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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…

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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.…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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#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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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,…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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The Challenges of Measuring Lethal Violence in Central America. An Interview with Laura Blume.

By Juan Corredor-Garcia, PhD student in political science at the Graduate Center, City University of New York While Latin America represents only 9% of the global population, it is home of more than…

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Prioritizing the Undergraduate Experience

By Emily Boykin, Doctoral Candidate in Public Administration at Florida State University As a newfound Ph.D. candidate and first-time instructor of record this past semester for an undergraduate…

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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…

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Best Practices in Discussant Roles & Interactions

By Emily Boykin, Doctoral Candidate in Public Administration at Florida State University Social science scholars continually choose to attend MPSA’s annual conference in part due to the quality of…

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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…

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Insights From a MPSA First-Time Attendee

By Juan Corredor-Garcia, PhD student in political science at the Graduate Center, City University of New York Academic conferences are privileged spaces for graduate students for various reasons.…

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Coherence Over Linearity: Transitioning to Administrative Roles

By James Steur, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Over the course of a career, it is natural for your professional goals to change over time. For many members of the…

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Is This the Post-Trump Era? Nope, Not Yet

by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University Every year, the MPSA Annual Meetings convene at the Palmer House Hilton in downtown Chicago.  Just a few blocks away, the…

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An Honest Conversation: Parenting in the Academy

By James Steur, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Parenting is both a fulfilling and demanding experience, and parents in academia face unique professional challenges at all…

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Last Minute Planning Chicago? You’re Not Alone

By Emily Boykin, Doctoral Candidate in Public Administration at Florida State University If you’re like me, you’re currently sitting in the airport preparing for your flight to Chicago with a…

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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,…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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Remembering Burdett Loomis 

by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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.…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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.…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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Is the Preference for Chaos a Rational Decision?

by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University 

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Teaching Tactics: A Simple Hack for Maintaining Personal Connections to Students

By Matthew Charles Wilson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of South Carolina  This blog was originally published by the Incubator for Teaching Innovation at…

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Do Millennials Exist? Generations, Social Science and the Trouble With De-Bunking

by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University 

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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

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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.

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How the Pandemic Became Partisan: A Story of Parties, Science and Professionals

by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University 

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Study the Humanities: Articulating Career Pathways

By Scott Muir, Study the Humanities Project Director, National Humanities Alliance

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Beyond the Hat: Will the Trump Coalition Hold in 2020?

by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University 

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Can Gerrymandering be Measured? Here Come the Mathematicians

By Brian Hollenbeck and Michael Smith of Emporia State University Just weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court acted to sharply limit the role of the courts with regards to partisan gerrymandering. In…

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Keeping It Real: Political Science and Civic Engagement

By Michael Smith of Emporia State University Great #MPSA19 panel discussion regarding blogging, Twitter and podcasting w/@LaraMBrownPhD @NaymaQayum @JustinBullock14 @GreggRMurray and Michael Smith…

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The Big Lessons of Political Advertising in 2018

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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MPSA Member Profile: Rebecca Dew

Dr. Rebecca Dew is an Independent Researcher based in Florida, where she can be reached at Academia.edu or her personal website, or followed on Twitter @beccadew. Additionally, Dew is a recent…

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The Only Thing We Have to Fear

By Michael A. Smith of Emporia State University The…</p><p class=

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Magnify Your Voice: A Day Off for Democracy

By Betsy Sinclair of Washington University in St. Louis “Are you frustrated that you see a need in your community that isn’t met by government or industry? Do you believe that need could be remedied…

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Generation Z voters could make waves in 2018 midterm elections

By Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, Tufts University Unlike the much-studied millennials, we don’t know much about Generation Z, who now make up most of the 18- to 24-year-old voting bloc. These young people…

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You can trust the polls in 2018, if you read them carefully

By Josh Pasek, University of Michigan and Michael Traugott, University of Michigan

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Humanities for All: Political Science and International Relations

By Daniel Fisher, Project Director, National Humanities Alliance

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Blue is Black and Red is White? Affective Polarization and the Racialized Schemas of U.S. Party Coalitions

By Nicholas A. Valentino and Kirill Zhirkov  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFMTdNxp57k] Affective polarization - the mutual partisan antipathy expressed by both Democrats and Republicans…

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Mentors play Critical Role in Quality of College Experience, New Poll Suggests

By Leo M. Lambert, Elon University; Jason Husser, Elon University, and Peter Felten, Elon University This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. In order to…

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Contributing Political Science Knowledge to our Collective Conscious

Post by Royal G. Cravens, Bowling Green University This post originally appeared on the Wiki Education blog. Dr. Royal G. Cravens, III is a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Bowling…

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Spain’s majority-female cabinet embodies women’s global rise to power

By Susan Franceschet, University of Calgary and Karen Beckwith, Case Western Reserve University Gender-equal governments, which include the same number of men and women as ministry heads and in other…

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Save the Swamp

By Michael A. Smith of Emporia State University The Trump Administration’s recent reversal on immigration policy regarding children has gotten me to thinking. What exactly does it mean to “drain the…

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Ethnic Networks

The following is part of a series of posts written by MPSA award recipients highlighting outstanding research presented at previous MPSA annual conferences and in the American Journal of Political…

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How Governments Influence Competition between Militant Groups

By Justin Conrad and William Spaniel When Algeria descended into violence in the 1990s, two militant groups – the Islamic Salvation Army (AIS) and the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) – competed for…

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All Male Panels Erode Citizens’ Perceptions of Democratic Legitimacy

By Amanda Clayton, Diana Z. O'Brien, and Jennifer M. Piscopo All-male panels increasingly face public pushback. Though once ubiquitous, male-only groups are encountering greater scrutiny at…

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Back End Skills

By Chad Raymond of Salve Regina University and Active Learning in Political Science Most ALPS posts deal with the front end of teaching — the stuff that eventually turns into the student experience.…

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Voting Can Be Hard, Information Helps

By Melody Crowder-Meyer, Shana Kushner Gadarian, and Jessica Trounstine

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Reflections on the #MPSA18 Mentoring Reception

On the second day of the 76th Annual Conference, MPSA held a mentoring reception for which graduate students, PhD recipients in non-academic positions, junior, mid-career, and contingent faculty…

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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

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The Public Expert: How Academics Can Break the Ivory Tower Stereotype #MPSA18

By Alex Ellison In the professional development track at the Midwest Political Science Association Conference in Chicago, IL, there were a couple of sessions on using social media in academia and…

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Do Academics Stink at Work/Life Balance?

And is this scaring away students? By Alex Ellison At the 2018 Midwest Political Science Association Conference in Chicago, IL, I attended the session, Trying to Balance Work and Life with Joel…

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The 2018 MPSA Conference Is Here: What Have You Done for Me Lately?

By Harold Young of Austin Peay State University “Expectations should not always be taken as reality; because you never know when you will be disappointed.”  ― Samuel P. Huntington

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How Predictable is Your Work?

The truth about job security in the future By Alex Ellison  

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Members of Congress respond to more than money – sometimes

By Jan Leighley, American University and Jennifer Oser, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Does citizen activism really affect the actions of elected officials? Despite the ubiquitous role of money…

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When the elite abandon democracy – A Warning from Belize?

By Harold Young of Austin Peay State University “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all…

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MPSA in 2017 – Accomplishments Worth Celebrating (video)

  This year was confusing at times and exhausting at others, but it also had its high points. As we say goodbye to 2017, we welcome you to join us for the MPSA highlight reel. Our thanks to everyone…

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MPSA’s Top 10 Blog Posts from 2017

There is no doubt that 2017 was a memorable year in political science.  As the year comes to a close, it’s time to take a look back at our the most-read blog posts from the past twelve months.

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Intrastate Conflicts: Refocus on the Intractable

By Harold A. Young The burden and devastation of intrastate conflicts are disproportionally borne by people of color in the developing world. While many people of color in the United States may view…

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If you’re going to San Francisco…

... Visit us at APSA Booth #904! Look for MPSA in booth #904 in the APSA expo hall where we'll be busy answering questions about the MPSA conference, the new Twitter chat series, and your MPSA…

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Recap of MPSA Chat (Work-Life Balance #PSBeWell)

Many thanks to our co-hosts for the discussion:  Todd Curry, Assistant Professor of Political Science at The University of Texas at El Paso, Jacqueline Sievert, Research Fellow with YWCA Niagara, and…

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An Invitation to Participate: MPSA’s Inaugural Twitter Chat #PSBeWell

A healthy work-life balance is important regardless of where you are in your academic career. Every PhD has the first-hand experience with Grad School struggles. Every tenured professor can remember…

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Q&A with Emily Farris re: The TCU Justice Journey

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slfLGQewr6A?rel=0&controls=0] MPSA member Emily Farris is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth,…

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Next Steps in the Fight to #SavetheNEH

Two days before President Trump’s inauguration, we awoke to reports that the transition team was contemplating a proposal to eliminate funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and…

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This Is the Best Time Ever to Study Political Science

This post originally appeared on Tom Pepinsky’s blog and is reposted here with permission.  Here are ten questions that might be interesting to Americans these days. Is the Trump administration’s…

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Race and “Ism”: Incoming Fire from All Directions

Since it is impossible to discuss the issue of racism from the beginning, I will just start where I find myself. As an Assistant professor, it is probably safe for me to say that the…

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Recommended Reading: Themes from Election 2016

In the week since the election of Donald Trump, many citizens and political scientists are trying to understand both the underlying causes of the win while thinking about the implications for the…

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Political Science: The Cure for Election Anxiety

Reporters are discovering a new phenomenon this year: election anxiety.  This year’s contests, particularly the one for President, have Americans worried and minds racing. The cure is right here:…

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One PhD Candidate’s Roadmap for Successful Co-Authorship

All of us at one point or another have either considered or have been involved in a co-authored project. With the way academia is evolving, co-authorship is not only encouraged but it is fast…

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7 Keys to a Successful MPSA Proposal Submission

Editor's Note: Since this blog post has been published, MPSA's proposal deadline for papers, complete panels, and roundtables has been EXTENDED to Tuesday, October 18, 2016. Knowing that political…

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(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.

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MPSA Member Profile: Eric Raile

Eric Raile is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and serves as the Director of the Human Ecology Learning & Problem Solving (HELPS) Lab at Montana State University,…

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Bias and Women’s Under-Representation in Politics

Even if Hillary Clinton shatters the “highest” glass ceiling this November, for many years to come women are likely to remain under-represented in elected offices in the United States and throughout…

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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.

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Making Sure the Light at the end of the Tunnel is not a Train: Securing a Faculty Position

After more than six years as a graduate student, and having survived the rigors of academic life including assignment deadlines, student teaching, qualifying exams, proposal defense and drafting my…

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[Im]Polite Conversation: Understanding the Mechanisms for Disengagement from Contentious Political Interactions

This post is one of a series of by MPSA members about their Federally-funded research.  Here, Jaime Settle and Taylor Carlson summarize their NSF-funded research "Understanding the Mechanisms for…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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Studying the Immediate Impact of Racially Traumatic Stressful Events

Following is one in 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…

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Social Media: Great Campaign Tool, but Bad News for Democracy

By now, we have all read about and analyzed Donald Trump’s (in)famous Cinco de Mayo tweet, which featured a picture of him grinning broadly while eating a taco bowl, with the following tweet: “Happy…

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The Company You Keep: How Voters Infer Party Positions on European Integration from Governing Coalition Arrangements

The following is the first in a series of posts written by 2016 MPSA award recipients highlighting outstanding research presented at previous MPSA annual conferences. Democratic accountability…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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A Grad Life Recap of the 2016 MPSA Conference

As the MPSA 2016 conference wraps up, I wanted to share a few thoughts as a first time attendee. This has been a phenomenal experience for me and my colleagues (most of whom are also first time…

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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…

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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

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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…

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When Grievances Do Not Mean Violence

By Bethany Lacina The vast majority of political violence is within rather than between states. How do national politics—that is, the central government's attempts to stay in office—make civil…

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Social Esteem and Participation in Contentious Politics

By Gwyneth McClendon Why do individuals participate in non-voting forms of collective political action? The last few years have been rife with examples of rallies, protests and demonstrations: from…

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Dollars on the Sidewalk: Should U.S. Presidential Candidates Advertise in Uncontested States?

Carly Urban, Montana State University Sarah Niebler, Dickinson College Why do individuals contribute to political campaigns? There are many reasons people may give—ranging from the warm glow they…

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AJPS Author Jakana Thomas on The Monkey Cage

Jakana Thomas, an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Michigan State University, posted an article on The Monkey Cage, titled "Actually, sometimes terrorism does work." Read…

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