Click on the title of any section in the list below to jump to a full description of that section and the name and email address of the section head.
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. Class and Inequality
Section 60. Methodology Posters
Section 61. American Politics Posters
Section 62. Comparative Politics Posters
Section 63. International Relations Posters
Section 64. Public Policy/Public Administration Posters
Section 65. Political Theory Posters
Section 66. Undergraduate Research Posters
Section 67. Midwest Women's Caucus
Section 68. Society for Greek Political Thought
Section 69. Caucus for LGBT Political Science
Section 70. Leadership and Politics
Section 71. Caucus for New Political Science
Section 72. Midwest Latino/a Caucus
Section 73. Midwest Caucus for Public Administration
Section 74. Politics, Literature, and Film
Section 75. Political Networks
Section 1. Program Co-Chairs: Amaney A. Jamal, Princeton University, and Katherine Cramer Walsh, University of Wisconsin, Madison
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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: Ben Ansell, University of Minnesota
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Section 3. Economic Development
This section welcomes papers exploring the linkages between economic development and politics, both internationally, as well as in the United States. In particular, papers should address some aspect of politics and policies affecting economic development, or how economic development affects politics and political outcomes. Submissions of both rigorous quantitative and qualitative work are encouraged.
Of particular interest are submissions in (but not limited to) the following areas:
• Political regimes and economic development.
• Economic development and elections.
• Local and urban poverty and inequality, and policies which alleviate such poverty and inequality.
• Governance, institutions, corruption, and economic development.
• The politics of development foreign aid, and work on aid effectiveness.
• The politics of public good provision, and the politics of employment, health and education policy.
• Economic development and rebuilding after disasters and downturns.
• Innovative economic development approaches and policy barriers and policies that promote development.
Section Head: Madiha Afzal, University of Maryland
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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: Rachel Beatty Riedl, Northwestern University
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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: Paula Pickering, College of William and Mary
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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: Monika Nalepa, University of Notre Dame
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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: Devra Moehler, University pf Pennsylvania
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Section 8. European Politics
This section welcomes panel, roundtable, and paper proposals on various aspects of European politics. Papers both with a comparative and an international relations focus are encouraged. Themes of interest include such topics as institutional development, welfare state policies, party competition, public opinion, European integration, European politics, and responses to economic and financial crisis.
Section Head: Christina Schneider, University of California, San Diego
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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: Noam Lupu, University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Juan March Institute
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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, political economy, poverty and inequality, democratization, security and conflict, foreign policy, gender and politics, migration, and political geography.
Section Head: Jessica Weiss, Yale University
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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: Kate Baldwin, University of Florida
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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: Dan Corstange, Columbia University
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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: Jason Wittenberg, University of California, Berkeley
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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: Simone Dietrich, University of Missouri, Columbia
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Section 15. International Political Economy
This section welcomes papers, panels and roundtables on the broad range of topics related to the politics of international migration, trade, money and finance. The section encourages papers that develop new theories or subject theoretically-driven propositions to rigorous empirical testing. Substantively, the section encourages papers that explore the interactions between global movements of goods, money and people as well as those that examine the complex interaction of domestic and international factors in shaping outcomes in the international political economy, especially papers examining the current economic crisis.
Section Head: Maggie Peters, University of Wisconsin, Madison
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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: Susan Hyde, Yale University
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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: David Carter, Princeton University
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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: Thomas Flores, George Mason University
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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 the integration of the studies of foreign policy and international politics. The section encourages papers that develop new theories or subject theoretically-driven propositions to rigorous empirical testing, as well as those that advance or extend foreign policy as a field of study. Of special interest are papers and panels that evaluate arguments from multiple perspectives—either with a multimethod approach or by exploring different levels of analysis; all methodological and theoretical approaches are welcome.
Section Head: Bear Braumoeller, The Ohio State University
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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, politics inside IOs, regional integration, norm development, public-private relationships, NGOs in world politics, peacekeeping and peace building, and the role of multilateralism in dealing with US preponderance in power.
Section Head: Sarah Bush, Temple University
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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: Irfan Nooruddin, The Ohio State University
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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: Travis Ridout, Washington State University
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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: Chris Karpowitz, Brigham Young University
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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: Justin Grimmer, Stanford University
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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: Keena Lipsitz, Queens College, CUNY
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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: Erin O'Brien, University of Massachusetts, Boston
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Section 27. Political Psychology
This section seeks proposals that use a psychological lens to examine political belief and behavior. Additionally, this section seeks proposals that examine political phenomena in the service of developing and enhancing psychological theory. Proposals may focus on the intersection of politics and the following topics (among others): emotions, information-processing, neuroscience, identity, intergroup relations, media effects, personality, and biological processes. Proposals that employ methodological innovations are especially welcome. Empirical tests can be grounded in American politics, comparative politics, or international relations. Finally, both junior and senior scholars are encouraged to consider volunteering as panel chairs and/or discussants.
Section Head: Elizabeth Suhay, Lafayette College
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Section 28. Public Opinion
The section invites proposals that advance our understanding of the theoretical and empirical foundations of public opinion and its effects on democratic politics. Proposals that broaden and deepen our knowledge of the micro-foundations of opinion, the effects of external agents (social and political context, media, and political institutions) on public opinion, the effects of public opinion on political outputs, and the dynamic nature of mass-elite relationships are welcome. Proposals that adopt new research designs for studying public opinion or that employ methodological innovations are especially welcome. Empirical tests can be grounded in American politics, comparative politics, or international relations. And, proposals for roundtables also are welcome. Finally, I invite both junior and senior scholars to consider volunteering as panel chairs and/or discussants.
Section Head: Cindy Kam, Vanderbilt University
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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: Toby Bolsen, Georgia State University
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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: Heather Ondercin, University of Mississippi
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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: Regina Branton, University of North Texas
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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: Rachel Templer, Goucher College
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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: Kevin Cherry, University of Richmond
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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: Ruth Abbey, University of Notre Dame
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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: Johnny Goldfinger, Marian University
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Section 36. Contemporary Political Theory
This section welcomes submissions in contemporary theory, broadly defined. Possibilities include essays that: 1) analyze 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; 4) seek to connect contemporary theory to other subfields in the discipline. 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: Brian Mello, Muhlenberg College
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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: Scott Ashworth, University of Chicago-Harris School
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Section 38. Methodology
The Methodology section welcomes papers that highlight areas where political science has made distinctive methodological contributions rather than just imported techniques, but is also interested in applied methodological papers focusing on the practical challenges in empirical political research. In all cases, we seek to keep the scope and epistemology of political methodology as broad and inclusive as possible. We particularly welcome full panel proposals around these or any other relevant themes that fit into the sub-discipline.
Section Head: Dominik Hangartner, London School of Economics
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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: Kevin Wallsten, California State University, Long Beach
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Section 40. Political Parties and Interest Groups
The section welcomes proposals that examine the constituent and dynamic aspects of parties and interest groups, as well as the effects of these vital linkages within and upon the democratic process, including effects on participation and equality. Proposals that focus on exclusively American perspectives, as well comparative perspectives between parties and interest groups--including cross-national studies--are welcome.
Section Head: Kyle Saunders, Colorado State University
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Section 41. Presidency and Executive Politics
The section welcomes papers dealing with any aspect of executive politics, including party leadership tensions and/or incumbent reelections. Proposals for papers or panels addressing the acquisition or wielding of executive power, as well as the maintenance, bolstering, or diminution of political authority are especially welcome. These could include, but are not limited to, analyses of executive branch staffing and appointments, relations with legislative bodies or the judiciary, challenges stemming from campaigning while governing, war and emergency powers, and control of policy implementation.
Section Head: Lara Brown, Villanova University
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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: Michael Crespin, University of Georgia
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Section 43. International and Comparative Law
The section invites panel, paper, and roundtable proposals on all aspects of international and comparative law. Proposals are encouraged that connect international and comparative law with international relations research, domestic institutions, or emerging issues in law and politics that might be sponsored jointly with other sections. Particularly welcome are proposals that examine how international law evolves or how international law may generates behavioral or institutional changes.
Section Head: Tony Smith, University of California, Irvine
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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 employ normative or empirical approaches, tackle philosophical and jurisprudential questions, offer doctrinal analysis or historical perspectives, focus on institutional design, and/or apply cross-national or cross-disciplinary perspectives. Innovations to traditional approaches to the study of law and jurisprudence are especially welcome.
Section Head: Christina Boyd, University at Buffalo, SUNY
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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: Ryan Owens, University of Wisconsin, Madison
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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: Justin Phillips, Columbia University
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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: Jessica Trounstine, University of California, Merced
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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: Mona Lena Krook, Rutgers University
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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: Robert Saldin, University of Montana
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Section 50. Public Policy
This section welcomes panels, papers and roundtable proposals on the broad range of topics related to public policy. The section encourages papers that advance on theoretical and empirical questions in public policy research across all major theoretical and methodological approaches. Papers that leverage variation across time, institutions, or policy fields are especially welcome. Both panel and individual paper proposals are invited.
Section Head: Christian Breunig, University of Konstanz
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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: Chris Koski, Reed College
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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: Neal Woods, University of South Carolina
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Section 53. Public Administration
The public administration section welcomes submissions from all areas and traditions of the field, broadly construed. The section is especially interested in submissions that are theoretically innovative and methodologically rigorous. Submissions that focus on a particular national or sub-national political system are welcome, as are submissions that are comparative in their orientation.
Section Head: Steve Balla, George Washington University
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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: Dorian Warren, Columbia University
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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: Erik Fisher, Arizona State University
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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: Brian Calfano, Missouri State University
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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: Elizabeth Bennion, Indiana University, South Bend
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Section 58. Political Geography
The section welcomes paper, panels, and roundtable proposals on topics of political geography – broadly defined. The section especially welcomes proposals from a comparative perspective, proposals that examine geography and political behavior, and proposals that examine previously unexplored intersections between geography and other topics in political science.
Section Head: Ryan D. Enos, Harvard University
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Section 59. Class and Inequality
This new section welcomes papers, panels, and roundtables on the subjects of social class or economic inequality. The aim of this section is to bring together exciting new scholarship from a wide range of subfields and methodological perspectives that engages these important and timely topics. This section gives scholars working on these issues (who were often scattered across different sections and panels in the past) the opportunity to share their work with specialists in their own subfields and with the larger community of political scientists who are interested in class and inequality. Proposals exploring the causes or consequences of social class stratification or economic inequality are welcome, including (but not limited to) research under the headings of public opinion, political psychology, social movements, political economy, comparative politics, political theory, state and local government, interest group politics, welfare states and redistribution, campaigns and elections, political participation, mass media and communications, political institutions, elite decision making, and economic development.
Section Head: Nick Carnes, Duke University
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Section 60. 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: Rocio Titiunik, University of Michigan
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Section 61. American Politics Posters
Section Head: Shana Gadarian, University of California, Berkeley
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Section 62. Comparative Politics Posters
Section Head: Hillel Soifer, Temple University
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Section 63. International Relations Posters
Section Head: Hillel Soifer, Temple University
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Section 64. 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: Matt Dull, Virginia Tech
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Section 65. Political Theory Posters
Section Head: Anna Stilz, Princeton University
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Section 66. 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: Anna Stilz, Princeton University
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Section 67. 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: Lori Poloni-Staudinger, Northern Arizona University
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Section 68. 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: Mark Lutz, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
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Section 69. Caucus for LGBT Political Science
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Caucus welcomes proposals that address politics and sexuality broadly conceived, in an empirical and / or critical manner. Topics could include transgender issues, lifting the ban on gays in the military, the same-sex marriage movement, or expanded state regulation of abortion, amongst others. In addition to traditional proposals for research papers and panels, the section welcomes proposals that address issues of sexuality and politics creatively. These might include a panel organized around the viewing and critical discussion of a provocative documentaries that are relevant to the Caucus, a roundtable focused on the use of forms of new media that are particularly suited to addressing issues of sexuality and politics in the classroom, or a panel that leads members of the audience in a critical discussion of a classic work (or set of works) in the field. Additional suggestions are welcome.
Section Head: Susan Burgess, Ohio University
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Section 70. 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
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Section 71. 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
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Section 72. 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: Davie Leal, University of Texas, Austin
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Section 73. 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: Lael R. Keiser, University of Missouri
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Section 74. 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: Carol McNamara, Utah State University
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Section 75. 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: Casey A. Klofstad, University of Miami
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