Category: Uncategorized

September 1, 2022September 1, 2022

The Junior Americanist Workshop Series Pre-Conference

PIs: Joshua McCrain, Assistant Professor, University of Utah; Austin Bussing, Assistant Professor, Sam Houston State University; Leach Christiani, Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Alexander Furnas, Research Assistant Professor, Northwestern University; Christina Ladam, Assistant Professor, University of Nevada, Reno; David Miller, Assistant Professor, East Tennessee State University; Rachel Porter, Assistant Professor, Notre Dame

Grant Amount and Grant Fund: $9,943, Second Century Fund

Project Abstract: The Junior Americanist Workshop Series (JAWS) is a virtual workshop created during the pandemic in order to provide opportunities for graduate students, post-docs, non-tenure track faculty, and early-career tenure-track faculty studying American politics to present their research, receive feedback, and network with peers. JAWS was designed to help fill the gap caused by canceled conferences, professional development opportunities, and networking events. Since September 2020, JAWS has held 20 panels with nearly 900 participants, as well as 3 professional development roundtables – all virtual and free of charge. The APSA Summer CCRG grant will fund the first JAWS in-person pre-conference ahead of the MPSA annual meeting in 2023. We will be able to defer most costs for junior-career individuals selected to present, while also paying a stipend to encourage established scholars to serve as discussants. We will also facilitate meals and networking opportunities. The event will be open to anyone (conditional on space limitations).

September 1, 2022September 1, 2022

Politicians’ Attitudes towards Democracy: Surveying the Argentine Congress

PIs: Scott Mainwaring, Professor, Notre Dame University; Sandra Botero, Associate Professor, Universidad del Rosario; Carlos Gervasoni, Associate Professor, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella

Grant Amount and Grant Fund: $10,000, William A. Steiger Fund for Legislative Studies

Project Abstract: We plan to undertake a pioneering survey of Argentine federal deputies’ and senators’ attitudes toward democracy. The survey will allow social scientists, policy analysts, and historians to systematically measure how Argentine members of congress perceive tradeoffs between democracy and other potentially desirable outcomes. These are vital questions in contemporary social science and for the world of democratic practice and policy at a time of democratic backsliding in many countries around the world.

Since the end of the Cold War, the most common path to democratic breakdowns has been incremental processes by which the executive gradually crushes democratic checks and balances and tilts the playing field. Illiberal executives supported by illiberal parties have led all of these executive takeovers. Therefore, understanding variation in how members of congress perceive tradeoffs between democracy and other desirable outcomes is a key question for democracy worldwide.

This project will be the first one to design, pretest, and field an extensive battery of questions to systematically measure politicians’ attitudes toward democracy. We hope that our project will inspire similar efforts in other countries and parts of the world. If parties’ attitudes toward democracy are crucial for understanding when democracy is likely to be under threat, capturing this fact by directly surveying members of congress would be enormously useful. Our project will also generate new knowledge on the methodology of surveying congresses in subject matters prone to high social desirability bias—what we learn about what works and what doesn’t.

September 1, 2022September 1, 2022

Choosing Chains? On the Incarceration of FN Offspring in French Prisons

PI: Shirley Le Penne, Ph.D. Candidate, Cornell University

Grant Amount: $2,500, Second Century Fund

Project Abstract: Delving into the trauma generated by the Algerian War of Independence led by the FLN, Shirley Le Penne analyzes in her research its impact on Algerian experiences of incarceration in French prisons today. While scholarship on the punishment and incarceration of Algerians, both as colonial and national subjects, has moved forward, knowledge on the perpetuation of these practices in today’s France is still lacking. Yet, Algerians, by nationality or origin, are now incarcerated at unprecedented rates – by the very state that has oppressed their ancestors. How do Algerians make sense of their journey from colonization to immigration to incarceration to release in and by France? To what extent does the political legacy of their grandparents inform their experience of imprisonment? By tracing the carceral experience of FLN offspring in French prisons, this project aims to broaden our understanding of the interplay between (post)colonialism, intergenerational trauma, and incarceration.