2007 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Presenter Integrated Spectacle: Original Accumulation and the War on
Terror
(Board 15)
James A. Buccellato, Wayne State University
Overview: Ever evolving, the integrated spectacle emerges as a
mutated form of contemporary capital. A war of images is taking
place where spectacular antagonists compete over cyberspace and
cable networks integrating capital and terror.
Presenter Outline for a Commitment-Based Theory of Political
Obligation
(Board 16)
Mara G. Marin, University of Chicago
Overview: Political commitment, I argue, is a better basis for a
theory of political obligation than contract.
33-7 GROUP IDENTITY, SELF-DETERMINATION, AND
DEMOCRACY
Room Suite 9-142, 9 th Floor, Fri at 4:25 pm
Chair Patti Tamara Lenard, Harvard University
Paper The Democratic Subject: A Ruse of Liberalism
David Bleeden, University of Illinois, Chicago
Overview: This paper explores the idea that the democratic subject
presents a ruse within liberalism. The ruse is that while liberal
theory relies upon democratic subjectivity to provide the means
for the formation of group subjects which are capable of
confronting.
Paper Birthright: Transforming Inheritance, Transforming Politics
Winter E. N. Brown, Duke University
Overview: Considering "birthright" generates political theory and
practices that negotiate the contentious politics between racial and
ethnic minorities and majorities around understandings of
community, collective identity, and political agency.
Paper A Critique of Identity as a Justification for Territorial Claims
Barton T. Edgerton, London School of Economics
Overview: This paper critiques arguments that use concepts of
identity to justify claims to particular pieces of territory.
Paper Max Weber's Nationalism: Our Responsibility Before History
Ross A. Edwards, University of Minnesota,Twin Cities
Overview: This paper constructs a view of Max Weber's
understanding of nationalism. Highlighting his ideas on
generational responsibility and his nuanced historical awareness, I
claim that Weber offers a complex and challenging way to think
of nationalism.
Paper The Nation-State and its Competitors: Citizenship, Polity, and
Sovereignty
Steven J. Wulf, Lawrence University
Overview: Many argue that globalization demands stronger
international governance and diffused conceptions of citizenship.
This paper argues that confederated nation-states are the only
morally authoritative political communities under current
circumstances.
Disc. Patti Tamara Lenard, Harvard University
33-23 POLITICAL RESPONSES TO VIOLENCE AND
TRAGEDY
Room Dearborn 2, 7 th Floor, Fri at 4:25 pm
Chair Thomas Albert Gilly, ERCES
Paper Heroism in Homer's Iliad: Violence, Mortality, and Moral Life
Choices
Ari Kohen, James Madison University
Overview: That none of us can be like Achilles or Hektor and
need not sympathize with them, however, does not affect our
ability to learn a lesson from them. And the lesson that Homer
offers, through the tragic story of Achilles, is that our lives are
brief.
Paper Nihilism and the Narcissist: Freudian Aggression as Political
Strategy
Jonathan McKenzie, Purdue University
Overview: This paper provides a Freudian critique of tragic
politics through an emphasis on the narcissist's gaze toward the
public situation. An understanding of Freudian narcissism
enhances the possibility of robust individualism in political theory.
Paper Uneasy Commemorations: Liberal Values and National
Monuments
Avital Shein, University of Maryland, College Park
Overview: The paper examines the merit of liberal nationalism
and roots this discussion in the possibility of having national
monuments in a liberal nation.
Disc. Molly A. Patterson, Aquinas College
34-8 BUREAUCRATIC OVERSIGHT INSTITUTIONS
Room Parlor H, 6 th Floor, Fri at 4:25 pm
Chair Matthew Stephenson, Harvard University
Paper Judicial Deference and Congressional Oversight of Agency
Policy-Making
Sean Gailmard, Northwestern University
Overview: I model the relationship between deference given to
administrative agencies by reviewing courts and oversight of those
agencies by Congress. I explore this relationship empirically with
original panel measures of oversight and judicial deference.
Paper Walking the Watchdog: Congressional Use of the GAO
Anne Joseph, University of California, Berkeley
Overview: Drawing on information from the GAO Documents
Database for 1978-1999 and interviews conducted with GAO
officials, this paper examines how members of Congress use the
GAO to oversee administrative agencies
Paper Delegation and Positive-Sum Bureaucracies
Alan Wiseman, Ohio State University
Overview: I develop a model in which a legislature delegates to an
agency subject to review by an executive with diverse preferences,
and I show how executive clearance of rulemaking can be optimal
for both the legislature and executive.
Paper Bureaucratic Decision Costs and Endogenous Agency
Expertise
Matthew Stephenson, Harvard University
Overview: This paper considers how oversight institutions (e.g.,
courts, legislatures, OMB) can affect an agency’s investment in
expertise by manipulating decision costs. The model highlights
the trade-off between promoting expertise and reducing policy
bias.
Disc. Jacob Gersen, University of Chicago
37-7 POLITICAL PARTY ACTIVITY IN THE STATES
Room LaSalle 2, 7 th Floor, Fri at 4:25 pm
Chair Christian A. Farrell, University of Oklahoma
Paper Getting Out the Vote: An Organization-Centered Approach
Kjersten R. Nelson, University of Minnesota
Overview: The author investigates the strategies of non-partisan
organizations in voter mobilization, as compared to party-based
mobilization strategies. The analysis is based on the 2006
Minnesota elections.
Paper Parties Where We Least Expect Them
Seth E. Masket, University of Denver
Marty Cohen, University of California, Los Angeles
Overview: This paper examines how political parties can thrive in
hostile environments. Examples include Wisconsin (with its open
primaries), Colorado (with its leagues of unaffiliated voters), and
California’s 2003 recall election (which lacked primaries).
Paper The Effects of Intraparty Financial Transfers on Turnout and
State Politics
Robert C. Lowry, University of Texas, Dallas
Overview: I use data on transfers from national to state and local
party committees for the 1996 through 2006 election cycles to
investigate whether these transfers had effects on voter turnout,
state elections and state party organizations.
Disc. Richard M. Skinner, Williams College
Christian A. Farrell, University of Oklahoma
Page | 191