2023 Award Recipients

MPSA sponsors many awards for outstanding research presented at the annual conference and an award for the best article published in each volume of the American Journal of Political Science (AJPS). Nominations are made by conference chairs, discussants, and section heads after the conference and awards committees select the winning papers.

The following awards were given for research presented at the 2022 MPSA Annual Conference:

Flagship Awards

Pi Sigma Alpha Award

A $250 award for the best paper presented at the annual MPSA conference. Sponsored by Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society. Nomination pool will consist of papers selected for the field awards. Nomination pool will consist of papers selected for the field awards.

Repression, Military Service, and Insurrection
Roya Talibova, University of Michigan

Award Committee: Mark Dincecco, University of Michigan (Chair); Diana Mutz, University of Pennsylvania; Jan Pierskalla, Ohio State University; John Ahlquist, University of California, San Diego; Georg Vanberg, Duke University

AJPS Best Article Award

A $1,000 award for the best article appearing in the volume of the American Journal of Political Science published in the year preceding the conference. All published articles in this timeframe will be considered.

Do Campaign Contribution Limits Curb the Influence of Money in Politics?
Saad Gulzar, Princeton University
Miguel R. Rueda, Emory University
Nelson A. Ruiz, University of Oxford

Christmas, Crescents, and Crosses: When is Symbolic Religious Establishment Permissible? (Honorable Mention)
Aurélia Bardon, University of Konstanz

Capital Meets Democracy: The Impact of Franchise Extension on Sovereign Bond Markets (Honorable Mention)
Aditya Dasgupta, University of California, Merced
Daniel Ziblatt, Harvard University

Award Committee: Daniel Slater, University of Michigan (Chair); Virginia Oliveros, Tulane University; Monika Nalepa, University of Chicago; Abby Wood, University of Southern California, Gould School of Law; Joseph Daniel Ura, Texas A&M

Field Awards

Best Paper in American Politics

A $250 award for the best paper on the topic of American politics.

Social Welfare Returns to Legislative Capacity: Evidence from the Opioid Epidemic
David Fortunato, University of California, San Diego
Srinivas Parinandi, University of Colorado, Boulder

Award Committee: Gary Jacobson, University of California, San Diego (Chair); Frank Baumgartner, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Matthew Hibbing, University of California, Merced

Best Paper in International Relations 

A $250 award for the best paper on the topic of international relations.

Repression, Military Service, and Insurrection
Roya Talibova, University of Michigan

Award Committee: David Lake, University of California, San Diego (Chair); Roseanne McManus, Pennsylvania State University; Jonathan Renshon, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Best Paper in Political Behavior 

A $250 award for the best paper on the topic of political behavior.

Repression, Military Service, and Insurrection
Roya Talibova, University of Michigan

Award Committee: Adam Berinsky, MIT (Chair); Sunshine Hillygus, Duke University; Noam Lupu, Vanderbilt University

Evan Ringquist Award (co-winners)

A $250 award for the best paper on the topic of political institutions.

The Trump Effect on Immigration Court Cases
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

Can Stakeholders Mobilize Businesses for the Protection of Democracy? Evidence from the U.S. Capitol Insurrection
Zhao Li, Princeton University
Richard W. DiSalvo, Princeton University

Award Committee: Milan Svolik, Yale University (Chair); University of Tampa (Chair); Christopher Zorn, Pennsylvania State University; Jack Paine, Emory University

Kellogg/Notre Dame Award (co-winners)

A $250 award for the best paper in comparative politics.

Repression, Military Service, and Insurrection
Roya Talibova, University of Michigan

Subsidies for Sale: Post-government Career Concerns, Revolving-door Channels, and Public Resource Misallocation in China
Zeren Li, Yale University

Award Committee: Pauline Jones, University of Michigan (Chair); Bonnie Meguid, University of Rochester; Edmund Malesky, Duke University

Kenneth J. Meier Award

A $250 award for the best paper in bureaucratic politics, public administration, or public policy.

Executive Coalition Building
Nicholas Napolio, University of Southern California

Identity and Red Tape: The Political Economy of Politician-Bureaucrat Cooperation in India (Honorable Mention)
Rikhil R. Bhavnani, University of Wisconsin
Alexander Lee, University of Rochester
Soledad Artiz Prillaman, Stanford University 

Award Committee: Craig Volden, University of Virginia (Chair); Charles Shipan, University of Michigan; Stephane Lavertu, Ohio State University

Review of Politics Award

A $250 award for the best paper in normative political theory.

Machiavelli’s Ecstatic Politics: An Invitation to an Inquiry
Amanda Griffiths, University of California, Los Angeles

Award Committee: Michael Hawley, University of Houston (Chair); Julie Rose, Dartmouth University; Eric MacGilvray, Ohio State University

Robert H. Durr Award

A $250 award for the best paper applying quantitative methods to a substantive problem.

Repression, Military Service, and Insurrection
Roya Talibova, University of Michigan

Award Committee: Daniel Gingerich, University of Virginia (Chair); Lawrence Rothenberg, University of Rochester; Erik Wibbels, University of Pennsylvania

Subfield Awards

Lucius Barker Award

A $250 award for the best paper on a topic investigating race or ethnicity and politics and honoring the spirit and work of Professor Barker.

Beliefs About Minority Representation in Policing and Support for Diversification
Kyle Peyton, Yale University
Chagai Weiss, Stanford University
Paige Vaughn, Spring Hill College

Award Committee: Valeria Sinclair-Chapman, Purdue University (Chair); Lauren Davenport, Stanford University; Jamila Michener, Cornell University.

Patrick J. Fett Award 

A $250 award for the best paper on the scientific study of Congress and the presidency.

Presidential Policymaking in the Face of Congressional Sanctioning
Meredith McLain, Vanderbilt University

Award Committee: Jason Roberts, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Chair); David Canon, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Frances Lee, Princeton University

Sophonisba Breckinridge Award

A $250 award for the best paper on the topic of women and politics.

Representation and the Trade Roots of the Gender Pay Gap
Timm Betz, Technical University of Munich
David Fortunato, University of California, San Diego
Diana Z. O’Brien, Washington University in St. Louis

Award Committee: Summer Lindsey, Rutgers University (Chair); Sarah Fulton, Texas A&M; Jeong Hyun Kim, Yonsei University

Richard E. Matland Award 

A $250 award for the best paper by an emerging scholar in representation, elections, or voting. Author (or lead author) is an untenured faculty member or graduate student.

How Incumbent Politicians Respond to the Enactment of a Programmatic Policy: Evidence from Snow Subsidies
Amy Catalinac, New York University
Taishi Muraoka, Washington University in St. Louis

Award Committee: Lynda Powell, University of Rochester (Chair); Ken Kollman, University of Michigan; Jessica Trounstine, University of California, Merced.

Career Stage Awards

Best Paper by an Emerging Scholar

A $250 award for the best paper, regardless of field or topic, by a scholar or scholars who has or have received the terminal degree(s) within six years of the year in which the paper was presented.

Expressive Responding and Trump’s Big Lie
Matthew Graham, George Washington University
Omer Yair, Reichman University

Award Committee: Andrew Philips, University of Colorado, Boulder (Chair); Adriane Stewart Fresh, Duke University; Michael Ross, University of California, Los Angeles.

Best Paper by a Graduate Student Award

A $250 award for the best paper delivered by a graduate student.

Repression, Military Service, and Insurrection
Roya Talibova, University of Michigan

Award Committee: Rikhil Bhavnani, University of Wisconsin, Madison (Chair); Gretchen Casper, Pennsylvania State University; Christopher Johnston, Duke University

Best Undergraduate Paper Presented in a Poster Format

A $250 award for the best paper delivered by an undergraduate.

Non-white Founding Fathers: Does Musical Hamilton Shape Beliefs about the Causes of Racial Inequality
Rio Ikeuchi, Osaka University

Award Committee: David Cunningham, University of Maryland (Chair); Kerry Ratigan, Amherst College; Jan Vogler, University of Konstanz

Herbert Simon Award

 A $500 award for a mid-career scholar who has made a significant contribution to the scientific study of bureaucracy. Submissions are handled by the Midwest Caucus on Policy Administration.

Sanjay Pandey, George Washington University