Political Science

Welcome to the Department of Political Science

WMU team wins iOMe challenge

iOMe challenge winners Brad Kent, Ashley Horvat, and Lauren Hearit with Rep. Fred Upton and Sen. Carl Levin (not pictured - team member Sam Demorest and faculty adviser Susan Hoffmann)

Four Western Michigan University students took their ideas about a national retirement system to Congress Feb. 4 after winning the national iOMe Challenge competition. WMU team members beat out proposals submitted by 40 other schools in 17 states to win a chance to speak to U.S. policymakers, along with a $20,000 cash prize and a trip to Washington, D.C. This year's challenge revolved around the U.S. retirement system and finding solutions to make it solvent for future generations. Entries included a 30-second video intended to capture the attention of young adults, as well as an extended paper that explains the problems and proposes solutions. See WMU News article for the essay and video.

Watch clips from other universities and the WMU winning entry:

Textbooks for PSCI courses

If you would like to see the textbooks required for an upcoming PSCI course, go to WMU textbook information. Scroll to the BOTTOM of the linked page, select the current or upcoming term, and select the appropriate course.

New M.A. in Criminology, Law and Public Policy

The Department of Sociology and the Department of Political Science are pleased to announce the creation of a new graduate program in Criminology, Law and Public Policy. The program is an innovative, interdisciplinary venture drawing on faculty from both departments and faculty from the Institute for Criminology at the University of Malta. The 13 month program will be delivered at the Valetta campus of the University of Malta. Students who successfully complete the program will earn two degrees, an M.A. in Criminology, Law and Public Policy from WMU and an M.A. in Criminology and Criminal Justice Studies from the University of Malta. To read more about this exciting new opportunity, go to the program site at the University of Malta.

News

Dr. Jim Butterfield has received a Fulbright Grant for 2009-2010. He will be conducting field research on small business associations, and in particular, their relationship with local and provincial government agencies in a time of weak democratic institutions, in Saratov, Russia. In addition, he will teach comparative politics in the spring at Saratov State University.

Dr. Priscilla Lambert, with her co-author Druscilla Scribner, Assistant Professor of Political Science at University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, has been awarded a National Science Foundation collaborative research grant for their project, Gender and Constitutions: A Comparative Analysis of the Effect of Gender Provisions. Gender provisions are increasingly common in national constitutions, however, little comparative research has been done to test whether the gendering of constitutions is a good deal for women s equality. Lambert and Scribner will combine a large cross-national comparison of 100 countries with more detailed country case studies on provisions, laws and enforcement to trace out whether and how gender provisions contribute to women s political and economic standing.

Dr. Mark Hurwitz has received a grant from the Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society to research the history of the selection system for justices to the Michigan Supreme Court. Michigan's system of selecting its justices is unlike any other in the United States, whereby candidates are nominated at political party conventions, who then run in a nonpartisan general elections. Hurwitz plans to analyze the constitutional and statutory history of this unique system in Michigan as well as electoral outcomes resulting from this selection system.

Events

Wednesday, March 17
7 p.m., Fetzer Center, Room 2020

"Judging in Black and White: Decision Making in the South African Appellate Division, 1950-2010"
Stacia L. Haynie, Louisiana State University

Dr. Haynie analyzes the behavior of the South African highest court of appeals from 1950 to 2010. Dr. Haynie creates a portrait of the individuals who staffed the bench during the rise and fall of apartheid by exploring the dilemma of judging in a system that juxtaposes the formal law with the repressive law. She evaluates the response of judges to these dilemmas through institutional and individual analyses of judicial decision making in the fascinating South African context.

Free and open to the public