THE POLITICS OF FAMILY DISSOLUTION

Stephen Baskerville (skbaskerville@phc.edu)
Professor of Government at Patrick Henry College and Research Fellow at the Howard Center for Family, Religion, and Society and the Independent Institute.

Abstract

Questions of divorce and child custody, along with connected issues like domestic violence, child abuse, and child support, have been characterized by clichés and misconceptions and by misleading and inaccurate information. This is attributable to failure to understand the politics behind these phenomena. All have been subject to political pressure and ideological manipulation, though this has been accompanied by almost no analysis, investigation, or explication by students of politics. Yet these matters have far-reaching consequences for the social order, including the political order, constitutional rights, and civil liberties. Almost no discussion has been held on the adverse consequences or the possible policy options appropriate to address them, though the measures available to rectify adverse impact on civil society are relatively straightforward.

Keywords: divorce, child custody, fatherhood, domestic violence, child abuse, child support

Author Biography

Stephen Baskerville is Professor of Government at Patrick Henry College and Research Fellow at the Howard Center for Family, Religion, and Society and the Independent Institute. He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and has held regular appointments at Howard University and Palacky University in the Czech Republic, plus Fulbright Scholarships at Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland, and the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow. He writes on comparative and international politics and on political ideologies with an emphasis on religion, family policy, and sexuality. His books include The New Politics of Sex: The Sexual Revolution, Civil Liberties, and the Growth of Governmental Power (Angelico, 2017), Taken Into Custody: The War against Fathers, Marriage, and the Family (Cumberland House, 2007), and Not Peace But a Sword: The Political Theology of the English Revolution (Routledge, 1993; expanded edition, Wipf & Stock, 2018).

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