2008 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Saturday, April 5-2:45 pm
Paper
Disc.
Marx's Fetish in Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology Freedom and
Alienation
A practical alternative to “anti-fetishist” social and political critique
based on a phenomenology of thing relations that replaces detached
critique with concrete intervention.
Roberto Domingo Toledo, Stony Brook University
rotoledo@gmail.com
Ian Gordon Loadman, Arkansas State University
iloadman@astate.edu
35-14 LEGISLATIVE PARTIES
Room UEH 407 on the 4th Floor, Sat at 2:45 pm
Chair Tasos Kalandrakis, University of Rochester
akalandr@mail.rochester.edu
Paper Political Competition Under Proportional Representation
We study political competition under proportional representation
by developing a formal model that endogenizes party formation,
elections and legislative policy-making.
Seok-ju Cho, Yale University
seok-ju.cho@yale.edu
Insun Kang, Economist Intelligence Unit
InsunKang@eiu.com
Paper Endogenous Parties in an Assembly: Two Polarized Voting
Blocs
I show how members of an assembly of voters form voting blocs
strategically to coordinate their votes in a repeated voting game. In
a small assembly, I show that the equilibrium voting blocs must be
two polarized parties.
Jon X. Eguia, New York University
eguia@nyu.edu
Paper Coalition Formation in the German Federal States: A Synthesis
of Policy and Office Motivation
This paper extends coalition formation models which considers both
office and policy motivations of parties. We introduce a method
to estimate the grade of both motivations and apply it to data of
German state-level coalition formations.
Eric Linhart, University of Kiel
elinhar@ae.uni-kiel.de
Susumu Shikano, University of Mannheim
shikanos@rumms.uni-mannheim.de
Paper Big Parties, Dominant Parties, What's the Difference
Dominant parties are common in multi party systems. They matter
in terms of stability of coalitions and policies. The paper outlines
theoretical conditions for the emergence of such parties and tests the
theory on data from Russian and the Ukraine.
Regina Smyth, Indiana University, Bloomington
rsmyth@indiana.edu
Itai Sened, Washington University in St. Louis
sened@artsci.wustl.edu
William Bianco, Indiana University, Bloomington
wbianco@indiana.edu
Christopher J. Kam, University of British Columbia
ckam@interchange.ubc.ca
Disc. Tasos Kalandrakis, University of Rochester
akalandr@mail.rochester.edu
Justin Fox, Yale University
justin.fox@yale.edu
36-14 INFERENCE AND MODEL SELECTION
Room Salon 1 on the 3rd Floor, Sat at 2:45 pm
Chair Kern Holger, Dartmouth College
holger.kern@dartmouth.edu
Paper The Causal (Mis)interpretation of Regression
We present a nonparametric causal model that explicates the causal
meaning of regression, demonstrates its insufficiency in typical
cases, and provides a correction to current regression practice.
Adam N. Glynn, Harvard University
aglynn@iq.harvard.edu
Kevin M. Quinn, Harvard University
kquinn@fas.harvard.edu
Paper Dissent Within the Ranks: Consistency of Choice in
Nonparametric Multiple Comparisons
In this paper, we consider the application of Arrow's Theorem to the
nonparametric discrimination of statistical models. We explore the
conditions under which the model ranks depend on the number of
models being compared.
Kevin A. Clarke, University of Rochester
kevin.clarke@rochester.edu
Mark Fey, University of Rochester
mark.fey@rochester.edu
Paper Semi-Exploratory Factor Analysis and Its Potential for the
Social Sciences
Semi-exploratory factor analysis is a new estimator that lies on the
continuum between exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis,
largely captures the respective benefits of each, and avoids many of
their downsides. My R package now implements it.
Ben Goodrich, Harvard University
goodrich@fas.harvard.edu
Paper Some Conditions Required for Inference Based on One Hard
Case
This paper analyzes conditions under which one hard or unlikely
case can be informative.
Michael Herron, Dartmouth College
herron@dartmouth.edu
Disc. Delia Bailey, Washington University, St. Louis
dbailey@wustl.edu
38-13 INTEREST GROUP COALITIONS, REGULATION,
AND POLICY
Room Suite 8-254 on the 8th Floor, Sat at 2:45 pm
Chair Maryann Barakso, American University
barakso@american.edu
Paper Interest Group Coalitions of the Parties: Legislative and
Electoral Networks
We analyze intra-party networks of interest group endorsements,
contributions, and legislative support. We find that Democratic and
Republican networks are divided along different dimensions and
have distinct levels of centralization and density.
Matt Grossmann, Michigan State University
matt@mattg.org
Casey Dominguez, University of San Diego
caseydominguez@sandiego.edu
Paper Diverse Coalitions and Social Welfare Policy in the United
States
This paper examines the relationship between interest group
coalitions and influence in American legislatures, arguing that
coalitions that are diverse with respect to group type are more likely
to achieve legislative success on social policy issues.
Robin Phinney, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
phinneyr@umich.edu
297