A Web Site for Circulating Political Science Research
Jon H. Oberg
The purpose of this web site is to invite review, comment,
and correction from others with interest or expertise in the particular topics on
which I have written several political science articles. Some of the articles are quantitative analyses, some
are narratives, and two are translations. You will find links to the articles at the bottom of
this page.
Please send your comments or questions to joberg@aol.com.
The site has existed for two and a half years and has been updated periodically for new articles. There have
been many visitors, the most frequent of which have been students who want help with their papers.
(Sometimes I give help; sometimes I tell them to go to a library and do their own research.)
Biographical note: I am a political scientist who did my graduate work at the University
of Nebraska, under Professors Jasper B. Shannon and A.B. Winter, and at the Free University of Berlin,
under Professor Dr. Ekkehart Krippendorff. Dr. Peter H. Merkl, University of California, Santa Barbara;
Dr. Abraham Ashkenaski and Dr. Juergen Fijalkowski, FU Berlin; and Dr. Frank Unger, of Humboldt
University, Institut fuer Politikwissenschaft, made up my committee at FU Berlin. I am most grateful to
each and every one, especially Doktorvater Krippendorff and the late A.B. Winter. I have taught at the
undergraduate level for the University of Maryland, European Division (in Stuttgart and Mannheim), and at
the graduate level for Troy State University's MPA program (in Berlin, Geilenkirchen, Fort Myer, and
Crystal City) as well as for for George Mason University,where
I am currently a member of the adjunct faculty.
The articles reflect my working background in state government, in the U.S. Senate, and in the higher
education associations. Currently I am the legislative analyst for higher education at the U.S. Department of Education, which places me in frequent contact
with both the bureaucracy and the Congress.
Public administration (including comparative) and public policy are my main political
science interests.
Article 1, the most recent article, written in September, 1998 (and still very much in draft), deals
with federal student-aid. Comments on this article are especially welcome.
Essay 1, written at the request of staff of the president's initiative on race, draws a distinction between
pluralism and diversity. The first section, on pluralism and diversity, was received better than the second,
on diversity and federalism.
Article 2 was published, in edited form, in Publius: The Journal of Federalism (Winter
1997).
Article 3 has been accepted for publication by the Journal of Student Financial
Aid.
The fourth article provides a political and comparative perspective of higher education in the United States
and Germany. The fifth article was written at the invitation of an on-line magazine, WORLDSPEAKER.
The sixth and seventh articles are translations from German student financial aid laws and guidebooks,
intended to give a comparative
perspective on the issues of aid to immigrants and student loan repayment conditions.
Article 8 is the only known legislative history of the State Student Incentive
Grant program.
The ten interviews on feminism and German politics were written in 1991; the introduction
to the interviews in 1998.
Each of these articles, essays, and papers was written in my private capacity; no official support or
endorsement
by George Mason University or the U.S. Department of Education is intended or should be inferred.
Other writings by this and other authors may appear on this site from time to time without further
introductory description.
Thanks for visiting. I answer e-mail. If you wish to reach me on an official
matter at my Department of Education office (at 600 Independence Avenue S.W., Washington,D.C.),
e-mail me at Jon_Oberg@ed.gov; otherwise reach me at home at joberg@aol.com.
Article 1 (written September, 1998, still in draft): "Institutional Untargeting of Federal
Student-Aid"
Essay 1 (written February, 1998): "Pluralism, Diversity, and
Federalism"
Article 2 (written January, 1996, updated November, 1996):
"Testing Federal Student-Aid Fungibility in
Two Competing Versions of Federalism"
Article 3 (written February, 1996):
"Finding Evidence of the Student Grant
Effect in a Natural Experiment"
Article 4 (written September, 1992):
"Higher Education Access for Minorities:
A Comparison of Policies and Politics in
the U.S. and Germany"
Article 5 (written June 1996):
"Financial Aid Cuts in the United States
and Germany: Students Lobby on the World
Wide Web" (June, 1996, version with September, 1996, afterword)
"Financial Aid Cuts in the
United States and Germany: Students Lobby on the World
Wide Web" (WORLDSPEAKER magazine version, Summer, 1996, edition)
Article 6 (written April, 1996):
"Student Loan Repayment Conditions in the
Federal Republic of Germany"
Article 7 (written May, 1996):
"Non-Citizen Eligibility for Student
Financial Aid in the Federal Republic of Germany"
Article 8 (written 1991, updated April, 1996):
"An Obituary for the State Student Incentive
Grant Program"
Interviews (written 1991; updated September, 1998): "Ten
Interviews"
Web site created January, 1996, last updated September, 1998. Copyright Jon H. Oberg.