Political Science at Washington University

Congratulations to David Carter who is a new member of the editorial committee for the journal World Politics, effective July 1st.

Congratulations to Annamaria Prati, a rising sixth year PhD student, for winning the 2024 APSA Best Poster Award for her poster “Building Peace in Fragile States? UNDP and Violence Mitigation.” The poster examined how the United Nations Development Programme’s statebuilding projects helped mitigate violence in failed and fragile states.

The award honors the best poster presented by a graduate student or early career scholar at the APSA Annual Meeting, and carries a cash prize. Prati will be recognized at the annual APSA meeting in September.

Benjamin Noble (University of California - San Diego, WashU PoliSci PhD '23) and Taylor Carlson have published "CueAnon: What QAnon Signals About Congressional Candidates and What it Costs Them" in the journal Political Behavior. Read the article: https://buff.ly/3y562tq

Abstract: Most research investigates why the public embraces conspiracy theories, but few studies empirically examine how Americans evaluate the politicians who do. We argued that politicians portrayed as supporting QAnon would garner negative mainstream media attention, but this coverage could increase their name recognition and signal positive attributes to voters with low trust in media who would feel warmer toward those candidates. Although we confirm that candidates friendly toward QAnon receive more negative media coverage, our nationally-representative vignette experiment reveals that QAnon support decreases favorability toward candidates, even among seemingly sympathetic sub-populations. A follow-up conjoint experiment, varying whether candidates support QAnon, replicates these findings. This paper is one of the first to highlight the potential costs of elite conspiracy theory support and complicates popular narratives about QAnon.

Ashlee Chung, who graduated in 2020 with a bachelor’s in political science and in East Asian studies from Arts & Sciences, has earned a Fulbright award to teach English in South Korea. Congratulations Ashlee! Read more:

Eleven alumni earn Fulbright awards - The Source - Washington University in St. Louis Eleven recent alumni of Washington University in St. Louis earned Fulbright awards to travel abroad to teach English or conduct research in the 2024-2025 academic year.

ICYMI: Our partners at the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy recently published their July newsletter featured several WashU PoliSci scholars. Give it a read:

Weidenbaum Center Newsletter July 2024 Opinion: Biden and Trump will talk big at the debate, but how much could either really do? Ahead of the debate, Weidenbaum Center Director Andrew Reeves wrote an op-ed for the LA Times looking at presidential power

Professor Margit Tavits, with co-authors Marc Debus and Zeynep Somer-Topcu, are this year’s recipients of the Lijphart/Przeworski/Verba Best Dataset Prize for their dataset, “Comparative Campaign Dynamics Dataset" from the Comparative Politics section of the American Political Science Association. Congratulations!

Tavits, Debus and Somer-Topcu will be recognized at the APSA Comparative Politics Business Meeting in August and the Section Reception in September.

Dan Butler joins co-authors Sarah E. Anderson, Laurel Harbridge-Yong, and Joe Nemerever on the article "Legislator Pivotality and Voter Accountability," published in Political Research Quarterly.

Read more: https://buff.ly/4f5ktOO

Do perceptions of domestic corruption shape public opinion on free trade? Dihan Shi and Guillermo Rosas find such effects in developing nations in their latest article “If Foreign, Then Cleaner”: Individual Corruption Perceptions and Support for Free Trade in Developing Nations" in International Studies Quarterly. Read the article at https://buff.ly/3LrY94h.

Erin Rossiter (Notre Dame, WashU PhD '21) and Taylor Carlson are newly published in the Journal of Politics for their article "Cross-Partisan Conversation Reduced Affective Polarization for Republicans and Democrats Even after the Contentious 2020 Election." From the abstract, "Our results suggest that cross-partisan conversation can effectively reduce affective polarization among both Republicans and Democrats even in contentious contexts that amplify group threat." Read more at https://buff.ly/3WhlZpA.

With just a few months until Election Day, President Joe Biden is facing increasing demands from prominent Democratic politicians, voters and media outlets to drop out of the race following his disappointing performance in the first debate of the 2024 election against former President Donald Trump. Profess Dan Butler weighs in:

WashU Expert: What's at stake in Biden's gamble - The Source - Washington University in St. Louis Known as a “gamble for resurrection,” leaders in crisis have long pursued risky actions in a final attempt to resurrect their careers. Dan Butler, professor of political science in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, says the Democratic party is currently weighing its own gamb...

Professor James Gibson will present at this Zoom event on August 1st!

Why is public trust in legislative and judicial institutions declining? Join us online for a research discussion with Jesse Crosson of Purdue University and James Gibson of Washington University in St. Louis to tackle this question and potential solutions.

Apply today!

https://www.theihs.org/academic-programs/discuss-and-collaborate/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=C_S_24SU&utm_id=701PM00000FFdwWYAT&modal-id=modal-23804

In the News: Professor Taylor Carlson's work was recently lifted up in the New York Times by Yanna Krupnikov on the Ezra Klein Show: https://buff.ly/45Z7jP4. Her two books “What Goes Without Saying” and “Through the Grapevine" (newly published) were recommended as keystones of understanding political communication.

Professor Frank Lovett's new article "Milton and the Republican Politics of Paradise Lost" has been published in Political Research Quarterly. The article can be accessed at https://buff.ly/3xHgIOJ.

Abstract: Milton was both a great poet and in his own time a well-known political writer. Reading Paradise Lost in the light of his republican political writings, however, presents a serious problem because it is Satan and his confederates who speak and act like republicans in that epic poem, as would have been obvious to his contemporary readers. Rather than try to explain this problem away as others have done, this paper argues that Paradise Lost advances a powerful republican argument continuous with Milton’s earlier political views. Specifically, Paradise Lost shows that monarchy and other artificial hierarchies are evil because they contradict the natural and equal right to freedom of all human beings.

We are already missing the energy from ! We hosted a total of 85 participants, 23 presentations, and 37 posters. Congratulations to our Best Poster Award Winners: Diana Da In Lee for "Designing Multi-Site Studies for External Validity: Site Selection via Synthetic Purposive Sampling" and Johanna Reyes Ortega for "Gender-Based Violence and Access to Justice: Evidence from Specialized Clinics in Guatemala."

Our Summer 2024 Newsletter is out now! Catch up on what WashU Political Science has been up to this semester and sign up for our biannual newsletter email, both at the link in bio.

ICYMI: As part of a sustained commitment to promote collaboration, innovation, and leadership within the academic realm, the WashU Department of Political Science hosted an innovative day-long conference last March that brought together chairs from various political science departments across the country. The conference served as a platform for sharing strategies and practices that foster inclusion, equity, and a sense of belonging for faculty, staff and students within departments. Read the story:

Building Inclusivity: A Recap of the Political Science Department Chairs Conference As part of a sustained commitment to promote collaboration, innovation, and leadership within the academic realm, the WashU Department of Political Science hosted an innovative day-long conference this semester that brought together chairs from various political science departments across the countr...

Check out the latest op-ed in the Los Angeles Times from Andrew Reeves, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Weidenbaum Center, looking at presidential power and how we hold presidents accountable: https://buff.ly/3L03QpL

Find your next favorite class in and ! ➡️

📚 L32 335 - Topics in Politics: Race and Ethnicity in the United States
👨‍🏫 Professor Michael Strawbridge
⏰ Mondays and Wednesdays, 1:00-2:20pm
✏️ This course is designed to explore the politics of racial minority groups in the United States. It examines the social, economic, and political similarities and differences of African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and new immigrants that distinguish their American experience. Of particular interest are their respective experiences in relation to one another and the majority population for understanding the origins of conflict and unanimity within and between the different groups. Note: This course counts towards the undergraduate American Politics subfield.

📚 L32 3722 International Politics, Trust and Public Health
👨‍🏫 Professor David Carter
⏰ Mondays and Wednesdays, 1:00-2:20pm
✏️ Trust in government shapes a range of important political and social behaviors. In general, low trust in government reduces individuals' willingness to engage and comply with its institutions and policies. Consequently, low levels of trust in government hinder the state's ability to effectively lead during crises, as citizens with a wary view of the state are unlikely to comply with state directives that have direct impact on their personal lives. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the potentially devastating consequences of low levels of trust in government, as individuals around the globe with lower levels of trust were less likely to follow government public health recommendations meant to slow infections and deaths. Furthermore, the adverse consequences of trust deficits extend well beyond the recent COVID-19 pandemic to perceptions of health services more generally. This course analyzes the links between trust and public health outcomes, paying special attention to the different sources of low trust. For example, low trust in government can stem from perceptions of recent performance, and thus be amenable to public relations campaigns to improve citizens' perceptions. This view is consistent with the approach of international organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations (UN), who have focused on short-term programs to promote public trust in government as a means to achieve widespread vaccination. Alternatively, trust may result from the lingering effects of influential and traumatic historical events, such as armed conflicts or systematic repression against a particular group or geographic area. Indeed, prominent research in political science and economics indicates that trust in government has enduring geographic variation and is, at least in part, a product of deeply historical factors. We explore how the sources of low trust among different groups of citizens influences possible policy solutions to improving levels of trust and, consequently, key public health outcomes. We also explore factors other than trust that influence individuals' adherence to public health recommendations. Note: This course counts towards the undergraduate International Politics subfield.

📚 L32 3511 The Politics of the U.S. Supreme Court
👨‍🏫 Professor Jim Spriggs
⏰ Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00-2:20pm
✏️ The purpose of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the U.S. Supreme Court's role in American politics. Unlike a constitutional law class, this course does not use the legal doctrine in Court opinions as its raw material. Rather, it relies on the theoretical arguments and empirical analyses in research by Political Scientists to answer questions such as the following: (1) Under what circumstances does the Court overrule precedent?; (2) Do elected politicians or the public influence how Supreme Court Justices decide cases?; (3) Under what conditions does the Court influence American government and society? In addition, one of themes in this course is that we can understand the Supreme Court in terms of a political "game." That is, we examine how the various participants at the Court attempt to achieve their goals within the "rules of the game," such as rules and norms on the Court (e.g., the Chief Justices assigns majority opinions if they are a member of the majority conference coalition) and the broader political context (e.g., divided government). After completing this class, students will possess greater knowledge about how and why the Court matters in American politics, as well as a better appreciation for how the tools of social science provide those answers. Note: This course counts towards the undergraduate American Politics subfield.

Misinformation is a threat to democracy, but who’s to blame? Is it mainstream media, politicians, social media? Or, could there be another culprit — everyday citizens?

In her new book, “Through the Grapevine: Socially Transmitted Information and Distorted Democracy,” published by The University of Chicago Press, Taylor Carlson, an associate professor of political science, examines how everyday people — not just the media and politicians — contribute to the creation and spread of misinformation through conversations they have with friends, colleagues and family about politics.

“Accurate information about politics is essential to a functioning democracy,” Carlson said. “For decades, those concerned with the information environment have focused on the mass media, but roughly one-third of Americans do not learn about politics from direct engagement with the news. Instead, they learn about politics from conversations with others and social media.”

Read the full story at the link in bio.

We have open seats in these exciting graduate classes on , and !

📚 L32 Pol Sci 5044 Political Theory Workshop
👨‍🏫 Professor Frank Lovett
⏰ Fridays, 12:00pm-1:30pm
✏️ This course provides a forum for graduate students' development as professional researchers. It achieves this goal in two ways. First, the course provides a setting for students to share research-in-progress and to provide and receive feedback on that research. This both contributes to the development of viable, publishable research projects and affords im-portant experience presenting research. Second, the course facilitates the development of professional skills, such as critical reading and feedback, conference etiquette and norms, job market preparation, and exposure to both politics and political science beyond Washington University. Regular enrollment and attendance is expected and encouraged for all political theory graduate students, and open to graduate students in any field outside the department with an interest in political or social theory.

📚 L32 Pol Sci 5065 Formal Models of Conflict
👩‍🏫 Professor Christy Qiu
⏰ Tuesdays, 2:30pm-5:20pm
✏️ This course is intended for advanced graduate students who are interested in the formal models of conflict. This course may be of particular interest to students interested in international relations. The goal of this course is to provide hands-on experience for students with interest in modeling various substantive ideas by exposing the advantages and limitations of mathematical formalization. To accomplish this, students will (i) deeply engage with selected readings, (ii) identify the contributions of their authors, and (iii) find ways to improve the research or extend the insights.

📚 L32 Pol Sci 516 Seminar in Comparative Politics: European Politics
👨‍🏫 Professor Matthew Gabel
⏰ Tuesdays, 3:00-5:50pm
✏️ This course is designed to provide Ph.D. students with a theoretical and substantive background in the study of Europe by political scientist. The course is organized around central research questions that pertain to politics in Europe, many of which are also relevant for the study of advanced industrial democracies. The course is NOT a descriptive survey of current political events and circumstances in particular nations of Europe. However, the readings will provide substantive context to the guiding theoretical and conceptual issues.

Can't decide which class to take from your favorite professors? We have several co-taught workshops and labs this semester!

📚 L32 Pol Sci 5035 Political Data Science Lab
👨‍🏫Professor Christopher Lucas and Professor Ted Enamorado
⏰ Wednesdays, 1:00-1:50pm
✏️ The Political Data Science Lab (PDSL) is a venue to foster and improve social science research. Nowadays, researchers and policy-makers use cutting-edge methods to answer important questions. However, the validity of their conclusions depends upon underlying theory, assumptions, design, and correct application of statistical methods. This course will provide students with the foundation necessary to conduct research by immersing the students in a vibrant and intellectually demanding environment. Thus, PDSL's workshops are a course designed to improve the research projects (at any stage) of our members. We strongly believe that persistent efforts will lead to successful outcomes such as many publications and successful dissertations from the members of PDSL.

📚 L32 Pol Sci 590 Research Workshop I
👨‍🏫👩‍🏫Professor Margit Tavits and Professor Dan Butler
⏰ Fridays, 1:30pm-4:30pm
✏️ The objective of this course is to provide a forum in which students propose, develop, and complete research projects that are marketable to a broad political science audience, and to help students refine their analytical and writing skills. The course is targeted toward students in their 3rd year. The specific goals for each student include (a) finalizing their 3rd year paper and preparing it for submission to a journal, and (b) developing a first draft of their dissertation prospectus. Participation is an essential component of the seminar. Students are expected to (1) submit and/or present their work based on a schedule that is finalized at the start of the semester, and (2) give written feedback and engage in discussion of the work submitted by their peers every week.

⚖️ Are you more into or ? Either way, we've got an undergrad class for it:

📚L32 Pol Sci 1021 The Business of Elections
👨‍🏫Professor Andrew Reeves and Professor Steven Malter
⏰Mondays and Wednesdays, 1:00-2:20pm
✏️This course will focus on understanding the primary and presidential elections -- particularly the 2024 election -- through a multidisciplinary approach that primarily involves political science and business. Campaigns are start-ups that rely on strategy, branding, influencing consumers (voters), financing and other concepts to achieve the election of their candidate. At the same time, American politics is highly polarized, with voters who are increasingly hostile to listening to the other side. Given this context, how does a campaign succeed as an entrepreneurial venture? This course will allow students to compare and contrast how different candidates' policies and platforms may affect different constituencies/sectors of the business/labor world as well as the economy, how the media portrays them, and what role they will play in the general election. This course is for first-year (non-transfer) students only. Students who are not first-year students will be automatically unenrolled from this course.

📚 L32 Pol Sci 2123 – Sophomore Seminar in Ethnic Violence
👩‍🏫 Professor Deniz Aksoy
⏰ Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:30am-9:50am
✏️ This course introduces students to the principal concepts, questions and answers in the study of ethnic conflict. The goal of the course is to build foundational knowledge on the study of ethnic politics and ethnic conflict. The course begins by addressing why, how and when ethnicity matters. We will study different theories of ethnically-based indentification and mobilization. We will then move on to examine different types of ethnic conflict, ranging from ethnic violence in civil war to ethnic riots. In addition, we will study consequences of and alternative solutions to ethnic conflict. Note: This course counts towards the undergraduate International Politics subfield.

Our department has several innovative workshops where you can collaborate directly with faculty on your research! ✏️

📚 L32 Pol Sci 5025 Political Economy Workshop
👨‍🏫 Professor Justin Fox
⏰ Mondays, 1:00pm-1:50pm
✏️ This course provides students with exposure to recent work in the field of political economy (e.g., game-theoretical models of political phenomena, structural estimation of political phenomena, etc.). The focus of the course will be on the scholarship of Ph.D. students and faculty that are members of the Washington University in St. Louis political economy community (e.g., political science, economics, law, business, etc.).

📚 L32 Pol Sci 5075 International Relations Workshop
👨‍🏫 Professor Timm Betz
⏰ Thursdays, 1:00-1:50pm
✏️ This course provides graduate students with key professional development skills on their path to becoming professional researchers and academics. The course accomplishes this goal in three ways. First, students will present research in progress week to week, receiving feedback on papers they are submitting for publication. This helps improve the quality of their work and gives them experience presenting and receiving constructive criticism on their work. Second, students will also provide feedback on other students' work, helping them practice skills such as critical reading, crafting constructive feedback, and gaining exposure to different substantive topics and research methods in the subfield of international relations. Third, the course will help students build networks of collaboration in the department with other graduate students, WUSTL faculty, and external faculty who will also participate in some sessions, presenting their own in-progress work for students. Regular enrollment and attendance is expected for all international relations graduate students in the department and is open to those outside the department who have significant interests in international relations.

Dan Butler, Political Science (WUSTL), Sarah Anderson (University of California Santa Barbara), and Laurel Harbridge-Yong (Northwestern University) were recently awarded a $60,000 grant by Unite American for their impactful research studying the 2024 Primary Elections.

The Primary Election Study (PES) was first funded by a SPEED grant from the School of Arts and Sciences at Wash U. Unite America awarded the professors at an additional $60,000 to supplement the SPEED grant and allowing Professor Butler and his colleagues to lead a collaborative study how voters made decisions during the U.S. Senate primary elections during 2024. In 2024, the PES is studying primaries in California, Nevada and Michigan. The survey will allow the researchers to better understand why some people vote in primaries and others don't and what factors affect their decision-making in primary elections.

https://buff.ly/3RqChtp

📈 Strengthen your and skills with classes from Professor Enamorado and Professor Ang!

📚 L32 Pol Sci 5052 Mathematical Modeling in Political Science
👨‍🏫 Professor Ted Enamorado
⏰ Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:00-11:20am with Friday Lab 10:00-10:50am
✏️ This course is designed to provide mathematical tools useful for the rest of the statistical methods sequence, as well as for other courses in formal theory or mathematical modeling. Throughout the course, the mathematical tools are motivated by applications to the general problem of how politics can be modeled for purposes of statistical analysis, deductive reasoning, or conceptual theorizing. This motivation is accomplished by means of a consistent focus on such processes as individual decision making, the representation of issues, statistical phenomena, and phenomena of change over time. The course assumes a sufficient background in elementary algebra, logic, functions, and graphs; remedial work in these areas will be offered through a review course during the last week or two of summer. Mathematical topics covered include: sets and relations; probability; differential calculus and optimization; difference equations; and linear algebra.

📚 L32 Pol Sci 3490 Survey Design and Analysis
👩‍🏫 Professor Zoe Ang
⏰ Mondays and Wednesdays, 11:30am-12:50pm
✏️ Survey research is an important method that political scientists often use to understand people in the world around us. By asking a standardized set of questions to a random sample of respondents, we can make inferences regarding the opinions and behavior of the larger population from which it was drawn. Surveys also offer numerous opportunities for experimental research, allowing scholars to make confident causal claims about the determinants of public opinion and behavior. In recent years, the advent of Internet-based surveying and online recruitment of respondents has "democratized" survey research, allowing many researchers and scholars with limited resources to design and conduct their own surveys from scratch. Surveys are also increasingly conducted around the world, outside of the context of advanced democracies where this method originated. Yet these developments have introduced new challenges in terms of ensuring that inferences drawn from survey research are valid. Topics include sampling, survey modes, questionnaire design, survey experiments, pre-analysis plans, ethics and the Institutional Review Board, and analyzing survey data. Note: This course counts towards the undergraduate Political Methods subfield. Prerequisites: L32 263, L32 363 or equivalent or with instructor permission.

Check out these upcoming classes with Professor Olson and Professor Hayes! ⬇️

📚 L32 Pol Sci 5045 American Politics Workshop
👨‍🏫 Professor Mike Olson and Professor Matthew Hayes
⏰ Thursdays, 1:00pm-1:50pm
✏️ The American Politics Workshop will be a one-credit, repeatable graduate course for students interested in American politics. Its goal is the development of professional researchers in American politics. The workshop will provide a forum for graduate students to present and receive feedback on written work; it will also involve professionalization activities that are directly aimed at helping students thrive as researchers as they proceed through the graduate program.

📚 L32 Pol Sci 523 Seminar in American Politics: Racial and Ethnic Politics in the U.S.
👨‍🏫 Professor Matthew Hayes
⏰ Thursdays, 2:30-5:20pm
✏️ This course will address American politics, using race as the focal point. How does race impact our conception of the American political project, as both researchers of it, and participants in it? For example, how does the presence of large numbers of African Americans in the South, affect the structure of southern political parties? Among the topics to be discussed are citizenship, public policy, political behavior, political development, and public opinion. Prerequisites: graduate students only.

📚 L32 Pol Sci 5911 Democratization in the United States
👨‍🏫 Professor Mike Olson
⏰ Tuesdays, 2:30pm-5:20pm
✏️ To what extent has the United States fulfilled the promise of democracy throughout its history? This course will explore the ways that voting rights, political institutions, and public opinion have combined to limit or extend popular government in the United States. Particular focus will be given to changes in voting rights throughout U.S. history. Why have certain groups been denied or extended the franchise? What are the consequences of altering the franchise for lawmaking and public policy? Reading will be both theoretical and empirical, with specific attention paid to limits on the franchise in the early American republic, fluctuations in African-American suffrage, the extension of the right to vote to women, the disenfranchisement of those convicted of felonies, and concerns about access to voting and registration for disadvantaged groups in recent years. Additional areas of focus will include the role of political parties in American democracy, access to office-holding, the role of the media in facilitating democratic governances, the impact of protest and other non-voting methods of democratic political participation, the importance of legislative and electoral institutions for representation, and democratic backsliding. Most readings will focus on the United States, with occasional readings about other countries used to highlight the ways that democratization in the United States is and is not unique in comparative perspective.