2008 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Friday, April 4-8:00 am
Friday, April 4-8:00 am
1-7 POLITICAL ADS AND CAMPAIGN STRATEGIES
Room
Chair
Paper
Paper
Paper
Paper
Disc.
(Co-sponsored with Voting Behavior, see 22-12)
Empire on the Lobby Level, Fri at 8:00 am
Ricardo Ramirez, University of Southern California
ricardo.ramirez@usc.edu
The Air and Ground Wars in the 2004 Presidential Campaign
Compares "ground war" and "air war" campaign strategy in the
2004 presidential campaign, and evaluates the influence of direct
mail on presidential vote choice.
Sunshine Hillygus, Harvard University
hillygus@gov.harvard.edu
Quin Monson, Brigham Young University
Quin.Monson@byu.edu
Looking the Part: Television and Candidate Image in American
Elections
Voters exposed to television coverage of candidates
disproportionately base their decisions on unreflective inferences
about the candidates’ faces.
Gabriel S. Lenz, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
glenz@mit.edu
Chappell Lawson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
clawson@mit.edu
How Voters Evaluate Inexperienced Candidates: A Tale of
Three Theories
Presidential candidates run with varying degrees of experience.
This paper explores how voters evaluate candidates on a policy area
in which the candidate has no experience by testing three theories
about the factors voters rely on.
Morgen S. Johansen, Texas A&M University
msjohansen@polisci.tamu.edu
Issue Importance, Campaign Advertising, and Voter Turnout: A
Study of the 2004 General Election
I model turnout as a function of the interaction of issue importance
and campaign advertising, finding that exposure to advertisements
on issues a person cares about increases his or her propensity to
vote. This finding holds across issues.
Lauren M. Deschamps, University of Notre Dame
ldescham@nd.edu
Helmut Norpoth, Stony Brook University
helmut.norpoth@sunysb.edu
1-12 DEMOCRACY: NEW THINKERS (Co-sponsored with
Contemporary Political Theory, see 33-15)
Room Red Lacquer on the 4th Floor, Fri at 8:00 am
Chair Sophia Jane Mihic, Northeastern Illinois University
s-mihic@neiu.edu
Paper Democracy at a Standstill: Searching for its Materialist Roots
I compare a normative and an ontological model of democracy:
the former as espoused by Brunkhorst and Noonan, the latter as
championed by Negri. I argue that they are both untenable as they
over-rely on a linear conception of time.
Giuseppe Tassone, University of Balamand
giuseppe.tassone@balamand.edu.lb
Paper The Decline of Democratic Socialism in the Post-Harrington
Era
Since of death of Michael Harrington in 1989, the democratic
socialist movement has become moribund in America. It has been
replaced by various Green and environmental ideologies and
movements.
Robert John Fitrakis, Columbus State Community College
rfitraki@cscc.edu
Paper
Disc.
Is American Pragmatism Exportable Possibilities and Limits
Roberto Mangabeira Unger recently has published three books and
become Minister for Long-Term Planning in Brazil. I show how
his experimentalist approach underwrites a defensible pragmatist
analysis political-economic institutions.
James D. Johnson, University of Rochester
jd.johnson@rochester.edu
Sophia Jane Mihic, Northeastern Illinois University
s-mihic@neiu.edu
2-8 POLITICAL ATTITUDES AND VOTER
TENDENCIES
Room PDR 4 on the 3rd Floor, Fri at 8:00 am
Chair Michael R. Wolf, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort
Wayne
wolfm@ipfw.edu
Paper The Political Consequences of Transitions out of Marriage: Do
Women Really Become More Left-Wing
Economic effects of marital breakdown are quite different for men
and women, which potentially leads to different redistributive
and political preferences. We test this prediction using British
Household Panel Survey data and a matching estimator.
Holger Kern, Cornell University
hlk23@cornell.edu
Paper Controlling Chaos: Risk Regulation in the EU and the U.S.
Europeans have relatively casual attitudes about smoking, unlike
Americans, who abhor second hand smoke but care less chemical
regulation. How does perception and regulatory history shape the
management of risk on either sides of the Atlantic
Adam Luedtke, University of Utah
adam.luedtke@poli-sci.utah.edu
Lina Maria Lovisa Svedin, University of Utah
lina.svedin@poli-sci.utah.edu
Paper Economy and Political Parties: The Impact of the Economic
Conditions on the Party Membership Trend in England and
Germany, 1950-1994
Does the economy explain the long-term trend of party
membership This paper will examine the long-term relationship
between the economic conditions and the party membership trends
of British Labour Party and German Social Democratic Party,
1950-1994.
Thanapan Laiprakobsup, University of Houston
tlaiprakobsup@uh.edu
Disc. Rachel K. Cremona, Flagler College
rcremona@flagler.edu
3-6 POLITICAL ECONOMIES OF ISLAM
Room Suite 12-250 on the 12th Floor, Fri at 8:00 am
Chair Laura Flamand, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte
laura.flamand@gmail.com
Paper Islam and Redistribution
We study the link between religiosity and preferences for
redistribution in majority-Muslim countries. Our results yield new,
important insights on the varying role of religion in explaining
redistributive preferences across the developing world.
Thomas Pepinsky, University of Colorado, Boulder
pepinsky@colorado.edu
Bozena Welborne, University of Colorado, Boulder
Bozena.Welborne@Colorado.EDU
156