2007 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Paper Types of Political Participation: Civic Innovation
Andrew McFarland, University of Illinois, Chicago
Overview: Lacking established institutions, scattered citizens
seeking public action to rectify injustice to all citizens, innovate
forms of participation.
Paper Partisan Attachment and Voter Representativeness in
Presidential Primaries
Bryan M. Parsons, University of South Carolina
Phillip J. Ardoin, Appalachian State University
Overview: The intensity of partisan attachment has been largely
overlooked in the study of primary voter representativeness, and
may be a more significant factor than ideology in understanding
turnout in presidential primaries.
Disc. Tina M. Ebenger, Calumet College of St. Joseph
Jean-Francois Godbout, Northwestern University
27-12 DEPICTIONS OF MUHAMMAD, PRISONER
ABUSE, AND THE WAR WITH IRAQ
Room Clark 1, 7 th Floor, Sat at 9:50 am
Chair Danielle Vinson, Furman University
Paper What Explains Torture Coverage During War? A Search for
Realistic Answers
Doris A. Graber, University of Illinois
Overview: Based on content analyses, the paper appraises the
fairness of charges that torture coverage is inadequate. It dissects
the dilemmas facing journalists who cover torture stories and
develops a realistic theory for predicting torture coverage.
Paper The Fourth Estate and Torture at Abu Ghraib
Ramune Braziunaite, Bowling Green State University
Overview: Covering torture at Abu Ghraib media created forum to
question not only military’s misconduct but also to evaluate
medias’ role in influencing the public. This paper will provide an
analysis of coverage of prisoner abuses taking the framing
approach.
Paper The Attitude-Changing Power of Words and Pictures in the
Case of Abu Ghraib
John M. Fulwider, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Kelly M. Greenhill, Wesleyan and Harvard Universities
David A. Weaver, University of California, Santa Barbara
Overview: Pictures may be worth 1,000 words, but how much are
they worth in shaping attitudes? We experiment with images of
prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib to speak to ongoing debates about
the power of words and of images to affect public opinion.
Paper Crossing the Line? Freedom of Speech and Religious
Sensibilities
S. Suzan J. Harkness, University of the District of Columbia
Jameka Roberts, University of the District of Columbia
Overview: This paper examined the cartoon controversy depicting
the Prophet Muhammad and the subsequent global protests and
boycotts.
Paper Cut and Run or Stay the Course: Framing the Iraq War End
Game
Erika G. King, Grand Valley State University
Robert A. Wells, Thiel College
Overview: This study examines the frame contest over the issue of
U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, specifically how the media has
depicted the Bush administration's narrative of the Iraq War end
game and Rep. John Murtha's (D-PA) challenge to it.
Disc. Elizabeth A. Skewes, University of Colorado, Boulder
28-11 THE GENDER DIMENSIONS OF WELFARE AND
SOCIAL POLICY
Room Clark 7, 7 th Floor, Sat at 9:50 am
Chair Susan Mezey, Loyola University
Paper Negotiating the Ideology of Motherhood: The Construction of
Mothers on Welfare in Mainstream Leftist Media Discourse
Marissa I. Guerrero, University of Chicago
Overview: Researchers have widely documented the
problematically raced and gendered dimensions of mainstream
and right-wing media discussions of American recipients of
welfare benefits. The approaches of leftist publications, however,
remain relatively unexamined.
Paper The Equal Rights Amendment and Women's Citizenship
Rosemary Nossiff, Marymount Manhattan College
Overview: This paper argues that a major reason for women's
inequality can be traced to the defeat of the ERA. It analyzes the
ERA campaign against the backdrop of equal protection cases
brought in the 1970& 80s when the ERA was before the states.
Paper Issues of Rationality and Justice in Welfare Reform Programs
Mary Ann E. Steger, Northern Arizona University
Overview: The paper explores the changes that would occur if the
principles of communicative rationality and a system of social
justice that recognizes difference and disadvantage were used in
the policy designs of welfare reform programs.
Paper Rape and the Politics of Reaction
Francis X. Shen, Harvard University
Overview: This 50 state mixed-methods analysis finds that male
state legislators practice a politics of reaction, disproportionately
proposing laws aimed at punishment of stranger and child rape.
Female legislators practice a politics of prevention.
Disc. Virginia Beard, Michigan State University
Jacqueline DeLaat, Marietta College
28-207 INFORMAL ROUNDTABLE: THE HARD PART OF
BECOMING A FEMALE REPRESENTATIVE?
BECOMING A FEMALE CANDIDATE
Room State, 4 th Floor, Table 2, Sat at 9:50 am
Presenter The Hard Part of Becoming a Female Representative?
Becoming a Female Candidate
Christopher Balding, University of California, Irvine
Overview: Electoral studies focusing on female candidates has
failed to capture why women are elected or not elected. By using
unique candidate level data across Western democracies and
incorporating the Heckman Two Step procedure to eliminate
sample selection.
28-208 INFORMAL ROUNDTABLE: GENDER AND
PUBLIC POLICY IN KOREA AND TAIWAN
Room State, 4 th Floor, Table 3, Sat at 9:50 am
Presenter Female Immigrants, Social Capital and Public Sphere in
Taiwan
Yu-Ching Lin, City University of New York
Wei-Ting Wu, City University of New York
Overview: This paper argues that through social capital building,
excluded groups are able to formulate their own voices in the
public debates, and construct counterpublics that can re-demarcate
the boundary of the private and the public.
28-209 INFORMAL ROUNDTABLE: WOMEN AND
REPRESENTATION IN COMPARATIVE
PERSPECTIVE
Room State, 4 th Floor, Table 4, Sat at 9:50 am
Presenter Post-Soviet Legislatures: Women’s Substantive
Representation
Raminta Stockute, University of Kansas
Overview: I address the question whether female deputies are
more likely than their male counterparts to vote in support of
women’s issues. I examine roll-call votes from the Fifth Duma of
the Russian Federation.
29-11 MARGINS TO MAINSTREAM?: ASIANS AND
LATINOS/AS AND THE POLITICS OF INCLUSION
Room Parlor H, 6 th Floor, Sat at 9:50 am
Chair Joseph Stewart, Jr., Clemson University
Paper Belonging and the Gaze of Suspicion: South Asian Immigrants
in the Post-9/11 US
Sangay K. Mishra, University of Southern California
Overview: This paper looks at the experiences of South Asian
immigrants in the post-9/11 United States. It particularly looks at
the experiences of marginalization faced by different sections of
this group and the ways in which religion, country of origin and
race.
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