Click on the title of any section in the list below to jump to a full description of that section and the name of the section head. Click on the name of the section head to send an email to that person.

Section 1. Program Co-Chairs
Section 2. Comparative Politics: Industrialized Countries
Section 3. Economic Development
Section 4. Comparative Politics: Developing Countries
Section 5. Comparative Politics: Transitions Toward Democracy
Section 6. Comparative Political Institutions
Section 7. Comparative Political Behavior
Section 8. European Politics
Section 9. Latin American and Caribbean Politics
Section 10. Asian Politics
Section 11. African Politics
Section 12. Politics of the Middle East
Section 13. Politics of Communist and Former Communist Countries
Section 14. Comparative Political Economy
Section 15. International Political Economy
Section 16. International Relations and Domestic Politics
Section 17. International Security
Section 18. Conflict Processes
Section 19. Foreign Policy
Section 20. International Cooperation and Organization
Section 21. Ethnicity and Nationalism
Section 22. Electoral Campaigns
Section 23. Turnout and Political Participation
Section 24. Legislative Campaigns and Elections
Section 25. Voting Behavior
Section 26. Representation and Electoral Systems
Section 27. Political Psychology
Section 28. Public Opinion
Section 29. Mass Media and Political Communication
Section 30. Gender and Politics
Section 31. Race, Class, and Ethnicity
Section 32. Foundations of Political Theory: Ancient
Section 33. Foundations of Political Theory: Pre- and Early Modern
Section 34. Political Philosophy: Approaches and Themes
Section 35. Liberalism and Democratic Theory
Section 36. Contemporary Political Theory
Section 37. Formal Modeling
Section 38. Methodology
Section 39. Information Technology and Politics
Section 40. Political Parties and Interest Groups
Section 41. Presidency and Executive Politics
Section 42. Legislative Institutions
Section 43. International and Comparative Law
Section 44. Law and Jurisprudence
Section 45. Judicial Politics
Section 46. State and Intergovernmental Politics
Section 47. Urban and Local Politics
Section 48. Comparative Public Policy
Section 49. Health, Education, and Social Policy
Section 50. Public Policy
Section 51. Environmental Politics and Policy
Section 52. Bureaucratic Politics
Section 53. Public Administration
Section 54. Politics and History
Section 55. Political Anthropology and Sociology
Section 56. Politics and Religion
Section 57. Teaching Political Science
Section 58. Political Geography
Section 59. Methodology Posters
Section 60. American Politics Posters
Section 61. Comparative Politics Posters
Section 62. International Relations Posters
Section 63. Public Policy/Public Administration Posters
Section 64. Political Theory Posters
Section 65. Undergraduate Research Posters
Section 66. Midwest Women's Caucus
Section 67. Society for Greek Political Thought
Section 68. Caucus for LGBT Political Science
Section 69. Leadership and Politics
Section 70. Caucus for New Political Science
Section 71. Midwest Latino/a Caucus
Section 72. Midwest Caucus for Public Administration
Section 73. Politics, Literature, and Film
Section 74. Political Networks
Section 75. African Politics Conference Group

Section 1. Program Co-Chairs
David Darmofal, University of South Carolina, darmofal at gmail dot com
Wendy Martinek, State University of New York, Binghamton, martinek at binghamton dot edu

Section 2. Comparative Politics: Industrialized Countries
The section invites proposals on a variety of topics related to industrialized polities such as electoral politics, political economy, political culture, individual behavior, and political institutions. Theoretically driven studies of substantive topics, and studies involving comparisons are particularly welcome. Proposals employing any methodological approach are welcome.
Section Head: Michael McDonald, Binghamton University, mdmcd at binghamton dot edu

Section 3. Economic Development
This section welcomes papers in the following areas:
• Issues surrounding efforts to attract, retain, and develop a qualified workforce in underserved communities;
• Innovative economic development approaches, relationships and communication among economic development stakeholders, policy barriers and policies that promote development;
• Best practices in the application of economic development policy;
• The relationship between economic development and environmental protection; and
• Economic development and rebuilding after disasters.
Section Head: Eric Jepsen, University of South Dakota, Eric dot Jepsen at usd dot edu

Section 4. Comparative Politics: Developing Countries
This section welcomes papers and panels on a broad range of topics, including the study of institutions (institutional effects, endogenous institutions, and institutional weakness), processes of democratic transition and consolidation, political behavior (participation, voting, and social movements), and political economy.
Section Head: Steve B. Lem, Kutztown University, lem at kutztown dot edu

Section 5. Comparative Politics: Transitions Toward Democracy
This section welcomes roundtables, panels, and paper proposals on democratic transitions in all geographical regions. I am particularly interested in research that focuses on successful transitions to democracy and democratic consolidation as well as failed democratic transitions, democratic backsliding, and authoritarian consolidation. While I am open to the method used in the research, I have a preference for proposals that are not exclusively theoretical, as the empirical evidence is so very important (and often fascinating) within this field of research.
Section Head: Jose Cheibub, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, cheibub at illinois dot edu

Back to Top

Section 6. Comparative Political Institutions
This section welcomes papers and panels dealing with all aspects of the role of institutions in structuring politics, policy making, and policy outcomes. Topics include but not limited to how institutions resolve general problems such as preference aggregation, collective action, and the delegation of power; as well as reasons and consequences of institutional change. The section also seeks proposals that address new methodological and theoretical challenges in the study of comparative institutions.
Section Head: Zeynep Somer-Topcu, Vanderbilt University, z dot somer at vanderbilt dot edu

Section 7. Comparative Politics Behavior
The field of comparative political behavior seeks to explain how and why people become involved in politics by examining evidence across different political systems, countries, and groups. This section welcomes papers on comparative political behavior understood in the broadest possible sense, including, but not limited to, public opinion, voting behavior, and political mobilization and protest. Papers that feature African, Latin American, South Asian, and Southeast Asian political behavior are particularly encouraged.
Section Head: Matthew Singer, University of Connecticut, matthew dot m dot singer at uconn dot edu

Section 8. European Politics
This section welcomes panel, roundtable, and paper proposals on various aspects of European politics. Papers with a comparative focus are encouraged, both across countries and across the "old" and "new" Europe. Themes of interest include such topics as institutional development, welfare state policies, party competition, public opinion, European integration, and responses to economic crisis.
Section Head: Cas Mudde, DePauw University, casmudde at depauw dot edu

Section 9. Latin American and Caribbean Politics
Latin American and Caribbean Politics This section welcomes papers, panels, and roundtable proposals focused on Latin American and Caribbean Politics. Broadly speaking, papers on institutions (both formal and informal); political economy; mass political behavior; democratization and consolidation of democracy; or other salient topics using data from one or more of the countries of the region are appropriate for this section. Papers with a comparative focus as well as those utilizing new or original data are especially welcome.
Section Head: Drucsilla Scribner, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, scribned at uwosh dot edu

Section 10. Asian Politics
This section welcomes panels, papers and roundtable proposals on political issues relevant to East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. Possible topics include political institutions and informal institutions, political economy, poverty and inequality, democratization, gender and politics, legislatures, courts and judicial independence, and immigration. Papers with a comparative focus and those using newly collected quantitative or qualitative data are especially encouraged.
Section Head: Priscilla Lambert, Western Michigan University, priscilla dot lambert at wmich dot edu

Back to Top

Section 11. African Politics
This section invites panel, paper, and roundtable proposals on all Africa-related subjects. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, democratization, economic development and reform, identity politics, and political violence. All theoretical and methodological approaches are welcome. Proposals using newly collected data, whether quantitative or qualitative, are especially encouraged.
Section Head: Gina Lambright, George Washington University, glambrig at gwu dot edu

Section 12. Politics of the Middle East
The Middle East Politics section welcomes panels, papers, and roundtables on all aspects of Middle East politics. The section encourages submissions from those who specialize in comparative politics and/or international relations. Possible comparative paper topics include, but are not limited to, political economy, Islam, political Islam, democratization, authoritarian persistence, resource curse, civil society, and civil wars. Possible IR topics include war and peace, security, terrorism, democracy promotion, deterrence, nuclear proliferation, human rights, Iraq, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The section encourages submissions that address cross-regional themes and concerns as well as region-specific issues. All theoretical and methodological approaches are welcome.
Section Head: Eren Tatari, Rollins College, ETatari at rollins dot edu

Section 13. Politics of Communist and Former Communist Countries
This section welcomes panels, papers, and roundtables on political issues relevant to all post-communist countries ranging from those already in the European Union through Russia to Central Asia, as well as countries that remain communist in name or in practice. Work engaging broader theoretical debates in the discipline is especially encouraged, and both papers and panels involving comparisons between communist and post-communist politics and politics in other regions of the world are welcome. Topics can include but are not limited to: democratization, democratic consolidation, authoritarian consolidation, electoral revolutions, state building and state capacity, political economy, poverty and inequality, elections and voting, parties and partisanship, legislatures, courts and judicial independence, social movements, public opinion formation, and methodological considerations in studying communist and post-communist politics.
Section Head: Frank Thames, Texas Tech University, frank dot thames at ttu dot edu

Section 14. Comparative Political Economy
This section invites papers and organized panels on any topic related to the interaction of domestic political institutions and economic policies and outcomes. The section encourages a varied mix of proposals, but papers that subject theoretically-driven propositions to empirical testing are particularly welcome.
Section Head: Joel Simmons, University of Maryland, jsimmons at gvpt dot umd dot edu

Section 15. International Political Economy
This section welcomes papers, panels, and roundtables on the broad range of topics related to the politics of international trade, money, and finance. The section encourages papers that subject theoretically-driven propositions to rigorous empirical testing. Substantively, the section encourages papers that explore the political causes and consequences of the global economic crisis, as well as papers that examine the complex interaction of domestic and international factors in shaping outcomes in the international political economy.
Section Head: Xun Pang, Princeton University, xpang at princeton dot edu

Back to Top

Section 16. International Relations and Domestic Politics
This section welcomes papers that address the internal-external linkages of international relations. Papers may focus on any subfield of international relations, including (but not limited to) international organizations, international security, foreign policy, and international political economy. A broad mix of papers is encouraged, including those informed by any of the major theoretical approaches in international relations as well as papers using a variety of methodologies to approach important questions.
Section Head: Mark Souva, Florida State University, msouva at fsu dot edu

Section 17. International Security
This section encourages theoretical and/or empirical submissions that advance our understanding of any area of international security. Topics include, but are not limited to, the causes of militarized international conflict, national security decision-making, terrorism, and international security cooperation. All methodological and theoretical approaches are welcome.
Section Head: Anessa Kimball, University Laval, anessa dot kimball at pol dot ulaval dot ca

Section 18. Conflict Processes
We live in interesting times, with some regions experiencing perpetual peace, while nations in other parts of the globe endure seemingly perpetual turmoil. The Conflict Processes section welcomes proposals on topics related to peace and conflict, including, but not limited to, war, contentious politics, protest, ethnic politics, collective action, domestic conflict, secession, international conflict, terrorism, and the study of methods and mechanisms designed to remedy or reduce any (or all) of the above.
Section Head: Michelle Benson, SUNY, Buffalo, mbenson2 at buffalo dot edu

Section 19. Foreign Policy
The section welcomes papers, panels, and roundtables on the broad range of topics related to the study of foreign policy, including foreign policy decision making and the role of leadership and beliefs; domestic versus international sources of foreign policy; and paradigmatic approaches to the study of foreign policy. Of special interest are papers and panels that are comparative, either within-region or cross-regional. The section also invites proposals that seek to advance or extend foreign policy as a field of study, and those that are cross-disciplinary in nature (e.g., those that consider the intersection of foreign policy with religion, gender, law, economics, or demographics).
Section Head: Matt Fuhrmann, Texas A&M University, mcfuhrmann at gmail dot com

Section 20. International Cooperation and Organization
This section welcomes panel and paper proposals on all aspects of international cooperation. Particularly welcome are proposals that examine why states would delegate authority to international organizations and how international organizations, once created, may or may not use their agency to expand that authority. Other relevant topics include, but are not limited to, compliance with international agreements, institutional design, institutional effects, politics inside IOs, regional integration, norm development, public-private relationships, peacekeeping and peace building, and the role of multilateralism in dealing with US preponderance in power.
Section Head: Stacy Bondanella Taninchev, Gonzaga University, taninchev at gonzaga dot edu

Back to Top

Section 21. Ethnicity and Nationalism
The section invites papers on all issues related to ethnicity and nationalism. Major substantive issues include the relationship between these variables and democracy, violence, state failure, and economic development. Of special interest are papers on improving our conceptualization and our methodology for the social scientific study of ethnicity and nationalism.
Section Head: Brian Shoup, Mississippi State University, bds223 at msstate dot edu

Section 22. Electoral Campaigns
This section welcomes panels and papers on topics related to campaigns and electioneering in the United States and in comparative perspective with particular attention to whether and how the behavior of candidates affects outcomes. Topics include campaign effects writ large, advertising, mobilization and get-out-the-vote efforts, strategy, primary election campaigns, and media coverage of campaigns. Proposals examining the role of fundamentals in relation to campaign efforts are especially welcome, along with proposals that highlight the use of new or novel data, observational or other, that are well-suited to study campaign efforts.
Section Head: Brian Schaffner, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, schaffne at polsci dot umass dot edu

Section 23. Turnout and Political Participation
The section welcomes paper and panel proposals that examine electoral and non-electoral forms of political participation. Among other topics, proposals might examine political participation through social media, group activities, participation in comparative or historical perspectives, conventional and unconventional forms of participation, and biases in participation. Proposals that apply innovative methodological approaches to the study of political participation and turnout are particularly welcome.
Section Head: Damon Cann, Utah State University, damon dot cann at usu dot edu

Section 24. Legislative Campaigns and Elections
The section welcomes panels and papers that examine issues and problems in legislative elections and campaigns in the United States and in a comparative perspective from a wide range of methodological perspectives. Substantive topics of interest include (but are not limited to): campaign advertising and strategy, campaign finance, candidate emergence and recruitment, and election forecasting and results. Proposals that assess the influence of legislative activity and performance and electoral rules on outcomes are particularly welcome. Also, proposals that promote and utilize novel methodological approaches and data are encouraged.
Section Head: Joseph Bafumi, Dartmouth College, jbafumi at gmail dot com

Section 25. Voting Behavior
The section welcomes panels, roundtables, and papers on topics related to important theoretical, substantive, and/or methodological issues dealing with electoral behavior in the United States and in comparative perspective. Among others, topics could include the basis of electoral choice in national and sub-national elections, inter-election change, campaign effects, election forecasting, campaign finance reforms, alternative voting technologies, voter registration, mobilization, and turnout.
Section Head: Laura Stoker, University of California, Berkeley, stoker at socrates dot berkeley dot edu

Back to Top

Section 26. Representation and Electoral Systems
Papers are invited that fall into the "usual suspects" categories of representation and electoral systems. This year the section especially welcomes papers that draw on comparative (i.e. non-US) experience, as well as those examining the origins of electoral systems and electoral system change and the politics of mixed electoral systems.
Section Head: Robin Best, University of Missouri, Columbia, bestre at missouri dot edu

Section 27. Political Psychology
This section seeks proposals that use a psychological lens to examine political decision-making and behavior. Additionally, this section seeks proposals that examine political phenomena in the service of developing and enhancing psychological theory. Proposals that focus on information-processing, identity formation and its consequences, the role of emotion and affect, personality at the elite or mass level, socialization, media and campaign effects, intergroup relations, and leadership are welcome. Empirical tests can be grounded in American politics, comparative politics, or international relations. Proposals that adopt newer approaches to studying political psychology – e.g., from a biological or evolutionary perspective – or that employ methodological innovations are especially welcome. Finally, I encourage both junior and senior scholars to consider volunteering as panel chairs and/or discussants.
Section Head: Jennifer Wolak, University of Colorado, jennifer dot wolak at colorado dot edu

Section 28. Public Opinion
The section welcomes proposals that are related to political perspectives and preferences among members of the public. This includes but is not restricted to investigations of the sources of public opinion, processes of opinion formation, the relationship between social context and public opinion, and the relationship between public opinion and elite behavior and decision making. Proposals for roundtables on public-opinion-related topics also are welcome.
Section Head: John Bullock, Yale University, john dot bullock at yale dot edu

Section 29. Mass Media and Political Communication
The section invites proposals to present innovative and original research or to encourage intellectual exchange on any aspect of the origin, transmission, and influence of political messages. The organization of panels will reflect the interests of those whose proposals can be accommodated. Preference will be given to proposals that connect research with fundamental questions about politics.
Section Head: Cheryl Boudreau, University of California, Davis, clboudreau at ucdavis dot edu

Section 30. Gender and Politics
The section welcomes papers and panels that examine the interaction of gender and power both inside political institutions and in society. I am particularly interested in papers that explore the impact and experience of women as political leaders and candidates in the United States and in comparative perspective, historical analyses of gender-related trends in public opinion, the evolving role of women’s groups and the women’s movement in society, the role of gender in the formation of political identities, and the development of public policies related to women.
Section Head: Kathleen Dolan, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, kdolan at uwm dot edu

Back to Top

Section 31. Race, Class, and Ethnicity
The section invites panels and papers that focus on the critical role that race, ethnicity, and class -- or the intersection of these categories -- play in U.S. politics or in comparative perspective. Especially welcome are papers that emphasize new theoretical insights and those that represent innovative methodological approaches to the topic of race, class, ethnicity, and politics.
Section Head: Khalilah Brown-Dean, Quinnipiac University, kbdphd at gmail dot com

Section 32. Foundations of Political Theory: Ancient
Ancient political thought provides extraordinary critical and imaginative resources for theorists grappling with the persistent conflicts and opportunities of political life. We understand “ancient political thought” in a geographically and generically inclusive way, as a category that ranges from Greece and Rome to the Near and Far East, and that includes oral poetry and ancient history as well as Platonic dialogues and Ciceronian speeches. We particularly welcome proposals that bring the ancient thinkers into dialogue with later traditions of thought. How do the ancient thinkers provide an education in politics as such? Do the ancients have the capacity to unsettle modern certainties or to expose the limitations of later thinkers? How do the ancients’ typically alien perspectives – on ethics, religion, economy, culture, gender, warfare, and technology, among other things – offer critical resources to modern theorists and citizens? With these as our guiding questions, we invite individual papers and panel proposals from scholars of all methodological and disciplinary commitments, with a view to stimulating awareness of the theoretical promise which ancient political theory holds.
Section Head: Laurence Cooper, Carleton College, lcooper at carleton dot edu

Section 33. Foundations of Political Theory: Pre- and Early Modern
This section welcomes proposals that explore the texts and theories of medieval, renaissance, and early modern thinkers. Proposed papers and panels may be from any methodological background. Proposals may be text- or thinker-based, involving, for instance, a novel interpretation of a canonical text, a retrieval of lesser known writings or philosophers, or an elucidation of historical, cultural, or philosophical influence on or of a text or thinker. Alternatively, proposed papers and panels may investigate certain political problems or themes through the lens of a pre- or early modern writer. Such topics may range from the abstract and theoretical (e.g. sovereignty, modern science and modern politics, natural law and natural rights, religion and politics) to the concrete and historical (e.g. class structure and politics, empire, the emergence of the nation-state).
Section Head: Jeffrey Church, University of Houston, jchurch at central dot uh dot edu

Section 34. Political Philosophy: Approaches and Themes
All social-scientific inquiry depends upon an appeal to concepts and values that are contestable in principle, and that are often contested in fact. It follows that the intelligent conduct of social scientific inquiries depends, among other things, on sustained reflection about the concepts and values that guide, or that should guide, these inquiries. This is the principal function that political theory serves within the broader discipline of political science. I therefore welcome paper and panel proposals from a wide variety of methodological and substantive approaches which encourage the reader to think critically about the concepts and values that we bring to the study of political life. I especially welcome proposals which, in addition to drawing connections within and across theoretical debates, draw connections between these debates and real-world political events and controversies.
Section Head: Mary Keys, University of Notre Dame, mkeys1 at nd dot edu

Section 35. Liberalism and Democratic Theory
This section invites paper and panel proposals that explore the current controversies in the theory and practice of liberal democracy. We welcome critical treatments of particular theorists of democracy in the history of ideas as well as papers that tackle problems of liberalism in the contemporary context. Thus we solicit investigations of the tensions between liberal ideas, capitalist economics, and democratic politics; explorations of liberalism's theoretical and actual relation to nationalism, neo-imperialism, or cosmopolitanism; studies of the limits to classical theories of popular sovereignty, and conceptions political agency and responsibility in an age of mass migration, environmental degradation, and other border-crossing aspects of globalization. We also welcome critical accounts of particular conceptions of democracy - minimal, aggregative, deliberative, participatory, or some other; and reflections on the possibilities for liberal democratic governance in ethno-national, multicultural, transnational, or authoritarian settings.
Section Head: Michael McLendon, California State University, Los Angeles, mmclend2 at exchange dot calstatela dot edu

Back to Top

Section 36. Contemporary Political Theory
This section welcomes submissions in contemporary theory, broadly defined. Possibilities include essays that: 1) treat works by 20th and 21st-century political thinkers (who may or may not identify themselves as political theorists or political scientists); 2) bring works of political theory from any period to bear on contemporary political questions and problems; 3) employ a contemporary approach to textual analysis (such as feminist, rhetorical, or hermeneutic analysis—to name just a few) to interpret a political theory text from any period. Single paper proposals are welcome. If you choose to propose an entire panel, I encourage those that bring participants together from more than one institution and/or include both graduate students and faculty members.
Section Head: Bettina Scholz, Stonehill College, bscholz at stonehill dot edu

Section 37. Formal Modeling
The section welcomes submissions covering the entire range of political science scholarship, distinguished by approach rather than topic. Theoretical and empirical analyses of substantive political science questions based on game theory, social choice theory, decision theory, behavioral decision theory, laboratory experimentation, agent-based or other computational techniques, and other formal methods -- or papers advancing the frontiers or critiquing the use of these approaches -- are especially appropriate.
Section Head: Elizabeth Maggie Penn, Washington University in St. Louis, penn at wustl dot edu

Section 38. Methodology
This year we are especially interested in methodological papers that highlight areas where political science has made distinctive contributions rather than just imported techniques. A central focus is on political methodology as a well-developed and productive field in its own right. Papers that feature contributions in statistical and mathematical computing are highly encouraged. We particularly welcome full panel proposals around these or any other relevant themes that fit into the sub-discipline.
Section Head: Vera Troeger, University of Warwick, V.E.Troeger at warwick dot ac dot uk

Section 39. Information Technology and Politics
Information technology continues to have a widespread influence on politics, but we have yet to achieve a general consensus on even the meanings of such terms as "e-voting," "e-government," and "e-democracy." How has information technology most influenced political actors and institutions? How has information technology changed the ability of actors to influence politics? How does such technology affect the status quo? What theories and methods are most useful for the study of information technology and elections? The Information Technology and Politics (ITP) section welcomes paper, panel, roundtable, and poster session proposals that contribute to our understanding of the impact of IT on politics and policy (and vice-versa). We also welcome proposals that apply or evaluate IT in innovative ways as an instrument for teaching, data collection and dissemination, and statistical/information visualization and analysis.
Section Head: Micah Altman, Harvard University, Micah_Altman at harvard dot edu

Section 40. Political Parties and Interest Groups
Proposals that examine the impact of parties and interest groups on the democratic process and the ways in which they affect equality and participation are particularly welcome. Especially important would be proposals that focus on a comparative perspective between parties and interest groups or cross-national studies.
Section Head: Holly Brasher, University of Alabama, Birmingham, hbrasher at uab dot edu

Back to Top

Section 41. Presidency and Executive Politics
The section welcomes papers dealing with intra-executive politics and/or the balance of power between the branches of government. Proposals for papers or panels addressing the scope, scale, and techniques of executive authority are of particular interest. These could include, but are not limited to, analyses of executive staffing and appointments, relations with legislative bodies, war and emergency powers, and control of policy implementation
Section Head: Bryan Marshall, Miami University at Ohio, marshabw at muohio dot edu

Section 42. Legislative Institutions
The section welcomes proposals that address theoretical and empirical questions involving legislatures in the U.S. and/or comparative context. Topics might include those that often arise – parties, committees, rules and procedure, floor politics, leadership and coalition building, budgeting, and representation – as well as those featuring new data, approaches, and methodological innovations. Papers that leverage variation across time, across institutions, or in an historical context are especially welcome. Although both panel and individual paper proposals are invited, individual paper proposals are generally easier to accommodate.
Section Head: Charles Finocchiaro, University of South Carolina, finocchi at mailbox dot sc dot edu

Section 43. International and Comparative Law
The section invites panel, paper, and roundtable proposals on all aspects of international law. Proposals are encouraged that connect international law with international relations research and, thus, might be sponsored jointly by more than one MPSA section. Particularly welcome are proposals that examine why various aspects of international law have evolved the way they have and proposals that specify when and how international law may generate behavioral effects.
Section Head: Catherine Warrick, Villanova University, catherine dot warrick at villanova dot edu

Section 44. Law and Jurisprudence
The section welcomes proposals for papers, roundtables, and panels (including author-meets-critics) exploring how politics, institutions, ideas, and arguments shape and constrain the law’s development. Papers may tackle philosophical and jurisprudential questions, offer doctrinal analysis or historical perspectives, focus on institutional design, apply cross-national or cross-disciplinary perspectives, or employ normative or empirical approaches. Innovations to traditional approaches to the study of law and jurisprudence are especially welcome.
Section Head: Anna Law, DePaul University, alaw1 at depaul dot edu

Section 45. Judicial Politics
This section welcomes proposals for papers, roundtables, and panels (including author-meets-critics) exploring the role of legal actors and legal institutions in American and comparative contexts from diverse theoretical and methodological orientations. While papers on any area of judicial politics are welcome, I encourage proposals focusing on connecting judicial politics scholarship to other subfields in political science and to other disciplines. I encourage proposers of full panels or roundtables to organize such sessions to encompass diverse methodological and theoretical approaches from scholars at different ranks of academia.
Section Head: Paul Collins, University of North Texas, pmcollins at unt dot edu

Back to Top

Section 46. State and Intergovernmental Politics
The section welcomes panels and papers that focus on issues of American federalism and state politics. Of special interest are papers that develop and/or test general theories of political behavior, institutions, or policy making using the methodological advantages arising from the substantial variance found across the U.S.
Section Head: Andrew Karch, University of Minnesota, ajkarch at umn dot edu

Section 47. Urban and Local Politics
The section welcomes papers and panels with a strong theoretical motivation focusing on various aspects of public policy and politics in local governments, metropolitan areas, and regions. Work using newly collected data on urban areas and local governments is especially encouraged. "Author Meets Critics" and roundtable submissions are welcome.
Section Head: Michael Craw, Michigan State University, craw at msu dot edu

Section 48. Comparative Public Policy
The section welcomes papers and panels with a strong theoretical foundation focusing on the development of public policy theory through comparative research. Theoretically informed single cases, small-n comparisons and large-n studies are all welcome. Work dealing with non-North American and European cases is especially welcome as are studies dealing with professional policy work in a comparative context. Proposals for roundtable and non-traditional panel formats are also welcome.
Section Head: Charles Blake, James Madison University, blakech at jmu dot edu

Section 49. Health, Education, and Social Policy
This section welcomes paper, panel and roundtable proposals for any aspect of health, education or social policy. Studies may focus on the United States, but comparative investigations are also welcome. Of special interest are studies that address issues of sustainability or inequality in these policy areas, as well as papers that examine how theoretical questions in political science apply to these policy areas, or how policy in these areas can contribute to our theoretical understandings of how politics works.
Section Head: Hahrie Han, Wellesley College, hhan at wellesley dot edu

Section 50. Public Policy
Section Head: Sam Workman, University of Texas, Austin, sworkman at austin dot utexas dot edu
Back to Top

Section 51. Environmental Politics and Policy
The section invites papers that focus on the politics of environmental problems and/or the processes by which they are addressed. Proposed papers and panels that emphasize comparative environmental politics are encouraged, as are papers that emphasize theory building and empirical testing with cutting-edge political methodology. Of particular interest are papers that use environmental policy as a critical research setting to address core questions in political science and public policy.
Section Head: Megan Mullin, Temple University, mmullin at temple dot edu

Section 52. Bureaucratic Politics
The Bureaucratic Politics section concerns the behavior of individual bureaucrats in their organizational environment; the interaction of public bureaucracies with external stakeholders such as courts, interest groups, legislatures, the executive branch, other bureaucracies and governmental units, and society at large; the role and legitimacy of bureaucracies in the policy process; the antecedents and design of bureaucratic structures; and the effect of bureaucratic structure on behavior and performance. The section welcomes submissions from any theoretical creed or methodological persuasion in social science, including but not limited to organizational behavior, social psychology, rational choice, game theory, historical institutionalism, case narratives, comparative case studies, statistical models, ethnography, and laboratory experiments.
Section Head: Susan Yackee, University of Wisconsin, Madison, syackee at lafollette dot wisc dot edu\

Section 53. Public Administration
The section welcomes papers on a variety of topics related to the administration of public policy within a political environment. Of special interest for this conference are proposals in the areas of public administration as "governance," the New Economics of Organization, performance management, networks in administration, information technology, and civil service reform. Papers with strong analytic and empirical foundations are especially welcome.
Section Head: Rebecca Hendrick, University of Illinois, Chicago, hendrick at uic dot edu

Section 54. Politics and History
The section welcomes proposals for papers or panels covering the broad scope of the study of politics and institutions using historical perspectives to address issue areas of contemporary concern. In particular, the section encourages submissions from scholars whose work focuses on themes related to major political processes and concepts, such as institutional development, idea formation and political culture, state building, party building, democratization, citizenship, political identity, and representation. We encourage research in the traditions of American political development, comparative-historical analysis, and historical-institutionalism more broadly, as well as theoretical work that links these research programs together.
Section Head: Kenneth Kersch, Boston College, kenneth dot kersch at bc dot edu

Section 55. Political Anthropology and Sociology
The section welcomes panels and papers that address the social bases of politics. Suggested topics include but are not limited to worldviews and how they relate to political mobilizations, as well as organizations and movements. Papers from a variety of methodological approaches are welcome.
Section Head: Judith Kullberg, Eastern Michigan University, jkullber at emich dot edu

Back to Top

Section 56. Politics and Religion
The section welcomes papers that address the interaction between religion and politics from all subfields in political science using diverse methodological approaches, especially submissions that use religion to address broader theoretical questions in political science that would be of interest to non-specialists.
Section Head: Paul Djupe, Denison University, djupe at denison dot edu

Section 57. Teaching Political Science
The section welcomes paper, panel, and roundtable proposals on all topics related to educating both undergraduate and graduate students. Proposals could explore such topics as: assessment, civic engagement, curriculum development, diversity within the classroom, experiential learning, internships, service learning, simulations, teaching strategies, and technology. Papers that use empirical evidence (broadly construed) to make and assess claims about the effectiveness of teaching practice are particularly encouraged. Qualitative, interpretive, quantitative, theoretical, or philosophical approaches will all be considered.
Section Head: Mitchell Brown, Auburn University, brown11 at auburn dot edu

Section 58. Political Geography
Section Head: Jowei Chen, University of Michigan, jowei at umich dot edu

Section 59. Methodology Posters
This section welcomes proposals for poster presentations on political methodology. Submissions might include but are not limited to discussions of methodological tools for political scientists and contributions to substantive questions using advanced analytical methodologies.
Section Head: Jens Hainmueller, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, jhainm at mit dot edu

Section 60. American Politics Posters
Section Head: Kyle Saunders, Colorado State University, Kyle dot Saunders at colostate dot edu

Section 61. Comparative Politics Posters
Section Head: Michelle Kuenzi, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, michele dot kuenzi at unlv dot edu

Back to Top

Section 62. International Relations Posters
Section Head: Courtenay Ryals Conrad, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, cconrad2 at ucmerced dot edu

Section 63. Public Policy/Public Administration Posters
The public policy and public administration poster section invites submission from theoretically motivated research on public policy process, policy analysis, and public administration, defined broadly. The section welcomes submissions from a wide range of theoretical and methodological perspectives that extend our understanding of the political, institutional, and social influences on policy-making, offer insights into the nuances public policy analysis and evaluation, or which contribute new approaches to public policy research. The section also invites submissions from papers that engage historical or current debates across a range of national and international policy areas.
Section Head: Michael Licari, University of Northern Iowa, michael dot licari at uni dot edu

Section 64. Political Theory Posters
Section Head: Roudy Hildreth, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, roudy at siu dot edu

Section 65. Undergraduate Research Posters
This section welcomes proposals for poster presentations on the research, scholarly, and creative experiences of undergraduate students. It provides students with the opportunity to present their projects in a professional environment and to impress upon them the importance of faculty-mentored projects to their overall education, especially for those considering graduate education. We are open to a wide range of topics and methods.
Section Head: Atiya Stokes-Brown, Bucknell University, a dot stokes-brown at bucknell dot edu

Back to Top

Section 66. Midwest Women's Caucus
The caucus promotes professional equity for women in the discipline of political science by sponsoring panels at the MPSA annual meeting, working with the association to promote the interests of women political scientists, encouraging research that acknowledges and investigates the presence and activities of women in political life, and serving as a network for members between annual meetings. The caucus does not sponsor or accept papers for traditional research panels or roundtables.
Section Head: Regina Branton, University of North Texas, branton at unt dot edu

Section 67. Society for Greek Political Thought
The society welcomes proposals for papers or panels on the political thought of the classical Greek philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, and Xenophon, historians such as Thucydides, Herodotus, or Plutarch, or poets such as Homer, Sophocles, or Euripides.
Section Head: Beth Janairo, Cardinal Stritch University, etjanairo at stritch dot edu

Section 68. Caucus for LGBT Political Science
The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Caucus welcomes proposals for papers, panels, and roundtables that examine the interaction of sexuality and politics, defined broadly. We are interested in papers that treat LGBT people as political actors as well as in papers that treat LGBT people (and issues) as sites of political contestation. While papers and panels that discuss LGBT politics in the U.S. context are always welcome, explorations of LGBT politics beyond the American context are especially encouraged.
Section Head: Jason Pierceson, University of Illinois, Springfield, jpier2 at uis dot edu

Section 69. Leadership and Politics
This new section welcomes papers, panels, roundtables, and workshops from all subfields that explore issues involving leadership and politics. Submissions might include leadership as it relates to current political problems, structures and institutions, political thought, globalization, community action, dissidence, gender, and student development.
Section Head: Heather McDougall, Global Institute for Leadership and Civic Development, director at globalleaders dot info

Section 70. Caucus for New Political Science
The section welcomes panels and papers on topics that reflect a commitment to progressive social change. Submissions might include the analysis of social movements, globalism, class structure, race, gender, elitism, the environment, imperialism, critical theory, radical thought, and the foundations of the discipline.
Section Head: James Simmons, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, simmons at uwosh dot edu

Section 71. Midwest Latino/a Caucus
The caucus seeks proposals for papers and panels related to the beliefs and activities of Latinos in the United States. Topics might include the Latino vote, pan-ethnicity and perceptions of shared fate, minority-majority voting districts, Latino political representation, and intersections of race and gender in the Latino political arena. Proposals on other topics within the field of Latino politics also are welcome.
Section Head: Melissa Michelson, Menlo College, melissa dot michelson at gmail dot com

Section 72. Midwest Caucus for Public Administration
The Caucus for Public Administration invites people to submit panels and roundtables dealing with policy implementation or the design and maintenance of political institutions. In particular, we encourage research that makes innovative theoretical contributions to the field of public administration and helps further understanding of topics in the field. We welcome research utilizing a wide variety of theoretical perspectives and dealing with a variety of policy issues, in a variety of institutional settings.
Section Head: Charles Shipan, University of Michigan, cshipan at umich dot edu

Section 73. Politics, Literature, and Film
The study of literature and film offers political scientists a particularly stimulating mode of inquiry into political institutions and principles, and into the ways of life that sustain them and are, in turn, shaped by them. Literary works, broadly understood to include film and popular culture, must abstract from the richness of the world we inhabit and create a microcosm that is yet complex enough to be a believable whole. This related group explores how the dialectic between imagination and reality can illuminate topics like the normative foundations of political life, or the formation of political culture. Papers and panels that cross disciplinary and sub-disciplinary lines are welcome.
Section Head: Flagg Taylor, Skidmore Ciollege, ftaylor at skidmore dot edu

Section 74. Political Networks
This section invites proposals that aim to explain the role of relationships between actors, agencies, and institutions in all aspects of politics. We are particularly interested in research that challenges fundamental assertions about independence in order to gain new insight on political processes and behavior. We are open to work that explores old substantive questions through the lens of political networks, as well as development of cutting edge methods and topics based on the concepts of interdependence. Substantive areas of interest include, but are not restricted to, the study of economic and political relationships between nations, policy implementation networks, the impact of political organizations at home and abroad, and the consequences of social discussion on political choices. Proposals that focus on the unique contribution of political science to network analysis, and vice versa, are also welcome.
Section Heads: Levente Littvay, Central European University, littvay at gmail dot com
Anand Sokhey, University of Colorado, Boulder, anand dot sokhey at colorao dot edu

Section 75. African Politics Conference Group
The African Politics Conference Group promotes recognition within professional associations of the theoretical and methodological contributions to the discipline of political scientists whose research and professional interests center largely or in part upon sub-Saharan Africa. The section invites paper, panel, and roundtable proposals on all aspects of African politics, including democratization, economic development, international relations, political violence, identity politics, and policy issues. Comparative papers using quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods are especially encouraged.
Section Head: Dominika Koter, University of Chicago, dkoter at uchicago dot edu

Back to Top