Recently in Conference Papers Category

MABB & I are presenting a paper at this weekend’s MPSA conference in Chicago. Our paper is titled “The Political Economy of Bolivia’s New Regionalism: A Look at Electoral Patterns in Santa Cruz, Tarija, and Chuquisaca” and uses municipal-level election, socioeconomic, and demographic (ethnicity) data to test the conventional wisdom explanation for regional autonomy movements in the Media Luna.

We found that differences in degrees of “ruralness,” poverty, and “indigeneity” across municipalities had no significant relationship (except in Chuquisaca) with support for Evo Morales, MAS, pro-autonomy prefect candidates, or regional autonomy. You can read our paper here; we appreciate any comments or feedback.

Last weekend, I attended the APSA Teaching & Learning Conference in Baltimore. I was on the Core Curriculum & General Education track, which included about 30 faculty. Most of the participants also presented a paper. We met as a group over three days, discussing each other’s work & sharing ideas about political science education. However, I’m not sure we ever really addressed the question of what role political science should play in a “core curriculum.” I’ve been thinking a lot about this over the past several days.

I’m attending the APSA Teaching & Learning Conference this weekend in Baltimore. This’ll be my first foray into a pedagological conference, so I’m a bit nervous. I certainly hope to gain some insights to improve my teaching in the future.

My paper proposal for the APSA Teaching & Learning Conference in Baltimore was accepted. The paper (which I’ll work on over the holiday break) is based on a series of in-class discussions I’ve had in my comparative politics classes: using the TV show American Idol as a reference point to discuss Karl Marx (specifically, the Communist Manifesto) & Alexis de Tocqueville (specifically, the Introduction to Democracy in America).

I’ve just uploaded the paper I’ll be presenting at the APSA meeting at the end of August: “Bolivia’s Party System after October 2003: Where Did all the Politicians Go?”

My proposal for the 2008 MPSA (Midwest Political Science Association) conference has just been accepted. Time for my research assistant & I to get cracking on our database project. Here’s the proposal (sorry the abstract is so long):

I’m at LASA, in Montréal. It was a long (but not tedious) drive. And now I’m enjoying free WiFi in the hotel lobby, catching up on emails. The panels are interesting, of course (though we missed Alvaro García Linera’s presentation). And I’m hoping not to completely burn out before my Saturday panel (and I’ll need energy for the drive back!).

Catching up w/ Bolivian news is disturbing, but not unexpected. Street violence in Sucre, w/ promises of more to come. Both sides are to blame of course. And inflation has hit double digits (sparking fears of hyperinflation).