UCLA Political Science

Courts After Conflict
2018-05-11 00:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CA
Courts After Conflict
DateMay 9, 2014
Time7:00am to 8:30am
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
Can legal institutions maintain impartiality in the face of violent ethnic conflict? Can a steep decline in the intensity of violence help restore impartiality to ethnically biased courts? How persistent are the effects of violence? Given the ubiquity of ethnic conflicts in the past half century, understanding the institutional and cultural legacies of conflict seems vital. This paper studies ethnic bias in the legal system using decisions made by Arab and Jewish judges in Israeli courts. Data on conflict-related fatalities allow us to relate the extent of the bias to the court’s and the judge’s history of exposure to ethnic violence. In Shayo and Zussman (2011) we found that during the conflict of 2000–2004 (the Second Palestinian Intifada) judges exhibited a significant degree of ethnic ingroup bias which was strongly associated with the recent intensity of violence around the court. The present paper asks whether the drop in violence in subsequent years (2007–2010) was accompanied by attenuation in ethnic bias. We find no evidence of such attenuation at the country level. Judicial bias remains positively associated with past exposure to violence, but the association weakens over time and courts seem to converge toward a relatively high level of bias. To the extent that we see a persistent local effect of exposure to violence, it operates at the institutional (court) level rather than at the individual (judge) level.
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REP Workshop - Hahrie Han
2018-05-11 00:00
REP Workshop – Hahrie Han
DateMay 6, 2016
Time4:00pm to 5:30pm
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
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Ecochella!
2018-05-11 00:00
Ecochella!
DateMay 6, 2016
Time3:30pm to 9:00pm
Location
Contact
Ecochella is a student-run, bike-powered music and sustainability festival at UCLA that aims to educate and engage students on current strides in green innovation. Join us on May 6th for music, biking, yoga, food, free goodies and more! First 200 attendees will get a free Tender Greens tote bag (#totescute)! Be sure to RSVP to our Facebook Event! and sign up to bike and/or volunteer here!
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Explaining the Rapidity of Social Change
2018-05-14 00:00
Explaining the Rapidity of Social Change
DateMay 12, 2014
Time5:00am to 6:30am
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
Social change, for example, public support of same-sex marriage, often has the following dynamic: existing behavior or norms persist for a long time, and then change to the new normal very rapidly. This rapidity is not easily explained by processes of social learning and influence, which occur more gradually. Another example is the 2007 financial crisis, in which financial institutions gradually became aware of the shakiness of mortgage-backed securities but continued to accept them as collateral in trades for years, only to suddenly stop accepting them altogether. I present a simple game-theoretic model of this dynamic. In the model, people care about the actions of other people but also about fundamentals. When fundamentals change, people gradually learn about the change but still persist in the old behavior even after almost everyone has learned about it. Only after people realize that other people know (the change becomes not just widely known but common knowledge) does behavior change. Behavior changes rapidly for two reasons. First, the more people care about the actions of others, the more people are locked in with each other and the longer the old behavior persists, even as it grows more fragile. Second, learning about a change in fundamentals happens gradually, but simple models illustrate that learning about the knowledge of others occurs rapidly. In other words, metaknowledge substantially lags knowledge but when it increases, it increases very rapidly.
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American Politics Workshop with Seth Masket
2018-05-14 00:00
American Politics Workshop with Seth Masket
DateMay 11, 2015
Time12:00pm
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
Contact Information
Belinda SunnuPhone bsunnu@polisci.ucla.edu
Presenter:Seth Masket, University of DenverTitle:“Do Voters and Activists Nominate the Same Sort of Candidates? A Look at Legislative Vacancy Appointments in Illinois and Colorado”Abstract: In Colorado and Illinois, local partisan vacancy committees are charged with appointing replacements for state legislators who have recently resigned or died. This presents researchers with a rare opportunity to determine whether those elected officials selected by party elites differ in important ways from those chosen by voters. This particular study examines whether vacancy appointees – with less experience, fewer established ties to voters and groups, and less time to raise funds than their traditionally nominated colleagues – suffer in terms of funds raised and votes won in the next election cycle. In fact, vacancy appointees end up with more funds and higher vote shares, on average, than those nominated through traditional means. However, this advantage does not appear to be tied to party donor networks. These findings are suggestive that party elites are able to pick highly skilled politicians who are talented at fundraising, wooing voters, and impressing interest groups.Paper:Click here to download.
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AP Workshop - Christopher Warshaw, MIT
2018-05-14 00:00
AP Workshop – Christopher Warshaw, MIT
DateMay 8, 2017
Time12:30pm to 2:00pm
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
Abstract:There is a large literature on economic voting in the United States, which shows that the economy matters in presidential and congressional elections. Puzzlingly, however, the state politics literature has failed to find clear evidence for economic voting in gubernatorial elections. In this study, I use population-based datasets of county-level economic conditions from 1969-2016 to examine economic voting in gubernatorial elections. I find strong evidence that voters hold gubernatorial candidates accountable for local economic conditions. Although the degree of economic accountability has diminished slightly in recent years, possibly due to the nationalization of elections, voters have continued to hold gubernatorial candidates accountable for the economy into the 2000s. In addition, I find no evidence that voters reward or punish gubernatorial candidates for the economy based on whether they share the president’s party. Overall, my findings show that there are strong electoral incentives for governors to pursue policies that grow the state economy.
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30th Annual Bollens-Ries-Hoffenberg Lecture
2018-05-16 00:00
30th Annual Bollens-Ries-Hoffenberg Lecture
DateMay 10, 2017
Time7:00pm
Location
Charles E. Young Grand SalonKerckhoff HallUCLA Campus
Contact
About the SpeakerSheila Kuehl, Los Angeles County Supervisor, District 3″Too Many Governments: How Local, State and Federal Jurisdictions Can Clash or Collaborate”Click here to learn more about Sheila KuehlAbout the SeriesThe annual series’ aim is to bring together the worlds of academic exploration and practical politics to illuminate discussion of the broader principles and ideas of representative government. Such a synthesis is true to the spirit of the lecture’s honorees – John C. Bollens, John C. Ries, and Marvin Hoffenberg – former distinguished professors in UCLA’s Department of Political Science. Click here to RSVP
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REP Workshop with Lisa Garcia Bedolla
2018-05-17 00:00
REP Workshop with Lisa Garcia Bedolla
DateMay 14, 2015
Time12:00pm to 1:30pm
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
Contact Information
Belinda SunnuPhone bsunnu@polisci.ucla.edu
Presenter: Lisa Garcia Bedolla, UC BerkeleyTitle: “Latino Political Engagement and the Future of U.S. Politics”Abstract: After the 2012 election, there was much talk about the importance of the Latino vote for both major U.S. political parties. Yet, by 2014, the conversation had flipped, with President Obama bowing to pressure from fellow Democrats not to provide administrative relief to unauthorized immigrants, under the assumption that showing support for Latino immigrants would hurt Democrats’ chances to retain control of the U.S. Senate. These assumptions stem from one source: voter turnout. Latino turnout in presidential elections is always significantly higher than in midterm elections and is concentrated in areas that matter for presidential politics. But, this ebb and flow in pundits’ focus on Latino voters ignores a critical question – what is the best way to understand Latino political engagement patterns in the United States? In this talk, Professor García Bedolla attempts to answer that question, using what we know about Latino politics to develop a new framework for thinking about U.S. Latino political engagement, one that does not use white voter behavior as the norm but rather considers Latino participation patterns as a rational response to their history of exclusion and subordination in the United States. She then considers what such a reorientation would mean for the future of U.S. democratic politics.
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Join Us To Celebrate the Life of Professor Mark Sawyer
2018-05-17 00:00
Join Us To Celebrate the Life of Professor Mark Sawyer
DateMay 11, 2017
Time3:00pm
Location
UCLA Faculty Center California RoomUCLA CampusSelf-pay parking available in Structure 2
Contact
Contact Information
Kelli O’LearyPhone (310)825-4038koleary@support.ucla.edu
Laura E. Gómez Interim Dean of Social Sciencesrespectfully invites you to attend a memorial service celebrating the life ofProfessor Mark Sawyer UCLA Departments of African American Studies and Political ScienceLive stream will be available at the following link: https://youtu.be/0tBbtt5ILR0 Thursday, May 11, 2017 3:00 p.m.UCLA Faculty Center California RoomUCLA Campus RSVP to koleary@support.ucla.edu or (310) 825-4038 RSVP early, seating is limited. Livestreaming will be available.Self-pay parking available in Structure 2Learn more about the life and career of Professor Sawyer If you would like to make a gift to the Political Science subfield of Race, Ethnicity and Politics in memory of Mark Sawyer, please click here.
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Catherine de Vries
2018-05-17 00:00
Catherine de Vries
DateMay 17, 2018
Time12:00pm to 1:30pm
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
Contact Information
Belinda SunnuPhone 3102067558bsunnu@polisci.ucla.edu
There will be two talks by Catherine de Vries: Thursday, May 17th: 12:00-1:30pm; 4357 Bunche HallWhen the Money Stops: Fluctuations in Financial Remittances and Incumbent Approval in Central Eastern Europe the Caucasus and Central Asia Flyer Thursday may 17th: 4:00-5:30p; 4357 Bunche HallEuroscepticism and the Future of European Integration FlyerTo schedule an appointment to meet with Professor de Vries on Friday, May 18, please use this link or email Professor Golden (golden@ucla.edu).
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Promoting Transparency in Social Science Research
2018-05-18 00:00
Promoting Transparency in Social Science Research
DateMay 16, 2014
Time3:15am to 4:30am
Location
314 Royce Hall
Contact
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Dilemmas of Nonproliferation Statecraft
2018-05-18 00:00
Dilemmas of Nonproliferation Statecraft
DateMay 16, 2014
Time8:00am to 9:30am
Location
Bunche Hall 10367
Contact
The effects of international inducements on the internal politics of states that violate nuclear nonproliferation commitments remain highly contested. How have sanctions, trade, aid, investments, diplomacy, financial measures and military threats affected different groups? How, when and why were those effects translated into compliance with non-proliferation rules? Have inducements been sufficiently biting or too harsh, too little, too late or just right for each case? Professor Solingen will discuss conditions that influence relative receptivity to positive and negative inducements. This talk is based on Chapter 1 of a volume published by Cambridge University Press entitled Sanctions, Statecraft, and Nuclear Proliferation.
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American Politics Workshop with Ryan Enos
2018-05-21 00:00
American Politics Workshop with Ryan Enos
DateMay 18, 2015
Time3:00pm
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
Contact Information
Belinda SunnuPhone bsunnu@polisci.ucla.edu
Presenter:Ryan Enos, Harvard UniversityTitle: “How and Why Segregation Affects Political Behavior”Abstract:A broad literature demonstrates, both cross-nationally and within the United States, that intergroup residential segregation is correlated with poorly functioning states and civil societies. Recent research also connects segregation to individual voting behavior and political attitudes. I take up the question of why segregation affects political outcomes. Drawing on research in political science and cognitive and evolutionary psychology, I develop a theory of the relationship between space, intergroup attitudes, and political behavior, with a special emphasis on segregation. Then, using a series of experiments involving thousands of subjects, I directly manipulate spatial segregation and demonstrate that segregation affects human perception, prejudicial attitudes towards other groups, and even the tendency to show bias in costly decision-making.About the Speaker:Ryan Enos (Ph.D. 2010, UCLA) is Assistant Professor of Government and a faculty associate in the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard. He studies political behavior and intergroup attitudes through laboratory and field experiments and other methods. Prof. Enos directs the Working Group in Political Psychology, an interdisciplinary forum for research on the microfoundations of citizen and elite behavior, and the Harvard Digital Lab for the Social Sciences. His research has been published in the American Political Science Review, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Journal of Political Science, in addition to other outlets, and has been covered in major media outlets such as the New York Times and the Washington Post. He also earned his MA in political science from UCLA. Before entering academia, he was a teacher at Paul Robeson High School in Chicago.
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AP Workshop - Thomas Schwartz
2018-05-21 00:00
AP Workshop – Thomas Schwartz
DateMay 16, 2016
Time12:30pm to 2:00pm
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
Abstract:Here is a full statement of the theory of political parties as long coalitions, ones organized and elected to stick together on most legislative votes. The incentive to form, join, and elect them comes from the external cost of majority voting, the cost to losers, but more fundamentally from the Paradox of Voting. I show that a majority-preference cycle among the outcomes of successive votes is sufficient for that incentive to be effective, and necessary too: without cycles there would be no parties.
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CP Workshop - Margaret Roberts, UC San Diego
2018-05-21 00:00
CP Workshop – Margaret Roberts, UC San Diego
DateMay 15, 2017
Time12:30pm to 2:00pm
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
Abstract:Conventional wisdom assumes that increased censorship will strictly decrease access to information. We delineate circumstances when increases in censorship will expand access to information. When governments suddenly impose censorship on previously uncensored information, citizens accustomed to acquiring this information will be incentivized to learn methods of censorship evasion. These tools provide continued access to the newly blocked information and also extend users’ ability to access information that has long been censored. We illustrate this phenomenon using millions of individual-level actions of social media users in China before and after the block of Instagram. We show that the block inspired millions of Chinese users to acquire virtual private networks (VPNs) and join censored websites like Twitter and Facebook. Despite initially being apolitical, these new users began browsing blocked political pages on Wikipedia, following Chinese political activists on Twitter, and discussing highly politicized topics such as opposition protests in Hong Kong.
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REP Workshop - Vanessa Tyson, Scripps College
2018-05-21 00:00
REP Workshop – Vanessa Tyson, Scripps College
DateMay 15, 2017
Time3:00pm to 4:30pm
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
Multiracial Coalitions and Minority Representation in the U.S. House of Representatives
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U HEARD IT HERE: 2016 Presidential Election Series
2018-05-22 00:00
U HEARD IT HERE: 2016 Presidential Election Series
DateMay 17, 2016
Time6:00pm
Location
California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI)UCLA Campus
Contact
Chair and Professor Jeffrey B. Lewis invites you toSave the datesfor theU HEARD IT HERE: 2016 Presidential Election SeriesOn the Media: Covering Donald TrumpFeaturingDylan ByersSasha IssenbergModerated byLynn VavreckTuesday, May 17, 6:00 p.m.California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI)UCLA Campus
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The Runner-up Effect
2018-05-25 00:00
The Runner-up Effect
DateMay 23, 2014
Time7:00am to 8:30am
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
Exploiting regression discontinuity designs in samples of Brazilian, Indian, and Canadian first-past-the-post elections, we document that second placed candidates are substantially more likely than close third finishers to run and win subsequent elections. This identifies the effect of being labeled the runner-up, since both candidates lost the election and had similar electoral performance. We explore the potential mechanisms for this runner-up effect, including selection into candidacy, heuristic behavior by political actors, and the runner-up benefiting from strategic coordination. Selection into candidacy appears unlikely to explain the runner-up effect on winning, and the weight of the evidence suggests that the effect is driven by strategic coordination.
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Political Theory Workshop with Dean Hammer
2018-05-25 00:00
Political Theory Workshop with Dean Hammer
DateMay 22, 2015
Time4:00pm
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
Contact Information
Belinda SunnuPhone bsunnu@polisci.ucla.edu
Presenter:Dean Hammer, Franklin and Marshall CollegeRespondent:Anthony Pagden, UCLATitle:“Were the Roman People Sovereign?”Abstract:[This] paper takes up the question of whether we can talk meaningfully about sovereignty in the Roman republic. The argument addresses the contending claims of those who see sovereignty as operative in the Republic and those who posit a sharp break between Roman politics and sovereignty, suggesting that both views flatten the historical gradations and operation of Roman power. I argue for a notion of foundational authority rather than sovereignty as a way to understand how the res publica imagined, organized, and recognized itself as indivisible and perpetual.Paper:Click here to download.
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REP Workshop - Chris Zepeda-Millan
2018-05-25 00:00
REP Workshop – Chris Zepeda-Millan
DateMay 20, 2016
Time4:00pm to 5:30pm
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
Abstract:Survey research has traditionally shown that foreign-born Latinos are among the least likely to participate in political activism. Yet during the spring of 2006, up to five million immigrants and their allies took part in a historic national protest wave. Utilizing the case of Fort Myers, FL, this presentation will examine why and how anti-immigrant legislation can motivate unexpected protest participants (e.g. immigrant soccer leagues, nannies, and agricultural workers) to take action and activate pre-existing community resources for the purpose of mass mobilization. Please note that the speaker will be presenting on his overall book manuscriptand below are some links related to the larger book project: “Weapons of the Not So Weak: Immigrant Mass Mobilization in the U.S. South.”http://chriszepeda-millan.weebly.com/uploads/5/8/5/8/5858607/crit_sociol-2016-zepeda-mill%C3%A1n-269-87.pdf”Perceptions of Threat, Demographic Diversity, and the Framing of Illegality: Explaining (Non)Participation in New York’s 2006 Immigrant Protests”http://chriszepeda-millan.weebly.com/uploads/5/8/5/8/5858607/prq-2014-zepeda-milln.pdf
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PT Workshop - Ainsley LeSure, Occidental College
2018-05-25 00:00
PT Workshop – Ainsley LeSure, Occidental College
DateMay 19, 2017
Time4:00pm to 6:00pm
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
Abstract:Overwhelmingly, scholars of contemporary racial injustice argue that the disjunction between our society’s express commitment to racial egalitarianism and the persistence of racial inequality is due to the pernicious racial beliefs, sentiments and dispositions found in the unconscious inner states of individuals. Yet, with the introduction of the term “institutional racism,” activists and scholars emerging from the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements directly challenged the inclination to determine the character of racial injustice by the inner states of individuals, and argued that racism could be more reliably identified where there was actual racial inequality. The claim that racism was coextensive with racial inequality came under fire in the 1980s and onward when philosophers and sociologists contended that racial inequality alone could not serve as sufficient evidence of racism. In this article, I argue that advocates of the institutional account of racism were right, racism is coextensive with racial inequality. I argue further that achieving racial justice requires making racial inequality and the mechanisms that sustain it visible by revealing the meaning our actual racial interactions have, not for each individual, but intersubjectively. This kind of collective meaning-making work has the benefit of, at best, equipping us with the practical tools to realize a more racially just world and, at the very least, bringing our racial disputes above ground where they can be seen.
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Memorial Day Holiday (no classes)
2018-05-28 00:00
Memorial Day Holiday (no classes)
DateMay 25, 2015
Time6:00am
Location
Contact
Memorial Day Holiday on May 25,2015 (no classes).
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CP Workshop - Jeremy Weinstein
2018-05-28 00:00
CP Workshop – Jeremy Weinstein
DateMay 23, 2016
Time12:30pm
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
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IR Workshop - Marc Trachtenberg, UC Los Angeles
2018-05-28 00:00
IR Workshop – Marc Trachtenberg, UC Los Angeles
DateMay 22, 2017
Time12:30pm to 2:00pm
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
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REP Workshop - Lauren Davenport, Stanford University
2018-05-28 00:00
REP Workshop – Lauren Davenport, Stanford University
DateMay 22, 2017
Time3:00pm to 4:30pm
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
Abstract:Since 2000, the U.S. multiple-race population has skyrocketed by 106%—more than 17 times the rate of growth of the single-race population. Individuals of mixed-race comprise the fastest-growing youth group in the nation, and an estimated 20 percent of Americans will identify with multiple racial groups by 2050. In this talk, I examine the broader social and political implications of the increasingly racially mixed American landscape. Drawing upon the U.S. census, surveys of biracial college students, and in-depth interviews, I address the following questions: How do mixed-race Americans see themselves, socially, culturally, and politically? What factors determine how someone of mixed-race parentage decides to racially self-identify? What are the repercussions of these identities for the broader American political structure? How do people of mixed-race approach racial policies, such as affirmative action, and social policies, such as same-sex marriage? What do the increasing number of multiracial identifiers mean for the allocation of resources and benefits intended for minority populations?
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Methods Workshop
2018-05-30 00:00
Methods Workshop
DateMay 28, 2014
Time3:00pm to 5:00pm
Location
4276 Bunche Hall
Contact
UCLA Department of Political ScienceMethods WorkshopSponsored by the Formal Theory Reading GroupfeaturingKirill PogorelskiyCalifornia Institute of Technology“Correlated Equilibria in Voter Turnout Games”ABSTRACT:This paper develops a game-theoretic model of turnout when voting is costly and the players’ strategies can be correlated. Varying the structure of information and voting costs, we characterize the bounds on expected turnout implementable via correlated equilibria. We show that the resulting high-turnout equilibria can be divided into two classes, depending on the relative group sizes, have intuitive properties and exist in large electorates and uncertain environments. Our results suggest a possible instrumental voting solution to the turnout paradox, and provide micro foundations for group-based voter mobilization models emphasizing the effects of communication on turnout.
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Methods Workshop with Barry O’Neill
2018-05-31 00:00
Methods Workshop with Barry O’Neill
DateMay 28, 2015
Time3:00pm
Location
4276 Bunche Hall (Seminar Room)
Contact
Contact Information
Belinda SunnuPhone bsunnu@polisci.ucla.edu
Presenter:Barry O’Neill, UCLATitle: “What is an Agreement?”Abstract:The concept of an agreement is important in game theory, political theory and law but writers disagree about just what it is. Some argue that an agreement cannot be a pair of promises, but the stit logic of agency allows an analysis that avoids their objections. The definition has an unexpected consequence. Legal as well as informal norms say that one party should not undermine a deal by interfering with the other’s carrying out their part. Courts and scholars have based this on a catch-all norm of “good faith in performance” but appealing to good faith is unnecessary. Non-interference follows from the basic principles of an appropriate logic of obligation.About the Speaker:Barry O’Neill is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles. His fields of study include international relations and methodology. For additional background, click here.Sponsored by the Formal Theory Reading Group
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PT Workshop - Anuja Bose
2018-06-01 00:00
PT Workshop – Anuja Bose
DateMay 27, 2016
Time4:00pm to 6:00pm
Location
4357 Bunche Hall
Contact
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Instruction Ends, June 5, 2015 – Friday
2018-06-08 00:00
Instruction Ends, June 5, 2015 – Friday
DateJune 5, 2015
Time6:00pm
Location
Contact
Instruction Ends, June 5, 2015 – Friday
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Spring Quarter Ends, June 12, 2015 – Friday
2018-06-15 00:00
Spring Quarter Ends, June 12, 2015 – Friday
DateJune 12, 2015
Time6:00pm
Location
Contact
Spring Quarter Ends, June 12, 2015 – Friday
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