2008 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Thursday, April 3-10:00 am
Paper
Paper
Disc.
Drugs, Civil War, and the Conditional Impact of the Economy
on Democracy
We use a multilevel model to show that the impact of economic
growth on democratization is positive in democratic regimes but
negative in more authoritarian ones, and more negative the more
important drug trafficking is in the domestic economy.
Michael Coppedge, University of Notre Dame
coppedge.1@nd.edu
Angel Alvarez, Universidad Central de Venezuela
aalvare3@nd.edu
Lucas Gonzalez, University of Notre Dame
lgonzal3@nd.edu
International Scrutiny and Electoral Manipulation
Governments have many tools to help them win re-election, some
legal (e.g. fiscal manipulation) but others not (e.g. falsifying vote
totals). We examine the effects of international scrutiny on various
forms of election manipulation.
Susan D. Hyde, Yale University
susan.hyde@yale.edu
Angela O'Mahony, University of British Columbia
omahony@politics.ubc.ca
Michael Coppedge, University of Notre Dame
coppedge.1@nd.edu
5-2 EUROPEAN PARTY STRATEGIES IN ELECTIONS
AND PARLIAMENTS
Room UEH 405 on the 4th Floor, Thur at 10:00 am
Chair Christian B. Jensen, University of Iowa
christian-jensen@uiowa.edu
Paper Decentralization: An Institutional Strategy of Appeasement
Why do national governments transfer political and fiscal powers
to subnational authorities This paper develops a theory of
decentralization as an institutional strategy of appeasement,
designed to boost the national vote of the governing party.
Bonnie M. Meguid, University of Rochester
bonnie.meguid@rochester.edu
Paper Stand Alone or Hang Together: Small Party Strategies in the
European Parliament
We argue that regional party strategies differ from those of green
and radical right parties in the European Parliament.
Christian B. Jensen, University of Iowa
christian-jensen@uiowa.edu
Jae-Jae M. Spoon, University of Iowa
jae-jae-spoon@uiowa.edu
Paper Look Who’s Talking: The Allocation of Speaking Time in the
European Parliament
We present a new dataset on speeches in the European Parliament
and examine reasons why MEPs give speeches. We explore various
institutional, partisan, national, and individual-level variables to
explain the number of speeches given per MEP.
Jonathan B. Slapin, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
jonathan.slapin@unlv.edu
Sven-Oliver Proksch, University of California, Los Angeles
proksch@ucla.edu
Paper The Dynamics of Party Competition: Party Leader Rhetoric in
Britain, Denmark and France, 1945-2007
We analyze party positions and issue manipulation in Britain,
Denmark and France during the post-war period to explore how
these two types of party competition strategies interact.
Sara B. Hobolt, University of Oxford
sara.hobolt@politics.ox.ac.uk
Robert Klemmensen, Univeristy of Southern Denmark
rkl@sam.sdu.dk
Paper
Disc.
Redefining the Nation: Conservative Party Strategies Toward
Visible Minorities
When do conservative parties reach out to visible minorities Why
do these parties court some minority groups and not others I
investigate this puzzle spatially and temporally.
Jennifer Miller, University of Michigan
milljenn@umich.edu
Ken Kollman, University of Michigan
kkollman@umich.edu
Jae-Jae M. Spoon, University of Iowa
jae-jae-spoon@uiowa.edu
6-301 POSTER SESSION: COMPARATIVE POLITICAL
BEHAVIOR
Room Grand on the 4th Floor, Thur at 10:00 am
Poster 1 Party Rules and the Influence of Party Activists, Incumbents
and Leaders
I employ an original data set of party rules to identify the actors that
exert influence in 66 parties in advanced parliamentary democracies
and to examine three models of party organization.
Georgia Kernell, Columbia University
gck2001@columbia.edu
Poster 2 The Consequences of Attitudes About Political Parties in
Central America
Using recently completed survey data, this paper examines the
level of satisfaction with political parties and the consequences of
satisfaction or lack of satisfaction in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and
Honduras.
Douglas S. Thornton, Texas A&M University, Qatar
douglas.thornton@qatar.tamu.edu
Poster 3 Political Confidence and its Associational Roots
This paper examines the relationship between social trust and
political confidence. It is assumed that being a member in specific
voluntary associations fosters social trust and impacts subsequently
the orientations towards political institutions
Sonja Zmerli, University of Technology, Darmstadt
zmerli@pg.tu-darmstadt.de
Poster 4 Religion, Participation, and Democratic Support in a Cross-
National Sample
Analysis of cross-national survey data suggests that people who
participate in religiously-affiliated associations are more likely to
support democracy than nominal religious adherents, regardless of
denomination.
Ani Sarkissian, Michigan State University
asarkiss@msu.edu
Poster 5 The External Political Strangers: Do Chinese Diasporas
Participate in Politics in Southeast Asia
Are Chinese diasporas apolitical by nature or due to the political
environment of their host countries This paper explores this
question by empirically examining Chinese diasporas' political
participations in Southeast Asia from 1950 to 2004.
Yi-hung Chiou, University of South Carolina
chiouyihung@gmail.com
7-13 PROCESSES OF CHANGE IN TRANSNATIONAL
POLITICS
Room UEH 412 on the 4th Floor, Thur at 10:00 am
Chair Stefan H. Fritsch, Bowling Green State University
sfritsc@bgnet.bgsu.edu
Paper Institutional Imitation and Supranational Politics
Is imitation significant for institutional evolution in the European
Union (EU) This paper argues that it is. It explains why and how
imitation leads to the transfer of organizations from national polities
to the EU structure.
Konstantinos Kourtikakis, Eastern Illinois University
kkourtikakis@eiu.edu
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