The Politics and Civics of National Service: Lessons from the Civilian Conservation Corps, VISTA, and AmeriCorps

Preface

Preface The Political Scientist as Democrat” are the words that open David Adamany’s introduction to E. E. Schattschneider’s The Semi-Sovereign People.1 In his essay, Adamany writes of “Schattschneider’s insistence that scholarship aid Americans in self-government by addressing itself to the theory and practice of democracy.”2 In his commitment to a discipline serving large public purposes Schattschneider was not alone. James Ceaser argues that liberal democracy needs political scientists “willing to engage in a constructive enterprise on [its] behalf”; Harvey Mansfield asks political scientists to decide “whether they have done justice to the American Constitution”; and Raymond Seidelman argues that “until political scientists realize that their democratic politics cannot be realized through a barren professionalism, intellectual life will remain cleaved from the genuine if heretofore subterranean dreams of American citizens.”3 While these scholars, among others, have different understandings of just what political scientists should be committed to—the Constitution in particular, liberal democracy in general, or American democracy however defined and debated—they believe that political scientists should have normative commitments. This conviction differentiates them from the many who aspire, in Bernard Crick’s words, “to take politics out of politics . . . to be neutral, scientifically objective, and ‘value-free.’”4 And importantly, even atypically, they ground their work in real political systems. According to Ceaser, this “normative commitment grounded in reality” is part of what ix “ 00-2380-6 fm.indd 9 12/24/12 10:26 AM x preface defines traditional political science. From my perspective, this commitment is exactly what defines citizenship. I come to this project with a basic belief that we don’t stop being citizens when we start doing political science. For introducing me to this transformative understanding of citizenship, I owe a debt of gratitude to Harry Boyte, a debt I can only hope to repay through a future full of public work. I am equally indebted to Carmen Sirianni and Steven Teles, who have been exemplary teachers, colleagues, and friends. If I had had the opportunity to work with only one of these professors , I would have thought myself lucky, and I would have been right. Through our many years of shared work, Carmen has never failed to remind me of what is important, each and every time I forget. Steve had even harder tasks: he shepherded me through graduate school and convinced me that I could write a book, and then showed me how. To say that he went above and beyond the call of duty does not even come close; he deserves an award simply for the number of e-mails he answered. I also must thank the faculty and staff at the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University for generously funding my research and writing, and for giving me a collegial refuge on multiple occasions. In particular, Peter Levine offered critical support at this book’s start and at its finish. Thanks also to Dan Kryder and Marc Landy for their helpful contributions as members of my dissertation committee and to the Gordon Foundation and the Department of Politics at Brandeis University for supporting my graduate studies that led to this work. The College of Liberal Arts at the University of Mississippi gave me further financial support, and my colleagues in the university’s Department of Public Policy Leadership—Dawn Bullion, Robert Haws, Michael Metcalf, David Rutherford, Eric Weber, and especially Christian Sellar—provided the structure and encouragement I needed that enabled me to finish this project after so many years. For their indispensable inspiration and distraction throughout this project , I must thank my friends, especially Lisa Ferrari, Jan Leuchtenburger, Shirley Schultz, Dianne White, Susan Schantz, Amy Agigian, and Gar Culbert . Thanks also to my teachers—formal and informal—in particular Lew Friedland, Barbara Nelson, Jim Farr, and Stan and Nancy Johnson. Most of all, I thank my family. My grandparents lived the entire history that I study, and what I learned from them cannot be found in any archive. My sister, who does more public work than anyone else I know, shows me how the principles I study can be put into practice and gives me a model to 00-2380-6 fm.indd 10 12/24/12 10:26 AM preface xi aspire to. My parents have provided support and encouragement forever: they always let me follow my own path, even...