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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.

2003-2004 Speakers

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2005-2006 Speakers

2006-2007 Speakers

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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.

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Colloquium on Positive Political Economy