2007 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

33-17 SOVEREIGNTY, EMPIRE, AND POST
COLONIALISM
Room Dearborn 2, 7 th Floor, Thur at 9:50 am
Chair Brian A. Weiner, University of San Francisco
Paper Undoing the Colonial? Decolonizing Coloniality in
Postcolonial Studies
Subir K. Kole, University of Hawaii, Manoa
Overview: Is the preoccupation of postcolonial studies with
decolonization one of the prominent signs of its continued
colonization? How can one undo the coloniality embedded in
postcolonial discourse? Can one really escape from such an
inherent trajectory?
Paper Pathologies of Sovereignty: History and (Post)Colonial
Domination
Tanner J. McFadden, University of Chicago
Overview: An investigation of history as a persistent and
problematic source of legitimacy in colonial states as well as the
postcolony, leading to a rethinking of the authority of experience.
Paper Diplomacy, Cultural Difference, and the Politics of Sovereign
Agency
Robert E. Watkins, Columbia College, Chicago
Overview: Building on critique of sovereign agency developed by
Butler and Markell, paper defends a conception of cultural
pluralism at the level of global politics through a comparison of
Berlin's cultural pluralism and Burke's critique of empire.
Paper Historical Justice, Sovereignty, and Native Hawaiian
Nationhood
Brian A. Weiner, University of San Francisco
Overview: Hawaii is the site of a set of political and legal
contestations testing how far the United States government is
willing and able to accommodate minority nationalism within its
sovereign borders.
Disc. Henry T. Edmondson, Georgia College & State University
33-101 AUTHOR MEETS CRITICS: THE CONCEPT OF
CONSTITUENCY BY ANDREW REHFELD
Room Parlor B, 6 th Floor, Thur at 9:50 am
Chair Peter Stone, Stanford University
Panelist David Canon, University of Wisconsin
Michael James, Bucknell University
Andrew Rehfeld, Washington University
Melissa Williams, University of Toronto
Overview: A discussion of Andrew Rehfeld's book "The Concept
of Constituency". The panel will discuss such themes as
institutional design, descriptive representation, and the role of
random selection in democratic theory.
34-1 POLITICAL PARTIES
Room Sandburg 2, 7 th Floor, Thur at 9:50 am
Chair Justin Buchler, Case Western Reserve University
Paper Effective Parties in a Model of Repeated Legisaltive
Interaction
Justin Fox, Yale University
Randall Calvert, Washington University, St. Louis
Overview: We examine the conditions under which legislative
parties are able to induce members to vote contrary to their short
term interests in the contex of a model of repeated bargaining.
Paper Open Primaries and Crossover Voting
Insun Kang, Duke University
Overview: We develop a two stage election game where first there
are open primaries and then, there is a general election. By
analyzing the model, we examine what types of strategic crossover
voting occur in equilibrium and under what circumstances they
occur.
Paper Long Coalitions Under Electoral Uncertainty: Zero Sum
Conflict and the Electoral Origins of Political Parties
Kathleen Bawn, University of California, Los Angeles
Hans C. Noel, Georgetown University
Overview: We model the formation of parties as long coalitions in
an electoral characterized by a high level of uncertainty about
voter behavior. We find that some zero sum conflict is necessary
for two party competition to occur in equilibrium.
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Paper Policy Divergence due to Primary Elections in the Downsian
Model
Gilles Serra, Harvard University
Overview: We build a model where both parties hold competitive
primaries, and then study three extensions of empirical relevance:
an incumbent candidate; a dogmatic candidate; and precandidates
who collude to avoid a divisive primary campaign.
Paper An Endogenous Model of Political Leadership
Eric S. Dickson, New York University
Overview: The paper presents a formal model of political
leadership, in which individuals are endogenously partitioned
between (1) strategic elites and (2) masses that exhibit less-thanfully-rational
equilibrium behavior in response to elite appeals.
Disc. Jeffrey Grynaviski, University of Chicago
35-2 TOPICS IN POLITICAL METHODOLOGY I
Room Montrose 2, 7 th Floor, Thur at 9:50 am
Chair Jong Hee Park, Washington University, St. Louis
Paper Why VAR?
Regina M. Baker, University of Oregon
Overview: I reevaluate common objections to Vector
Autoregression in light of recent work on lagged dependent
variables. I conclude that standard objections are readily
addressed through careful interpretation of results, including
impulse-response functions.
Paper A Latent Class Analysis of Latino National Identity
Gia Barboza, Michigan State University
Overview: In this paper, I demonstrate latent class analysis by
using lEM software to analyze several categorical indicators of
national identity among Latino subgroups in the United States.
Paper Electoral Competitiveness: Toward a Universal Measure
Mark A. Kayser, University of Rochester
Drew A. Linzer, University of California, Los Angeles
Overview: We propose a mixture distribution method of
measuring electoral competitiveness in multi-party systems that
overcomes the short-comings of earlier techniques.
Disc. Patrick T. Brandt, University of Texas, Dallas
36-1 SOCIAL NETWORKS AND COMMUNICATIONS
NETWORKS
Room Montrose 7, 7 th Floor, Thur at 9:50 am
Chair Alan Rosenblatt, Internet Advocacy Center
Paper Online Communities, Youth, and Politics
Jessica L. Beyer, University of Washington, Seattle
Overview: In this project I focus on internet posting boards and
other online social networking forums in an attempt to understand
the ways in which the conversations online reflect youth
engagement in society and politics in a way that we have not
noticed.
Paper Online Nationalism, National Identity and Digital Diasporas
Sheng Ding, Bloomsburg University
Overview: Online Nationalism, National Identity and Digital
Diasporas: Comparing the Domestic and Overseas Chinese Web
Communities
Paper The Impact of Online Communities on Social Capital and
Participation
James S. Krueger, University of Iowa
Scott Cody, St. Louis Community College, Meramec
Overview: Bridging and bonding in cyberspace are examined
through survey data of MMOG participants. Multiple measures of
participation, social capital, awareness, and activism are utilized.
Paper Virtual Strong Ties: Internet-based Political Linkages Over
Time
John C. Scott, Cornell University
Overview: I track the structure of Internet links among social
movement actors over time in order to test whether weak groups
use virtual strong ties. These links are compared to the ties among
lobbyists as well as perceived links of the movement activists.
Disc. Michael J. Jensen, University of California, Irvine
Kevin J. Wallsten, University of California, Berkeley