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COMMONWEALTH: GENESIS

DonalD Tannenbaum

Founding Editor Emeritus

Wes Leckrone, the incoming Editor of COMMONWEALTH, has 
asked me, as the Founding Editor from 1985-1993(and co-Editor for 
Political Theory since 1994), to write a brief retrospective on this journal’s 
development to date. I am happy to do so, especially since it allows me to 
thank some of the many people and institutions involved in its creation and 
evolution.

In the first issue (1987) I wrote: “It is especially satisfying to bring to life 
a wholly new publication.” It stemmed from several years of discussion and 
planning. We began on a high note, with the monetary support of a number 
of excellent Pennsylvania colleges and universities and the financial input 
and intellectual backing of the Pennsylvania Political Science Association. 
Among those instrumental in helping me get the journal off the ground 
were my first Managing Editor, Annette Steigelfest, PPSA President Frank 
Colon, PPSA Past President Donald Buzinkai, and Council Member Thomas 
Baldino, who succeeded me as Editor in 1994, and who was followed in 
2002 by Gerard J. (“Gerry”) Fitzpatrick. Both supervening Editors have 
been invaluable in advancing the mission of the journal (see below). I 
also benefitted from the contributions of a powerhouse Editorial Review 
Board recruited from some 25 prominent colleges and universities across 
the nation, from Cambridge to Berkeley, as well as friends from various 
professional associations and editors of other political science journals.  

The journal’s original mission was to publish “important scholarly 
research from among the many subfields and perspectives in the discipline as 
well as those of an interdisciplinary nature. Open to a variety of approaches 
and methodologies, it [sought] studies…based on theoretical perspectives 
(empirical and/or normative) as well as those which advance knowledge by 
using historical approaches.” Additionally, we encouraged articles dealing 
with Pennsylvania state and regional politics and public policy. Such studies 
have been featured in virtually every issue, and they were the sole focus 
of three special policy issues in 2008-2009. Additional editorial input was 
recruited for these special issues, including Michael Cassidy, Michael King, 



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and Beverly Cigler. As COMMONWEALTH transitions to a central focus 
on such studies, henceforth to be published by Temple University Press, I 
would note that the journal has flourished over the years where virtually all 
other state political science journals have disappeared.  We must be doing 
something right.