Formicola Writes New Book on President Biden

Jo Renee Formicola, Ph.D., professor of Political Science and Public Affairs, has recently published her tenth book on issues that impact Church-State relations.  It is entitled Joe Biden’s Policies on Abortion and Immigration: The Challenges of a Catholic President (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield, 2024).

Her book examines the policy quandaries that arise from the fact that President Biden considers himself a liberal, a Catholic and a Democrat. That self-identification has led to challenges of various aspects of his political leadership and governance, often resulting in national debates, judicial challenges and partisan divides-especially when such issues straddle social, legal, religious and political values. 

To understand these conflicts, Joe Biden’s Policies on Abortion and Immigration, articulates Catholic moral and social teachings on these policies. It gives insights into the President’s perceived religious beliefs that often clash with his personal views and values, as well as his political responses to them. It also explains his Executive Orders, political agenda, appointments of individuals who have helped him develop solutions to such critical matters, as well as his criticisms of the Congress, the Supreme Court and previous administration officials.

The second part of this book provides examples of how two of the most difficult policy quandaries have been overcome by various governments in the past. It provides historical lessons about how the government of South Africa was able to bring about an end to apartheid in South Africa through Truth Commissions and how German officials worked to reverse anti-Semitism in their country through education and diplomatic endeavors.  

Formicola discusses potential solutions that President Biden might pursue to alleviate the current policy divide over abortion and immigration. These include creative management techniques and communications strategies as well as forms of religious-pastoral activities. The author contends that to study the lessons of the policy dilemmas of other countries as well as to re-visit methods outside of government could potentially help the President to reconsider his leadership approach and reconcile his policies on abortion and immigration. Such an evolution in governance, Formicola contends, could thus bring about a new sense of greater unity and social justice in the United States.

Categories: Education, Research