2008 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Sunday, April 6-8:00 am
31-6 PREMODERN FIGURES, MODERN INSIGHTS
Room Salon 1 on the 3rd Floor, Sun at 8:00 am
Chair Mark Kremer, Kennesaw State University
mkremer@kennesaw.edu
Paper Seeking Protection in the Gods': Locke, Livy, and Political
Thought
This paper argues that by using the epigraph from Livy that Locke
wrote into his own copy of the Two Treatises as an interpretive key
we can gain a better understanding of his approach to the practice of
political thought.
Mark J. Schemper, Northwestern University
mschemper@northwestern.edu
Paper Transforming Ambition in Machiavelli and Nietzsche
This paper examines the limits and possiblities of transformative
politics in the thought of Machiavelli and Nietzsche by looking at
their respective treatments of such figures as Alcibiades and Cesare
Borgia.
Paul E. Kirkland, Carthage College
pkirkland@carthage.edu
Paper Ancient Romans, Renaissance Italians, and Theorists in
Machiavelli's Work
Machiavelli refers to more obscure historical figures and ignores
prominent thinkers one expects him to address. His comments on
the obscure often shed light on his thoughts about many of the
celebrated thinkers he seems to ignore.
Richard Barrett, University of California, San Diego
rabarrett@ucsd.edu
Disc. Mark Kremer, Kennesaw State University
mkremer@kennesaw.edu
32-1 THE SHAPING OF THE LIBERAL CITIZEN:
EDUCATION'S EFFECTS ON POLITICAL AND
PRIVATE LIFE
Room PDR 18 on the 5th Floor, Sun at 8:00 am
Chair Ann Davies, Beloit College
davies@beloit.edu
Paper Rethinking Dover: The Role of Science and Education in
Liberal Society
Liberal democratic education must create citizens capable of
exercising rights and duties through critical thinking; workers
capable of economic competency; and persons capable of moral
choice.
Susan Liebell, Saint Joseph's University
sliebell@sju.edu
Paper Bong Hits 4 Citizens: Educating About Political Authority
I explore the implications of different conceptions of civic education
for deciding whether and how educators should engage with
students about the normative status of particular exercise of political
authority.
Ian MacMullen, Washington University in St. Louis
macmullen@wustl.edu
Paper Public Deliberation About Educational Policy: Some
Egalitarian Concerns
More caution is needed in Extending deliberative processes to
educational policy-making– especially when it comes to deciding
what counts as an adequate education for political equality.
Anne Newman, Washington University in St. Louis
arnewman@wustl.edu
Paper The State’s Obligation to Provide Education: Equal Education
or Adequate Education
Rob Reich's paper examines the state's obligation to provide
education to its citizens and explores the difference between
pursuing equal educational opportunity and adequate education for
all.
Rob Reich, Stanford University
reich@stanford.edu
Disc.
Steven A. Kelts, George Washington University
kelts@gwu.edu
33-14 POLITICS AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Room UEH 403 on the 4th Floor, Sun at 8:00 am
Chair Ivan Ascher, University of California, Berkeley
ascher@berkeley.edu
Paper After the Interpretive Turn: Charles Taylor on Knowledge,
Values, and Politics
My paper traces the development of Charles Taylor's thought from
his interpretive approach to understanding social practices to the
way his interpretivism about knowledge gives rise to and supports
his account of normative politics.
Naomi Choi, University of California, Berkeley
nchoi@berkeley.edu
Paper Picking and Choosing Revisited
Human beings typically try to act on the basis of reasons. But where
reasons run out, people generally must pick. This paper explores
the phenomenon of picking, and its implications for rational choice
theory and the philosophy of social science.
Peter Stone, Stanford University
peter.stone@stanford.edu
Paper Comparative Political Theory: Scope Progress and Promise
This paper presents the first comprehensive critique of the new
subfield of global/ comparative political theory as it has developed
in the U.S. in recent years. Authors discussed Roxanne Euben, Fred
Dallmayr and Anthony Parel.
Hassan Bashir, Texas A&M University, Qatar
hassan.bashir@qatar.tamu.edu
Disc. Ivan Ascher, University of California, Berkeley
ascher@berkeley.edu
34-4 POLITICS IN THE FACE OF FEAR, VIOLENCE,
AND CRISIS
Room PDR 16 on the 5th Floor, Sun at 8:00 am
Chair Mina Suk, Johns Hopkins University
msuk@jhu.edu
Paper Impossible Politics: Events That Shape Responsibility
From Columbine to Virginia Tech: impossible events have shaken
our social norm. Alienation has crumbled the apparatus of ideology.
And yet there is a historically unique opportunity to intervene by
interjecting responsibility into postmodern society.
Chase Eden Pielak, Claremont Graduate University
chase.pielak@cgu.edu
Paper The Well of the Caliph: Rousseau and Enlightenment Anxiety
An examination of late Enlightenment anxiety about the
possibilities of an extinction of human knowledge and science, read
as, among other things, a running response to Rousseau's Discourses
and Emile.
Alex Schulman, University of California, Los Angeles
alex19@ucla.edu
Paper A Reconsideration of Hobbes for Post 9/11 America
Since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 there has been
an atmosphere of fear. This study examines the role Hobbes's fear
plays in the conflicts in the history of the United States to better
understand the current conflict.
Gino Tozzi Jr., Wayne State University
gjtozzi@yahoo.com
Disc. Mina Suk, Johns Hopkins University
msuk@jhu.edu
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