I and my co-authors are presenting three papers at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association: "Does Social Media Promote Civic Optimism?", "Cursing Your Candidate: Why Foreign Powers Lose Elections",  "Do Public Fund Windfalls Increase Corruption? Evidence from a Natural Disaster". I am a discussant and chair at a session on "Leadership Survival, Political Institutions and Conflict" organized by Jun Koga, University of Strathclyde.  On the day before the conference, I will take part in the Electoral Integrity Project's full-day workshop (program).  At the workshop, I will discuss work by Donno, Arcenaux, van Ham, von Borzyskowski, Norris.

EIP Workshop discussant duty, Wednesday, Sept 2:

APSA commitments:

***

Friday, Sep 4, 2:30 pm to 4 pm

DIVISION 40: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND POLITICS

SOCIAL MEDIA AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

Chair: Jaime E. Settle, College of William and Mary

Disc: Ariadne Vromen, University of Sydney

How Social Media Reduces Mass Political Polarization

Pablo Barbera, New York University

Does Social Media Promote Civic Activism? Evidence from a Field Experiment

Florian Foos, U of Zurich, Lyubo Kostadinov, WWF, Nikolay Marinov, Uni Mannheim, Frank Schimmelfennig, ETH Zurich

How Exposure to News via Social Media Increases Civic Engagement

Solomon Messing, Facebook

A Theory of Informative Exchange: Social Media and Affective Polarization

Jaime E. Settle, College of William & Mary

Does Social Media Usage Increase Political Knowledge?

Joshua A. Tucker, New York University Patrick J. Egan, New York University Jonathan Nagler, New York University Kevin Munger, NYU

***

Friday, Sept 4, 4:30 pm to 6 pm

DIVISION 44: COMPARATIVE DEMOCRATIZATION

59.38 FORMAL APPROACHES TO ELECTIONS AND POWER IN DEMOCRACY AND AUTOCRACY

Chair: Alberto Simpser, ITAM

Disc: Avidit R. Acharya, Peter L. Lorentzen, University of California, Berkeley

Papers: The Propagandist's Curse

Andrew Little, Cornell University

Strategic Election Monitoring

Arturas Rozenas, New York University

Foreign Support and Electability

Milan Svolik, University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign

Nikolay V. Marinov, University of Mannheim

Shocks, Skills, and Political Stability in Authoritarian Regimes

Victor C. Shih, UCSD

***

Saturday, Sept 5, 2 pm - 3:45 pm

DIVISION 6: POLITICAL ECONOMY

83.15 ECONOMIC SHOCKS AND DISTRIBUTIVE POLITICS

Co-sponsored by DIVISION 12: COMPARATIVE POLITICS OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Disc: Rikhil R Bhavnani, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Papers: Aspirations & Social Protection: Evidence from Economic Shocks in Rural Pakistan

Katrina Kosec, IFPRI

Cecilia Hyunjung Mo, Vanderbilt University

Electoral Targeting of Disaster Insurance in Mexico

Maya Oren

Floods and Corruption: Evidence from Local Government in Bulgaria

Elena Nikolova, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Nikolay Marinov, University of Mannheim

Politics of Displacement: Evidence from Indian Special Economic Zones

Alan Potter, New York University

***

Sunday, Sept 6, 8 am - 9:45 am

DIVISION 21: CONFLICT PROCESSES

96.28 LEADERSHIP SURVIVAL, POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS AND CONFLICT

Chair: Nikolay V. Marinov, University of Mannheim

Disc: Nikolay V. Marinov, University of Mannheim

Papers: Don’t Change Horses in Midstream: Leadership Change and Civil Conflict Outcomes

Jessica Maves Braithwaite, University of Arizona Kirssa Cline Ryckman, University of Arizona

Intra-Elite Bargains and the Character of Democratic Foreign Policy

Elizabeth Nathan Saunders, George Washington University

Scott Wolford, University of Texas

Regime Types and Peacekeeping Contributions

Jun Koga, University of Strathclyde Sabrina Karim

The Foreign Policies of Political Dynasties

Henk Erich Goemans, University of Rochester

Coup-proofing and Military Inefficiencies: An Experiment

Andrew W. Bausch, Carnegie Mellon University

Rebel Legitimacy and Wartime Sexual Violence

Katherine M. Sawyer, University of Maryland, College Park

Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham, University of Maryland, College Park