State Politics
and Policy Section Newsletter
August, 2007
Prepared by
Thomas M. Carsey
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
carsey@unc.edu
From the Section President
As we approach the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science
Association, the scientific study of state politics and policy is
thriving. Collectively we are developing sophisticated theories of
institutions,
behavior, and public policies while creating and refining methodological
approaches for fully taking into account the contextual basis of
politics. The work of state politics and policy scholars consistently
is appearing
in the discipline’s most respected journals, including the “top
three” (American Political Science Review, American Journal of
Political Science, and Journal of Politics). In fact, in these three
journals, twenty-four articles typical of this Section’s specializations
have been published since January 2006. Of course, there are many other
important outlets for the Section’s work, including our own excellent
State Politics & Policy Quarterly. However, the ability of state
politics scholarship to appear in the general journals speaks to
the broad interests represented in this work and its importance to
a wide
variety of specialties within the discipline.
Further, after experiencing the first change in editorship since its
inception, State Politics and Policy Quarterly continues to thrive.
Dick Winters, David Lowery, and Ronald Weber are continuing the high
standards set by Chris Mooney while making the transition in editorships
seamless.
The Section also has just co-hosted another very successful annual
conference. Organized by David Leal and Andrew Karch at University
of Texas at Austin, the meeting was truly superb, including a strong
program of quality papers and discussion, not to mention outstanding
opportunities for informal conversation. David and Andy deserve congratulations
and appreciation for organizing this terrific event. Michael Hagan,
Joseph McLaughlin, and Dana Barron currently are organizing next
year’s
meeting at Temple University in Philadelphia. By all means, please
plan to participate.
The Section also is doing well with respect to membership, although
our numbers have declined somewhat. Last year at about this time, the
Section ranked 17th in size of thirty-four organized sections in the
APSA. Currently we rank 22nd of thirty-five. On September 12, 2006,
the Section had 562 members (387 regular members and 175 students);
on March 15, 2007, the Section had 540 members (390 regular members
and 150 students); and on July 30, 2007, we had 476 members (370 regular
members and 106 students). Much of this decline has been among the
student members, perhaps because we clarified on the APSA webpage that
student membership does not include a subscription to SPPQ. In any
event, if the decline continues it will be worthwhile for the Section
to examine this issue more systematically to identify any problems
in need of correction.
The most serious issue facing the Section, however, is our position
within the APSA at the Annual Meeting. In my judgment, the Section’s
ability to obtain panels at the Annual Meeting is at a crisis point.
After receiving an allocation of four panels for quite some time, the
Section received only three this year. This seems highly idiosyncratic
given the size of the Section and the attendance at our panels and
appears to reflect the unusual set of principles characterizing the
APSA’s allocation formula.
The following data are instructive. According to the eNewsletter
for Organized Section Officers on July 21, 2006, the State Politics
and Policy Section ranked 20th in size among the thirty-four organized
sections. At that time, we had 548 members. Similarly, as I just
discussed in the previous paragraph, we had 562 members just after
the 2006 Annual Meeting. However, for the 2007 APSA Annual Meeting,
we received an allocation of only three panels, in striking contrast
to several other smaller sections receiving much larger allocations.
For example, Political Psychology had 405 members and tied for 26th
with Conflict Processes in rank, yet they received 12 panels (as
I surmised from the APSA Preliminary Program, taking into account
co-sponsorship). Similarly, Conflict Processes had 405 members but
received 18 panels. Even if our student membership were excluded
(and there is no indication that APSA does this), we still had 387
regular members at the time.
Moreover, as Thad Kousser reports, the Section received 159 proposals
for these three panels at the 2007 Annual Meeting. Assuming that Thad
could assign five papers per panel, the Section now has a rejection
rate that exceeds 90%. This situation is wholly unacceptable.
As Section President, I have communicated this to the APSA in the
various surveys that have been conducted over the past two years and
have spoken directly with the meeting organizers. Obviously there are
others voicing these concerns because the APSA empanelled the Annual
Meeting Review Committee, which has just released its report on the
APSA webpage. As you will note, the Review Committee made two recommendations
related to allocations. The first is to incorporate rejection rates
into the allocation formula, and the second is to make the exact allocation
formula available to the membership. As it stands, a general description
is available but the specifics are not. For example, the formula appears
to be based largely on panel attendance, but the APSA adjusts attendance
by such things as day and time without revealing the exact parameters
of these adjustments. Similarly, it is not at all clear how co-sponsored
panels are counted and whether there is a disadvantage to these arrangements.
In the short-term, I urge each member of the Section to go to the
APSA webpage and provide feedback to the Annual Meeting Review Committee.
The webpage is set up specifically to elicit that information. Second,
with the advice of our Executive Council, I will draft a letter to
the APSA as part of this feedback exercise, to reiterate the seeming
lack of equity in the allocation process. I also will place this item
on our agenda for open discussion at the upcoming Business Meeting.
Even with the allocation of only three panels, this year’s Section
representative on the Program Committee Thad Kousser has done an outstanding
job of organizing the Section’s panels. Thad has been particularly
effective in working with other sections to increase our panel allocation
to six through the creative use of co-sponsorship. Thanks to Thad
for success with such a challenging task, particularly in light of
the
high number of submissions relative to places on the program. In
this regard, I strongly encourage you to attend those sessions, not
only
because of their obvious intellectual merit but also because, as
mentioned, panel allocations appear to be tied largely to panel attendance.
Chris Bonneau graciously has agreed to represent the Section on
next year’s APSA Program Committee and will be accepting proposals
soon. Let’s plan to keep Chris busy as well and express appreciation
to him for agreeing to contribute to the Section under such difficult
conditions.
The Section Business Meeting will be held during the APSA Annual
Meeting on Thursday, August 30th, at 6:00 p.m. in the Hyatt Addams,
and the
reception will follow at 7:00 pm in the Hyatt Field. One of the highlights
of the Business Meeting will be the bestowing of the Career Achievement
Award and best paper awards. The Career Achievement Award is given
every biennium to a political scientist who has made a significant
lifetime contribution to the study of politics and public policy
in the American states. To identify this year’s recipient,
I asked Gerald Wright (Chair), Charles Barrilleaux, and Lael Keiser
to canvas
our membership for the most deserving candidate. As you might imagine,
this was a difficult but pleasant task because of the incredible
talent among our senior colleagues. After consideration, the committee
chose
Virginia Gray, and there surely is no more worthy candidate. Among
many other achievements too numerous to list, Virginia played a key
role in founding the Section and has been a distinguished scholar
of state politics and policy throughout her career. Indeed, it is
scarcely
possible to study state politics without reference to her work. Please
join me in congratulating Virginia at the Business Meeting and the
reception to be held in her honor. Also, we thank Jerry, Charles,
and Lael for a terrific job as the Career Achievement Award Committee.
In addition to the Career Achievement Award, the Section will be
presenting two awards for outstanding scholarship. This year’s selection
committee consisted of Charles Shipan (Chair), Frederick Boehmke, and
Nancy Martorano. As recipients of the Best Paper Award for the best
paper on state politics and policy presented at the previous year's
APSA Annual Meeting, the committee chose Gerald Gamm (University of
Rochester) and Thad Kousser (University of California - San Diego)
for their paper “Localism and Factionalism in American State
Legislatures." For the Best Graduate Student Paper Award for the
best paper on state politics and policy presented by a graduate student
at the previous year's APSA Annual Meeting, the committee selected
Todd Makse (Ohio State University) for his paper "Party Finance
Strategy and the Redistricting Cycle." Please join me in congratulating
Gerald, Thad, and Todd for their outstanding research, and also in
thanking Chuck, Frederick, and Nancy for their excellent choices
of winners.
Also at the Business Meeting, the Section will be electing new officers,
including a new President and three members of the Executive Council
to replace the members whose terms are expiring. Kerry Haynie, Cherie
Maestas, and Paul Teske will be ending their service on the Executive
Council and, while serving as the Nominating Committee, have nominated
Cynthia Bowling, Robert Hogan, and Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson as their
replacements, along with Richard Niemi as President. Thanks to Kerry,
Cherie, and Paul for their excellent service and warm collegiality,
and to Cynthia, Robbie, Marjorie, and Dick for their willingness to
serve. These nominations will be subject to approval of the Section
membership at the Business Meeting.
I look forward to seeing you in Chicago to celebrate the vital contributions
of Virginia Gray, to recognize the excellent scholarship that characterizes
the Section not only by the award winners but also on the panels and
in the audience, and to converse with each other in a way that email
cannot match. See you soon in Chicago!
Melinda Gann Hall (hallme@msu.edu)
Section President
Paper Award Winners Announced
Every year, the State Politics and Policy Section and SPPQ hand out
several best paper awards. These awards recognize top quality scholarship
at it pre-publication stage.
SPPQ Award for the best paper on state politics and policy presented
at any professional meeting in the previous calendar year goes to
Melinda Gann Hall (Michigan State University), “Mobilizing
Voters in State Supreme Court Elections: Competition and Other Contextual
Forces
as Democratic Incentives.”
Best Paper Award for the best paper on state politics and policy
presented at the previous year's APSA Annual Meeting goes to Gerald
Gamm (University
of Rochester) and Thad Kousser (University of California - San Diego), “Localism
and Factionalism in American State Legislatures."
Best Graduate Student Paper Award for the best paper on state politics
and policy presented by a graduate student at the previous year's
APSA Annual Meeting goes to Todd Makse (Ohio State University), "Party
Finance Strategy and the Redistricting Cycle."
The Career Achievement Award is given every biennium to a political
scientist who has made a significant lifetime contribution to the study
of politics and public policy in the American states. This year, the
award goes to Virginia Gray, University of North Carolina - Chapel
Hill.
Congratulations to all of the award winners, and a special thanks
to those who served on the awards committees. Please keep these
awards in mind as you attend panels at APSA and other conferences – please
nominate the papers you feel might be worthy of winning next year.
Panels/Events at the 2007 APSA
Section Business Meeting: Every year we hold a business meeting for
the Section to discuss any plans or proposals that might come up. We
also distribute the paper awards at this meeting. This year, the Section
Business Meeting is set for 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 30th in the
Hyatt Addams.
Section Reception: This year we are holding a special reception following
our Section Business meeting. The main purpose of the reception is
to honor Virginia Gray as the recipient of the Career Achievement award.
The Reception is set for 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, in the Hyatt Field.
APSA Panels: Through creative sponsorship and co-sponsorship, The
State Politics and Policy Section is affiliated with six panels
at this year’s APSA convention in Chicago. Remember, the number
of panels each section receives next year at APSA will depend heavily
on attendance at panels this year.
**NOTE: HOTEL AND ROOM ASSIGNMENTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE – CHECK
YOUR FINAL PROGRAM AT THE CONFERENCE.
29-1 Policy and Disadvantaged People: Lessons from State Government
Thursday, Aug 30, 2:00 PM
Location: Hotel: Hyatt; Room: Hay Market
29-2 New Directions in Pre-K Education
Friday, Aug 31, 10:15 AM
Location: Hotel: Sheraton; Room: Parlor A
29-3 The Impact of Campaign Finance Laws in U.S. States
Thursday, Aug 30, 4:15 PM
Location: Hotel: Sheraton; Room: Columbus A
29-4 Judicial Politics in the American States
Friday, Aug 31, 10:15 AM
Location: Hotel: Hyatt; Room: Addams
29-5 State Legislatures I: Money and Representation
Saturday, Sep 1, 8:00 AM
Location: Hotel: Sheraton; Room: Parlor G
29-6 State Legislatures II: States as Laboratories for Policy and
Politics
Saturday, Sep 1, 10:15 AM
Location: Hotel: Sheraton; Room: Columbus A
**NOTE: HOTEL AND ROOM ASSIGNMENTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE – CHECK
YOUR FINAL PROGRAM AT THE CONFERENCE.
We’ll see you in Chicago!
Seventh Annual State Politics Conference
at the University of Texas a Big Success: Hook ‘em Horns!
The 2007 State Politics and Policy Conference was held on February
23-24 at the Thompson Conference Center at the University of Texas
at Austin. The Conference was sponsored by the Department of Government
and the Public Policy Institute at UT-Austin and State Politics and
Policy Quarterly.
The Conference was organized around 15 panels, covering a wide range
of issues on state politics and policy. Sixty-six papers were presented
by over a hundred authors representing sixty-seven different universities.
The event was also covered by local television news station "News
8 Austin." Please visit the SPPC 2007 Website for a complete
listing of panels and to download any of the conference papers: http://www.unc.edu/depts/polisci/statepol/conferences/2007/2007main.htm
In addition to promoting the scholarly study of state politics and
policy, the 2007 conference allowed participants to experience Austin,
TX. The conference hotel was located on South Congress Street, which
was within walking distance of many unique attractions in a city
with the unofficial motto "Keep Austin Weird." The participants
were able to experience genuine Texas BBQ at Stubbs, and many visited
the LBJ Presidential Library as well as some of Austin's famous Tex-Mex
restaurants.
Many thanks to everyone who attended the meetings and to the UT graduate
students and staff, especially Jill Strube, who assisted with the logistics
and organization of the event.
We look forward to seeing everyone at the 2008 SPPC in Philadelphia!
Best regards,
Andy Karch and David Leal
Eighth Annual State Politics Conference set for Temple University,
May 30-31, 2008
The Eight Annual Conference will be hosted by The Institute for
Public Affairs and the Department of Political Science at Temple
University,
the State Politics section of APSA, and State Politics and Policy
Quarterly. The conference will take place May 30th-31st, 2008 at
Temple University
in Philadelphia, PA. The theme, "Elections and Representative
Democracy in the States," reflects Temple's developing strengths
in the study of elections, public opinion, legislative representation,
and public policy, and is intended to invite participation by a broad
range of scholars.
Proposals to present a paper a the conference must be received
by January 15th, 2008. All proposal should be sent via
e-mail to ipa@temple.edu,
and should include “SPP proposal” and the lead author’s
last name in the subject line. Full information the submission of
proposals is available in the Call
for Paper Proposals posted online. More information about the
conference itself is available on the 2008
Conference webpage.
The hosts for the 2008 conference are:
Michael Hagen (primary contact) (michael.hagen@temple.edu)
Joseph McLaughlin (jmclau@temple.edu)
Dana Barron (dlbarron@temple.edu)
Please contact them if you have any questions.
Call for Proposals to Host the 2009 Conference
The State Politics and Policy Section of American Political Science
Association announces a call for proposals to host the Ninth Annual
Conference on State Politics and Policy. The section president,
Melinda Gann Hall, has appointed a committee to solicit proposals
for hosting
future conferences and coordinate among those institutions wishing
to host them. The committee consists of Tom Carsey, University
of North Carolina – Chapel Hill (chair), Caroline Tolbert,
University of Iowa, and Christopher Mooney, University of Illinois
at Springfield.
The annual conference is the flagship event of the State Politics
and Policy Section. Each conference is co-sponsored by the section
and State Politics and Policy Quarterly, but it is primarily sponsored
by the hosting institution. Previous conferences have been hosted by:
• Texas A&M University (2001)
• University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2002)
• University of Arizona (2003)
• Kent State University (2004)
• Michigan State University (2005)
• Texas Tech University (2006)
• University of Texas at Austin (2007)
• Temple University (2008)
The Mission of the Annual Conference on State Politics and Policy
The Annual Conference on State Politics and Policy provides scholars
interested in state politics - broadly defined - the opportunity to
gather and share the latest research developments in the field. Its
mission is to expand the breadth and depth of scholarly knowledge about
politics, policy, and policymaking as these processes unfold at the
state level.
The primary interests of many of the scholars who attend these conferences
lie squarely within the traditional domain of the state politics field.
However, many others focus more generally on political institutions
(such as legislatures and political parties), political behavior (such
as voting and public opinion), specific policy areas (such as education
or health care), or broader questions of policymaking and representation
and use the states as an attractive research venue. Given the goal
of expanding knowledge and defining the field broadly, the annual conferences
strive to cast a wide net regarding the types of scholars that are
invited to attend.
Previous conferences have taken a variety of forms in trying to meet
these goals. In addition to the traditional conference format of paper
presentations and panels, past conferences have featured at range of
innovations, including graduate student poster sessions, being held
in conjunction with a parallel conference (e.g., on term limits), presentations
and speeches by state elected officials, and so forth. Those proposing
to host the 2009 conference may want to look at the Web sites of these
earlier conferences or contact the previous hosts for more information.
All of this information is available at: http://www.fsu.edu/~statepol/conferences/conferences.htm
Past Conferences on State Politics and Policy have been presented
by the host university with budgets of usually around $20,000-30,000.
This includes a $200-300 per paper stipend and certain conference meals
that were provided by past hosts to conference attendees. The host
of the 2009 conference does not necessarily need to follow these traditions,
but the proposal should make clear what (if any) services the host
intends to provide for conference attendees.
Proposal Requirements
Proposals for hosting the Ninth Annual Conference on State Politics
and Policy should consist of a 2-4 page document that includes the
following information:
Proposed theme of the conference (if any)
Proposed budget for the conference
Availability of resources and facilities for hosting the conference
Proposed organization for the conference
Proposed dates of the conference
Complete contact information for those person(s) submitting the proposal
Proposals should be submitted to the selection committee chair, Tom
Carsey at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. All
proposals should be submitted by November 1st, 2007, to guarantee full consideration.
The committee hopes to make a decision early in 2008.
The committee STRONGLY prefers electronic submissions. Electronic
submissions may be made by sending an e-mail to Tom Carsey at: carsey@unc.edu and including the proposal as an attached file (.pdf, Word, or WordPerfect
format). Non-electronic submissions should be sent to:
Tom Carsey
Dept. of Political Science
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
Report on State Politics and Policy Quarterly
“As the “Gang of Three” SPPQ editors (Lowery, Weber,
Winters), we write to update you on our and some of the Section’s
activities.
First of all, you should have received, in the last couple of weeks,
the most recent issue of SPPQ, volume 7, issue 2 (summer 2007). Issue
3 of volume 7, with articles by Damon Cann; J. Scott Granberg-Rademacker;
Carl Klarner; Robert Lowry; Byron D’Andra and Marvin Overby;
and Gerald Wright, is at the printer and will be arriving soon. Chris
Mooney is wrapping up his direct responsibilities for SPPQ with issue
4 of volume 7. The “Gang” will be responsible beginning
with volume 8, issue 1.
Second, our section meeting, always held in conjunction with the
APSA meetings, will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 30.
A reception
will follow at 7, which will honor Virginia Gray, our Career Achievement
Award winner this year. Another award-winner will be recognized at
the section meeting and she is our own section president, Melinda
Gann Hall. She is the recipient of the SPPQ Award for the Best Paper
on
State Politics presented at a conference in 2006 for her paper, "Mobilizing
Voters in State Supreme Court Elections: Competition and Other Contextual
Forces as Democratic Incentives.” As the SPPQ Award Committee
chair, Michael Martinez of the University of Florida, put it: “Hall's
analysis of ballot roll-off in 478 state supreme court elections between
1980 and 1994 in thirty-five states shows that political, institutional,
and contextual influences that shape voter turnout and roll-off in
elections for legislators also shape roll-off in state supreme court
elections, independent of the effects of the type of judicial election.
By extending the analysis of ballot roll-off to judicial elections,
Hall challenges critics who have questioned voters' capacity or interest
in selecting judges in their states.” Please join us at the
section meeting and at the reception to honor Virginia and congratulate
Melinda.
Third, we write to remind you that the 2007 SPPQ Best Paper Award
Committee would very much like your nominations of “best papers
presented during the present year.” We are now midway through
the annual academic calendar with the Southern, New England, Western,
and Midwestern meetings behind us, along with the outstanding Austin-UTexas
State Politics and Policy conference. There should be plenty of papers
that have attracted your attention. If so, please email any of the
SPPQ Best Paper Award Committee members: Ben Highton (chair), Barbara
Norrander, or Ron Hedlund or any of the SPPQ editors with your nominations
at: bhighton@ucdavis.edu, or r.hedlund@neu.edu, or norrande@u.arizona.edu.”
And, of course, we are always interesting in your own “best
papers”, so please consider submitting them to State Politics
and Policy Quarterly at sppq@dartmouth.edu.
Finally, we write to inform you about a forthcoming special issue
of State Politics and Policy Quarterly on “Religion and Politics
in the American States.
CALL FOR PAPERS
The Impact of Religion on Politics and Policy in the American States
Guest Editors:
Paul A. Djupe, Denison University and Laura R. Olson, Clemson University
In a forthcoming volume in 2008-2009, the State Politics and Policy
Quarterly will publish a special issue dedicated to exploring the impact
of religion on American state politics and public policy. The journal
invites manuscripts from a wide range of theoretical and methodological
perspectives whose authors take advantage of the American states as
a research setting.
Manuscripts should illuminate the nature of religious influence on
politics and policy, for which a comparative, multi-state design is
particularly appropriate and powerful, while maintaining an emphasis
on political outcomes. Political outcomes might include the appearance
and fate of ballot measures, executive proposals, legislative behavior
and statutory actions, dimensions of interest group activity, party
and candidate behavior, electoral outcomes, public opinion, citizen
participation in the policy process, and public policy implementation
and effectiveness.
The deadline for paper submissions is September 15, 2008. All manuscripts
received by this deadline will be reviewed. All submissions will
undergo our double-blind, peer-reviewed process, and will also benefit
from
the regular editorial reviews by editors, David Lowery, Ronald
Weber, and Richard Winters. Manuscripts should be a maximum of 35
pages long
(inclusive), double spaced, and otherwise in accord with the general
submission guidelines of SPPQ (available on the journal’s
website: http://cspl.uis.edu/InstituteForLegislativeStudies/SPPQ/InstructionsContributors.htm).
We encourage authors to consider draft paper presentations and/or
organizing panels at the 2008 Conference on State Politics and Policy
to be held at Temple University, May 30-31, 2008; the Midwest meeting,
April 3-6, 2008; and the APSA meeting, August 28-31, 2008.
Questions and submissions should be directed to Paul Djupe (djupe@denison.edu),
Laura Olson (laurao@clemson.edu), or Richard Winters (sppq@dartmouth.edu).
