State Politics
and Policy Section Newsletter
August, 2008
Prepared by
Thomas M. Carsey
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
carsey@unc.edu
Panels and Events at the 2008 APSA
The Section Business Meeting will be held during the APSA Annual Meeting
on Thursday, August 28th, at 6:15 p.m. in the Sheraton Hotel, Room
Beacon B.
Chris Bonneau served as section chair for the State Politics and Policy
section panels this year. He has put together a wonder set of panels,
which are listed below. A link to the online program is provided as
well. Panel allocation is determined in large part by panel attendance,
so please make every effort to attend panels from our section.
In addition, posters for the State Politics and Policy Section are
scheduled during Poster Session #2, on Thursday, Aug. 28th, at 2:00.
Please make an effort to stop by and see these posters.
29 State Politics and Policy
29-1 Ideas, Agendas, and Policy Innovation Diffusion
29-2 The Politics of State-Level Implementation
29-3 Social Policy in the States
29-4 Decision Making on State Courts
29-5 New Directions in State Court Research
29-6 Direct Democracy in the States
29-7 The Politics of Federalism: States and Policy
29-8 Political Trust and State Politics
29-9 State Elections
29-10 Committees in State Legislatures
29-11 Legislative Professionalism
29-12 Issues in State Legislatures
29-13 Religion and Politics at the State Level
https://www.apsanet.org/mtgs/program_2008/divisions.cfm
Update from the Section President
As we approach the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science
Association, the scientific study of state politics and policy
continues to thrive. I am particularly impressed by the quantity
and quality
of the papers presented at the annual conference of the Section.
It is a pleasure to attend the conference because one can attend
all of the panels with pride and interest.
The conference this year was hosted by Michael Hagen and company
at Temple. Michael has a separate report on the conference
in this newsletter.
Let me simply say that the meeting was superb, including a strong
program of quality papers and discussion, along with an opportunity
to see
the historic City Hall and carry on informal conversation. Next
year’s
meeting will be at the University of North Carolina and Duke
University and is being organized by Tom Carsey, Virginia Gray, and
Kerry Haynie.
That will be followed by a conference in 2010 in Springfield
organized by Chris Mooney. Look for more information, including dates
of the
conferences, elsewhere in this newsletter. Plans are underway
as well for two conferences after that. Thanks to all the organizers
and to
the Conference Site Selection Committee of Andrew Karch (chair),
Ron Weber, and Caroline Tolbert.
Many of the papers from the annual conference end up in our best
journals, including the Section’s own State Politics and
Policy Quarterly. The journal continues to thrive under Dick Winters,
David
Lowery, and
Ronald Weber. Recently the journal added another co-editor, Thad
Kousser, who has distinguished himself by his scholarship on state
politics,
which has seen him win a Section prize two years running (see below).
The Section has two big needs. One is to keep up our membership.
As of the May membership count, we have 439 members. This earns us
a tie
for 22nd place among the thirty-six organized sections, one rank
below the 2006 count. However, we are down some 100 members, perhaps
because
of the decision to raise membership dues and tie it to a subscription
to our journal. It would be nice to move up one or two in the ranks,
back to where we were several years ago.
The second need is an administrative one that I will be working
on in the coming months. Tom Carsey has been doing three jobs for
five
years—maintaining the Section web site, organizing the Section
newsletter, and being secretary/treasurer. Now seems like a good
time to split up these roles. We have already started this process
by appointing
a new webmaster (see below). But we will look to have separate
individuals take on the newsletter and the job of secretary/treasurer.
If anyone
is interested in volunteering for the newsletter position, please
let me know.
Our thanks to Chris Bonneau for organizing the Section’s panels
this year. I encourage you to attend these sessions, not only because
of their obvious intellectual merit but also because panel allocations
appear to be tied largely to panel attendance. Beth Reingold has agreed
to represent the Section on next year’s APSA Program Committee
and will be accepting proposals soon. Let’s plan to keep
Beth busy as well and express appreciation to her for agreeing
to contribute
to the Section by taking on this task.
We have appointed a new webmaster. Jonathan Winburn of the University
of Mississippi has agreed to take on this task. He will begin shortly
to redesign the home page. While we do not expect radical changes
or a greatly extended web site, we do expect to have a more up-to-date
look and to be able to up-date the contents more frequently. Please
join me in welcoming Jon to this job. If you have suggestions for
the
web site, please let Jon know at jwinburn@olemiss.edu. Thanks to
Tom Carsey for managing the web site for all these years.
The Section Business Meeting will be held during the APSA Annual
Meeting on Thursday, August 28th, at 6:15 p.m. in the Sheraton
Hotel, Room
Beacon B. A highlight of the Business Meeting will be giving out
two best paper awards as well as the SPPQ award. This year’s selection
committee consisted of Cynthia Bowling (chair), Robert Hogan, and Marjorie
Sarbaugh-Thompson. 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 Elizabeth Rigby (University
of Houston) and Gerald Wright (Indiana University) for their paper “State
Parties, Polarization, and Representation of the Poor.” 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 Mike Binder (University
of California, San Diego) for his paper “Confusion, Information
and Voting Errors in Initiative Races.” Please join me in
congratulating Elizabeth, Jerry, and Mike for their outstanding
research, and also
in thanking Cynthia, Robbie, and Marjorie for their excellent choices
of winners.
Also at the Business Meeting, the Section will be electing three
new members of the Executive Council to replace the members whose
terms
are expiring. Nancy Martorano, Frederick Boehmke, Charles Shippan
will be ending their service on the Executive Council and, while
serving
as the Nominating Committee, have nominated Donald Haider-Markel,
Robert Lowry, and Susan Yackee as their replacements. Thanks to Nancy,
Fred,
and Chuck for their excellent help to me as the new president, and
to Don, Bob, and Susan 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 Boston to recognize the excellent
scholarship that characterizes the Section, not only by the award
winners but also
on the panels and in our informal conversations.
Richard Niemi (niemi@rochester.edu)
Section President (2007-2009)
Paper Award Winners Announced
This year’s selection committee consisted of Cynthia Bowling
(chair), Robert Hogan, and Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson.
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 Elizabeth Rigby (University of Houston)
and Gerald Wright (Indiana University) for their paper “State
Parties, Polarization, and Representation of the Poor.”
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 Mike Binder
(University of California, San Diego) for his paper “Confusion,
Information and Voting Errors in Initiative Races.”
SPPQ also gives an award for the best paper on state politics and policy
presented at any professional meeting in the previous calendar year.
The Award Committee for 2007 was Ben Highton (chair), Barbara Norrander,
Ronald Hedlund, and the editors of SPPQ:
Recipients of the SPPQ award for the best paper on state politics
and policy
presented at any professional meeting in the previous calendar year:
Gerald Gamm (University of Rochester) and Thad Kousser (University
of
California, San Diego), "Diversity and the Breakdown of Deference."
Update from SPPQ Editors
Don Haider-Markel's term as Associate Editor of SPPQ responsible for
The Practical Researcher section of the Quarterly comes to an end this
June 30. Don has done a first-rate job, and Ron and Dave and I, along
with Chris Mooney extend our thanks and appreciation to him for his
service to the Quarterly and to the section members. We can more formally
thank him at the section meeting in Boston at the September APSA section
meeting.
Chris Mooney and the three of us solicited applications for the next
Practical Researcher editorship. This selection committee has asked
Nancy Martorano of the University of Dayton to assume the position
for the next four years. Nancy wrote an absolutely first-rate letter
of application, and we believe that the agenda that she sets out will
advance the PR part of the Quarterly in important new ways.
As many of you know, Dave Lowery had to scale back his activities
for personal family reasons. An advantage of having three editors
is that Ron and I can "up" our activities in a partial response.
However, all three of us agree that a "team of editors" is
better than a "tandem of editors," so "incrementalists" that
we are, we ask: why not ask another energetic, thoughtful, accomplished
(and younger) editor to join us in a "Gang of Four." We consulted
Chris on this issue, as well, and we all strongly supported the idea
of adding Thad Kousser of the University of California at San Diego
to the editorial team. His service will continue for the rest of our
term. He has quite agreeably consented to join us. We welcome him to
the "Gang."
We extend out thanks to Michael Hagen and his colleagues at the Institute
for Public Affairs and Temple University for hosting the 8th Annual
SPP Conference. It was an outstanding conference with excellent papers
and first rate discussion. Mark your calendars for the 2009 Conference
at UNC/Duke on May 22-23, 2008.
The SPPQ Best Paper Award Committee continues to solicit nominations.
Barbara Norrander is chair of the committee; so please send your
nominations for "best paper presented at a 2008 meeting or conference" to norrande@email.arizona.edu.
A reminder that the editors of SPPQ, along with special editors
Paul Djupe and Laura Olson, are soliciting manuscripts for a symposium
issue
on "religion and politics in the American states." The
deadline date for submitting manuscripts is September 15th.
And, now that we are midway through the MPSA/SPP Conference/APSA string
of meetings, please consider how you are going to handle your about-to-be-finished
manuscripts. Please consider SPPQ as #1 on your list!
Best regards,
Dave, Ron, Dick, and Thad
Report on the 2008 Annual Conference
Temple University hosted the eighth annual State Politics and Policy
Conference in Philadelphia May 30 and 31. The Conference was sponsored
by Temple’s Institute for Public Affairs, Temple’s Department
of Political Science, and State Politics and Policy Quarterly. The
conference also received support from Cengage Learning and Temple
University Press.
Our annual conference continues to grow. More than 150 political
scientists from more than 80 institutions nationwide attended the
2008 event and
participated in 21 panels and a poster session, organized around
the theme “Elections and Representative Democracy in the States.” The
papers and presentations covered a wide range of topics but were
uniformly high in quality. Thanks to Tom Carsey, the conference papers
are available
at http://www.unc.edu/depts/polisci/statepol/conferences/2008/2008papers.htm.
The conference sessions took place at Temple’s Center City campus,
at the intersection of Broad and Market Streets, and out-of-towners
stayed at the Doubletree Hotel a few blocks away. The program featured
a cheesesteak lunch in Philadelphia’s City Hall (including an
impromptu lecture by a tour guide on the building’s history)
and dinner on Temple’s Main Campus. Rumor has it that some
conference attendees sampled other Philadelphia establishments.
My thanks to all who attended, to my Temple colleagues who served as
chairs and discussants on panels, and to IPA staff members Nia Ramseur
and Charlene Wiltshire, without whose help the conference would have
been impossible.
We are pleased and confident about passing the torch to Duke and North
Carolina. See you in Chapel Hill!
Michael Hagen
State Politics Conference 2009, Call for Papers
States in Transition:
Politics and Policy in the post-Bush Era
Hosted by the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and
Duke University
Tom Carsey, UNC*
Virginia Gray, UNC
Kerry L. Haynie, Duke
Our theme, “States in Transition: Politics and Policy in the
Post-Bush Era” will bring together a broad range of scholars
doing research in all areas of state politics and policy. We invite
scholars to consider how states have evolved and adapted in the 21st
century with an eye toward what may lay ahead. The Bush presidency
began with an unprecedented struggle in Florida. Events like 9/11,
Hurricane Katrina, and the Iraq War, and policy debates in the areas
of health care, the environment, immigration, and the No Child Left
Behind Act have forced states to adapt to new local and national
political realities. Finally, the 2008 Presidential context will
be fought out
in the states. Because all aspects of state politics and policy have
been affected by these events, we feel our theme is broadly inclusive.
The tentative due date for paper proposals is Friday, January 16th,
2009.
Our budget should permit us to provide stipends for about 50-60 papers
as well as panel discussants. We plan a series of traditional panels,
a graduate student poster session, and maybe a special topics roundtable
or two. We also plan to give an award to the best graduate student
poster presented at the conference.
The conference will be headquartered in Chapel Hill at the Courtyard
Marriott Hotel and William and Ida Friday Center. We plan to have
at least one special
event on the main UNC campus, and dinner Friday night will be held at Duke.
Both universities and the triangle area in general offer an exciting range
of activities and sights to see. Attractions located on UNC’s beautiful
campus include the Morehead Planetarium, the North Carolina Botanical Garden,
Coker Arboretum, and the Ackland Art Museum. Duke’s campus is highlighted
by Duke Chapel, the Nasher Museum of Art, and the breath-taking Duke Gardens.
Attractions in the area include the Durham Bulls minor league baseball team,
Durham’s American Tobacco Historic District, the UNC and Duke golf
courses, the state capital in nearby Raleigh, and numerous historic sites,
state parks,
museums, lakes, and other attractions. The entire area is served by the Raleigh/Durham
International (RDU) airport, which offers a wide range of options for those
traveling to the area.
* Carsey is the primary contact person, and is best reached by e-mail
at: carsey@unc.edu
State Politics Conference 2010
Where else better to celebrate the 10th anniversary of State Politics
and Policy Quarterly and the Annual State Politics and Policy Conferences
than Springfield, IL? Join us June 3-5, 2010, at the
University of Illinois at Springfield for the 10th annual SPPC. In
addition to the usual stellar panels of academic papers on state
politics and policy, anticipate special panels and speakers on the
conference's
theme, "Political Scientists Meet Political Practitioners in the
States-'How Can We Help You?'" Special events will include an
opening reception and practitioner panel at the Old State Capitol (site
of Abraham Lincoln's "House Divided" speech and Barack
Obama's 2007
official campaign announcement) and dinner and keynote speech at
the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (did I mention
that
Springfield was Abraham Lincoln's home town?). Mark your calendars!
Chris Mooney
