Search Articles from the Blog
A Symposium By and For Graduate Students
by Carolina Bermejo Goodwin and Edwina Chih-Yu Chen, Department of Political Science, University of South Carolina As graduate students, we often find ourselves searching for spaces that prioritize…
First Impressions, Real Impact — Who Attends MPSA and Why It Matters
by Bakhytzhan Oskeyeva, PhD student in Public Policy, University of North Carolina at Charlotte Note: This blog post reflects responses to a voluntary conference reflection questionnaire I created…
An Academic Book Gets Noticed
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University Political science books are not usually associated with book tours. Before 2024, I had published four academic books, one…
Wondering how to organize a mini-conference at MPSA? Prof. Martin Castillo shares some clues
By Juan Corredor-Garcia, PhD student in political science at the Graduate Center, City University of New York One format that students and faculty alike should consider at MPSA is organizing a…
The Case for (Revised) Political Theory
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University “So,” asked my friend, “have you gotten rid of theory yet?” I don’t think he was prepared for my emphatic, “No!” My…
A conversation with a sociologist fellow who attended MPSA
By Juan Corredor-Garcia, PhD student in political science at the Graduate Center, City University of New York As one of the most prestigious regional conferences in the discipline, MPSA not…
How to Conference for the First Time: Strategy, Reflection, and Recharging at MPSA 2025
by Muhammad Hassan Bin Afzal, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and Public Service, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga When I first visited Chicago in 2017 to…
More COPS, Higher Turnout?
By: Brandon J. Romero, University of Michigan The following blog post summarizes the research that was a co-winner of the Midwest Political Science Association’s Best Paper in Political Behavior…
The Subnational Roots of Democratic Stability
By: Julian Michel, Ph.D. in Political Science from UCLA, Postdoctoral Fellow at LMU Munich The following blog post summarizes the research that won the Midwest Political Science Association’s…
My Experience Balancing Life, Research, and Conferences
by Bakhytzhan Oskeyeva, PhD student in Public Policy, University of North Carolina at Charlotte As I prepare for the upcoming MPSA Annual Conference, I find myself juggling multiple roles—researcher,…
A Practical Politics Primer
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University Note: The author discusses certain political views in this blog post. In sharing these personal opinions, he does not…
Adding critical context to felony disenfranchisement
by Colleen McCoy, Communications and Outreach Coordinator at Wiki Education This blog has been reprinted with permission from Wiki Education. As Canisius University’s public safety liaison and…
Adam Smith on the Effectual Truth of Imagination
By: Trevor Shelley, Arizona State University The following blog post is a summary of the research that won the Midwest Political Science Association’s Review of Politics Award for research presented…
Election 2024: Political Science First Takes
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University Election 2024 is now in the books. While the last few ballots are still being counted, most of the winners and losers are…
Connecting the past and present: Political scientist brings expertise to Wikipedia during election year
by Colleen McCoy, Communications and Outreach Coordinator at Wiki Education This blog has been reprinted with permission from Wiki Education. In the ever-evolving landscape of information, the need…
Gearing Up for the Election, the Political Science Way
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University It’s election time! This means plenty of excitement and trepidation. Some of it is valid, according to Political Science.…
Building Skills for the Future
by Muhammad Hassan Bin Afzal, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and Public Service, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Muhammad Hassan Bin Afzal recommends taking…
Serendipity in Academia: How the MPSA Conference Unlocked Doors I Didn’t Know Existed
by Meherun Nesa, PhD student in Political Science, Loyola University Chicago As a doctoral student in Political Science at Loyola University Chicago, my research focuses on the complex linkages…
Update: Restrictive New Voting Laws in the States
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University In 2022, my colleagues and I published our book Much Sound a Fury or the New Jim Crow? The Twenty First Century’s…
Fascinating Findings: Health & Politics at MPSA 2024
By James Steur, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Challenge of Teaching in an AI World
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University The first day of #MPSA2024 is in the books, and it’s gotten off to a strong start. All panels I attended today were…
From Nerves to Knockout: Essential Tips for Conference Presentations
By James Steur, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
#MPSA2024– This Is My Why
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University Our world and our lives today are filled with all sorts of communications technology, making it possible for anyone with…
Do Values Affect Issue Stances? Evidence from Panel Studies
By: Arjun Vishwanath, Vanderbilt University The following blog post is a summary of the research that won the Midwest Political Science Association’s Best Paper in American Politics Award for…
What are the local impacts of unauthorized Mexican migration in the United States?
By: Ernesto Tiburcio and Kara Ross Camarena The following blog post is a summary of the research that co-won the Midwest Political Science Association’s Best Paper in Political Behavior Award for…
The Rise of New Trade Coalitions Under Global Value Chains
By: Hao Zhang The following blog post is a summary of the research that won the Midwest Political Science Association’s Best Paper in International Relations Award for research presented at the 2023…
Introducing “Parties, Politics, Peace: Electoral Inclusion as Peacebuilding”
by Carrie Manning, Ian O. Smith, Ozlem Tuncel The notion of liberal peacebuilding, the prevailing approach to international intervention to end civil war in the decades after the Cold War’s end, has…
U.S. States are Trying Political Scientist-Approved Voting Reforms. How’s It Going?
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University Most U.S. elections use plurality voting, in which the single candidate winning the most votes is elected, even if they…
Reforming the Rhetoricians: Aristotle’s Underhanded Aim in the Rhetoric
By: Michael C. Hawley, University of Houston The following blog post is a summary of the research that won the Midwest Political Science Association’s Review of Politics Award for research presented…
Toward a Synthesis of Feminist Philosophy of Science and Political Theory
By Kenneth Burke In the dynamic environment of modern political science, a feminist philosophy of science offers a crucial perspective for addressing the challenges posed by the contemporary social,…
Dangerous Logic of Ambitions: Autocrats’ Quest for Historical Immortality
by Daria Blinova, PhD student, Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Delaware What do autocrats truly want? The theory of autocratic survival suggests that…
Direct Election and Senate Representation
By: Gabriel Foy-Sutherland, University of Chicago; Daniel J. Moskowitz, University of Chicago; Jon C. Rogowski, University of Chicago The following blog post is a summary of the research that won the…
What’s the Matter with Thomas Frank?
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University Earlier this month, Ohio voters voted to amend their state constitution to protect abortion rights, overturning a state…
The Erosion of the Nuclear Taboo in Contemporary Global Discourse
by Daria Blinova, PhD student, Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Delaware Since times of the devastating bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War…
Fighting to Preserve the College Experience
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University Where have all the posters gone? This past academic year, my colleagues and I experienced a major restructuring at…
The Trump Effect on Immigration Court Cases
By Elise Blasingame, University of Georgia; Christina L. Boyd, University of Georgia; Roberto F. Carlos, The University of Texas at Austin; Joseph T. Ornstein, University of Georgia The following…
The Politics of Higher Education Reform
By Kenneth Burke The criticisms of higher education have become more vocal and visible, particularly in relation to issues such as political correctness, diversity, and inclusion. Political…
Overheard at the Palmer House – A Love Letter to the 80th MPSA
By Kelsey Larsen, Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida
The False Promise of Conference Imposters
By Kelsey Larsen, Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida
On Returning to In-Person Conferences: A How-To(-Not-Be-Awkward) Guide
By Kelsey Larsen, Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida
Maximizing Feedback About Research During Conference Sessions
By James Steur, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Direct Democracy: Still Mad as Hell After 45 Years
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University Author’s Note The following passage is an excerpt from the project “Political Science Undercover” by Chapman Rackaway,…
After Big Wins for the Humanities in FY 23 What Comes Next?
By Alexandra Klein, Communications and Government Relations Manager, National Humanities Alliance With the beginning of March, we are gearing up for the 2023 NHA Annual Meeting and Humanities…
The Trump-Biden Era in U.S.-China Relations
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University Are we in the midst of the Trump-Biden era? This question seems absurd at first glance. The antipathy that the current…
From Soaking and Poking to Breaching Empathy Walls: Qualitative Research after Fenno
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University It is hard to say goodbye to Richard Fenno (1926-2020). He was truly one of a kind. Fenno called his style of…
No, we are not More Divided Than Ever
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University The other day, I was grading a student project when I noticed that they had written something that seems widely believed…
A Boundary of White Inclusion: How Religion Shapes Perceptions of Ethnoracial Assignment
By Amanda Sahar d’Urso, Northwestern University The following blog post is a summary of the research that won the Midwest Political Science Association’s Lucius Barker Award (for research presented…
Who is it Okay to Punch? An Experimental Investigation of Support for Intolerance in the Form of Physical Violence
By Frank J. Gonzalez and Alexandra McCoy The following blog post is a summary of the research that co-won the Midwest Political Science Association’s Best Paper in American Politics Award (presented…
Looking Back at a Year of Robust Humanities Advocacy
By Alexandra Klein, NHA Communications and Government Relations Manager In early March, five months after Fiscal Year 2022 began, Congress finally passed a funding package for the year. The package…
Blocking the Blockers: Charrettes, Urban Planning, and Deliberative Democracy
By: Adam Rego Johnson, The Graduate Center, CUNY The following blog post is a summary of the research that won the Midwest Political Science Association’s Best Paper by an Undergraduate Student Award…
Practical Tips for Online Student Engagement
By James Steur, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Since the spread of COVID-19, many universities recognize that online teaching is here to stay. However, the online…
Thoughts on the Future of Political Science
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University Well, #MPSA2022 is in the books. From my perspective, the first in-person MPSA conference since 2019 was a success. As I…
Define Your Success: A Roundtable on Surviving Graduate School
By James Steur, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Graduate school is an exciting time for students to explore their research interests and develop as a scholar. However, the…
The Future of the Political Science Conference
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University The MPSA’s in-person conference is back! After being canceled entirely in 2020 and held virtually in 2021, this year’s…
Conference Smarter Not Harder: An Interview with Dr. Gustavo Diaz
By James Steur, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
First Things First When Teaching Civic Education
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University Between 10 and 15 years ago, Political Science experienced a renewed interest in civic education. The National…
Think Congressional redistricting is hard? Wait until we get to state and local offices.
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University Congressional redistricting is in the news–and in my inbox. Every day, I get a dose of emails from both sides reminding…
Remembering Burdett Loomis
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University
Learn how Political Science Students are Improving Wikipedia
By: Dr. Helaine Blumenthal, Wiki Education For the past several years, MPSA has been partnering with Wiki Education to improve Wikipedia’s coverage of topics related to Political Science. In an era…
Do-It-Yourself Redistricting and What I Learned
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University I redistricted. Here is what I learned. First, the basics. Redistricting no longer requires sophisticated computer…
Promising Signs for Humanities Funding in the New Administration
By Alexandra Klein, NHA Communications and Government Relations Manager The Biden administration’s request for a funding increase for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and other…
A Redistricting Primer
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University It’s time for redistricting. What does that mean, and what insights does political science offer? Every ten years, the…
Making their work count: Political Science students improve Wikipedia
By: Dr. Helaine Blumenthal, Wiki Education Through its ongoing partnership with Wiki Education, MPSA has been helping political science and policy students engage with subject content in meaningful…
Land Reform and Civil Conflict: Theory and Evidence from Peru
By Michael Albertus, University of Chicago 2021 AJPS Best Article Award Honorable Mention for the research entitled “Land Reform and Civil Conflict: Theory and Evidence from Peru” The distribution of…
Do International Employment Opportunities Impact Individuals’ Political Preferences and Behavior?
By Nikhar Gaikwad, Kolby Hanson, and Aliz Toth Robert H. Durr Award for Best Paper “applying quantitative methods to a substantive problem,” presented at the 2019 Midwest Political Science…
Georgia’s New Voting Laws Meet Political Science
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University Controversy swirls around Georgia’s new voting laws, along with similar ones in Florida, Texas, and several other states.…
Their economic pain, our emotional gain: Can schadenfreude motivate responses to redistributive policies?
By Hannah Nam, Samuel Jens, and Yanna Krupnikov New Jersey is one of the first states expected to adopt a “millionaires tax” that raises taxes on those who make over a million dollars a year. In…
NHA’s Newest Resource Provides Strategies for Making the Case for the Humanities on Campus
By Scott Muir, Study the Humanities project director In the context of the financial fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and the widespread decline in humanities majors and enrollments precipitated by…
Biased? Sure. Lying, no.
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University Accusations that the news media are biased are now so common as to become cliché. Undoubtedly, the media are biased. In…
Trends in the Publicly Engaged Humanities in the Pandemic Moment
By Michelle May-Curry, Humanities for All project director At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many humanists set out to document the quickly worsening global health crisis. As the months…
The ICPSR Summer Program: Furthering Great Research and Inspiring Great People
By: Scott Campbell, ICPSR Summer Program Communications Coordinator The ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research started in 1963, and we’ve been called many things since then.…
QAnon: The Conspiracy Theory Behind the Capitol Seizure
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University On January 6, followers of former President Trump stormed and seized the United States Capitol, temporarily halting the…
Keeping an Eye on the Map, Notes from Central Eastern Europe
by Raluca Viman-Miller, Assistant Professor, University of North Georgia Nowadays we are completely overtaken by the COVID-19 global pandemic and our focus seems to almost exclusively be on counting…
The Institute for Humane Studies – Working for You
Submitted by The Institute for Humane Studies When you think of the role of academia in society, what comes to mind? Perhaps you envision broader, intellectual discourse, or the civil exchange of…
Voter Fraud or Voter Suppression? Using Political Science to Evaluate Competing Claims
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University This year’s contentious political climate has escalated a longstanding, partisan dispute over election laws and their…
Celebrating 90 Years of University of Michigan Press
by Shaun Manning, Publications Sales and Exhibits Manager, University of Michigan Press. What is your company’s history? What sets your company apart? University of Michigan Press was founded in…
Geographical Coverage in Political Science Research
by Matthew Charles Wilson, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of South Carolina and Carl Henrik Knutsen, Professor of Political Science at the University of Oslo. Political…
Exhibitor Spotlight: Springer Nature
by Lorraine Klimowich, Senior Editor for Political Science, Economics, and Public Administration, Springer Nature What is your company’s history? What sets your company apart? Springer was founded by…
Is the Preference for Chaos a Rational Decision?
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University
Adjusting/Adapting Assignments for Flexibility and Engagement in Online Instruction
By Diane E. Schmidt, Ph.D., California State University, Chico, Political Science
Measuring the Quality of Management of Federal Agencies
by James Thompson and Alejandra Medina, University of Illinois – Chicago
Do Millennials Exist? Generations, Social Science and the Trouble With De-Bunking
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University
NHA’s New Toolkit: Documenting the Impact of Your Humanities Program
By Cecily Hill, NEH for All Director of Community Initiatives
Coping with COVID-19: A Graduate Student’s Reflections
By James Steur, a Ph.D. student in political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Understanding and Reducing Biases in Elite Beliefs About the Electorate
by Miguel M. Pereira, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis.
How the Pandemic Became Partisan: A Story of Parties, Science and Professionals
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University
To Networking & Beyond: Strategies for Successful Networking
By James Steur, a Ph.D. student in political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Study the Humanities: Articulating Career Pathways
By Scott Muir, Study the Humanities Project Director, National Humanities Alliance
Beyond the Hat: Will the Trump Coalition Hold in 2020?
by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University
Public Engagement: Simplify Without Being Simple
By James Steur at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Fieldwork: Ethical Considerations, Funding, and Data Collection Methods
By Charmaine N. Willis of University of Albany
How to Thrive in Graduate School (Whatever That Means)
By Colleen Wood of Columbia University
Colleen Wood,Research and Publishing,Teaching and Learning,Work-Life Balance,#MPSA19,Grad Life
Exploring Themes from “Advances in Physiology and Politics: Linking Physiology, Self-Reports, and Cognitive Responses” at #MPSA19
By James Steur of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Examination of the “Other:” An Insight Into The Asian Pacific Islander Experience in the Prison Industrial Complex
By Michelle M. Hicks, Willamette University
Organization, Flexibility, and Thoughtfulness (#MPSA19 Prep)
By Danielle King of University of Missouri in St. Louis
Two Paths to the Palmer House: Planning for the #MPSA19 Conference
By Colleen Wood of Columbia University
Colleen Wood,Teaching and Learning,Work-Life Balance,#MPSA19,Grad Life
Previewing the 77th Annual MPSA Conference Program: A Selection of Professional Development Panels for Graduate Students
By Charmaine N. Willis of University of Albany, SUNY
First-Generation Findings: Eight Strategies for Success at Academic Conferences
By James Steur of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Work, Well-Being, and Social Connections: Advice from a Graduate Student on Finding the Correct Proportions
By Kevin DeLuca of Harvard University
Democrats Want to Get Rid of the Electoral College. It is Not Going to Happen (and Maybe that’s Best).
By Michael A. Smith, Emporia State University
Michael A. Smith,Election 2016,Election 2018
The Art of Networking: How to Maximize Your Doctoral Experience
By Francesca Gottardi of the University of Cincinnati
Understand Department Culture, Perfect your Personal Statement, and Other Tips on Applying to Graduate School
MPSA Professional Development Roundtable Preview
Juggling Academic Time and Technology: Advice from a Millennial
By Garrett Pierman of Florida International University
Photo by…The Big Lessons of Political Advertising in 2018
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The Only Thing We Have to Fear
By Michael A. Smith of Emporia State University
Michael A. Smith,Election 2018
You can trust the polls in 2018, if you read them carefully
By Josh Pasek, University of Michigan and Michael Traugott, University of Michigan
Humanities for All: Political Science and International Relations
By Daniel Fisher, Project Director, National Humanities Alliance
By…
By Chapman…
Edmund…Voting Can Be Hard, Information Helps
By Melody Crowder-Meyer, Shana Kushner Gadarian, and Jessica Trounstine
What 18,000 Declassified Documents (and a Computer) Reveal About the Credibility of Signals During Crises
By Eric Min of Stanford University
In Retrospect: Tips for First-Time MPSA Attendees and Presenters
By Charmaine N. Willis of University at Albany, SUNY
More Bridging, Less Bonding: New Views of Social Capital
(or, Why I am Going to Watch Roseanne)
by Michael A. Smith of Emporia State University
Finger on the Pulse: Alive and Kicking at MPSA 2018
By Harold "Harry" Young of Austin Peay State University
The New Political Scientists—We’re Live, We’re Nationwide, and We’re Online
By Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science at Emporia State University
Faculty Advantage: Using Wikipedia to Teach Controversial Topics
By Mark K. Cassell of Kent State University 
Each year…
#MPSAchat – Teaching Political Science in a Politicized Environment
On Tuesday, September 26 at 2:00 PM…
Politics and Sunburn: Snapshot of the U.S. from Belize
By Harold Young, Ph.D.
Harry Young,Election 2016
Emily Kalah Gade is a PhD…
(Un)Natural Disasters: Distributive Politics in Northeast Brazil
The following is part of a series of posts written by 2016 MPSA award recipients highlighting outstanding research presented at previous MPSA annual conferences.
The Roundup: Political Science on Wikipedia
This article by Eryk Salvaggio originally appeared at the Wiki Education Foundation blog and is shared here with permission.
Beyond Diversity: The Salience of Ethnicity and Kenya’s Constituency Development Fund
Following is from a series of blog posts by MPSA members about their research that has received funding by either the National Science Foundation (NSF) or the National Endowment for the Humanities…
Bernie Goldwater: What Sanders Supporters Can Learn from Young Americans for Freedom
Supporters were crestfallen, but their resolve was firm. Their candidate had refused to buckle to the pressure from party elite—the usual pressure from political managers, to move to the political…
How Do Experiences with Government Programs Shape Political and Civic Engagement? Looking Beyond the American Case
A key insight of policy feedback theories is that government offices are sites of adult political learning. As Joe Soss explains: “…public bureaucracies provide relatively immediate experiences with…
Mass Administrative Reorganization, Media Attention, and the Paradox of Information
The following is part of a series of posts written by 2016 MPSA award recipients highlighting outstanding research presented at previous MPSA annual conferences. Our article – Mass Administrative…
Trendspotting Through the Gradventurist’s Lens
Now that it has been two weeks since MPSA 2016 ended, there are a few trends I observed during the conference that I feel need revisiting especially from a graduate student perspective. The…
The American Impasse Between Environmentalists and Industry
In a recent book by Joel S. Whitworth, “Quantified: Redefining Conservation for the Next Economy” (Whitworth 2015), the author issues a bold challenge claiming that our 45-year old approaches to…
If Political Science Ruled the World (and We Were on Our Best Behavior)
Once, as a graduate student at the University of Missouri, I wisecracked, "the entire world should be turned over to political scientists for experimental purposes." I was joking and everyone knew…
Political Science: The Final Frontier
Can science fiction teach us about political institutions? A group of political scientists says yes. James Endersby of the University of Missouri-Columbia is spearheading a project with several of…
We are one week away…
Mainstream…
NEW YORK CITY…
So…
Samara Klar is an…
INDIANOLA, IA -…
Presenting At Conferences – A Grad Student’s Guide
Presenting at a conference is a daunting task for any academic. Be it a big name academic who has spent a career presenting at
Linda…
t is only 35…
Interested in Blogging for MPSA?
MPSA seeks to feature blog posts that focuses on research relevant to current topics in the media, teaching trends and professional development. The blog will be a place for MPSA to highlight the…