“Reducing Racial Disparities in Crime Victimization: Evidence From Employment Discrimination Litigation” Black Americans are substantially less safe than white Americans, with persistently higher risks of crime victimization. One possible cause of racial disparities in crime victimization may lie in racially disparate law enforcement responses to crime experienced by Black Read more…
Half-day symposium featuring 6 papers. Agenda is in development and will be posted here.
“Restoration” and Representation: Legislative Consequences of Black Disfranchisement in the American South, 1879-1916 The restriction of African Americans’ voting rights in the U.S. South in the decades following Reconstruction is the most significant instance of democratic backsliding in American history. Despite this, it remains unclear whether and to what extent Read more…
Tilly goes to Church: the Medieval and Religious Roots of European State Formation Medieval religious rivalry fundamentally shaped European state formation. The single most powerful challenger to kings and emperors in the Middle Ages was the Catholic Church. To protect its interests and ensure its autonomy, the papacy deliberately fragmented Read more…
Laboratories of Democratic Backsliding Using 61 indicators of democratic performance from 2000 to 2018, we develop a measure of subnational democratic performance, the State Democracy Index. We use this measure to test theories of democratic expansion and backsliding based in party competition, polarization, demographic change, and the group interests of Read more…
Zhao Li, Assistant Professor of Politics and Public Affairs at Princeton University, studies American politics and political economy with a focus on campaign finance in the United States. In particular, her research examines both institutional and behavioral factors that motivate campaign donors to give money to different types of recipients (candidates, interest groups, etc.), as well as the implications of these donations for different aspects of democratic representation in the U.S., including corporate political strategy, political extremism, and electoral accountability.
Volha Charnysh, Assistant Professor of Political Science at MIT, will present Dispute Resolution in Heterogenous Societies.
Christina Kinane, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yale, will present research
Slavery, as an institution, traces its origins back to Mesopotamia in 3500 B.C. Slavery was abolished by most nations sometime in the 19th century. Slavery’s effects, however, persisted in many nations for decades — and still persist in various forms today. The Slavery and Its Legacies Symposium examines this historical persistence of institutionalized slavery, both in the United States and in other nations.
Thomas Gray, Assistant Professor of Political Science at University of Texas at Dallas, will present research.
Miguel Pereira, Assistant Professor of Political Science at USC Dornsife, will present research: The Expertise Curse: How Policy Expertise Can Hinder Responsiveness.
Rachel Van Sickle-Ward, Professor of Political Studies at Claremont University, along with Kevin Wallsten, Associate Professor of Political Science at CSULB, will present their research. Register for link to join the Zoom Webinar.
The current polarization of elites in the U.S., particularly in Congress, is frequently ascribed to the emergence of cohorts of ideologically extreme legislators replacing moderate ones. Politicians, however, do not operate as isolated agents, driven solely by their preferences. They act within organized parties, whose leaders exert control over the Read more…
The Local Political Economy Symposium at USC brings together nationally renowned scholars who study the most pressing political-economic issues at the local level — from compensation of public employees, to municipal bankruptcy, to criminal justice reform.
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Melissa Lee, Assistant Professor of Politics & International Affairs at Princeton University, will present preliminary research: From Pluribus to Unum? Statebuilding in 19th Century America.
Clayton Nall, Assistant Professor of Political Science at University of California Santa Barbara, will present his research. Please check back for more details.
Marc Weidenmier, Professor, Chapman University, will present his research. Please check back for more information.
“Political Legitimacy and the Institutional Foundations of Constitutional Government: The Case of England”
Presented by Jared Rubin, Professor, Chapman University.
as to whether legislators bring this preference for reciprocity to Congress. Through an original survey experiment and observational studies of end-of-career behavior, Christian finds consistent evidence that legislators have an intrinsic preference for reciprocity. Moreover, legislators are aware that their colleagues have this preference, so it likely enters into their strategic calculations. This finding raises new questions for research in party discipline, partisan polarization, and interest group influence, and others.
“The Supply-Equity Trade-off: The Effect of Spatial Representation on the Local Housing Supply”
Michael Hankinson, assistant professor of Political Science at George Washington University, will discuss his research. A central concern of governance is how the costs and benefits of collective goods are distributed over the population. Our findings speak to a trade-off inherent to spatial representation: the supply of collective goods and the equitable distribution of the associated costs.
The nation has witnessed two weeks of civil unrest; and policing as a political institution has been under public scrutiny for decades. With protests in all 50 states during this latest public outcry, a call for reform resounds. As we work toward a resolution many are asking – what do Read more…
Choosing Racial Identity in the United States, 1880-1940
Emily Nix’s paper documents that many black males experienced a change in racial classification to white in the United States, 1880 – 1940, while changes in racial classification were negligible for other races
Going into the 2020 election, popular fear of interference, fraud, or election meddling, means that leveraging the tools of rigorous social science is as important as ever.
Participants in the USC Bedrosian Center’s Symposium on Election Administration and Technology skillfully brought data, theory, and logic to bear on questions often driven by reflexive fear, anger, or confusion.
