political science

Clarissa Rile Hayward of Washington University in St. Louis is part of a new, all-women, racially and ethnically diverse editorial team that will lead her discipline’s flagship journal, the American Political Science Review (APSR). The American Political Science Association’s announcement of the new team comes at a time when diverse voices are underrepresented in both the authorship and editorship of many academic journals.

James L. Gibson, PhD, the Sidney W. Souers Professor of Government in the Department of Political Science in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, received a grant of more than $225,000 from the National Science Foundation for his project titled “Collaborative Research: Testing Models of Representation and Institutional Design in the State Courts’ Consideration of Inequality.”

Politicians who take a stance on tax increases, immigration reform, marijuana legalization and other controversial issues have the power to sway voter opinions in their favor and they can do so without fear of backlash, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of California-Berkeley.

A multiweek visit to the United States by Burmese lawmakers kicked off with a two-day intensive workshop on constitutional reform conducted by David S. Law, professor of law and of political science at Washington University in St. Louis. The curriculum included mechanisms and strategies for amending a constitution; options for structuring a federal system of government; the decentralization of control over natural resources; protection of minority rights; the role of the judiciary in promoting democracy and enforcing constitutional guarantees; and strategies for promoting the rule of law. Law was selected to conduct the workshop for his interdisciplinary background and expertise on global constitutionalism, constitutional drafting, design of government institutions, and Asian constitutionalism in particular.​

Photo by Joe AngelesHarry and Susan Seigle Hall.Seigle Hall’s dedication marks a significant milestone in ongoing efforts to encourage and facilitate interdisciplinary work between the social sciences and Washington University School of Law at Washington University in St. Louis.

Hong Min Park, the son of Tae-Yul Park and Chae-Hun Cho of Pusan, has been named a McDonnell International Scholar at Washington University in St. Louis. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and master’s degree in political science from Seoul National University, which is one of 15 leading Asian universities partnered with Washington University in St. Louis in the McDonnell International Scholars Academy.

James L. Gibson, Ph.D., the Sidney W. Souers Professor of Government in Arts & Sciences, will receive a 2005 Decade of Behavior Research Award in recognition of his research on democracy issues. The award recognizes high-caliber research that has profoundly influenced the public’s understanding of behavioral and social science principles as well as the use of social and behavioral science knowledge in policy settings.

Supreme Court cases are now predictable, thanks to new computer model.As the U.S. Supreme Court moves into its new term, litigants, attorneys and the public will be closely watching its docket and speculating about its decisions. Now, thanks to the Supreme Court Forecasting Project at Washington University in St. Louis, court watchers everywhere will be able to log on to the Internet and obtain a forecast of how individual cases are likely to be decided. The project accurately predicted decisions in 75 percent of the cases heard by the Court in its last term.