American Political Science Association 2010

Things were busy this summer for the authors of this blog (Miguel Garces and Brandon Alcorn), but we hope that some people have found our previous posts introducing PS-I useful or at least interesting. In this post, I'd like to talk about our attendance at the American Political Science Association in the beginning of September.  We learned plenty from the conference, some of which we plan to talk about in the future, including topics such as methodology, other agent-based modeling techniques, ethnic and religious conflict, insurgency, political networks, evolution, and identity.

Professor Ian Lustick, along with Brandon Alcorn, Alicia Ruvinsky, and Miguel Garces, presented a paper at a theme panel entitled "Modeling Techniques For Macro-Political Events."  Our paper, "From Theory to Simulation: The Dynamic Political Hierarchy in Country Virtualization Models" can be found at www.lustickconsulting.com.  The panel was insightful and the audience asked challenging and pertinent questions.  I would also like to mention a number of other panels, short courses, and authors we found interesting.

Short Courses:

Multi-Method Research

• ·         Colin Elman
• ·         David Collier
• ·         Jason Seawright
• ·         Thad Dunning
• ·         Henry Brady

Agent-Based Modeling in Policy: How to Simply Demonstrate Dynamics, Complexity, and Alternatives in Analysis

• ·         Ted Carmichael (UNC Charlotte)
• ·         Liz Johnson (UNC Charlotte)

Panels:

1.       Disaggregating Conflict Processes: Actor-specific models of civil and interstate wars

a.       Chair: Michael D. Ward  (Duke University)

b.      Disc: Philip A. Schrodt (Pennsylvania State University)

c.       Hanne Fjelde: Economic Inequality and Non-state Conflicts in Africa

d.      Lars-Erik Cederman (ETH Zurich) and Kristian Skrede Gleditsch (University of Essex): Economic Inequality and Ethno-Nationalist Conflict: A GIS Analysis

e.      David E. Cunningham (Iowa State University) and Scott Gates (International Peace Research Institute): International Community and the Bargaining Range in War

f.        Kyle Beardsley (Emory University): Peacekeeping and the Diffusion of Armed Conflict across Space and Time

2.       Explaining and Predicting Violent Conflict: National Security and the Minerva Initiative

a.       Chair: William L. Reed (University of Maryland)

b.      Disc: William L. Reed (University of Maryland)

c.       Jacob Norman Shapiro (Princeton University): Do Working Men Rebel? (title changed)

d.      William L. Reed (University of Maryland), David H. Clark (SUNY Binghamton), Timothy W. Nordstrom (University of Mississippi), and Katri J. Sieberg (SUNY Binghamton): Some Experimental Results for  Quantal Response Bargaining Model of War

e.      Michael Findley (Brigham Young University), Stephen M. Shellman (College of William & Mary), and Joseph K. Young (Southern Illinois University at Carbondale): Modeling Dynamic Violence: Integrating Events, Data Analysis and Agent-Based Modeling

3.       Institutions, Identities, and Ethnic Conflict

a.       Chair: Barbara F. Walter (University of California, San Diego)

b.      Disc: Daniel N. Posner (University of California, Los Angeles)

c.       Steven I. Wilkinson (Yale University): Measuring Post-Colonial Ethnic Imbalances

d.      Evan S. Lieberman (Princeton University) and Prerna Singh (Harvard University): Institutionalized Ethnicity and Civil War

e.      Giovanni Capoccia (Oxford University), Lawrence Saez (University of London, SOAS), and Eline A. de Rooij (University of Oxford): Institutional Heritage, Ethnic Identities and Terrirtorial Challenges to the State: Explaining the Trajectories of Separatist Movements in India

f.        David S. Siroky (Arizona State University): The International Dimensions of Secessionist Conflict

4.       Plenary Address delivered by Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom, Indiana University: "Addressing the Theory of Collective Action from a Multiple Methods Perspective"

5.       Disaggregated and Micro-scale Evidence in the Study of Insurgency

a.       Chair: Amanda Marie Murdie (Kansas State University)

b.      Disc: Amanda Marie Murdie (Kansas State University)

c.       Mathew A. Kocher (Yale University): Bombing, Population Displacement, and Insurgent Strength: Micro-Scale Evidence from the Vietnam War

d.      Nicholai Lidow (Stanford University): Rebel Governance and Civilian Abuse: A Comparison of Liberia’s Rebels Using Satellite Data

e.      Camber Warren (ETH Zurich): Disaggregating State Strength: Economic Development and the Geography of Insurgency

f.        Ravi Bhavnani (Michigan State University) and Dan Miodownik (Hebrew University): Ethnic Solidarity , Segregation, and Conflict: A Neighborhood Level Analysis

6.       Computational Models of International Politics

a.       Chair: Dan Miodownik (Hebrew University)

b.      Disc: Dan Miodownik (Hebrew University)

c.       Danielle Jung (University of California, San Diego) and David A. Lake (University of California, San Diego): Organizational Ecology of Selective Affinity: An Agent-Based Model

d.      Kyle A. Joyce (University of California, David): An Agent-Based Model of War Expansion and Diffusion

e.      Nils B. Weidmann (Princeton University) and Idean Salehyan (University of North Texas): Ethnic Violence and Urban Segregation: A Computational Model Applied to Baghdad

f.        Camber Warren (ETH Zurich) and Lars-Erik Cederman (ETH Zurich): Simulating State Sizes: Conquest, Disintegration, and the Emergence of the Modern State System

g.       D. Scott Bennett (Pennsylvania State University): Recruiting Your Way to Victory: Varying Strategies in Insurgent/Counterinsurgent Warfare

7.       Networks and Public Opinion

a.       Chair: Kevin M. Esterling (University of California, Riverside)

b.      Disc: Justin H. Gross (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) and Suzanne M. Robbins (George Mason University)

c.       Delia Baldassarri (Princeton University) and Amir Golberg (Princeton University): Network Analysis of Belief Systems: Cognitive Heterogeneity and the Relationship Between Class and Religiosity in the US

d.      Anand E. Sokhey (Ohio State University) and Paul A. Djupe (Denison University): The Micro-Foundations of Group-Centric Voting: Genered Social Networks and the Content of Political Disscussion

e.      Meredith Rolfe (University of Oxford): Measuring and Modeling the Impact of Social Networks on Attitude Change During an Election

f.        Robert Bond (University of California, San Diego), Christopher J. Fariss (University of California, San Diego), Jason Jeffrey Jones (University of California, San Diego), and Brian Mcfee (University of California, San Diego): Tracking the Spread of Political (Mis)information through Social Networks

8.       The Evolution of Identity, Rebellion, and Power in Network Models

a.       Chair: David Lazer (Northeastern University)

b.      Disc: Meredith Rolfe (University of Oxford) and Jon X. Eguia (New York University)

c.       Nicholas Weller (University of Southern California), Mathew D. McCubbins (University of Southern California), and Daniel Enemark (University of Southern California): All Centrality is Local: The Importance of Understanding Actors’ Information for Network-Analysis

d.      Navid Hassanpour (Yale Univiersity): Structural Dyanmics of Collective Action in Political Networks

e.      David Hendry (University of Illinois) and Sunhee Park (Florida State University): Homophily, Strategy, and Network Change: The Dynamics of Network Development with Goal-Directed Agents

f.        Michael Gabbay (University of Washington) and Ashley Thirkill-Mackelprang (University of Washington): A Network Model of Insurgent Alliance Dynamics

g.       Iulia Ciorianu (New York University): An Agent-Based Model of Cooperation with Multiple Overlapping Identities

9.       A Sea Change in Political Science Methodology?

a.       Chair: David Collier (University of California, Berkeley)

b.      Christopher H. Achen (Princeton University)

c.       Henry E. Brady (University of California, Berkeley)

d.      Thad Dunning (Yale University)

e.      Colin Elman (Syracuse University)

f.        Diana Kapiszewski (University of California, Irvine)

g.       Philip A. Schrodt (Pennsylvania State University)

10.   Evolutionary Properties of the International System

a.       Chair: D. Scott Bennett (Pennsylvania State University)

b.      Disc: Sven Steinmo (European University Insitution)

c.       Hilton L. Root (George Mason University): The Rise of the Modern State: Gradual Reform or Punctuated Transition

d.      James Igoe Walsh (UNC Charlotte) and Ted Carmichael (UNC Charlotte): Terrorism and Human Rights: An Agent-Based Model

e.      Aaron Benjamin Frank (George Mason University): The Ecological Properties of Military Revolutions