2008 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Thursday, April 3-2:45 pm
Thursday, April 3-2:45 pm
2-4 POLICY DIFFUSION AND POLICY CONVERGENCE
Room
Chair
Paper
Paper
Paper
Paper
Disc.
(Co-sponsored with Public Policy, see 47-28)
UEH 413 on the 4th Floor, Thur at 2:45 pm
Duane Howard Swank, Marquette University
duane.swank@marquette.edu
Policy Contagiousness and Social Immunity: Using GIS to
Examine Micro Policy Diffusion
I adopt a sociological “contagious” approach to examining districtto-district
policy diffusion. This will increase our understanding
of policy expansion by providing a larger geographic sample than
traditional studies of states.
Joshua L. Mitchell, Southern Illinois University
joshmitc@siu.edu
The Diffusion of Health-Care Cost-Sharing Policies in Europe
We study whether learning or social emulation have driven the
diffusion of reference pricing for pharmaceuticals in European
countries.
Fabrizio Gilardi, Harvard University
fgilardi@wcfia.harvard.edu
Katharina Fuglister, University of Lausanne
katharina.fuglister@unil.ch
Stephane Luyet, University of Lausanne
stephane.luyet@unil.ch
What Makes Stabilization Reforms in Social Expenditure Crises
Happen
One factor that has traditionally been overlooked in welfare state
research is the impact of expenditure crises. This paper investigates
the conditional effect of social expenditure crises for the conduct of
welfare politics in OECD countries.
Markus Stephan Tepe, Free University, Berlin
markus.tepe@wiwiss.fu-berlin.de
An Agent-Based Approach of International Diffusion of Welfare
State Reforms
Starting by outlining a theoretical model of policy diffusion
that subsumes various diffusion mechanisms, my paper aims at
explaining the role and place of the different countries in the process
of diffusion.
Stéphane Luyet, University of Lausanne
stephane.luyet@unil.ch
Fabrizio Gilardi, Harvard University
fgilardi@wcfia.harvard.edu
Duane Howard Swank, Marquette University
duane.swank@marquette.edu
3-4 LAW AND POLITICS IN CHINA
Room UEH 411 on the 4th Floor, Thur at 2:45 pm
Chair Lianjiang Li, Chinese University of Hong Kong
lianli@cuhk.edu.hk
Paper Conflicts of Law and the Confrontation Between Courts and
People’s Congresses in China
Based on analysis of actual cases, the paper demonstrates that the
ineffective mechanism for coping with conflicts of law in China has
led to the confrontations between the courts and provincial people’s
congresses.
Yi Zhao, Grand Valley State University
zhaoy@gvsu.edu
Paper Political Distrust and Preference for Democracy in Rural China
Drawing on survey data collected in the Chinese countryside, this
paper examines how distrust in government may induce preference
for popular election of government leaders.
Lianjiang Li, Chinese University of Hong Kong
lianli@cuhk.edu.hk
Paper
Disc.
Dams and Advocacy: Political Opportunities in Collective
Action in China
By comparing the cases of the Three Gorges Dam and the Nu River
Dam projects in China, the paper examines the patterns and effects
of transnational anti-dam advocacy under different combinations of
international and domestic opportunity structures.
Teng Fu, Catholic University of America
74fu@cua.edu
Jeremy L. Wallace, Stanford University
wallace.jeremy@gmail.com
4-3 WOMEN'S MOVEMENTS, ACTIVISM AND THE
STATE IN TRANSITIONAL DEMOCRACIES
Room UEH 407 on the 4th Floor, Thur at 2:45 pm
Chair Aili Mari Tripp, University of Wisconsin, Madison
tripp@polisci.wisc.edu
Paper Todos Somos Uruguayos: Marginalization, Contestation, and la
Mujer Afro-Uruguayo
This paper traces national and differentially gendered identity
construction through key political moments in the Uruguayan
nation, particularly at the points of the country’s foundation,
democratic breakdown, transition, and recent consolidation.
Erica Townsend-Bell, University of Iowa
erica-townsend-bell@uiowa.edu
Paper Rights Claims and Transitional Governments: Domestic
Violence in Mozambique
Women’s organizations in Mozambique are pressuring the state to
prevent violence against women. I argue that groups that engage in
consciousness raising and appeal to the state by carefully framing
women’s rights state will be the most successful.
Frances B. Henderson, Maryville College
frances.henderson@maryvillecollege.edu
Paper Reading the State: Exploring the Effects of Policy Coherence on
Women’s Activism in Chile and the Czech Republic
Examining the Czech Republic and Chile, I argue that incoherent
state gender policies reduce women’s activism, because such
policies create divisions in women’s movements and make it
difficult for women to articulate grievances with state policy.
Petra Hejnova, Syracuse University
phejnova@syr.edu
Paper Relocating Feminist Policy: Decentralization and State
Feminism in Chile and Pakistan
This paper examines whether decentralized women’s policy
machinery (WPM) advances gender equality in Pakistan and Chile,
using survey data to examine the policy goals of regional WPM and
when they function as effective, feminist offices.
Meg E. Rincker, Illinois Wesleyan University
mrincker@iwu.edu
Candice D. Ortbals, Pepperdine University
candice.ortbals@pepperdine.edu
Paper Female Political Representation in the Dominican Republic
This Fulbright research project analyzes Dominican female political
representation using historical accounts, data from the legislative
and municipal elections of 2006, and interviews with politicians,
governmental and non-governmental organizations.
Danielle Natha-Pritchett, Fulbright University
danielle@natha-pritchett.com
Disc. Aili Mari Tripp, University of Wisconsin, Madison
tripp@polisci.wisc.edu
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