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 2010 Mini-APSA is scheduled for Friday, April 30.

Click the titles of highlighted papers for access to a pdf file.

Mini-APSA

Friday, April 30, 2010

Panel One:  Issues of Democracy and Authoritarianism

Room 711 IAB

9:00 am - 11:00 am

Chair: Professor Alfred Stepan

Discussants: Professors Kimuli Kasara and Alfred Stepan

• Sara Moller, "Backsliding into History: Regime Type and Democratic Reversals"
• Mostafa Hefny, "Rituals of Democracy: Towards a Phenomenology of Electoral Authoritarianism in Algeria and Egypt"
• Kuei-Min Chang, "Woman's Resistance? Contesting Second Birth in China"
• Xian Huang,  "The Politics of China's Urban Social Welfare Reforms since the 1980s"

Panel Two: Political Theory I

Room 707 IAB

9:00 am - 11:00 am

Chair: Professor Jean Cohen

Discussants: Professors Jean Cohen and Melissa Schwartzberg

• Kevin Elliot, "Towards a Theory of the Modus Vivendi"
• Luke Maclnnis, "The Law for Kant"
• Brett Meyer,  "What's the Point of Liberalism? A Kantian Conception of Liberty and Equality"

Panel Three: Security Studies

Room 711 IAB

11:00 am - 1:00 pm

Chair:  Professor by Robert Jervis

Discussants: Professors Robert Jervis and Jack Snyder

• David Kobayashi, "Men, Blood, and Victory: Force Levels, Insurgency, and Occupation in American History"
• Erica Borghard,  "Military Organizations and Military Innovations; Or, How the Armed Services Can Be the Vanguard of the Revolution (in Military Affairs)

Panel Four: Political Theory II

Room 707 IAB

11:00 am - 1:00 pm

Chair: Professor Melissa Schwartzberg

Discussants: Professors Jean Cohen and Melissa Schwartzberg

• Andreas Avgousti, "The Search for Stability via a Marriage of Nature with Politics: An Understanding of Ciceronian Political Thought"
• Maria Paula Saffon Sanin, "Legitimacy or Domination? Making Sense of Rousseau's Ideal Theory of the Social Contract"
• Benjamin Schupmann, "Demystifying Schmitt"

Panel Five: Public Opinion and Voting in American Politics

Room 802 IAB

11:00 am - 1:00 pm

Chair:  Professor Robert Shapiro

Discussants: Professors Fredrick Harris and Robert Shapiro

• Steven White, "For Democracy and a Caste System? Civil Rights, World War II, and Public Opinion"
• Tiffany Washburn, "What If Everyone Registered? Examining the Effects of Registration Law on Election Outcomes"

Panel Six: Civil War and Ethnic Conflict

Room 501A IAB

12:00 pm - 2:00 pm (Please note special time)

Chair:  Professor Macartan Humphreys

Discussants: Professors David Epstein and Macartan Humprheys

• Jordan Kyle, "The Political Spoils of War: The Impact of Conflict on Political Participation and Leadership in Aceh"
• Jonathan Blake, "Monumental Battles: Disputed Memorials, Contentious Memory, and Ethnic Conflict in Divided Societies"
• Costantino Pischedda, "Assessing the Effectiveness of Counterinsurgency Mass Killing: The Case of the North-South Sudan Civil War"

Panel Seven:  International Policing of Crimes and Human Rights and Progress in International Relations Theory

Room 501A IAB

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm 

Chair: Professor Tonya Putnam

Discussants: Professors Yotam Margalit and Tonya Putnam

• Michael Broache, "Amnesty and International Indictments: The Case of Northern Uganda"
• Seung-Jee Shin, "What is the Status of Armed Merchant Vessels? Expanding Legal Interpretive Capacity in the International Enforcement of Human Rights"
• Hiroaki Abe, "Beyond Lakatos: New Approaches to Appraising Progress in International Relations Theory"

Panel Eight:  The Politics of Aid, Trade, and Development

Room 711 IAB

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Chair:  Professor Timothy Frye

Discussants: Professors Timothy Frye and Pablo Pinto

• Michael Smith, "A Theory of the Origins of Trade Liberalization in Developing Autocracies"
• Elizabeth Sperber, "Dividing to Dominate? Exploring the Impact of Colonial Ties on Bilateral Foreign Development Aid"
• Elham Seyedsayamdost, "Resource Intervention: The Role of Foreign Interest in the Political Economy of Oil