Group Events

The Research Work Group plans two workshops of its own, as indicated on the main page of this site. The Group, or a subset of its members, are also participating in major Political Science conferences.

Workshop I: Dublin, Summer 2004

The Party Switching Research Group held its first meeting at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. The workshop took place July 3-8, 2004.  Group members presented preliminary work on the following topics:

• Kenneth Benoit - research conducted with Michael Laver
• Scott Desposato "Notes on the Incentives and Impacts of Party Switching."
• William Heller and Carol Mershon "Theoretical and Empirical Models of Party Switching."
• Junko Kato "Breakups and Mergers of Japanese Parties since 1993."
• Marcus Kreuzer and Vello Pettai "Party Switching in the Baltic States."
• Marcus Kreuzer and Vello Pettai "Virtual Parties: Party Switching, Party Institutionalization And Political Representation."
• Michael Laver "The Arithmetic of Legisative Decision-Making."
• Gail McElroy "Party Switching in the European Parliament."
• Timothy Nokken "Party Defection in the United States Congress."
• Norman Schofield - "Political Equilibria and Smooth Elections."
• Olga Shvetsova "The Political Business Cycle and Assessing the Motivation in Parliamentary Party-Switching Behavior."

Professional Conferences

Members are also actively presenting papers at professional conferences.  Here are some events to watch for:

ISA Panel: "Party Systems in a Dynamic World"

PSRG group members organized a panel for the 46th Annual ISA Convention.

The details on group members' papers appear below. The convention took place on March 1-5, 2005 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

• Carol Mershon and Olga Shvetsova "Electoral Cycles and Party Switching: Opportunistic Partisan Realignment in Legislatures."
• Norman Schofield "Social Choice and Elections."
• Scott W. Desposato "Subnational Politics and National Party Switching."
• William B. Heller and Carol Mershon "Theoretical and Empirical Models of Cascades in Party Switching."
• (Non-PSRG paper): Ericka S. Lopez, University of Miami "Explaining Political Adaptation of Former Hegemonic Parties: Is Eastern Europe the Future of Mexico?"

MPSA Panel: "Legislative Party Switching"

The panel was convened for the 2005 Midwest Political Science Association meeting in Chicago, April 7-10, 2005.

Papers presented:

• Scott Desposato: "Subnational Politics and National Party Switching."
• William B. Heller and Carol Mershon: "Theoretical and Empirical Models of Cascades in Party Switching."
• Marcus Kreuzer and Vello Pettai: "Party Switching in Democratizing and Re-Democratizing Democracies."
• Timothy P. Nokken: "Party Switching and the Procedural Party Agenda in the US House, 1953-2000."
• Carol Mershon and Olga Shvetsova: "Electoral Cycles and Party Switching: Opportunistic Partisan Realignment in Legislatures."

Workshop II: Charlottesville, summer 2005

The second and final work shop of the PSRG will take place on July 10-14 in Charlottesville, Virginia. You can download the papers listed below from the Papers section of the website.

• Kenneth Benoit and Michael Laver: "The Integer Arithmetic of Legislative Dynamics."
• Scott Desposato "The Impact of Party-Switching on Legislative Behavior in Brazil."
• William Heller and Carol Mershon: "Legislator Preferences, Party Desires: Party Switching and the Foundations of Policy Making in Legislatures."
• Junko Kato "Competition for Power: Party Switching as a Means for Changing Party Systems in Japan."
• Gail McElroy and Kenneth Benoit: "Party Policy and Party Group Affiliation in the European Parliament."
• Carol Mershon and Olga Shvetsova: "Electoral Cycles and Party Switching: Opportunistic Partisan Realignment in Legislatures."
• Timothy Nokken: "Party Switching and the Procedural Party Agenda in the US House of Representatives, 1953-2002"
• Norman Schofield: "Theories of Social Choice and Elections."