Political scientists have increasingly turned their attention to understanding the politics, consequences, and implications of race and law enforcement. Panelists at the recent PIPE Symposium on Race & Law Enforcement presented cutting edge work on police-community relations, the implications of police violence for democracy, and the gaps in political representation often faced by people of color.
Ben Graham is an assistant professor at USC’s School of International Relations. Ben discussed his paper, Network Ties and the Political Strategies of Firms, co-written with Cesi Cruz. Abstract: Social ties are critical to firms’ ability to achieve influence over government policy, and it is widely accepted that better-connected firms achieve more influence. However, it is little understood how different…
Jeff Jenkins and Benjamin Newman, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at the UC Riverside, discuss creativity and experimentation in political science.
“The study of state and local politics has taken off over the last decade. Data, methods, and research interests have evolved. There are a variety of important questions that can’t be examined well at the Federal level, because of severe case limitations. But scholars can get leverage on these questions thanks to the sizable and interesting variation that exists at the state and local levels,” said Jeff Jenkins as he brought together scholars from across the nation to examine the study of subnational policy making.
The Power of Economic Interests Under Direct versus Representative Democracy The power of economic interest groups to influence policy outcomes is a common theme in economics and political science. Most theories posit that interest group power arises from the ability to influence elected or appointed government officials, that is, by exploiting the representative part of democracy.…
Beyond a Reliable Vote: Coordination and Information Problems in Congressional Nominations Research in collaboration with: Knox Brown, Angela Ocampo, Shawn Patterson, John Ray and John Zaller Congressional primaries, like primary elections in general, are imagined to give voters, rather than party elites, the ability to choose which candidate wins the nomination. Indeed, we might expect primary…
With the goal of fostering cross-disciplinary synergies among political economy scholars and fill the need for a regular meeting place, the USC PIPE Collaborative hosted the First Annual Political Institutions and Political Economy Conference on March 15-16, convening major U.S. scholars from political science, economics, and law to cover important new research on topics such as the unilateral presidency, Congressional committees, city policies, electoral rules, political leadership, and partisanship.
With Donald Trump’s approval ratings at record lows, it’s worth asking how much this one number matters…and whether the people who approve really are better represented by him than the people who don’t. If our politicians really do represent some Americans better than others, it calls into question the very foundational ideals of our representative democracy.
In this episode, Brian Newman uncovers who’s represented, who’s not, and how it affects their view of government.
To listen to this episode of Our American Discourse, click the arrow in the player here. Or download it and subscribe through ApplePodcasts, Soundcloud, Google Play, Stitcher, or your favorite podcasting app – click the links or search “usc bedrosian.”
According to Bedrosian Center Director Jeffery Jenkins, “there are few issues more important today than partisanship. We live in a world today where partisan divisions run so deep that some of the most basic things we expect from government aren’t being done. People inside and outside of Congress are more interested in skewering the other side rather than work together or find common ground.”