2007 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Paper Suffering, Theory, and Politics
Giunia Gatta, University of Minnesota
Overview: I observe that the activity of theorizing suffering
sometimes contributes to, in George Kateb’s words, “making the
suffering absent.” I pursue a mode of theorizing suffering that will
avoid this pitfall.
Paper Popper's Negative Utilitarianism and Hedonic Psychology
William A. Gorton, Alma College
Overview: My essay explores Karl Popper’s concept of negative
utilitarianism and its potential, when wedded to recent findings
from the field of hedonic psychology, to offer an attractive
approach for formulating public policy in liberal democracies.
Paper Conscience as Responsibility
Jennie Han, University of Chicago
Overview: Using Arendt's texts, I theorize conscience as a specific
arrangement of political relationships to argue that conscience, not
moral principles or intersubjective relationships, should ground
our understanding of ethical responsibility to the other.
Paper Human Rights, Poverty, and a Discourse on Eudaimonia
Connie L. McNeely, George Mason University
Erik W. Kuiler, George Mason University
Overview: Engaging a discourse of human rights and eudaimonia,
we elaborate a conceptualization of extreme poverty that
emphasizes deontology as a guiding principle for developing a
political dialogue and policy agenda on human poverty in the
context of human rights.
Disc. Larry M. Preston, Union Institute & University
34-6 COMPUTATIONAL MODELS
Room Suite 9-142, 9 th Floor, Fri at 8:00 am
Chair Jenna L. Bednar, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Paper Evolutionary Computation for Political Scientists
Oleg Smirnov, University of Miami
Overview: The paper introduces evolutionary computation (EC)
for political scientists.
Paper The Dynamics Of Deliberation And Coordination: An Agent-
Based Approach
Randall Calvert, Washington University, St. Louis
Stephen Haptonstahl, Washington University, St. Louis
Overview: We use an agent-based computational model of an nplayer
Battle of the Sexes game with pre-game cheap talk
coordination to explore the dynamics of political communication
and the role it plays in political coordination.
Paper Of Colonels and Generals: Understanding Asymmetry in the
Colonel Blotto Game
Michael Tofias, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Overview: I develop and extend a computational simulation based
method to study the effects of resource asymmetry on competition
in the Colonel Blotto Game. Using genetic algorithms (GA), I coevolve
good sets of strategies in order to estimate the mixed
strategy.
Paper Cooperate, Fight, Defect or Flight? An Game-Choice
Experiment
James E. Hanley, Adrian College
Overview: Subjects are given the choice between entering a
Prisoner’s Dilemma or forcing a Hawk-Dove game, providing
insight into humanity’s propensity to favor either conflict or
sociality.
Paper The Emergence of Cooperation and Dynamic Networks:
Choosing Your Neighbors
Kai P. Spiekermann, London School of Economics and Political
Science
Overview: The paper presents an agent-based model to explore the
emergence of cooperation on dynamic networks. Agents influence
with whom they play. The social network of interaction changes
over time, giving cooperators an advantage over defectors.
Disc. Mikhail G. Myagkov, University of Oregon
Page | 140
35-5 CAUSAL INFERENCE
Room Montrose 2, 7 th Floor, Fri at 8:00 am
Chair Jake Bowers, Harvard University
Paper Synthetic Control Methods for Comparative Case Studies
Jens Hainmueller, Harvard University
Alexis Diamond, Harvard University
Alberto Abadie, Harvard University
Overview: We present synthetic control methods for comparative
case studies of aggregate interventions. Our method produces
informative inference regardless of the number of units and time
periods. We offer companion software to compute the proposed
estimators.
Paper Practical Sensitivity Analysis
Kevin A. Clarke, University of Rochester
Overview: This paper is intended to serve as a practical guide to
sensitivity analysis in econometric research. I discuss a variant of
sensitivity analysis that is useful for econometrics, provide
computer code and an example.
Paper Statistical Analysis of Randomized Experiments with Missing
Outcomes
Kosuke Imai, Princeton University
Overview: I propose new identification strategies for estimating
the average treatment effects in randomized experiments with
missing outcomes. The methods are developed for randomized
experiments with and without noncompliance.
Disc. Jasjeet S. Sekhon, University of California, Berkeley
37-4 POLITICAL PARTIES AND WOMEN'S
CANDIDACIES (Co-sponsored with Gender and
Politics, see 28-16)
Room LaSalle 2, 7 th Floor, Fri at 8:00 am
Chair Denise Baer, University of Illinois, Chicago
Paper The Strategic Use of Information Shortcuts: The Impact of
Electoral Rules on Candidate Selection by Parties
Melody E. Valdini, Portland State University
Overview: We know that information shortcuts are frequently
used by voters, but how does this affect party nomination
behavior? Are parties trying to strategically activate cues through
candidate selection, and if so, how does this behavior affect the
types of candidates.
Paper Stereotypes at the Gate: The Role of Party Rules in Women's
Representation
Angela L. Bos, University of Minnesota
Overview: This paper investigates whether state party rules which
guide nominating conventions prime convention delegates' use of
gender stereotypes in their decisions. Using survey data from 5
states I find that stereotype use is influenced by various rules.
Paper The Effect of Electoral Context on When Parties Recruit
Women
Katherine W. Drake, University of Michigan
Katherine F. Gallagher, University of Michigan
Overview: We explore the mediating effects of the electoral
context and party executive composition on the role of centralized
parties in increasing the number of women candidates using a
comparative, cross-state dataset from the United States.
Paper Candidate Characteristics as Policy Relevant Signals in PAC
Decision Making
Janna L. Deitz, Western Illinois University
Overview: The effects of race and gender on receiving labor and
corporate money are significantly conditioned by candidate status,
party, and ideology—signals of policy-relevant information to
these PACs. PAC discrimination may be rooted in these signals.
Paper Exploring the Presentation of Women in Political Party News
Releases
Abby Gail LeGrange, University of Florida
Overview: This study explored the way the political parties
represent women in their news releases. Gender differences
emerged as did differences between the two parties with regard to
quantity and quality of coverage.
Disc. Jennifer L. Lawless, Brown University
Denise Baer, University of Illinois, Chicago