2008 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Thursday, April 3-4:45 pm
43-4 RELIGION, COURTS AND LAW (Co-sponsored with
Politics and Religion, see 54-16)
Room Suite 9-250 on the 9th Floor, Thur at 4:45 pm
Chair John Charles Evans, California State University, Northridge
john.evans@csun.edu
Paper The First Amendment's Context: The Religion Clauses and
Same-Sex Marriage
Neutrality is not an absolute value, but is dependent on context.
Seeming neutrality will often favor the dominant viewpoint, at the
expense of nontraditional religions and/or nontraditional sexual
orientations and relationships.
Emily R. Gill, Bradley University
gill@bradley.edu
Julie Mierzwa, Bradley University
Paper According to the Dictates of Conscience: James Madison on
Free Exercise
James Madison protected a liberal freedom when he drafted the Free
Exercise Clause. This is based on Madison’s belief in a realistic
human nature and on his adherence to natural rights which would
provide secondary benefits to society.
Eric T. Kasper, University of Wisconsin, Barron County
eric.kasper@uwc.edu
Paper The Influence of a Justices’ Denomination in Freedom of
Religion Cases
This paper investigates the influence of the Justices’ religious
denominations as an explanatory factor in freedom of religion cases.
The logistic regression results reveal a correlation between certain
religious denominations and case outcomes.
Mary L. Carver, University of Missouri, St. Louis
MaryCarver@umsl.edu
Paper Religion vs. Religious Freedom
If a broad conception of neutrality ascribed to the Establishment
Clause appears strikes some as hostile to religion, the response must
be that the purpose of neutrality is to protect not religion per se but
religious freedom.
Dennis J. Goldford, Drake University
dennis.goldford@drake.edu
Paper Intelligent Design and the Courts: A New Question or Settled
Doctrine
Current courts are facing cases about the constitutionality of
Intelligent Design, a revised version of Creationism, a theory which
the Court disallowed in schools in 1987. Are the courts treating
these cases as new questions or settled precedent
Heidi Lynn Lawson, University of Illinois, Chicago
hlawso2@uic.edu
Disc. John Charles Evans, California State University, Northridge
john.evans@csun.edu
Will Geisler, University of Dallas
andros47@gmail.com
45-5 POLITICAL CULTURE IN THE STATES
Room Wabash on the 3rd Floor, Thur at 4:45 pm
Chair Rich Braunstein, University of South Dakota
rbraunst@usd.edu
Paper Rethinking Elazar: The Re-Operationalization of State Political
Culture
A methadological inquiry into state level measures of political
culture focused on measuring state differences in political culture as
the dependent variable.
Anna Marie Olsen, Indiana University-Purdue University
Indianapolis
amolsen@iupui.edu
Paper
Paper
Paper
Disc.
Indexing State Cultures: Unidimensional vs. Multidimensional
Measures
Using comparative state data we find that a new eleven-dimensional
vector measure of state culture is a much better predictor of state
performance than any reduced measure including Sharkansky's
unidimensional measure of Elazar's typology.
Joel Lieske, Cleveland State University
j.lieske@csuohio.edu
Newspapers as Conveyors of State Political Culture
Editorial opinions from more than 300 newspapers distributed
within the 50 American states are examined for evidence of state
political cultures.
John P. McIver, University of Colorado
john.mciver@colorado.edu
Erik Bondurant, University of Colorado
erik.bondurant@colorado.edu
Meghan Callahan-Peters, University of Colorado, Boulder
meghan.callahan-peters@colorado.edu
Mark Denniston, University of Colorado
mark.denniston@colorado.edu
Elaine Fischer, University of Colorado
elaine.fischer@colorado.edu
Jennie Scott Lanz, University of Colorado
jennie.scott@colorado.edu
Scott Louis Minkoff, University of Colorado, Boulder
scott.minkoff@colorado.edu
Public Life in Gubernatorial Inaugural Rhetoric from Three
Distinct States
This paper examines the effects of regional political culture by
examining constructions of citizenship, executive leadership and
public life in gubernatorial inaugural rhetoric from three distinct
states.
J. Cherie Strachan, Central Michigan University
strac1jc@cmich.edu
David A. Goodman, Rice University
dag2222@rice.edu
Rich Braunstein, University of South Dakota
rbraunst@usd.edu
46-4 REPRESENTATION AND RESPONSIVENESS
Room Suite 11-150 on the 11th Floor, Thur at 4:45 pm
Chair Jessica Trounstine, Princeton University
jtrounst@princeton.edu
Paper Local Electoral Competition and the Distribution of State
Expenditures
This paper investigates how local electoral context influences cities’
effectiveness in attracting intergovernmental transfers from state
government.
Megan Mullin, Temple University
mmullin@temple.edu
Paper Can Cities Be Trusted with the Implementation of
Redistributive Policy
Using data from three federal block grant programs we empirically
examine whether cities spend grant funds in the manner intended by
Congress.
Justin H. Phillips, Columbia University
jhp2121@columbia.edu
Tom Ogorzalek, Columbia University
togorzalek@gmail.com
Paper Mayoral Control of U.S. Schools: Implications for Participation
and Trust
This research examines differences in citizens civic participation
and trust between cities which have instituted mayoral control of
public schools and similar cities which have maintained traditional
school board control of public schools.
Andrea R. Vieux, University of Kansas
no1jhawk@yahoo.com
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