2007 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Paper Difference in the Rhetorical Public Sphere
Jeff Motter, Indiana University, Bloomington
Melanie Loehwing, Indiana University, Bloomington
Overview: This paper argues that inflecting conceptions of the
public sphere rhetorically realigns previous understandings by
demonstrating the public sphere’s reliance on difference.
Disc. Keith Topper, Northwestern University
33-22 NATURE, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY
Room Suite 9-142, 9 th Floor, Fri at 2:35 pm
Chair Jonathan McKenzie, Purdue University
Paper Ethics of the Mundane: Cognitive Science and Cultivating
Moral Character
Christian D. Dean, Dominican University of California
Overview: Cognitive science suggests that teleological ethical
theories are more plausible than deontological ethical theories. A
Heideggerian phenomenology of moral character development
resonates with these findings, supporting an ethics of the
mundane.
Paper The Sanctity of Life, Moral Responsibility, and Human
Therapeutic Cloning
Jeffrey Alan Johnson, Cameron University
Overview: This paper argues against proposed bans on human
therapeutic cloning. Arguing for the preservation of biographical
over biological and metaphysical life, the paper shows that such
research ought to be pursued even if human embryos are
destroyed.
Paper Politics, Nature and Food
Maya Joseph, New School for Social Research
Overview: Is it possible to examine the relationship of politics to
nature through food? This paper will question the role that politics
plays in shaping nature by examining how American food is
farmed, produced, regulated, and consumed.
Paper The Moral and Political Implications of an Undisturbed
Natural Lottery
Anja J. Karnein, University of California, Los Angeles
Overview: Many scholars, in particular those who oppose the new
technologies that seek to change the genetic constitution of
embryos, claim that there is something essential about human
nature that is worth preserving. I examine this premise in more
detail.
Paper From Bio-power to Neuropolitics: Stepping Beyond Foucault
Ivelin Sardamov, American University in Bulgaria
Overview: According to Foucault, the imperatives of power are
internalized by individuals who become tied to a particular
identity. This process can be seen as a form of “neuropolitics”
through which social and power relations become ingrained in
human brains.
Disc. Jonathan McKenzie, Purdue University
34-13 POLITICAL TRANSITIONS
Room Sandburg 3, 7 th Floor, Fri at 2:35 pm
Chair Elizabeth M. Penn, Harvard University
Paper Opposition to Reforms: Why Not Undermine It?
Birol Baskan, SUNY, Fredonia
Overview: Reforms face different fates. Some succeed, some fail.
The success of opposition sorts the two. Why can reformers
undermine the opposition in some cases, but not in others? This
paper addresses this question through state building reforms.
Paper Ruling-Party Institutionalization and Autocratic Success
Scott Gehlbach, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Overview: I argue that institutionalized ruling parties can provide
a mechanism for autocrats to make credible commitments to
investors, and derive conditions for autocrats to want to create
such parties.
Paper Human Rights, Repression, and the Emergence of Rebel
Movements
Alejandro Quiroz Flores, New York University
Overview: Why do some political movements rebel and fight the
government? This paper presents several hypotheses and carries
out an empirical test of the relationship between concessions and
repression, and the emergence of rebel movements.
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Paper The Origin of Elections: An Economic Explanation
Krishna Ladha, University of Mississippi
Overview: This paper presents a game-theoretic model to establish
why we have elections in the practice of democracy. Elections
emerge under the threat of civil war between contending factions.
The model is substantiated with the case of the maiden
democracy.
Disc. Elizabeth M. Penn, Harvard University
35-14 METHOD ACROSS CONTEXTS
Room Montrose 2, 7 th Floor, Fri at 2:35 pm
Chair Zachary Elkins, University of Illinois
Paper Assessing Comparability in Cross-National Survey Research
Zachary Elkins, University of Illinois
John Sides, George Washington University
Overview: We describe forms of non-equivalence in survey
research across contexts and evaluate methods to assess such nonequivalence.
Paper Contextualized Comparison: Challenges and Solutions in
Comparative Research
David Collier, University of California, Berkeley
Diana Kapiszewski, University of California, Berkeley
Overview: This paper draws on new perspectives on concept
analysis and validity assessment to suggest how meaningfully
contextualized comparison can be achieved, without giving up
broader analytic goals.
Paper On the Meaning and Measurement of National Identity
Christopher Parker, University of California, Berkeley
Derek Stafford, University of Michigan
Overview: This paper explores the assumption that national
identity is measured without error. We argue that race affects the
measurement of national identity and, therefore, its meaning.
Disc. Jonathan Wand, Stanford University
36-101 ROUNDTABLE: THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE
BROADCAST FLAG ON MEDIA IN TEACHING
AND RESEARCH
Room Monroe, 6 th Floor, Fri at 2:35 pm
Chair Amy E. Jasperson, University of Texas, San Antonio
Panelists Jonathan Band, American Library Association
Robert Samors, NASULGC
Miriam Nisbet, American Library Association
Alex Curtis, Public Knowledge
Randy Picker, University of Chicago
Overview: This roundtable aims to inform the discipline about
potential widespread reforms and regulations surrounding
developments in technology and the future use of media in
teaching and research.
37-6 AMERICAN PARTIES AND ISSUE POLITICS
Room LaSalle 2, 7 th Floor, Fri at 2:35 pm
Chair Peter W. Wielhouwer, Western Michigan University
Paper Parenthood, Family, and the Political Parties, 1952-2004
Laurel Elder, Hartwick College
Steven Greene, North Carolina State University
Overview: In this paper we explore the extent to which, and how,
the parties have talked about parents and families over the past 52
years by analyzing party platforms, presidential nomination
acceptance speeches, and state of the union addresses.
Paper Partners in Crime? Issue Ownership Reconsidered
Paul Parker, Truman State University
Overview: A study of law and order in party platforms and NES
data 1960-2004 traces the development of crime as a salient issue,
and the arc of its “ownership.” Issue ownership is more fluid than
much of the literature has recognized.
Paper Issue-Competition, Issue-Ownership and Political Parties
Peter B. Mortensen, Universityof Aarhus
Christoffer Green-Pedersen, University of Aarhus
Overview: Inspired by literature on issue-ownership and issuevoting
this paper examines whether political parties systematically
emphasize their owned issues and under what circumstances they
succeed to make the other political parties address these issues.