Spring 2015 The Spectrum

Spring 2015

Duke | POLITICAL SCIENCE Trinity College of Arts & Sciences Department of Political Science Magazine

the

Spectrum

80 years at

from the Chair...

This has been a very active year for students, faculty, and staff in the Political Science Department at Duke. I write at the beginning of the spring semester of 2015. We have now settled into Gross Hall after a long transition from our old location, and the department seems to have achieved an enjoyable and productive rhythm.

This is the second edition of our expanded news magazine, The Spectrum. It is full of informative articles about the teaching and research activities of the various members of our department. I think that these articles will give you a good sense of many of the important issues that characterize the research agendas of our faculty. These are the kinds of issues that are also the focus of the array of classes in our political science curriculum. The rich diversity of topics that are relevant to the study of politics is quite impressive.

Curriculum is an issue with which academic departments are always concerned. In last year’s Chair letter I emphasized that this was an issue that is of special interest to our department as we face a number of important challenges to both our undergraduate and graduate curricula. What is the best way to teach the science of politics to Duke undergraduates? What is the best way to train our graduate students to be effective analysts of politics? We are full of ideas about new classes, new approaches, and new directions, but, like other departments, we struggle to find the right mix to meet the demands of the twenty-first century. We continue to experiment with alternatives, under the excellent leadership of Bahar Leventoglu, our Director of Undergraduate Studies, and Pablo Beramendi, our Director of Graduate Studies. I am pleased with the progress that we have made, but we aspire to do better. And I am confident that we will.

If you have any questions about the department, I would be glad to hear from you.

Jack Knight jack.knight@duke.edu

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204J Gross Hall Box 90204 Durham NC 27708 919-660-4352

SPRING 2015

In keeping with the Duke Sustainability Initiative, The Spectrum will be going green. Beginning with the Spring 2016 issue, the magazine will be available online only with limited print issues.

We hope you continue to enjoy us online! If you care to share a story about your time at Duke, please feel free to contact us at polsci-news@ duke.edu.

As always, thank you for your continued support as we head into the next 80years at Duke.

Want to keep up with us all year long? Visit us at www.facebook.com/ DukePoliSci or follow us on Twitter @DukePoliSci.

Contents New Faculty............................6 Undergraduate......................10 Graduate................................32 Alumni Spotlight Daniel Lipinski.........................8 Judy Woodruff.......................20

facebook.com/DukePoliSci twitter.com/DukePoliSci

Adam Chodikoff......................32

Faculty in Focus Kyle Beardsley........................18 Erik Wibbels...........................22 Christopher Johnston...............30 Ole Holsti...............................31

the Spectrum Online http://issuu.com/dukepolsci

Managing Editor

Please recycle this magazine.

Vilay Nidiffer vilay.nidiffer@duke.edu

Contributors Gloria Ayee Kyle Beardsley Scott de Marchi Christopher Johnston David Klein

Courtney Orning-Packard Laura Satterfield Georg Vanberg Erik Wibbels

140 Science Drive 208 Gross Hall Box 90204 Durham, NC 27708 Office: 919-660-4300 Fax: 919-660-4330

polisci.duke.edu Cover photo: The Duke Blue Devil decal circa 1940’s courtesy of Duke University Archives

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80 Years of Excellence at Duke

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n the 80 years since it was founded, the Department of Political Science at Duke has grown from a tiny operation offering a handful of courses taught by a single professor to an internationally recognized institution known both for its world-class instruction and innovative research.

From the outset, the department has evolved in tandem with the salient strategy of the university, namely, to extend learning beyond the borders of school, state, and country to embrace a vision that is truly international in its outlook and reach.

Initially part of Trinity College’s Department of Economics and Social Science, the department attained its footing and became a separate entity under the stewardship of William Henry Glasson, a methodical, unprepossessing native of Troy, New York, who arrived at Trinity with a Columbia Ph. D in 1902 to serve as professor of political economy. During his first year, Glasson taught 63 students and had nine teaching hours per week. Although he’d been told to emphasize economics, there was an expectation that he would teach about sociology and social problems, and this was where he found himself most engaged. It became his focus. In 1908, when Glasson became head of the joint department, two courses were added to the curriculum, including “Principles of Political Science.”

In the beginning, Professor Glasson was the department itself. By 1924, when Trinity became an undergraduate school of Duke, almost half of the 13 courses offered by the joint department were in political science, the others were offered under the heading “Economics and Business Administration.”

In 1926, Glasson was appointed dean of the newly formed Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. His handpicked successor, Robert Wilson, was a courtly, Harvard-trained Texan who’d joined the department in 1925 and had made himself invaluable in the recruitment of new talent. Wilson’s first appointment was Robert S. Rankin, a Princeton Ph. D. with expertise in American state and local government who joined the faculty in 1927. Rankin was active politically and felt a deep attachment to Duke. Upon attaining a full professorship in political science, he wrote to his mentor at Princeton that he and Wilson aimed to create “one of the best Political Science Departments in the South.”

William Henry Glasson

Robert Wilson

It was Wilson who officially alerted Duke that the department of political science would be an independent entity. His letter dated June 25, 1934, notified the university that the newly created department would forthwith be educating students under its own aegis, and also included a request for Paul M.A. Linebarger

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“a steel filing case” in which to store correspondence and departmental papers.

Wilson may have attended to the small details, but his eye was on the frontier. He was determined to expand far beyond the current course offerings, which in 1935 were restricted to public or international law, American state and local government, and comparative government. Two years later, having secured the university’s approval, Wilson brought in Paul M.A. Linebarger, an expert in what was then called the Orient. Other significant appointments followed. At the dawn of the Second World War, the department had acquired a pronounced Harvard/ Princeton flavor by way of Texas, and experienced sustained growth. New hires included scholars with specialization in public administration, Latin American governments, and political theory.

In subsequent decades, the department’s evolution has mirrored that of the university. Peter Lange, a scholar of European politics who made internationalization a focus as chairman of the department, transferred that focus to the university’s long-term strategic plan when he was appointed provost in 1999.

The founders of the department were determined that it be a dynamic mix of academic rigor and innovation.

Today it comprises 31 permanent faculty members, along with numerous adjuncts and visiting scholars.

Currently there are 75 Ph.D. candidates and 16 pursuing master’s degrees, working on major research

initiatives in areas ranging from globalization to party politics. The department’s high national research ranking speaks to the intellectual experience it offers; its No. 2 ranking in student satisfaction speaks to the richness of that experience.

The vibrant intellectual community that has developed around the department is one reason political science has become such a popular choice among undergraduates. The increasing politicization of daily life means that the department consistently attracts students who are curious about the world and eager to make a difference in it.

Department Chairs throughout the 80 years Top Row: Robert R. Wilson Robert S. Rankin John H. Hallowell Ralph Braibanti James D. Barber Hugh Hall Ole Holsti

1936–1948 1948–1960, 1961–1964 1960–1961*, 1964–1971 1971–1972* 1972–1977 1977–1978 1978–1983

Bottom Row: Peter Fish 1981–1982* Allan Kornberg 1983–1989, 1991–1992 John Aldrich 1990–1991*, 1992–1996, 1999–2000* Peter Lange 1996–1999 Michael Munger 2000–2006, 2007–2010 Michael Gillespie 2006–2007* Karen Remmer 2010–2013 Jack Knight 2013–current

Duke University Archives/Duke Photography

*Acting Chair

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Ashley Jardina joined the department as assistant professor this fall. She earned her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan. Her research interests lie in understanding group conflict and the way in which group identities influence individuals’ political preferences and voting behavior in the United States. Her current focus is on the conditions under which racial identification among white Americans is a salient and significant predictor of policies, candidates, and attitudes toward racial and ethnic groups. ashley.jardina@duke.edu

Ashley Jardina: Making Sense of Race and Politics Talk about research serendipity.

Growing up in Richmond, Va., where racial conflict and politics have a long history, Ashley Jardina knew she wanted to explore those subjects in college. But she had no idea that while studying political science at the University of Michigan, the United States would elect its first black president, the citizenry would become more diverse and the mostly white tea party would emerge as a powerful political movement. “I realized political science was a way to answer some of the questions I was curious about,” she says. “I wanted to understand what the roots of racial politics are and why people hold particular racial attitudes. Of course, the election of Obama, for someone interested in race and politics, provides a wealth of research 6

opportunities. But race relations in the United States are also evolving as the country becomes increasingly diverse, and understanding the impact of these changes is important.”

This fall, Jardina began sharing her expertise as an assistant professor in Duke’s Department of Political Science, teaching courses on race and politics for graduate and undergraduate students. Specifically, Jardina’s research focuses on understanding racial attitudes in U.S. politics, and how groups form attitudes and identities that influence their political preferences. Her dissertation was on the significance of racial identification among whites, particularly with respect to their views on immigration and social welfare policies. “I think many people are anxious.

They’re concerned what the world will look like when whites are no longer the majority, and this outlook affects their political attitudes,” she says.

The salience of race and politics today make it an important time for Jardina to be covering the topic in the classroom, she says, noting that racial attitudes are a fundamental component of American politics. “Today, it’s impossible to pick up the newspaper or turn on the TV without encountering issues related to race, and so it’s especially exciting to talk with students and to have them think critically about these issues while exploring their own biases and perspectives,” she says.

Her expertise on questions of racial identity and political attitudes brings new insights to Duke’s research of American politics, says Jack Knight, department chair. “We think that students will be interested in what Ashley brings to classroom discussions of timely policy debates, including race relations and immigration, just to name two,” Knight says.

Jardina wants to examine the role of racial attitudes toward the death penalty and how racial prejudice differs based on geography. “Racial conservatism doesn’t just exist in the South,” she says, “it also exists in many other places in the U.S., and I’m interested in exploring geographic variation in these attitudes. I think people have misconceptions about the geographic distribution of racial attitudes, and they hold stereotypes about the South that might not be true, or at least not exclusive to the South.”

Jardina has an interest in gender politics, too.

Just as Obama’s presidential campaign increased the discussion about race in the United States, Jardina believes a Hillary Clinton presidential campaign will do the same for gender equality.

“I don’t know how well she’ll do,” Jardina says.

“My guess would be if the country is ready for a black president then they’re ready for a female president.”

Outside of work, photography has been her hobby for many years, and Jardina says she’s looking forward to exploring more of Durham and the surrounding area with her camera in tow.

by Steve Hartsoe, Senior Editor Duke University News Office

Much of Jardina’s research is influenced by social psychology and relies on experiments, an approach she says is becoming increasingly popular in the discipline but isn’t yet considered a conventional approach to political science. Her other work focuses on attitudes toward immigration among whites and blacks, how the media has helped

New Faculty

For Nura Sediqe, a second-year Ph.D. student in political science, the chance to study race and politics fits perfectly with her interests. “She is working on the forefront of new research in this arena,” says Sediqe, an Ohio native. “I was very excited to participate in her course and gain her perspective and guidance as I build my background on the role of race in American politics.”

shape attitudes toward Latinos over time, and how partisan politics have been influenced by the political parties’ positions on race and gender policies.

Read this story at Duke Today http://today.duke.edu/2014/09/jardina 7

Daniel Lipinski, Ph.D. ’98 Representative - Third District, Illinois

Dan Lipinski is a proud native of the Third Congressional District of Illinois, which includes parts of the southwest side of Chicago, southwest Cook County, and northeastern Will County. Now in his sixth term, Rep. Lipinski has distinguished himself as a champion of the middle class. He is a leader on transportation issues, the promotion of American manufacturing, job creation through research and technological innovation, strengthening Buy American laws, restoring fiscal responsibility, and honoring America’s veterans and seniors.

Q: When did you attend Duke?

1991-1998, grad school. Ph.D. in 1998.

student because of my background in economics and my mathematical abilities. I had only taken two intro-level poli-sci classes as an undergrad.

Q: Did you major or minor in anything other than political science?

Q: Who influenced you the most? What faculty member influenced you the most?

As a grad student I did not. But I did take some courses in other areas such as statistics, public policy, and speech. I wish I had taken more advantage of the Sanford School (then Institute). It was great that Sanford had people like William Raspberry and David Broder come in to teach when I was there.

There were a number of faculty members who had a big influence on me, especially because these were almost the first political science courses I had ever taken. It was not only learning the concepts but also learning what it is like to be a poli-sci professor.

I quickly learned that there is not one mold of extremely bright, intellectual people. David Paletz was an early influence on me as I studied political communication. As I moved more to studying Congress, Bill Bianco was my big influence. But my biggest influence was John Aldrich because he was not only the type of political scientist so many of us aspired to be, he was also an incredibly nice, generous guy.

Q: Why choose political science?

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I took an unusual path. After earning a BS in mechanical engineering from Northwestern University I made a last minute decision to not go to law school. Instead, I went to grad school at Stanford University, where I earned an M.S. in engineering-economic systems. But after a shortterm systems engineering job in Switzerland for Swissair, I decided that I wanted to go back to school so I could become a college professor. I figured if I was going to spend my life teaching and researching something, it should be what I love, which has always been government, politics, and public policy.

Duke took a chance on me as a political science grad

Q: What is your favorite memory from your time at Duke?

I will never forget the great discussions with my colleagues about all sorts of issues, both inside the classroom and outside. I didn’t realize at the time that I would probably never again be surrounded

constituents has helped me to be a better congressman and probably a better politician. My education at Duke undoubtedly makes me better at what I do.

Office of Congressman Dan Lipinski

Q: What advice do you have for current Duke students pursuing a political science degree?

by so many intelligent people at one time. I will also remember playing pickup basketball with my polisci colleagues and others at the on-campus gyms. I wasn’t any good, but they were fun times getting out of Perkins. I remember a couple of times watching former Duke players like Grant Hill and Johnny Dawkins playing pickup ball in Card Gym.

For undergrads I would say to make sure that you get a broad education, take advantage of the great opportunities to learn at Duke inside and outside the classroom, and keep your eyes and mind open to what you might want to do after you graduate. Don’t fall into the trap of just following typical pathways but pay attention to what interests you and what type of future you think you will find fulfilling. Always remember that you have been given a great privilege in attending Duke and think about how you can give to others in what you do. I think majoring in poli-sci gives the opportunities to be open to these types of thoughts.

Q: What outside interests do you have?

I am a runner (I run races from 5Ks to half-marathons) and cyclist. Duke was a great place for those activities.

I remember running at Duke with Ole Holsti, a great poli-sci professor and good person.

Q: What aspects of your education at Duke have you found most important after graduating?

Learning from my professors and my colleagues and being challenged constantly drove me to think more deeply and broadly and work harder. All of this still drives me today when I am looking at issues and working to solve problems.

Q: How do you think your experiences at Duke got you involved in what you are currently doing?

After teaching for a few years I decided that I wanted to try to get involved in the political process and I ran for Congress. David Price was certainly an inspiration for me as a poli-sci professor who made the leap into Congress.

David was on my dissertation committee during his brief hiatus from Congress. Studying Congress and doing my dissertation on the messages that members send to their

Duke Alumni Association Forlines House 614 Chapel Drive Box 90572 Durham, NC 27708-0572 P: (919) 684-5114 F: (919) 684-6022 http://dukealumni.com Forever Duke 9

2014 Senate Prediction Contest

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he act of making predictions, and imagining ways of modeling complicated processes of human interactions, is at the core of the social sciences. Yet, students rarely get to predict outcomes of such enormous substantive interest as were featured in the 2014 elections. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the first “direct” election of U.S. senators after passage of the Seventeenth Amendment, so attention was focused on the Senate anyway. Further, partisan control of the Senate was very much up for grabs, with a rare overload of contested races–36, including special elections in Hawaii, Oklahoma, and South Carolina–meaning that the Senate elections have been a core topic of conversation at dinner tables, in the media, and in faculty research.

The Department of Political Science and iiD (Information Initiative at Duke) held a contest to predict the outcome of each of the 36 Senate races.

The contest was open to all Duke undergraduates.

Ten students submitted entries by the Oct. 10, 2014, deadline. Entries were judged by which model best predicted the winners of each senate race. In the case of a tie, the winning model was the one closest to the actual margin of victory in each race (judged by the mean squared error of the models).

The predictions had to be made nearly a full

Jonathan Zhao First Place

month before the actual elections, making the task substantially more difficult than generating predictions a day before the election. As a point of comparison before revealing the results, let’s use Nate Silver’s predictions from early October as a benchmark. Silver missed 3 of the 36 races. Of our ten undergraduate competitors, one did not miss a single race, three had a success rate equal to Silver, and the remaining teams missed between four and six races each. While many teams used a variety of data sets for their work, including Silver’s own predictions, the winning teams mixed multiple sources and made their own adjustments for factors ranging from “momentum” to Twitter data to the perceived physical attractiveness of the candidates.

All of the models performed well in predicting the outcomes of each race as well as in predicting the margins of victory. For the first and second place winners, the models were on average off by less than 3 percent in each race, which compares favorably to the expert predictions taken from October.

ELE

20CT I O N 14

Congratulations to the winners!

Kevin Wu, Lilly Park, Eric Wu

Kyle Roter Second Place

Julian Morgan

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here’s no question that Republicans outperformed the polls and the predictions on election night 2014.

There is a question, though, about whether the GOP’s big win will amount to a legislative mandate or a significant change in gridlock. After the dust settles, Republicans will have no more than 54 seats in the Senate. If they pursue a largely partisan agenda, they will have trouble overriding vetoes from President Obama or even a potential filibuster by the new Democratic Senate minority. Compromise will need to be a fundamental part of the new Republican congressional majority in order to enact serious legislative change.

However, at the state level, the opposite may be true. Big pickups in gubernatorial elections (including Maryland and Illinois) could continue to usher in sweeping conservative legislation in many states. So what can we take away from this election?

LOOKING BACK and MOVING FOWARD

by Steve Brenner Jacob Zionce

Despite the lack of a demonstrated ability to set a mandate, the Republicans could benefit from the 2016 elections on two fronts. First, the length of Senate terms means that Republicans will hold a number of swing seats under the new president. Should Obama’s successor be a Republican, this could mean that the GOP will control the executive branch as well as both legislative bodies. Should a Democrat win in 2016, the sheer number of GOP wins will make it harder for their rivals to have a majority in the Senate. Second, the 2014 election could change the future of individual seats going forward. With the advantages of incumbency, seats traditionally held by Democrats, such as the one formerly held by Tom Harkin of Iowa, could now lean Republican.

The Democrats must simply find a way to recover from devastation. With a minority in both houses of Congress, Democrats are set to start playing legislative defense. The days of talking about big policy priorities (immigration reform, raising the minimum wage, etc.) are likely gone for awhile. One solution comes in the form of potential presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, but if Hillary decides not to run or has issues along the way, then what? The chances of outgoing Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) for a presidential run both took a hit, with O’Malley’s lieutenant governor, Anthony Brown, losing his bid and Warner only narrowly winning re-election. The real challenges will be for President Obama and the new Congress. Will the president simply bunker in and avoid any new Republican initiatives or will compromise become cool again in Washington? Unfortunately, gridlock has become commonplace in Washington, and this election just further proves that America’s government remains divided.

Brenner and Zionce are Trinity undergraduates who write for the Duke Political Review dukepoliticalreview.org

Background photo: Handpainted “No Vote, No Voice” student sign display at the Bryan Center/West Union quad walkway during election season

Samit Patel

Will Giles Trinity ‘15

The HONORS PROGRAM is designed to give the very best undergraduates in political science an intensive experience conducting a large, sustained, original research project. Under the direction of a faculty advisor, students use the appropriate methods from political science to answer a research question of their own devising, writing up the results in a significant research paper: the senior thesis.

I chose to complete a thesis for two reasons: I

THE UNDERGRADUATE 12

wanted to satisfy my intellectual curiosity by delving deeper into a topic of my choosing. I also sought to ascertain whether I enjoyed doing academic research enough to continue studying political science at the graduate level. Thus far, the thesis process has exceeded these expectations.

My thesis topic concerns what is known as “circuit riding.” From 1790 to 1911, Supreme Court justices were each assigned to a federal circuit (the court level below the Supreme Court) and required to sit as its circuit court judge. If the Supreme Court appealed a circuit case heard by a sitting Supreme Court justice, the justice could hear the case again and potentially affect the outcome of the court’s decision. The circuit-riding period is a significant portion of the Supreme Court’s history that has not been fully explored by the literature.

Thus, my thesis will quantitatively analyze circuit riding, seeking to discern the effect that circuit riding had upon the Supreme Court’s decision

making. Are Supreme Court cases heard by justices on circuit more likely to be affirmed than cases in which a justice did not sit on the circuit level?

Joining me on my thesis journey is Professor Georg Vanberg, whose academic focus is the Supreme Court. Professor Vanberg has provided invaluable advice and guidance throughout this process, as well as much-needed constructive criticism (I tend to be superfluous with historical quotes, for example.) He also keeps me on task by setting regular completion deadlines.

My thesis-writing experience has underscored two important points for future thesis writers. First, choose a topic that you are excited to research.

Completing a thesis should be less like a chore and more like a hobby. Secondly, make sure to select your faculty advisor wisely. Choose someone who is not only knowledgeable about the subject of your thesis but also cares about your personal growth. I am very fortunate to have taken the first class offered

by Professor Vanberg at Duke and for him to have taken me under his wing.

I would recommend writing a thesis to all students, no matter what major. The process allows a deeper knowledge of one’s chosen topic and oneself, and facilitates interaction with faculty members.

Will Giles is a political science and public policy double major. He is captain of the Duke women’s basketball scout team, a chief justice for the Duke Student Government Judiciary, and a staff writer for the Duke Political Review.

PIZZA

&

POLITICS

An Undergraduate Lunch and Learn Series

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his spring semester, the Department of Political Science launched “Pizza & Politics,” an undergraduate lunch and learn series that covers topics ranging from current events to career advice for political science majors.

The DPSS is a publication of the Duke University Department of Political Science that showcases outstanding research in political science by Duke undergraduates.

Previously published work addressed immigration policy in the EU, the influence of international election monitors, the role of Congress in foreign policy, and the relationship between economic interdependence and international conflict. The department publishes the Duke Political Science Standard every spring; the fifth issue is expected in spring 2015.

Duke Political Science Standard

DPSS

“A lot of students expressed interest in expanded opportunities to interact with faculty in more informal settings, to learn about how faculty research relates to contemporary issues, and to get advice on how to take advantage of what a political science degree has to offer for the various careers that our graduates pursue,” said Georg Vanberg, the acting

The Race Towards the Arctic: A Rejection of the Common Heritage of Mankind Norm Haoxiaohan Cai Brazil’s Lei de Anistia: A Time to Forget Andrew Kragie

Angell’s Missing Link: Why Peaceful Interdependence May Require Economic Voting David Allen

“Strategic Mindsets” in Assertive Chinese Foreign Policy Anand Raghuraman The Chosen People and the People Choosing: The Effects of Public Opinion and Congress on Pre-WWII U.S. Jewish Refugee Policy Jacob Zionce Volume IV Issue 1 Spring 2014

director of undergraduate studies in the department.

The workshops, which are held on Thursdays from noon to 1pm in Gross Hall, are an initiative to provide such an opportunity.

Peter Feaver, professor of political science and director of the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy, led the first workshop, “Working in the White House,” on February 5. Drawing on his extensive experience in the executive branch, including working for the National Security Council, Feaver spoke with about 40 students on how to make the most of their time at Duke and how to navigate the first few years after graduation in order to launch a successful career in Washington, D.C. The spring series included a wide variety of subjects.

Ashley Jardina, an assistant professor specializing in racial conflict and group identity, discussed contemporary issues surrounding race and the justice system. A workshop, led by David Siegel, an associate professor who specializes in terrorism, focused on terrorism and modern technology. Career-oriented workshops included a lunch with Gerald Wilson, senior associate dean and pre-law advisor at Duke, who led a session on preparing for law school, and a lunch with Erik Wibbels, professor of political science, who spoke on how to prepare for a career in the area of political and economic development.

“Our hope is that these lunches will break down some of the barriers between students and faculty, allow students to get to know faculty in a more personal setting, and help students to better navigate their path through the major in order to best prepare them for their intended career,” explains Vanberg.

THE UNDERGRADUATE

Bahar Levengtoglu Director of Undergraduate Studies 285 Gross Hall Box 90204 Durham NC 27708 (919) 660-4314 bahar.leventoglu@duke.edu

Georg Vanberg Acting Director of Undergraduate Studies (Spring ’15) 294G Gross Hall Box 90204 Durham NC 27708 (919) 660-4314 georg.vanberg@duke.edu

Suzanne Pierce Program Coordinator

Duke Photography

216A Gross Hall Box 90204 Durham NC 27708 (919) 660-4325 suzanne.pierce@duke.edu

polisci.duke.edu/undergraduate

Our students are trained to tackle the greatest political questions of our time.

Politics permeate every aspect of life, from local funding for public education to global challenges such as poverty and terrorism. When you study political science you gain practical knowledge and conceptual tools to pursue careers in law, business, journalism, public service, and education. The Duke University Department of Political Science is among the top in the nation. It fosters an environment of original research among its undergraduate majors. In addition to designing courses that provide opportunities for active learning, we provide a number of settings for students to develop and present their work.

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A Letter from

Lauren Blazing Trinity ’15

AN EQUAL PLAYING FIELD

Just two weeks before the 2014 field hockey season, when most teams were gearing up for preseason, the Cal team was getting some bad news: their field was being torn up to make room for a football practice field. For four months, the team, coaches, and staff would endure the added demands of bussing more than an hour each morning to Stanford’s turf for practice. At their “home games,” they would trade Berkeley’s blue and gold surroundings for the red and white of the Cardinal.

I feel extremely privileged to be able to attend Duke, where Title IX is upheld and respect is afforded to everyone on campus, but Cal Field Hockey’s struggle reminds us that there is still work to be done. I feel fortunate to be on a path that will give me the preparation and perspective I need in order to work to solve situations like these. As a political science

major, I’ve had the opportunity to study the history, anthropology, and politics of the law. My professors have encouraged me to stretch that thinking and apply it outside the classroom. Field hockey is my passion and others who feel the same way should not be pushed aside in the name of profit. I hope to pursue a career in law to help the athletics community navigate conflicts like those that occured at Cal.

Duke Photography

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uke’s first home field hockey game this season took place against Princeton, a known powerhouse in the field hockey world and a tough matchup. We were excited to see that our bleachers were full of fans and our locker room buzzed with energy as we awaited the starting whistle. We strode confidently onto the field and carried that confidence for the rest of the game, defeating the Tigers 1-0 for our first home win. We walked off our field proud to be wearing the Duke “D” on our jerseys. We never once considered that all of that could be taken away from us, but we soon learned that this was happening to a team much like ours.

Lauren is a political science and cultural anthropology double major. She joined the USA Field Hockey team as goalkeeper in 2014 while maintaining the same position with the Duke field hockey team. Lauren helped Duke reach the NCAA tournament elite eight in 2014 and to the national championship game the previous year. She has been awarded All-ACC and All-American distinctions and was recognized as a College Sports Information Directors of America (COSIDA) Academic All-American and National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Scholar of Distinction.

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Ralph Bunche Summer Institute

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he Ralph Bunche Summer Institute returned to Duke this summer.

Successful in attracting a new generation of scholars to political science, the institute is a five-week program that helps students interested in graduate study in political science to develop and improve their research and writing skills and gets them ready for a graduate career.

Named in honor of the scholar and diplomat who in 1934 became the first African-American to receive a Ph.D. in political science, the institute simulates the graduate school experience and encourages promising students from underrepresented backgrounds to apply to Ph.D. programs in political science. Bunche won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 and led the American Political Science Association.

“The most important lesson that I learned from this program is that I am capable of attaining a Ph.D. and pursuing a career in political science,” said Phillip Menard, a 2014 Bunche fellow. “While the path may be difficult, there are many benefits to joining the academy and becoming a producer of knowledge on topics that I am passionate about.”

The RBSI program began on the campuses of Southern

RBSI 16 Class of 2014

University and Louisiana State University in 1986 and changed locations several times before moving to its current location at Duke University in 2000. Duke Graduate School Dean Paula D. McClain, a professor of political science, directs the institute.

RBSI was cancelled in 2013 following the passage of the Coburn amendment, which restricted National Science Foundation (NSF) funding for political science programs. The restrictions limit NSF funding to programs or projects that are related to national defense, or that provide clearly defined economic benefits for the United States. Before the Coburn amendment was passed, RBSI had been jointly sponsored by the NSF, the American Political Science Association (APSA), and Duke University.

In July 2013, APSA announced the creation of the APSA Ralph Bunche Program Endowment Fund, a move designed to “ensure the long-term existence of Ralph Bunche Summer Institute and additional programming.” Duke and APSA have continued to provide financial support to RBSI, and last year 12 students from across the United States were admitted to the RBSI program.

More than 480 students have attended the institute since the program’s launch.

“I would encourage all students interested in politics to apply to the Bunche Program. RBSI was an essential professional experience for me, and I cannot think of a better way to have spent my summer.”

Elizabeth “Jordie” Davies, 2014 RBSI alumna

Paula McClain Dean of the Graduate School Vice Provost for Graduate Education Professor of Political Science Director, Ralph Bunche Summer Institute paula.mcclain@duke.edu

Doris Cross Assistant to the RBSI Director doris.cross@duke.edu

To learn more about the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute, please visit sites.duke.edu/bunche Donations can be made to the APSA Ralph Bunche Endowment Fund at www.apsa.org

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Never too early for research

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his past fall, Dr. Kyle Beardsley, associate professor, began a yearlong mentorship project with Taylor Kirk, a high school senior at the North Carolina School of Science and Math (NCSSM). The school offers a program that pairs students with research faculty in the Durham area. Students develop a research proposal and then carry the project to fruition under the guidance of the faculty mentor. The end products have included a research paper, a mini grant proposal, and oral presentations of findings.

Through this experience, Taylor will acquire skills not easily learned in the classroom, which will give her a head start in using her undergraduate experience to hone her research skills and collaborate with faculty mentors. Dr. Beardsley had a similar experience as a senior in high school, when he participated in a research design course and worked closely with a pharmacology lab at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.

While he ultimately focused on social science research, the experience gave him valuable insights into what the research process looks like and how evidence-based inferences are made. Dr. Beardsley has also benefited greatly from this partnership with Taylor, which has allowed him to consider an element of political violence he had yet to explore.

Specific to the research project at hand, Taylor is interested in the government’s role in managing and provoking inter-ethnic tensions in fragmented societies.

To provide Taylor a sense for what research in this area might entail, she spent a few months assisting one of Dr. Beardsley’s graduate students, Jared Daugherty, in the collection of data exploring the nexus between

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citizenship laws and inter-ethnic political violence in Southeast Asia. Taylor catalogued the major changes to citizenship laws in these countries and then reported on notable riots and protests that occurred. In conducting this analysis, Taylor acquired a firm understanding of how inter-ethnic tensions play out, and how they often vary from country to country.

Taylor is now working on her own independent project related to elite nationalist rhetoric and inter-ethnic tensions in Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia. The recent wars in Georgia and Ukraine, as well as the ongoing struggles in Chechnya, make Taylor’s project extremely relevant to understanding contemporary security concerns in Eurasia. Taylor has tracked down many of the speeches made by the president related to the respective conflicts and is coding them to identify the degree to which the leaders evoke nationalist differencing or reconciliation. The project recognizes that nationalism can serve as a double-edged sword; it can mobilize support for a leader from the ethnic base, but it can also entrench divisions that limit the state’s ability to achieve long-term security. In this vein, Taylor’s project will assess the interplay between elite rhetoric and inter-ethnic political violence. Both Taylor and Dr. Beardsley are hopeful that the project will shed new light onto the state’s role in shaping inter-ethnic hostilities in general, as well as the ongoing conflicts engulfing Russia and its neighbors.

To learn more about Professor Beardsley’s research, please visit people.duke.edu/~kcb38.

kyle.beardsley@duke.edu

EITM 2014 From June 16 through July 11 of last year, Duke University hosted the annual summer institute on EITM: Empirical Implications of Theoretical Models. The program gave 28 advanced graduate students and post-doctoral scholars an opportunity to gain and develop skills by working with senior scholars who are experts in theoretical and empirical research.

“The intent when [EITM] was created was to bring two groups of people together and help them benefit from each other’s approaches,” explained Alexandra Cooper, administrative coordinator for EITM and SSRI’s associate director for education. Some scholars, she said, are working on the theoretical side of political science, while others work with empirical research and analyze actual collected data. The problem with this divide is that theories are not always tested through real-world application, while empirical results are grounded in real-world data but not always guided by theory. The program also sought to encourage collaboration between empirical research and theoretical models.

“Now that we’ve got Gross Hall, we were really excited to be on [West] campus,” Cooper said.

The EITM group had access to classrooms as well as open lounge spaces, which proved conducive both to impromptu group discussions World

Although the EITM group kept to a strict schedule during the week, the process was rewarding. Participants were each assigned a faculty advisor, as well as being invited to present their work to the rest of the program. “While the 9 a.m.-to-4 p.m. lectures had been great and informative, what was really beneficial [to us] was what happened after those [presentations]— the conversations that continued outside of the classroom,” said Jacqueline Sievert, an assistant professor of political science and public affairs at Western Carolina University. “We were approaching questions in the same way, even though the substance of those questions was really different. I think [talking with participants and faculty] gave us a different type of feedback than we would normally get, only interacting with people in our subfield.”

The EITM Summer Institutes boasts more than 300 former students, many of whom return to serve as mentoring faculty and residents for the program. “There’s a real community that’s developed because, you know, 30 [EITM participants] a year…that starts to add up,” Cooper said. Indeed, many of the participants plan to re-connect at the American Political Science Association’s annual conference to be held in Washington, D.C. in late August.

Scott de Marchi Associate Chair and Professor of Political Science 2014 EITM Summer Institute Director

faculty in focus

Founded in 2001 by John Aldrich (Duke University), James Alt (Harvard University), Henry Brady (University of California at Berkeley), and Robert Franzese (University of Michigan), with the help of Jim Granato and Frank Scioli at National Science Foundation, the first EITM Institute was held at Harvard in summer 2002. Duke has since hosted the program twice, in 2004 and 2008. Last summer’s institute was the first time that the university was able to make use of the new facilities at Gross Hall.

Cup soccer viewing during leisure hours, Days were filled with a combination of lab instruction meetings, research seminars, and lectures on EITM methods by expert faculty. “It was an intensive program—a lot of summer programs are a week long, and this one was clearly trying to cover more information than many do,” explained Cooper. “It was a pretty big commitment, and it was also a pretty competitive application process.”

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Judy Woodruff, T ’68 Co-Anchor and Managing Editor of PBS Newshour

Q: When did you attend Duke?

I attended Duke from fall 1966 until spring 1968, when I graduated with a B.A. (I transferred from Meredith College in Raleigh, where I had started with a math major, but switched to political science.)

Q: Why choose political science?

I was fascinated with how people come together to make decisions that affect the larger community; how competing ideas and agendas are thrashed out and resolved; what motivates people to enter the political arena, and with trying to understand what makes some people successful in politics and others not.

Q: Who influenced you the most? What faculty member influenced you the most?

ALUMNI Q & A 20

There were two at Meredith: Dr. Carolyn Happer, who taught political science; and Dr. Ione Knight, who taught English. At Duke it was Dr. David Paletz and Dr. Alan Kornberg, both in political science. All had an infectious love of what they taught; even with their very different teaching styles, I was captivated.

Q: What is your favorite memory from your time at Duke?

Joining other protesters in the sit-in on the West Campus quad in the spring of 1968, in support of Duke’s non-academic employees, who were pushing for higher wages and unionization. This was in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. that April.

Q: What aspects of your education at Duke have you found most important after graduating?

There’s no doubt that the academic rigor I experienced at Duke was an important foundation for my love of learning in the decades since graduation. (And I can thank individual classes like mass communication and politics, the history of India and the Congo’s Civil War!) But equally important have been the connections I made with other students, faculty and administrators that have provided some of the vital building blocks of my personal life and my professional career.

Professors Leventoglu, Haynie, Knight and Grieco with Woodruff at graduation

Broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff is the Co-Anchor and Managing Editor of the PBS NewsHour with Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff.

She has covered politics and other news for more than three decades at CNN, NBC, and PBS, and was presented with the Duke Distinguished Alumni Award in May 2014.

She lives in Washington D.C. with her husband, journalist Al Hunt. They are the parents of three children: Jeffrey, Benjamin, and Lauren.

Q: How do you think your experiences at Duke got you involved in what you are currently doing?

saw reporters doing, and never considered turning to government and politics for a career again.

In 1967, the summer before my senior year, I was working in Washington as an intern for my congressman. As the summer wound to a close—my second summer in a row working on Capitol Hill— women who’d graduated from college and had more experience than I, advised me NOT to head to D.C. right after graduation. They discouraged me from starting out in a city and a field where women were, in their view, not welcome. I returned to Duke that fall, confused and at a loss about how to pursue my interest in politics and government somewhere other than Washington. I sought out Professor Paletz and Kornberg for advice; they encouraged me to think about “covering” politics as a journalist, something I’d never given thought to. But it was just the right suggestion: A lightbulb went off in my head, as I started to think about how I could explore a career in news, then turn back to government and politics in a few years. I decided to apply for an entry-level job in TV news, since I didn’t have the credentials to work for a newspaper (no clippings/no experience.) I was hired as the newsroom secretary by the then-ABC TV affiliate in Atlanta; went to work right after graduation.

That was the start; I quickly fell in love with what I

Q: What advice do you have for current Duke students pursuing a political science degree?

We need you! The problems we face at the local, state, national, and international levels are harder and more complex than ever—and we need the best and the brightest to jump into working in government, politics, and policy to help solve them. Don’t be discouraged by the gridlock and polarization you see in Washington and elsewhere; the stakes are too high for us to give up trying to make things better. We owe at least this much to our children and grandchildren, and those who come along after.

Q: What outside interests do you have?

The truth is, working in news is an all-consuming career. We’re always on duty in a sense. But besides my work, which I love and feel so fortunate to still be doing, my first priority is my family: my husband and three children. And when I have time, I love to read, travel, and go skiing. One of these days, when I have more time, I plan to go to the theater more, study history, and write a book or two.

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Understanding Slums: Evidence S

lums are rapidly expanding across the developing world. Centers of great economic dynamism in this era of globalization, large cities in countries as diverse as Indonesia, Ghana, and Brazil are also experiencing booming inequalities in occupations, lifestyles, and housing conditions. A few hundred yards from luxurybrand stores and glass-walled office towers, people are living in squalid settlements and close-packed slums. Despite the rapid growth of slums, knowledge about them—processes of settlement, trajectories over time, political and economic dynamics—remains rudimentary. These gaps in knowledge promote growing urban decay, segmented housing markets, the proliferation of squalor, corruption and wasteful expenditure, and rising inequalities in service provision.

Over the last several years, a substantial research team, including Anirudh Krishna and I, has been trying to understand the social and political dynamics that characterize slums in Udaipur and Bangalore, India. In doing so, we are exploring the extent of social mobility in slums and the varying capacity of their residents to achieve legal recognition and basic public services.

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Our efforts have combined extensive surveys of every single household in four slums, traditional sampling surveys in 64 slums, and neighborhood surveys of approximately 240 slums. In Bangalore, we have also combined our geo-coded neighborhood surveys with satellite imagery as a means of identifying slums from space and are working with remote-sensing scientists to developing algorithms that will automate and refine our capacity to map slums in other cities and track their trajectories over time using imagery of different vintages.

This project builds on ongoing work embodied in the Pathways to Prosperity (P2P) study, a collaborative venture between Duke University’s Bass Connections Initiative, the Jana Urban Foundation, and the Indian Institute of Management (in both Bangalore and Udaipur). P2P began in 2010 as a response to the inadequate body of knowledge about the characteristics and dynamics of urban poverty. So far, the project has involved Duke and India-based faculty, undergraduate students, and graduate students in social work, the visual arts, political science, management, engineering, computer science, public policy, and finance, as well

from Satellites and Surveys in Urban India Jennifer Stratton

as individuals at the Jana Urban Foundation, one of India’s largest and most prominent NGOs providing services to the urban poor.

Ultimately, the project will provide original insight into the factors that condition the capacity of the urban poor to achieve formal recognition of slums, private property rights, and better public services.

This knowledge will help inform foreign aid,

government, and civil society policy programming, and we are in ongoing discussions with actors from each of these sectors to help inform the next generation of policymaking on urban poverty in the development world. Krishna and I are busily writing grant proposals in an effort to expand the research to other cities and countries in the developing world.

e.wibbels@duke.edu

faculty in focus

Erik Wibbels is a professor of political science. His teaching and research focus on development, decentralized governance, and other areas of political economy.

Learn more about his research at sites.duke.edu/wibbels.

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Simon Weschle Political Economy

Simon Weschle is a Ph.D. candidate studying political economy and methodology.

His research focuses on representation in democratic societies, specifically the political activity of special-interest groups and ways their money enters politics, the effect of the financial crisis on parties’ ability to represent societal conflicts, and economic voting. He also works on applied statistical methods, with a focus on Bayesian approaches. His research has been published in the American Journal of Political Science, Electoral Studies, and Business and Politics, among others. For more information about Simon and his work, visit www.simonweschle.com.

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pecial interest money plays an important role in politics. For example, Indian ex-minister A. Raja is currently on trial for his alleged role in irregularities during the allocation of cellphone spectrum licenses.

He is accused of having rigged the procedure in favor of specific companies and suspected of accepting bribes in excess of $500 million.

While bribes to politicians are common in many parts of the world, they are by no means the only way for special-interest money to enter politics. For example, former U.S. representative Walter Minnick acknowledged that he devoted between two and three hours every day to raising between $10,000 and $15,000 in campaign contributions.

A final example of special-interest money comes from Germany, where in September 2005 then-chancellor Gerhard Schröder signed an agreement to build a controversial gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

Less than three months later, he left office and accepted a handsomely paid position as board chairman of the consortium building said pipeline.

These examples all describe situations in which special-interest money enters politics. But in each case, it does so in a different way. Is there

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something systematic about this? Simon Weschle’s research investigates whether and in what way special interest money enters politics. The central argument he makes is that bribes, campaign contributions, and so-called revolving door jobs can act as functional substitutes. Whether they are a common type of specialinterest money is a strategic choice, one that depends on legal and institutional as well as political characteristics.

In his dissertation, Simon develops this argument with a formal model and then examines its empirical implications in a series of studies. For example, his analysis of the asset growth of Indian politicians running in two consecutive elections showed that the larger the margin of victory in the first election, the bigger the wealth increase of incumbents over the next few years. Simon attributes this growth to lowered reelection campaign expenditures providing more leeway for personal enrichment.

In another study, Simon looks at the “revolving door,” an increasingly common practice in many advanced industrial societies where bribes and campaign contributions are heavily regulated. Looking at the 50 U.S. states, he summarizes that politicians in states with stricter limitations on campaign contributions by special interests are more likely to go through the

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Mark Dudley American Politics

Mark Dudley is a Ph.D. candidate studying political behavior in American politics. His broader research interests include the intersection of geography and politics, congressional elections, and representation. He is currently completing his dissertation research linking the institutional side of redistricting to behavioral aspects, such as the representation of minority communities and the strategic decisionmaking of candidates. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Mark received his undergraduate degree in political science from Washington University in St. Louis.

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ark Dudley is conducting his dissertation research merging the study of congressional redistricting in the United States with data and analysis techniques employed in geographic information systems (GIS). Within this broad category, he is seeking to address three areas of substantive scholarship: how redistricting impacts the reelection decision of incumbents, how minority representation and efficacy are impacted by district types, and how varying methods of drawing district boundaries achieve different redistricting objectives. Mark was inspired to study this topic after taking the American Politics seminar course, co-taught by Prof. John Aldrich.

These research topics are often best explored through the discipline of political science. Beyond the clear alignment of the substance of his research within the discipline, the established theories and research methodologies of political science make the fit more apparent. But further still is the increasing interdisciplinarity of political science— specifically with the growing usage of GIS data and analysis in order to tackle questions of politics. Where many of these research questions were unanswerable by the discipline just a few short years ago, the tools and techniques of GIS, united with the theory and methodologies of political science, are making possible the pursuit of this research endeavor.

Following the completion of his dissertation, Mark plans to pursue a joint career in academic administration and instruction. He was led to this path after multiple experiences engaging with Duke undergraduates both in and out of the classroom. In addition to serving as an instructor in the department, he is currently coordinating the 16 undergraduate students writing honors theses in political science.

revolving door after leaving office.

“Special-interest money and the influence it buys is a concern for people around the world. It’s important that we have a nuanced understanding of the ways it enters politics.” In the future, he wants to expand his research to examine the consequences of the different types of special-interest money on policy. “Ultimately,” Simon says, “this is a project about the quality of democratic representation.”

G RA D UAT E S E AT

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THE GRADUATE

The Political Science Department at Duke University places graduate research and training at the core of its mission. Three features define our approach to graduate education: ambition, innovation, and rigor. Our students explore questions ranging from the micro political economy of development to the origins of state capacity; the relationship between ethnicity and conflict; the interplay between religion, money, and politics, and the ability of voters to articulate preferences in complex issue spaces. Led by a devoted group of scholars at the cutting edge of their respective fields, Duke graduates are pushed from the very beginning to tackle challenging problems with the most suitable theoretical and methodological skills.

This requires constant innovation and curiosity, both within political science and across the disciplines. We pride ourselves in our ability to work with and benefit from departments across the social sciences to ensure our students have access to the appropriate tools to tackle questions at the frontier of the discipline. With this goal in mind, our students learn very early on to collaborate with faculty in creative and rigorous ways. In addition to a demanding sequence of courses during the first two years, our graduates begin working with faculty from the very first day, to gain an appreciation of the challenges involved in producing innovative research.

This paves the way to their own intellectual development, the first milestone of which is a solo-authored research paper to be presented to the department during their third year in the program. From that point on, until the completion of the dissertation in year five, the focus is primarily on independent research. Our goal is to produce scholars capable of pushing the frontiers of the discipline over the course of their careers.

Across all of our fields, we help students develop their best work. Our students achieve placement in the very best academic, public, and commercial organizations.

Pablo Beramendi polisci.duke.edu/graduate

Director of Graduate Studies 207 Gross Hall | Box 90204 Durham NC 27708 (919) 660-4336

pablo.beramendi@duke.edu 26

Daniel Krmaric International Relations

Daniel Krcmaric is a Ph.D. candidate in the field of security, peace, and conflict. His research interests are at the intersection of international relations and comparative politics, with a general focus on how international and transnational factors affect domestic politics. He will be joining the faculty at Northwestern University this fall. For more on Dan, visit www.danielkrcmaric.com.

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an Krcmaric’s research examines how international justice affects civil conflict, a topic that has received a great deal of attention in the public sphere. Indeed, the international arrest warrants for leaders such as Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi and the Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo generated controversy and provoked debate on the merits of international justice in the op-ed pages of world newspapers. With only a few exceptions, however, political scientists have been slow to study the effects of international justice.

Dan has found that the “justice cascade”—the recent trend toward holding leaders accountable for gross human rights violations—produces both positive and negative effects by influencing the post-tenure fates of leaders. On the negative side, the justice cascade inadvertently exacerbates conflict. By undermining the possibility of a safe exile for culpable leaders, the pursuit of international justice incentivizes such leaders to cling to power and gamble for resurrection during conflicts when they would otherwise flee abroad. On the positive side, the justice cascade deters atrocities.

Precisely because leaders know that committing gross human rights violations will decrease their exit options if they need to flee abroad, international justice effectively increases the cost of atrocities. Taken together, these results form the justice dilemma: ex ante deterrence and ex post gambling for resurrection are two sides of the same coin.

In terms of policy implications, Dan’s work highlights the tension between two common goals: atrocity prevention and conflict resolution. Consider, for example, the case of embattled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. On the one hand, if the United States and its allies create a safe exile option for Assad, other leaders will realize that Western powers are not serious about enforcing international criminal law. As a result, other leaders will not be deterred when contemplating their own campaigns of mass killing. Yet, giving Assad a golden parachute would help resolve the devastating conflict in Syria. On the other hand, if the United States and its allies insist that Assad be tried as a war criminal, he will have incentives to fight until the bitter end. Consequently, the violence in Syria will continue longer than it might otherwise. However, prosecuting Assad will send the message to other brutal dictators that Western powers will not tolerate such atrocities, creating a deterrent effect. Looking ahead, policymakers face difficult choices on whether to prioritize preventing atrocities or resolving intractable conflicts.

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Laura Lazarus Frankel Behavior and Identities

Q: Why political science?

Driven by a deep commitment to equity, I spent most of my professional life prior to graduate school working in social justice advocacy. Many of these experiences involved teaching or encouraging others to think critically about existing systems of power. Through this work, I’ve become increasingly convinced that interrogating these structures, and engaging others to do the same, are foundational steps toward social change. Having always been an insatiably curious person, my desire to systematically investigate the political world developed organically. The project of political science, as I view it, is to adeptly and dispassionately examine “who gets what, where, and how.” In this way, it’s quite a natural fit.

Coming from a family of policy wonks and political junkies, you might even say I went into the “family business.”

Graduate Q&A 28

Q: What are you currently working on? Tell us about your dissertation.

I’m currently working on the first of three chapters of my dissertation research, which are broadly themed around the politics of gender and identity. For this first paper, I use original survey data from the 2012 CCES to explore how an individual’s gender (masculinity and femininity), as opposed to their sex (male/female), affect their engagement with politics, generally, and likelihood to run for office, specifically. While we know a lot about differences between men’s and women’s political engagement and also about how gendered perceptions of others affect political outcomes, we don’t yet understand how people’s perceptions of their own gender translate into political action. The second chapter focuses on survey methodology—my second love—and the effects of interviewer sex on nonresponse and response bias. The final chapter revisits the issue of political ambition and explores whether concern about not

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aura Lazarus Frankel is a Ph.D. candidate and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow whose work focuses on gender and politics, survey methodology, public opinion, and communication. Laura’s dissertation explores how gender socialization affects citizens’ political engagement, efficacy, and ambition. She holds a Certificate in Survey Methodology from the Odum Institute for Social Science Research and currently works as a Fellow for the Program for Advanced Research in the Social Sciences (PARISS) at Duke. Additionally, Laura has worked in the areas of intimate partner violence and sexual assault for almost a decade. She serves on the board of directors for the Compass Center for Women and Families in Chapel Hill and works as a support group facilitator and community educator with the Orange County Rape Crisis Center.

being attractive to men contributes to low levels of political ambition among women. Results from these analyses will further inform advocacy efforts aimed at increasing political equity.

Q: Who influenced you the most? What faculty member influenced you the most?

At Duke, working with and learning from my adviser Sunshine Hillygus, both inside and outside the classroom, has been one of the most formative experiences of my professional life.

She has this incredible and understated way of teaching by showing—throwing you into the deep end of something long before you think you’re ready. When I first arrived at Duke, Sunshine immediately brought me on to an existing project and expected me to capably collaborate. She sets a high bar and empowered me to rise to the occasion.

Sunshine has tremendous faith in her students— sometimes more than they do in themselves—and, importantly, she gives them opportunities that reflect this faith. She is always in her students’ corner and working with their best interest at heart. Working with Sunshine has taught me more political science, surveys, research, teaching, and mentoring than nearly any other professional experience in my life. I feel truly fortunate to be her advisee.

Q: What are your goals after Duke?

After Duke, I will use the skills and theoretical frameworks learned here to encourage others to think critically about existing systems of power and their place in those systems. I see many avenues through which to do this. You’ll likely find me in the classroom, running a campus women’s center or institute for gender research, or outside of academia entirely. I’m excited to hit the ground running.

Duke University Graduate School 2127 Campus Drive Box 90065 Durham, NC 27708 USA 919-681-3257 http://gradschool.duke.edu/

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I

s political ideology a natural extension of personality, perhaps even biology? A growing literature argues that citizens are indeed predisposed to lean left or right.

Political attitudes appear to be at least partly heritable, and are associated with relatively stable physiological and personality differences across citizens. The most influential theory is that right-wing values are appealing to citizens who are particularly sensitive to threat and loss, and thus risk-averse when it comes to politics. This results in a cluster of attitudes we might term cultural

care most about signaling their cultural commitments to themselves and other people.

What is particularly interesting is that both hypotheses seem to be correct at least some of the time. Among citizens who largely tune out when it comes to politics the instrumental hypothesis works well: risk-averse citizens show greater support for social welfare. Among politically attentive citizens however—who are aware of the ideological packages disseminated by elites—these

Personality, Parties, and Public Opinion

Duke Photography

conservatism, and includes support for traditional norms and values and a tendency to draw sharp boundaries between in- and out-groups. Given this historical focus on cultural views, however, we know far less about how personality and biology shape attitudes on economic issues like social welfare.

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In my current research I try to understand how traits related to risk preferences structure economic opinion in U.S. politics. My primary claim is that these traits pull people in two opposing directions. On the one hand there is a natural tendency for risk-averse citizens to support left-wing policies aimed at reducing downside economic risk through redistribution, social insurance, and regulation. I consider this the instrumental hypothesis because it suggests that citizens care most about what policy outcomes would be best for themselves and their families. On the other hand there is a politically conditioned tendency for risk-averse citizens to oppose left-wing economic policies, because political parties have packaged these with the broader concept of “liberalism” in the U.S.—a concept which is strongly tied to progressive cultural and lifestyle issues. I consider this the social-expressive hypothesis because it suggests citizens

traits promote opposition to left-wing economic policies through cultural attitudes. My colleagues and I are currently finishing a book to be published next year that will report these findings. I am also currently collecting new data to examine the relationship of risk preferences to economic opinion with more innovative methods. In one study I use a new, more efficient approach for eliciting risk preferences through choices over gambles with real stakes, allowing for the use of more representative samples in these tasks. I am also collecting data with a graduate student for two studies that use physiological and cognitive measures of sensitivity to threatening stimuli in place of self-report measures of personality.

In all of my research the goal is to understand the deeper impulses that give rise to our political opinions in order to better understand the meaning of the left-right divide: what really motivates us? For many of us I think, and especially for people who care a lot about politics, economic policy attitudes are best understood as signals of our cultural commitments rather than instrumental judgments about the desirability of policy outcomes.

While this may seem irrational, it is important to remember that we rarely have any influence over policy outcomes, but because parties package diverse issues together, the economic opinions we express signal a lot about who we are, and thus have implications for how we understand ourselves and how we are evaluated by others we care about.

Christopher Johnston is an assistant professor of political science.

He teaches courses in public opinion, political behavior, and political methodology, with an emphasis on the application of psychological theory and methods to mass politics. For more on Chris, visit sites.duke.edu/chrisjohnston.

christopher.johnston@duke.edu

Ole Holsti

My 36-year career at Duke came to a rather abrupt end in 2009 shortly after receiving a diagnosis of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. I then moved to Salt Lake City, where daughter Maija (an associate professor of pediatric emergency medicine), son-in-law Brad, and grandsons Aksel and Mikko live.

I continue to be engaged in research and writing, but on a reduced scale for two reasons: fatigue tends to set in late in the day, and political science takes a back seat to watching Aksel and Mikko play soccer, hockey, and other sports. As the family lives only five blocks away, we also have dinner together most nights of the week.

Publications since retirement: American Public Opinion on the Iraq War, Univ. of Michigan Press, 2011; Revised and updated chapter, “Regional Associations: Alliances,” Encyclopedia of Government and Politics,” Routledge, in press; “Public Opinion on War and the Military,” Encyclopedia of Military Science, SAGE, 2013.

1939, the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, and the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003—with a focus on the latter case. With some further revisions I plan to submit it for publication.

In October 2014 I was invited to deliver a keynote address at the 40th anniversary of Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas, or CIDE, a small elite university in Mexico City.

CIDE offers four B.A. programs, two M.A. programs, and a Ph.D. program in public policy.

Its mission is to prepare students for careers in public service. My address, “Public Opinion and Foreign Policy: An Overview,” was very well attended and was followed by a long and stimulating discussion with faculty and students.

My very gracious hosts provided a full-day bus tour that included many of the most interesting sites in Mexico City.

I continue to receive exceptional medical care at the Huntsman Cancer Center here. Jon Huntsman Sr., father of the former governor of Utah and ambassador to China, has donated some $600 million to the center. I met him for the first time when I had chemo, as he was visiting the center on its tenth anniversary. I only learned a few months later, at my 60th high school reunion, that we both graduated from Palo Alto H.S., but we did not overlap as he graduated in 1954, four years after me. Someday I hope to meet him again so we can compare favorite teachers at that great school.

I continue to indulge myself in several hobbies: writing letters to the editor, race walking 8 to 10 miles each day, and occasional races ranging from 5K to half-marathon. The races are especially fun when members of my family also enter them.

faculty in focus

I took part in the International Studies Association conferences in San Francisco and Toronto, as well as in the ISA/West conferences in Pasadena in 2013 and 2014. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that ISA/West has established an annual Ole R. Holsti Distinguished Scholar Award, to be based on scholarship, teaching and mentorship, and service to ISA. At the 2014 ISA/ West conference I delivered a keynote address, “Present at the Creation,” that discussed the international, institutional, and individual contexts at the time ISA was created in California in 1958, just as I was entering graduate school at Stanford. I also prepared a paper, “When Great Powers Invade Small Countries: The Issue of War Crimes.” A revised version of a lecture at Duke in September 2013, it analyzed four cases of great power aggression—the German invasion of Poland in 1939, the Soviet invasion of Finland in

Maija Holsti

Professor Emeritus

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ADAM CHODIKOFF, T ’93 Senior Producer, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Frank Fournier/Contact Press Images

Adam Chodikoff loved comedy growing up, yet he also had an interest in current events and journalism.

His comedic and political interests are the ideal combination for the chief researcher and fact-finder on a late-night political satire show.

Q: Why choose political science?

Growing up I always loved the struggle for power. I would go to the library and read old Art Buchwald collections. He was writing all these columns about Dean Rusk and Robert McNamara. I didn’t know what the heck I was doing, but I found those funny and I liked “Doonesbury” and SNL. That’s more comedy related, but I was always interested in politics, especially American elections, and then I later developed this interest in just pure policy. If I had gone to another school I may have gone the more traditional TV/communications routes. For Duke I think poli-sci was the right choice. It certainly helps with my current job.

Q: What aspect of your education at Duke have you found to be the most important since graduating?

Definitely for my job, having an interest in how American politics work. How a bill becomes a law— beyond Schoolhouse Rock. How Congress works, how the committee system works. The relationship between the various branches—that definitely helps, especially with something like our coverage of the Zadroga bill, which was something that we covered four years ago.

That’s the 9/11 first responders bill, and how that was being stymied in Congress and what path it had to 32

take and who’s blocking it and what they had to do to pass it. That was a big push for us, something we very intensely covered. So that’s where my [political science] background really came to the fore. During our coverage of that, you can look at those things on Dailyshow.com, and you can track it and even when we weren’t doing it, just to keep focus on it and what’s the next step and who’s blocking it and who are the key people stymieing it. We do probably the most in-depth coverage of Congress of any late-night show in history. We cover hearings, floor debates, and filibusters, so that is something where a poli-sci background helped. I’m the go-to guy on the show for that sort of thing. So Jon, or the writers will ask me to explain: What’s going on here, what’s the update? So it helps to be able to read between the lines or give flesh to just plain old newspaper stories.

Another important part of my job is to help prepare Jon for our big interviews with politicians and pundits: Barack Obama, Marco Rubio, Susan Rice, Charles Krauthammer, etc. Again, my Duke poli-sci training proves to be valuable. My understanding of government helps me to formulate questions, arguments, and counterarguments for the interview segments. Digging deep into politics and policy can produce excellent fodder for those segments.

Q: What advice do you have for current Duke students pursuing a political science degree?

I think it’s a great major. It’s hard for me because I’m not the typical student. I guess most polisci majors go to law school or go to work in D.C. I didn’t do any of those things. I really took the path less taken.

My advice ventures more how to get your start in TV, but I consider it to be a good allaround major. You can’t go wrong knowing how the political process works. The war goes on every day, the war between the parties, and the war between the various media outlets. It grows more and more intense, and having the comprehension of how things really work in D.C. and the legislature is an advantage. It can help you in various other fields; it’s helped me in my extremely, extremely unique field. Usually when I’m asked for advice, it’s how do I break into the business? If you’re trying for some other late-night, basic-cable political satire show, a poli-sci major is going to be a big boon and a big advantage. I guess that’s the best advice I can give.

Q: What is your favorite memory from your time at Duke?

So, the call went out, “Get us the Daily Show boy!” That was the biggest honor, 20 years after graduating, and [seeing] the banner outside of the Bryan Center, where I hung out between classes for four years, and coming back down and seeing a big picture of me outside of the Bryan Center. I took that down, and now it’s hanging in my little cubicle area.

Q: What are your outside interests?

Movies, I’m a big movie fan.

TV, obviously, my life’s work is TV. Reading, I always carry something with me.

Even outside of work I read politically themed books, I just finished The Invisible Bridge by Rick Perlstein, and I just finished the Matt Bai book (about Gary Hart) All the Truth Is Out. Outside of work I’m doing this for fun. But I also mix it up. I mix between books on politics and media and books about showbiz.

I have a wacky job. I tell people it’s a made-up job at a made-up show. I thought I’d be working on Capitol Hill or something. But the world of late-night basic-cable news-spoof comedy was too big a lure.

I was there for the back-to-back championships, so that’s, I guess, the most exuberant memory; We won in ’91 and ’92, and the celebrations and watching them in Cameron. And losing in ’90 to UNLV. People were coming back crying from that game! That was intense!

The biggest honor was being asked to be the keynote speaker last year for the Duke Media special (DEMAN). Even though it was because their first choice cancelled. Annabeth Gish was their first choice, who was in my class, so going into it I wasn’t even the preeminent member of my own class. But then she got an acting job.

Share your story with us, polsci-news@duke.edu. #WhatsYourForever

ALUMNI Q & A

Pride and being able to keep my head above water in one of the top schools in the world, and being able to graduate with a decent GPA and being academically competitive and being able to keep up with the top students and the top professors.

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Your Gift to Political Science...

So we can remain one of America’s most innovative departments, we need the support of friends and alumni. Projects or activities that discretionary gifts will be used to support include the following: • Undergraduate research, including travel for fieldwork and presentation of original research at professional conferences • Graduate student research and travel expenses for fieldwork and presentations of research at professional meetings • Speakers of professional and public interest • Scholarly awards to undergraduates • Support for the undergraduate honors program

Give a Gift to Duke 30 YEARS OF GIVING

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udge Jerry Stone (T ’44, JD ’48) has been a benefactor for the past 30 years. His gift is awarded to the best and brightest political science students in the areas of American government and constitutional law, American national, state, and local government, and for exemplary leadership and academic achievement. Judge Stone began this fund out of his appreciation to Professor Robert S. Rankin. He remembers Professor Rankin fondly, saying, “he bubbled” among his students and peers. Stone recalls a vast number of faculty who helped enrich not only his time at Duke but the Duke community as well. But it was Professor Rankin who stood out among them through his love of teaching.

Robert Stanley Rankin (1899–1976) began teaching political science at Duke in 1927. He served as department chair from 1949–1964. He specialized in American constitutional law, political institutions, and civil liberties.

Rankin was also a founder of the Southern Political Science Association and served as its president in 1931. In 1960 President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, on which he served until his death. The commission named its library, the Robert S. Rankin National Civil Rights Library, in his honor.

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Judge Stone practiced law in Hillsborough, N.C., where he now lives, for several years before joining the National Labor Relations Board in 1954. He was an attorney there and in Washington D.C., and was a judge for the NLRB for most of his career. After retiring from the NLRB, he served as an arbitrator, with a focus on disputes involving coal mines.

When you support the Political Science Department, your contribution also counts in the university-wide fundraising campaign, Duke Forward. With the help of donors like you, Duke is seeking $3.25 billion in philanthropic investments by June 30, 2017, to help shape new solutions and prepare the leaders and problem-solvers our future requires.

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