The Political Science Graduate Student Work-in-Progress Group (Grad WIP) is designed to give both beginning and advanced graduate students in the department a forum in which present research in progress. We encourage all interested graduate students and faculty (regardless of department or home institution) to attend.
Meetings will be held on Tuesdays in the Millikan Room (E53-482) from 6:00-7:30 pm, unless otherwise noted. As always, dinner is included!
If you have any questions, please contact Rachel Wellhausen (rwellhau@mit.edu) or Jonas Nahm (jnahm@mit.edu).
| Sep 22 | Sarah Zukerman Daly | Bankruptcy, Guns, or Campaigns:Explaining Armed Organizations' Post-War Trajectories |
| Oct 06 | Francisco Flores-Macias | Explaining the Behavior of State-Owned Enterprises:A Look Inside Mexico's Pemex |
| Oct 13 | Tony Hill | Congressional Redistricting and the Brookes Method |
| Oct 20 | Brendan Green | Two Concepts of Liberty:American Grand Strategy and the Liberal Tradition |
| Oct 27 | Jon Lindsay | Institutions as Information Systems |
| Nov 03 | Kelly Grieco | Entangling Alliances:The Effects of Alliance Institutionalization on Military Effectiveness |
| Nov 10 | Tara Maller | The Dangers of Diplomatic Disengagement: Re-Examining the Determinants of US Sanctions' Effectiveness |
| Nov 17 | David Weinberg | Security Dependencies in US Foreign Policy:The Entitlement Effect and the Politics of Common Knowledge |
| Nov 17 | Daniel Altman | Preventive Force and Nuclear Proliferation |
| Nov 24 | Josh Shifrinson | TBA |
| Nov 24 | Joyce Lawrence | Central Bank Networks |
| Dec 01 | Yumi Shimabukuro | Nickel and Dimed Japanese Style:Japan's Poverty Relief System in Comparative Perspective |
| Dec 08 | Rachel Wellhausen | Explaining Government Behavior toward Foreign Investors |
| Dec 15 | Matt Amengual | The Politics of Regulating the Market in Argentina |
Feb. 10 (Group A)
Daniel Altman, "Time Horizons as a Cause of Coercive Failure, Late Surrender, and War"
Jungho Roh, "Immigrants, Socialization, and Political Views on Welfare Spending"
Feb. 17 (Group B)
Tony Hill, "Presidential Strategies in Supreme Court Justice Selection"
Discussant: Michele Margolis
Feb. 24 (Group B)
Tara Maller, "The Dangers of U.S. Diplomatic Sanctions"
(Announcement | Prospectus)
Discussant: Phil Haun
Mar. 3 (Group A)
Kai Quek, "The Original Chinese Civil Society"
Erica Dobbs, "Unity through Unions? Organizing Citizenship in New
Immigration States"
Mar. 10 (Group B)
John Payne, "Risky business: Terrorist Networks, State Sponsors, and the
Uncertain Future"
Discussant: Robert Reardon
Mar. 17 (Group B)
Paco Flores, "A Model of State-Owned Enterprise Behavior"
Discussant: Joyce Lawrence
Mar. 31 (Group A)
Nathan Black, "The Relationship Between Natural Resource Scarcity and Substate Conflict: A Push Toward Resolution?"
David Weinberg, "Burden-sharing Challenges in U.S. Foreign Policy"
Apr. 7 (Group A)
Jonas Nahm, "Shutdown Politics: Central Regulation, Local Implementation, and the Closing of Inefficient Power Plants in China?"
Erik Lin-Greenberg, "Blue Helmeted Dragons: Explaining China's Participation in
UN Peace Operations"
Apr. 14 (Group B)
Paul Staniland, "Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Elections in India; Or, Why Men
with Guns Don't Care About Minimum Winning Coalitions"
Apr. 21 (Group A)
Miranda Priebe, "The British and the American Civil War"
Claire Bai, "Ethnic Identity Formation and Post-war Regional Integration
in Western Europe and East Asia"
Apr. 28 (Group B)
Kentaro Maeda, "Financing the Government"
May 5 (Group B)
Erica Dobbs, "Organizing Citizenship: Old Unions and New Immigrants in the EU"
May 12 (Group B)
Gautam Mukunda, "The Paths of Glory"
Presentation Guidelines:
Group “A” Sessions:
Group “A” presentations are from students who have not yet completed Generals. Two students will each present in a 45-min segment (consisting of 15 min of presentation followed by discussion). Types of presentations we hope to hear include:
1. Presentations on second year papers (proposals or drafts).
2. Presentations by first year students on a term paper of interest for further research.
3. Presentations by Masters students on their theses (proposals or drafts).
4. Presentations in which students float possible dissertation topics to a broad group.
5. Presentations from post-generals students who prefer this 45 min format.
--> All graduate students are encouraged to attend these sessions.
Group “B” Sessions:
Group “B” presentations are dissertation-focused, with one presenter speaking for up to 30-40 minutes, followed by discussion led by a Chair. These presenters will generally distribute a paper in advance that active attendees are expected to have read. Types of presentations we hope to hear include:
1. Practice first colloquia, second colloquia, and dissertation defenses.
2. Presentations and discussions on specific dissertation chapter(s).
3. Presentations in the midst of or after fieldwork.
4. Practice job talks.
5. Discussion of any student's R&R paper, ready-to-submit paper, or published paper.
--> All graduate students, particularly advanced graduate students with interest in the topic, and faculty are encouraged to attend these sessions.
Sept. 22 Adam Ziegfeld
"Rule of law and electoral politics: Evidence from India"
Sept. 29 Christopher Wendt
"Migration, nativism, and party system change in Western Europe"
Oct. 6 Nathan Cisneros
"Political causes and effects of enterprise unionism: Emerging inequalities"
Oct. 20 Paco Flores-Macías
"How state-owned enterprises can fall behind in their innovative capabilities: The case of Mexico’s Pemex"
Oct. 27 Sarah Zukerman
"Disarm or rearm: The voices of Colombian ex-combatants"
Nov. 3 Josh Shifrinson
"When allies differ"
Nov. 17 Gabi Kruks-Wisner
"Local governance and public goods delivery in India"
Nov. 24 Rachel Wellhausen
"The political economy of foreign investment"
Dec. 8 Paul Staniland
"Explaining armed group cohesion and fragmentation: Kashmir, Northern Ireland, and Sri Lanka in comparative perspective"
Access to posted papers requires MIT certificates.