridge the inequality.

The U.S. Constitution automatically grants citizenship to those born in the United States whatever the status of their parents. Tensions surrounding immigration have increased over the last decade, however, leading to suggestions that rescinding the automatic right to citizenship would discourage unauthorized immigration.