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 2011 Mini-APSA is scheduled for Friday, April 29.

You may click the titles of highlighted papers to access them as pdf files.

Mini-APSA

Friday, April 29, 2011

Session One: 9:10am - 11:00am

Panel 1: Political Theory I

Room: 711 IAB

Chair:  Nadia Urbinati

Discussants: David Johnston, Nadia Urbinati

• Bjorn Gomes, "Reconciling the Claims of Man and Citizenship in the Philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau"
• Yaeli Elam, "Time and History as a Framework of Analysis: From Rousseau's On the Origins of Inequality Towards a Critical Tool"

Panel 2: International Relations I

Room: 707 IAB

Chair: Page Fortna

Discussants:  Tanisha Fazal, Page Fortna

• Robert Chamberlain, "Steady Mobbin' (OK, you're a Goon, but what's a Goon to a Goblin?): Redrawing the Theoretical Map of the Middle East"
• Joe Brown, "Signaling and the Case of the Troubles: Why Do Terrorists Issue Warnings Before They Attack, and Why Do Governments Believe Them?"
• Mira Rapp-Hooper, "Allying to Inhibit: The US Nuclear Umbrella and Nonproliferation"

Panel 3: American Politics (with comparative perspective)

Room: 1027 IAB

Chair:  Rodolfo de la Garza

Discussants:  Rodolfo de la Garza, John Huber, Dorian Warren

• Lucas Leemann, "When the Dog Walks the Owner? Direct Democracy Derailed"
• Pavithra Suryanarayan, "The Equal Path to Inequality: Civil Rights and the Rise of the Neo-Liberal Coalition in America"

Session Two: 11:10am - 1:00pm

Panel 1: Political Theory II

Room: 711 IAB

Chair:  Jean Cohen

Discussant: Jean Cohen, Melissa Schwartzberg

• Aurelia Bardon, "Render Unto Caesar the Things which are God's: the Democratic Requirement of Political Profound Secularization"
• Liya Yu, "Some languages are conducive to freedom: Speech and Political Identity in Plato, Rousseau and Nietzsche"

Room: 707 IAB

Discussants: Tony Putnam, Johannes Urpelainen

• Kate Cronin-Furma, "Managing Expectations: International Criminal Trials and the Prospects for Deterrence of Mass Atrocity"
• Andrew Cheon, "Internationalists and Reputation: The Political Economy of Alliance Contributions"

Panel 3: American Politics I

Room: 1027 IAB

Chair: Robert Erikson

Discussants: Robert Erikson, Justin Phillips

• Alissa Stollwerk, "Redistribution and Representation: An Examination of Policy Responsiveness in the American States"
• Andy Guess, "Focusing on the Big Issues: Selective Attention, Issue Publics, and the Principal-­Agent Problem in Congressional Districts"
  
• Anthony Daniel, "Legislative Professionalism, Turnover and Spending: Evidence from 2010"

Lunch and Award Presentation: 1:00pm - 2:00pm

Presentation of Giancarlo Doria Paper Prize to Elizabeth Sperber 

Room 707 IAB

Session Three: 2:10pm - 4:00pm

Panel 1: Comparative Politics

Room: 707 IAB

Discussants: Timothy Frye, Isabela Mares

• Alexandra Elizabeth Cirone, "Interests in the Supranational: EU Interest Groups Post-Lisbon"
• Noah Buckley, "Off the Hook: Bureaucratic Preferences for Policy Discretion"
• David Szakonyi,"We Didn't Start the Fires: Measuring the Effect of the 2010 Russian Fires on Support for United Russia"