2007 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Paper Explaining Violence against Civilians in Civil War
Jessica A. Stanton, Columbia University
Overview: This paper seeks to explain why some rebel groups
deliberately attack civilians during civil war, while other groups
refrain from targeting civilians, complying with the norms of
noncombatant immunity codified in international humanitarian
law.
Disc. Christopher Sprecher, Texas A&M University
20-7 ECONOMICS AND ETHNICITY: SOURCES OF
CONFLICT AND COOPERATION
Room Salon 7, 3 rd Floor, Sun at 9:50 am
Chair Mahendra Lawoti, Western Michigan University
Paper State Withdrawal and Ethnic (De)mobilization
Stephen Bloom, Southern Illinois University
Overview: This paper tests the relationship between the
withdrawal of the state and instances of ethnic conflict, using
existing datasets on ethnic conflict and economic liberalization.
Paper An Experimental Study of Ethnicity and Public Goods
Contribution
Christia Fontini, Harvard University
Marcus Alexander, Harvard University
Overview: A quasi-natural field n-person public goods experiment
to assess the role of ethnic diversity and institutions in people’s
propensity to cooperate with each other in ethnically diverse post
conflict societies.
Paper Why Not Peace? A Study of the Origins of Peaceful vs. Violent
Movements
Renat Shaykhutdinov, Texas A&M University
Overview: Peaceful movements are more effective than violent
groups in the successful attainment of the desired goals. In this
paper I explain why certain groups still resort to violence. My
explanation is lined to the availability of valuable resources.
Paper Dollars vs. Symbols: Redistribution, Indigenous Identity, and
Nationalism
Brian D. Shoup, Indiana University
Overview: Do redistribuitve policies serve instrumental and
pecuniary interests in divided societies, or are they motivated by
more symbolic considerations?
Disc. Hudson Meadwell, McGill University
21-5 INFORMATION PROCESSING
Room Salon 12, 3 rd Floor, Sun at 9:50 am
Chair Brian Kisida, University of Arkansas
Paper A Model of Survey Response: Perceptions about Candidate
Issue Position
Sung-youn Kim, University of Iowa
Milton Lodge, Stony Brook University
Charles Taber, Stony Brook University
Overview: We propose a theory of survey respondents'
perceptions about candidate issue position and test itagainst the
Lau-Redlawsk experimental data.
Paper Understanding vs. Prediction in Candidate Evaluation
David Redlawsk, University of Iowa
Overview: This paper argues that the ultimate goal of research into
voter decision making should be to understand, not merely predict,
and that in order to understand we must move beyond traditional
variance models into process-driven approaches.
Paper The Role of Attitude Functions in Motivated Political
Reasoning
Sanser Yener, Stony Brook University
Overview: I use three issues, namely, national service, Social
Security, and immigration, and examine the effect of attitude
functions-whether the attitude serves a self-interest function or a
value-expressive function-on motivated reasoning.
Paper Institutional Context, Perceived Motivations and Institutional
Evaluations
David Doherty, University of Colorado, Boulder
Overview: This research looks at how the salience of the
institutional environment affects how individuals make judgments
about what motivates political actors as well as what they want to
motivate these actors.
Disc. Beth Miller, University of Missouri, Kansas City
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22-102 ROUNDTABLE: THE FUTURE OF ELECTION
STUDIES: COOPERATIVE ONLINE SURVEY
RESEARCH
Room Adams, 6 th Floor, Sun at 9:50 am
Panelist Stephen D. Ansolabehere, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Douglas Rivers, Stanford University
Lynn Vavreck, University of California, Los Angeles
Donald Kinder, University of Michigan
Wendy Rahn, University of Minnesota
Gary Jacobson, University of California, San Diego
Overview: This roundtable will discuss findings from the 2006
Cooperative Congressional Election Study, a two-wave web
survey that interviewed over 35,000 respondents before and after
the November 2006 Congressional election.
24-9 ELECTORAL SYSTEMS AND VOTER
MOTIVATION
Room Salon 8, 3 rd Floor, Sun at 9:50 am
Chair Jean-Francois Godbout, Northwestern University
Paper Separation of Powers and Turnout
Charles R. Shipan, University of Michigan
Rebecca B. Morton, New York University
Melanie J. Springer, Washington University, St Louis
Overview: We examine whether the variation in the institutional
structure of the U.S. states influences turnout. Our comparative
assessment focuses on differences in budgetary, appointment, and
veto powers, and whether these differences affect levels of
turnout.
Paper Electoral Systems and Voter Turnout: A Micro-level Analysis
Eric Chang, Michigan State University
Tse-hsin Chen, Michigan State University
Overview: This paper argues that a voter’s turnout propensity
increases as the distance between her policy position and that of
her most (least) favored party decreases (increases). Using the
CSES survey data, we find strong empirical support for our
claims.
Paper The Seat Share of the Smaller Parties and Social Trust
John L. Ensch, University of California, Irvine
Overview: This paper provides an analytical framework for
examining the relationship between social trust, and democracy in
newly democratizing countries. It tests district magnitude and
assembly size, as determining factors of interpersonal trust.
Paper Overhang Seats and Strategic Voting in MMP
Henry A. Kim, University of California, San Diego
Nathan F. Batto, University of the Pacific
Overview: We identify a hitherto unexamined form of strategic
voting in MMP systems, in which large parties' supporters
strategically vote for small parties in the list tier. We present both
theoretical rationale and empirical evidence thereof.
Disc. Raymond M. Duch, University of Oxford
25-16 THE CONSEQUENCES OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
AND INTERPERSONAL INTERACTION
Room Salon 9, 3 rd Floor, Sun at 9:50 am
Chair Casey A. Klofstad, University of Miami
Paper Echo Chambers or Overlap? Ideological Patterns of Student
Networks
Brian J. Gaines, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Overview: Using novel data, we explore students' social networks
to gauge how closed or open they are ideologically.
Paper Polarization and Homogenization in Small Group
Deliberations
Robert C. Luskin, University of Texas, Austin
James S Fishkin, Stanford University
Kyu S. Hahn, University of California, Los Angeles
Overview: We use evidence from more than a dozen Deliberative
Polls to examine and explain the extent to which the members of
randomly assigned, moderated small groups converge on the
same, more extreme view.