Before the end of their fourth semester of study at Columbia, all students qualifying for the M.Phil. degree must present a completed research paper in an open departmental forum. The forum, which has come to be known as "Mini-APSA," takes place at the end of each spring semester. The 2008 Mini-APSA is scheduled for Friday, April 25.

Graduate Student Conference 2008

Friday, April 25th, 2008

Click on the hyperlinked titles below to access the papers (or abstracts) that are available. Papers are in Adobe Acrobat format .

Breakfast, 8:30am, Lindsay Rogers Common Room, 707 IAB

Session One: 9:00am - 11:00am

Panel One: American Politics I

LOCATION: 711 IAB

Chair: Robert Erikson

Kelly Rader

Malapportionment in the U.S. House of Representatives: the Effect of the 1990 Census on the Distribution of Federal Funds to States

Stephen Thompson

The Dedicated Few: An Analysis of Turnout in Presidential Primary Elections

Tom Ogorzalek

Filibuster Vigilantly: Private Actors, the American State, and Territorial Expansion

Discussants: Robert Erikson and David Epstein

Panel Two: International Relations I

LOCATION: 801 IAB

Chair: Michael Doyle

Reyko Huang

From War to Democratic Peace? Democratization after Civil War, 1945-1999

Corwin Priest

Democracy and Citizens' Liability for Unjust Acts of State

Jennifer Hudson

Imperialism and International Law in Hans Kelsen

Discussants: Michael Doyle and Tonya Putnam

Session Two: 11:00am - 1:00pm

Panel One: Comparative Politics I

LOCATION: 711 IAB

Chair: Andrew Nathan

Jessamyn Blau

The Effect of Structural Constraints on Female Political Participation: Private-Sector Skills and Legislature Professionalization

Li Li

To Be Privileged: Private Entrepreneurs’ Incentives to Political Participation in China

Mark Schneider

What’s Love Got to Do With It: An Analysis of Partisanship in India

Discussants: Andrew Nathan and John Huber

Panel Two: Comparative Politics II

LOCATION: 1302 IAB

Chair: Jack Snyder

Abeer Shaheen

Algeria in the Democratic Discourse

Brad Walrond

Point Source Economies and Democratic Performance

Discussants: Jack Snyder and Macartan Humphreys

Session Three: 2:00pm - 4:00pm

Panel One: American Politics II

LOCATION: 711 IAB

Chair: Robert Lieberman

David O'Connell

Secret War, The Second State & The Second Wave: Overseeing the Overseers 1970-1980

Katherine Krimmel

Civil Rights, Civil Workplaces: Exploring the Connection Between Labor and Anti-Lynching Bills in the United States, 1937-1938

Jeffrey Lenowitz

Rejected by the People: Failed U.S. State Constitutional Conventions in the 1960s and 70s

Discussants: Robert Lieberman and Michael Ting

Panel Two: Political Theory

LOCATION: 901 IAB

Chair: David Johnston

Axel Domeyer

On the Relationship between Domestic and International Law

Carlo Invernizzi Accetti

Can the Enlightenment Still be Radical? The thought of radical autonomy in the works of Immanuel Kant and the Marquis de Sade

Mike Ravvin

Reason, Religion, and Politics: A Comparison of John Toland’s Christianity not Mysterious and John Locke’s The Reasonableness of Christianity

Sandipto Dasgupta

Ghandi - the Success of his Failure

Discussants: David Johnston and Anna Stilz

Panel Three: International Politics II

LOCATION: 1302 IAB

Chair: Richard Betts

Dianne Pfundstein

Selecting the Tools of Persuasion: An Examination of Coercive Instruments in US Targeting of Libya 1972-2008

Joel Wuthnow

The Concept of Soft Power in China’s Strategic Discourse

Andrej Tusicisny

Myth Busted: Identities, Values, and Mutual Trust in the European Community

Discussants: Richard Betts and Pablo Pinto

Session Four: 4:00pm -7:00pm

Panel One: Post Mini-APSA Party

LOCATION: Radio Perfecto Restaurant, Amsterdam Avenue between 118th and 119th

All are invited!