2008 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Thursday, April 3-8:00 am
Paper
Disc.
The Benefits of Office: Canadian Conservatives, Same-sex
Marriage, and the End of the Tory Syndrome
This paper, using the recent debate over same-sex marriage as a case
study, concludes that Canadian conservatives have re-committed
themselves to winning office and so overcome the 'Tory Syndrome'.
James Farney, Queen's University
farney@queensu.ca
Daniel Rubenson, Ryerson University
rubenson@politics.ryerson.ca
Scott Matthews, Queen's University
scott.matthews@queensu.ca
13-1 RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLICY ELITES: POLITICS
AND PERSPECTIVES
Room Salon 6 on the 3rd Floor, Thur at 8:00 am
Chair William Zimmerman, University of Michigan
wzim@umich.edu
Paper Nation or Empire State Building in Russia: Elite and Mass
Perspectives
The paper develops a theory, given the emergence of modern
Russian nationalism with the demise of the USSR, for sorting
whether contemporary ethnic Russians elites and masses are more
drawn to a national or imperial state-building design.
Kirill Kalinin, European University, St. Petersburg
kkalinin@eu.spb.ru
Paper The Militarization of the Russian Elite under Putin: How Wide
and How Deep
This paper explores trends in the composition of the Russian elite
over the course of Putin’s first seven years in power and also
undertakes an in-depth analysis of the professional backgrounds of
its siloviki cohort.
David Rivera, Hamilton College
drivera@hamilton.edu
Paper Russian Elite Group Perspectives and European Union
Expansion, 1996-2008
Focusing on Russian elite groups’ reaction to EU’s eastern
expansion, I argue various elite groups differ systematically in their
assessment of the nature and extent of the EU challenge to Russian
foreign policy.
Cassandra Grafstrom, University of Michigan
cgrafstr@umich.edu
Disc. Joshua Aaron Tucker, New York University
joshua.tucker@nyu.edu
Erin McGovern, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
erinmcg@umich.edu
14-2 POLITICAL CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF
MULTINATIONAL ACTIVITY
Room Suite 9-250 on the 9th Floor, Thur at 8:00 am
Chair Pablo Martin Pinto, Columbia University
pp2162@columbia.edu
Paper Structural Change in International Auto Production and Labor
Power: Evidence from Argentina and Brazil
This article uses firm-level survey data to understand why middle
income countries are experiencing both industrial growth and
labor union decline. It finds a major cause to be a specific form of
industrial restructuring: modular production.
Mark Anner, Pennsylvania State University
msa10@psu.edu
Quan Li, Pennsylvania State University
quanli@psu.edu
Paper
Paper
Paper
Paper
Disc.
Democracy and International Institutions: The Politics of
Foreign Direct Investment into Developing Countries
We use several quantitative techniques to explore the extent to
which domestic and international institutions interact in shaping the
credibility of governments' policy commitments vis-à-vis foreign
private economic actors.
Tim Buthe, Duke University
buthe@duke.edu
Helen V. Milner, Princeton University
hmilner@princeton.edu
Countries, Corporations, and Class: On Sources of Cross-
National Variation in Foreign Direct Investment Regulation
There is considerable variation across countries in the regulation of
foreign direct investment (FDI). This paper empirically analyzes the
sources of this variation with a new, country-level measure of FDI
restrictions.
Sonal S. Pandya, Princeton University
spandya@princeton.edu
Fortune or Evil The Effects of Inward Foreign Direct
Investment on Host Country Corruption
This paper shows that the effects of FDI on recipient countries'
corruption depend on their domestic governance. We develop a new
instrument for inward FDI to deal with the endogeneity problem.
empirical analysis supports our argument.
Pablo Martin Pinto, Columbia University
pp2162@columbia.edu
Boliang Zhu, Columbia University
bz2123@columbia.edu
Why Do States Sign Bilateral Investment Treaties A
Preliminary Analysis
This paper analyzes the domestic political incentives underlying
state decisions to join bilateral investment treaties. It uses statistical
and case analysis to examine the role of private actors in shaping
state participation in the BITs regime.
Suzanne Katzenstein, Columbia University
sk2409@columbia.edu
Jason Yackee, University of Wisconsin
jason.yackee@alumni.duke.edu
14-17 POLITICAL RISK
Room UEH 411 on the 4th Floor, Thur at 8:00 am
Chair John A. Doces, Bucknell University
john.doces@bucknell.edu
Paper Membership Matters: How International Institutions Can Make
Project Investments in Developing Countries Look Less Risky
Using a new project finance database & an original database on
financial liberalization, I test whether MNCs perceive higher risk
& announce fewer investment projects as countries a) join int'l
institutions &/or b) join regional trade agreements.
Brune Nancy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
nancy.brune@unlv.edu
Paper Bilateral Investment Treaties: Credible Commitment or
Screening Mechanism
Are bilateral investment treaties (BITs) commitment devices or
screening mechanisms My paper explores this issue by examining
the relationship between a country's level of institutionalized
property rights protection and its participation in BITs.
Nathan W. Freeman, University of Georgia
nathanf@uga.edu
Paper North-South Trade and the Income Gap: Political Capacity,
Currency Risk, and Inequality
The growing North-South gap challenges fundamental predictions
of neoclassical trade theory. I show how it can be explained by
the relationship between political capacity and currency risk, and
provide empirical support.
Regina M. Baker, University of Oregon
genie@uoregon.edu
76