Colloquium on Positive Political Economy
The Colloquium on Positive Political Economy is a department speaker series that brings in faculty presenting cutting edge research focused on recent developments in positive political economy. These presentations are framed around: (1) the creation of formal models of political interactions, and (2) the testing of the predictions arising from these models, consistent with the recent NSF-sponsored Empirical Implications of Theoretical Models (EITM) initiative. The seminars will cut across the subfields of American Politics, Comparative Politics, and International Relations. Moreover, the topics build bridges to faculty and graduate students in the economics Department. This series complements the growing educational opportunities available to our graduate students in various game theoretic classes offered by faculty in the economics and political science departments.
2007-2008 Speakers
October 5th
Maggie Penn
Harvard University
Friday, October 5, 2007
2:30-4:00 PM
Spencer Room, Derby Hall
Title: " From Many, One: State representation and the construction of
American national identity" (Download a copy of
Professor Penn's paper)
Abstract:
I present a formal model of the effect that representation can have on the
formation of group
identities using the debates over the drafting of the United States Constitution
as a case study.
I first show the presence of “factions,” or groups with competing interests, to
be necessary
in forging a national identity. Next, I use this model to argue that the Great
Compromise
succeeded as more than a political maneuver to ensure ratification of the
Constitution; it created
a political environment in which an American national identity could emerge.
More generally,
I find that representation schemes that ignore group distinctions and use the
individual as the
basic unit of political representation may induce individuals to embrace a
group-based notion
of identity. Conversely, acknowledging group distinctions by using the group as
a unit of
political representation may induce individuals to embrace a more universalistic
conception of
identity, and thus may make group distinctions less salient.
Others to be announced
Please contact Professors Craig Volden (volden@polisci.sbs.ohio-state.edu) or Alan Wiseman (wiseman.69@osu.edu) for further details, or if you would be interested in speaking in the colloquium series.
