2008 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Sunday, April 6-8:00 am
35-16 MODELS WITH LESS-THAN-RATIONAL AGENTS
Room UEH 404 on the 4th Floor, Sun at 8:00 am
Paper The Complex Adaptive Congress
A complex adaptive systems approach to modeling the United
States Congress.
Robi Ragan, University of Georgia
robi.ragan@gmail.com
Gregory Robinson, Binghamton University (SUNY)
robin502@msu.edu
Paper Scared, Fair, or Dumb: Why Don't Principals and Agents Act
Rationally
Principal-agent experiments show regular deviations from Nash
predictions. This paper develops a random-utility model then uses
existing experimental data to distinguish among risk aversion,
fairness, and rationally-bounded behavior.
Stephen R. Haptonstahl, Washington University, St. Louis
srhapton@wustl.edu
Paper Formally Linking Terror
The author presents uses a computational model to link theoretically
related processes embedded within the phenomenon known as
terrorism.
Dominick' E. Wright, University of Michigan
dewright@umich.edu
38-11 PARTY ORGANIZATION
Room Suite 11-150 on the 11th Floor, Sun at 8:00 am
Chair Richard Skinner, Allegheny College
rskinner@allegheny.edu
Paper Democracy Within Parties: Legitimizing Effects
This paper explores the effects of internal party democracy in
candidate selection on the legitimacy, the representativeness, and
the responsiveness of political parties in the European old and new
democracies.
Denitza Antonova Bojinova, University of Houston
denitzabojinova@yahoo.com
Paper Local Parties: Recruitment, Support, and the Effect on
Women’s Representation
In this paper I examine data from a new nationwide survey of local
parties, to determine what these parties look like, what they do, and
how their recruitment and support activities affect whether women
run for and win political office.
Melody Crowder-Meyer, Princeton University
mcrowder@princeton.edu
Paper The Circus that Wasn’t: How Parties Lent Order to the
California Recall
How did the 2003 California recall – a media circus with 135
candidates and no primaries – end up looking like a typical election
I examine how party elites recruited some candidates, compelled
others to drop out, and punished non-compliant ones.
Seth E. Masket, University of Denver
smasket@du.edu
Paper Travails of Party System in the Democratization process of
Nigeria
The party system, processes and interactions by which Nigerian
democracy is being practiced.
Olanrewaju Awosika, University of Lagos
awosikalnr@yahoo.com
Disc. Daniel J. Coffey, University of Akron
dcoffey@uakron.eu
40-16 LEGISLATIVE RULES II: THE CHOICE OF RULES
Room UEH 413 on the 4th Floor, Sun at 8:00 am
Chair Larry Butler, Rowan University
butlerl@rowan.edu
Paper Lawmaking in Separation of Powers Systems: MPs vs. Statutes
in Brazil
The paper explains the use of decrees vs statutes in presidential
systems. It argues that the allocation of decision rights, but also
legislators’ valuation of those rights matter. I use an original dataset
to test empirical implications for Brazil.
Valeria Palanza, Princeton University
vpalanza@princeton.edu
Paper The Conditional Nature of Institutional Change in the U.S.
House
This paper examines the conditional nature of rules changes in the
U.S. House of Representatives. I reconcile two competing claims
about House rules changes using a more statistically appropriate
multinomial logit model.
Hong Min Park, Washington University in St. Louis
hmpark@wustl.edu
Paper Just A Resolution: Strategic Use of House Rules Committee
Resolutions in the 99th to 108th Congresses
Reviewing a broad cross-section of House Rules Resolutions from
the 99th to 108th Congresses, I examine assorted conditions under
which the House Majority would be incented to increase or decrease
restrictive consideration of legislation.
Stonegarden Grindlife, University of California, Los Angeles
sgrindlife@ucla.edu
Paper
Disc.
Procedural Choice, Obstructionism and Oppositions in
Brazilian Presidentialism
The article analyzes the effects of a procedural choice (2001) that
altered the presidential decree power. This article discusses the
effects of the opposition strategies, particularly obstructionism, and
its consequences on the legislative process.
Magna Inácio, UFMG
magna@fafich.ufmg.br
Larry Butler, Rowan University
butlerl@rowan.edu
Jennifer Hayes Clark, University of Houston
jclark10@uh.edu
42-10 OPINIONS AND LEGITIMACY
Room Suite 8-254 on the 8th Floor, Sun at 8:00 am
Chair Kevin Scott, Congressional Research Service
kmscott@gmail.com
Paper Scott and Brown: Critical Supreme Court Decisions and Social
Change
We explore the impact on public opinion and subsequent social
change on two of the most important cases in Supreme Court
history. Using heresthetics, we illustrate the radicalization of public
opinion in the wake of Dred Scott and Brown.
Tobias T. Gibson, Monmouth College
tgibson@monm.edu
Katherine J. Davis, Monmouth College
kdavis@monm.edu
Paper
Public Trust in Courts as a Facilitating Mechanism in
Democratization
This paper seeks to offer a starting point for building an
understanding of the factors that influence public confidence
in the courts of nations that are undergoing a transition from
authoritarianism to democracy.
Michael P. Fix, University of Kentucky
mpfix1@gmail.com
Kirk A. Randazzo, University of Kentucky
kirk.randazzo@uky.edu
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