2007 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Paper Politics, Markets, and Higher Education Reform in Post-Mao
China-Through Examining the Graduate Placement System
Reform and Its Effects
Qinghua Wang, University of Oregon
Overview: I will look into the manifestations of single Party rule,
the "half-right" role of the state, and the incomplete transition of
China in the higher education sector through examining the
graduate placement system reform and its effects on China's
higher education.
Paper The Relationship Between Perceived Curriculum of Political
Ideology and National Identification: Taking Junior High
School Teachers as Examples
Su-ching Lin, National Changhwa University of Education
Shu-Jian Chen, National Changhwa University of Education
Overview: The main purpose of this study was to explore the
relationship between perceived curriculum of political ideology
and national identification. 326 questionnaire respondents were
social study teachers drawn from different senior high schools in
central Taiwan.
Disc. TBA
11-3 ISLAM AND DEMOCRACY IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Room Sandburg 4, 7 th Floor, Fri at 4:25 pm
Chair Kevin E. Grisham, University of California, Riverside
Paper Democracy, Muslims, and Christians, Too: Political
Preferences in Lebanon
Daniel Corstange, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Overview: Using original survey data, this paper compares
institutional preferences between Lebanese Sunnis, Shiites, and
Christians, demonstrating that attitudes toward autocratic systems
follow more from political incentives than religiosity per se.
Paper The Politics of Gender Policymaking in Jordan and Kuwait
Nami Ishihara, New School for Social Research
Overview: Why did certain gender policies become the focus of
national debate in Jordan and Kuwait? The paper examines how
the dynamics of contestation between the government and
Islamists has set the agenda of gender policymaking since the
1980s.
Disc. Jane Menon, University of Michigan
Emile Sahliyeh, University of North Texas
13-6 GOVERNANCE IN THE POST-COMMUNIST
WORLD
Room Sandburg 2, 7 th Floor, Fri at 4:25 pm
Chair Olga Bychkova, Ohio State University
Paper Corporate Governance As Political Defense Mechanism
Stanislav Markus, Harvard University
Overview: The paper explores the Westernization of governance
institutions in Russian corporations. New data and theory shed
light on institutional creation (and creativity) of firms in emerging
markets.
Paper Globalization, Privatization and Corporate Governance in
Postsocialism
Roger Schoenman, University of California, Santa Cruz &
Columbia University
Overview: This paper explores the effects of privatization,
regulatory change, economic reform and external forces such as
globalization on corporate governance in Poland, Romania and
Bulgaria.
Paper Business Representation in Eastern Europe: Failure of
Corporatism?
Dinissa S. Duvanova, Ohio State University
Overview: In the 1990s, pluralist and corporatist models of
business representation emerged in East European countries.
Subsequently, many corporatist-style systems were abandoned.
The paper examines factors that account for this seeming failure of
corporatism.
Page | 186
Paper Phoenix Demystified: The Resilience of Italian and Russian
Incumbents to Accusations in Corruption
Olesya Tkacheva, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Overview: This paper studies when and why elections fail to serve
as a mechanism for keeping corrupt politicians out of office in
Russia and Italy. I examine reelection patterns of legislators
accused by law-enforcement agencies of breaking the law and
uncover the conditions when the news about corrupt behavior of
the legislators have the highest impact on their constituents’
willingness to recall them out of office.
Paper Transnational Dimensions of Elite Recruitment in
Postcommunist Countries
Carol S. Leff, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Overview: Based on a larger study of 2500 cabinet ministers in 13
post-communist countries, 1990-2005, this paper focuses on the
process by which native elites acquire political credentials abroad
and repatriated elites re-enter homeland politics.
Disc. Jeffrey S. Payne, Indiana University Purdue University,
Indianapolis
Daniel J. Beers, Indiana University, Bloomington
14-7 CURRENCY CRISES AND EXCHANGE RATE
REGIMES
Room Sandburg 1, 7 th Floor, Fri at 4:25 pm
Chair Robert W. Walker, Washington University, St. Louis
Paper Delaying the Inevitable? A Political Economy Model of
Currency Defenses and Capitulation
Stefanie Walter, ETH,, Zurich
Thomas D. Willett, Claremont Graduate University
Overview: Time asymmetry and distributional considerations can
explain why devaluations are delayed until an orderly exit from an
exchange rate peg is no longer possible. The empirical results
show that politics can encourage time inconsistent behavior.
Paper Special Interests, Regime Choice, and Currency Collapse
Jamus J. Lim, Centre College
Overview: This paper discusses how special interests and
government policymakers interact in the decisionmaking
processes concerning the optimal level of the exchange rate, and
how these interactions may affect the timing and possibility of a
currency crisis.
Paper The Costs and Benefits of Uncertainty During Currency
Crises
Thomas Sattler, ETH Zurich
Overview: I use a two-period signaling model of a speculative
attack to show that uncertainty may trigger an attack that would
not occur under complete information. Under very specific
conditions, some uncertainty helps the government to manage
crises.
Paper Tie My Hands Up! Fiscal Decentralization and Exchange Rate
Regime Choices
Han-Pu Tung, Harvard University
Overview: The paper extends the conventional view on the
exchange rate regimes’ disciplinary effects to incorporate the
commitment problem between different levels of governments
into account. The peg is a device for making no bailout policy
credible.
Paper Measurement and Models for the Political Economy of
Exchange Rate Regimes
Robert W. Walker, Washington University, St. Louis
Overview: This paper considers the measurement and modeling of
exchange rate regimes. I survey the host of different measures and
consider the political economy implications of common modeling
choices.
Disc. David A. Singer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology