Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper looks at the causal effects of institutions, contextual environments, case characteristics, and court characteristics on coalition behavior in death penalty cases in the state supreme courts. The central premise of this research paper is judges make strategic decisions concerning the need to join majority opinions. In addition, institutional characteristics strongly condition these effects. Further argued is that judges are constrained within state environments compared to the federal court as they lack agenda control relevant to death penalty cases. Since each state supreme court is the court of last resort, judges lack the ability to limit or deny certiorari to death penalty cases which makes these cases unique.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: American mothers of preschoolers are increasingly more likely to work (Casper 1997). While many studies have examined the effect of family care-giving responsibilities on maternal workforce participation, this literature has not fully addressed the trade-offs for parents of children with disability. Mothers of these children may face greater care-giving tasks, making them more likely to stay out of the paid labor market. At the same time, these families face increased financial burdens, encouraging labor force participation.

This paper will explore whether mothers have different workforce participation trajectories after the birth of a child with or without disability. The following analyses examine differences in the rate at which mothers re-enter the labor force after the birth of a child, as well as their exit from paid employment after a birth. Matched records from the 1993 National Health Interview Survey and the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth provide a unique opportunity to investigate the effects of child disability on the workforce participation of mothers using event history techniques.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: What factors cause protests? Scholars have conducted cross-national analysis on determinants of protest. However, their studies have been paid less attention on institutional factors. This paper examines the importance of institutional factors in accounting for protest in 17 Western European democracies from 1980 through 1995. To deal with cross-sectional time-series count data, this paper uses Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) model with negative binomial distribution. Results show that institutional factors do matter in explaining the causes of protest. Especially, electoral system is strongly related with the number of protests: Proportional Representation (PR) system really decreases the number of protests more than any other electoral systems.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: I explain why disaggregating measures of political conflict generated from news-sources helps explain changes in frequency rates of protest and repression before, during, and after democratization in Poland and Czechoslovakia.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: We show that term limitations on the tenure of U.S. House committee chairpersons is the chief source of committee seniority violations. House Republicans adopted a three-term limitation in 1995, making it effective in the 107th House in 2001. Since that time there have been numerous violations, whereas earlier Republican congresses had few. House Democrats, who did not adopt term limitations, had almost no violations. The addition of the 110th House of 2007-08 shows that reversion of Republicans to minority status and Democrats to power did not change the path of either party. We conclude that seniority violations are largely a structurally induced phenomenon attributable to opportunity created by the Republican term limitations.