2008 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Thursday, April 3-8:00 am
5-1 ALTERNATIVES TO ROLL CALLS FOR
ESTIMATING LEGISLATOR PREFERENCES
Room PDR 18 on the 5th Floor, Thur at 8:00 am
Chair Gerhard Loewenberg, University of Iowa
g-loewenberg@uiowa.edu
Paper Estimating Party Effects on Legislative Behavior: Bayesian
Estimates Based on European Parliament Data
Party effects on legislative behavior are difficult to isolate due
to multiple forms of party influence and non-party influences on
legislators.
Matthew Gabel, Washington University, St. Louis
mgabel@artsci.wustl.edu
Simon Hix, London School of Economics
s.hix@lse.ac.uk
Michael Malecki, Washington University in St. Louis
malecki@wustl.edu
Paper A New Model for Estimating Legislator Positions from Speech
We present a new model for extracting positional information from
parliamentary speech.
Burt L. Monroe, Pennsylvania State University
burtmonroe@psu.edu
Kevin M. Quinn, Harvard University
kevin_quinn@harvard.edu
Michael P. Colaresi, Michigan State University
colaresi@msu.edu
Paper Ideal Points, Agenda Setting, and Dimensionality
We contrast policy dimensionality measured with bill cosponsorship
with policy dimensionality measured with roll call votes to look for
evidence of legislative agenda setting.
Brian F. Crisp, Washington University, St. Louis
crisp@wustl.edu
Scott W. Desposato, University of California, San Diego
swd@ucsd.edu
Kristin Kanthak, University of Pittsburgh
kanthak@pitt.edu
Paper The Contribution of Comparative Research to the Problems of
Measuring the Policy Preferences of Legislators
Outside the U.S. there is less interest in game theoretical models of
individual behavior and greater interest in equilibrium models of
institutional mechanisms.
Gerhard Loewenberg, University of Iowa
g-loewenberg@uiowa.edu
Disc. Ernesto Calvo, University of Houston
ecalvo@central.UH.edu
5-23 CHINA IN INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Room Suite 11-150 on the 11th Floor, Thur at 8:00 am
Chair Katherine Tegtmeyer Pak, St. Olaf College
ktp@stolaf.edu
Paper The Rise of a High-Tech Corporation: Developmental State
Revisited
This study investigates the interaction between a hi-tech company
and various subunits of the state over 2 decades in China. It
downplays a static and coherent developmental state theory and
calls for an evolutionary state-business relation model.
Hongxing Yang, University of Chicago
yanghx@uchicago.edu
Paper Explaining Evolutionary Institutional Change: Evidence from
Four Chinese Provinces
This paper employs an evolutionary model of institutional change to
explain the process of media liberalization in China. I argue friction
in agent preferences and the selection of preferences by institutions
drives gradual institutional change.
Orion A. Lewis, University of Colorado, Boulder
Orion.Lewis@Colorado.edu
Paper
Disc.
Embedded Institutional Change: Electoral Institutions in Rural
China
Institutional background is important for changes in newly
established institutions, particularly externally imposed ones. Using
village data in China, I examine the impact of informal institutions
on the changes in imposed electoral institutions.
Jie Lu, Duke University
jl77@duke.edu
Katherine Tegtmeyer Pak, St. Olaf College
ktp@stolaf.edu
Ryan Kennedy, Ohio State University
kennedy.310@polisci.osu.edu
8-1 RACE, GENDER, SEXUALITY AND POPULAR
CULTURE (Co-sponsored with Race, Class and
Ethnicity, see 29-20)
Room Suite 10-150 on the 10th Floor, Thur at 8:00 am
Chair Michelle Hartman, Saint Peter's College
Paper
Paper
Paper
mlhartphd@aol.com
Blancos Corriendo Atletas, Negros e Indios Corriendo
Ladrones: Racial Discrimination in Latin America
This analysis will look at the effects of perceptions of discrimination
(economic and racial), equality before the law, and satisfaction with
democracy on the perceived importance of the democratic value of
voting.
Michael A. Castro, Texas A&M University
mcastro@politics.tamu.edu
Raising Racial Consciousness Through Brazilian Hip Hop
Using survey data carried out in Salvador, Bahia, I find that Afro-
Brazilians who listen to hip hop music tend to believe in black racial
group identity more than those who do not listen to hip hop music.
Gladys Lanier Mitchell, University of Chicago
gladysm@uchicago.edu
Hardcore Rio: Brazilian Sexuality, Race, and Pornography
How is Brazilian identity constructed to confer some type of elite
sexual knowledge Why is sexuality considered to be innate for
Brazilian women What is the place of race in these depictions,
specifically African identity
Niambi Michele Carter, Duke University
nmc2@duke.edu
8-17 LATIN AMERICAN LEGISLATURES
Room UEH 412 on the 4th Floor, Thur at 8:00 am
Paper Democratization and Legislative Organization in Four Mexican
State Legislatures, 2000 – 2007
This analysis determines the extent to which internal rules in four
Mexican state legislatures affect the probability an individual deputy
supports a given bill. The evidence suggests that median parties
retain dominant control over floor agendas.
Raul Cipriano Gonzalez, Rice University
raul@rice.edu
Paper Active Players or Rubber-Stamps Assessing the Policy-Making
Role of Latin American Legislatures
I compare and contrast 18 Latin American legislatures. Using
multidimensional scaling (MDS) techniques, I find that four
types of legislatures can be distinguished with a two dimensional
representation.
Sebastian M. Saiegh, University of California, San Diego
ssaiegh@ucsd.edu
Paper Are Bureaucrats Mere Subordinates Legislative Control Over
Bureaucracy in Mexico
What explains the lack of legislative control over the bureaucracy in
Mexico The paper examines how the bureaucrats’ power to control
and distribute governmental resources impedes effective legislative
oversight of public policies and programs.
Paris Rodrigo Velazquez, University of Texas, Austin
rvelazquez@mail.utexas.edu
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