Introduction (Special Edition — Seventeenth Citadel Symposium on Southern Politics)

This special edition contains a collection of four of the best papers presented at the Seventeenth Citadel Symposium on Southern Politics in March 2010. Since 1978, The Citadel has biennially hosted what has become the premier conference dedicated to the study of the politics of the American South. Over the course of the last three decades, the Symposium has attracted well over 400 scholars who have presented research devoted to a better understanding of the politics of the region. The Symposium has led directly to the publication of ten books focused on various aspects of southern politics. Indirectly, a number of other books were influenced by research originally presented at the Symposium. The number of peer-reviewed articles that were initially presented at the Symposium are too numerous to cite here.