Officers 2014-15:
President: John Sides, The George Washington University
President-Elect: Matthew Green, Catholic University
Secretary-Treasurer: Steven Rathgeb Smith, American Political Science Association

Council:
2013-2015:
Jordan Tama, The American University
Stella Rouse, University of Maryland
Jennifer Victor, George Mason University

2014 – 2016:
Danny Hayes, The George Washington University
Jan Leighley, American University
Hans Noel, Georgetown University

Contact Information:

NCAPSA
1527 New Hampshire Ave, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036
ncapsa@apsanet.org
 

Membership form download.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Political Polarization: Finding Solutions Monday, June 22, 2015, 10:00-11:30 a.m.

NCAPSA and the Bipartisan Policy Center cohost a discussion on polarization in our political system with Nathaniel Persily, editor of Solutions to Political Polarization in America, and various contributors to the book. It will be moderated by John Fortier, director of BPC’s Democracy Project, and Matthew Green, associate professor of politics at Catholic University and incoming president of NCAPSA.

To RSVP, please click here.

PAST EVENTS

The Evolving Congress
Thursday, May 7, 2015, 9:30-11:00 am
National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, 10th Floor
First Amendment Room

NCAPSA and the Bipartisan Policy Center present a roundtable discussion of “The Evolving Congress,” a landmark report by the Congressional Research Service. Panelists include:

Colleen Shogan, Congressional Research Service
John Haskell, Congressional Research Service
Sarah Binder, George Washington University and the Brookings Institute
Don Wolfensberger, Woodrow Wilson Center and Bipartisan Policy Center
Sue Davis, USA Today (invited)

The panel will be moderated by John Fortier from the Bipartisan Policy Center and John Sides of George Washington University and NCAPSA.

Insurgency in the Middle East and Its Threat to the United States
Monday, April 27, 2015, 9:00am – 12:00pm
Elliott School of International Affairs, 1957 E Street NW
Lindner Family Commons, 6th Floor

Schedule

9:00-9:15        Welcome

9:15-10:30      Understanding Civil War, Insurgency and Terrorism in Today's Middle East

• Jon B. Alterman, Senior Vice President, Center for Strategic and International Studies
• Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham, Associate Professor, University of Maryland
• Dafna H. Rand, Deputy Director of Studies, Center for a New American Security
• Joseph K. Young, Associate Professor, American University

10:45-12:00    Understanding the Threat to the United States and Europe from Returning Jihadists

• Tricia Bacon, Professorial Lecturer, American University
• Dorle Hellmuth, Assistant Professor, Catholic University
• Christopher A. Kojm, Visiting Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, GWU
• Thomas M. Sanderson, Codirector, Transnational Threats Project, CSIS (invited)

NCAPSA American Politics Workshop
January 5, 2015, 10:00 am – 3:30 p.m.
American University, Ward Circle Building 102

Ryan Vander Wielen (Temple), Rene Lindstadt (Essex), and Matthew Green (Catholic): “Diffusion in Congress: Social Dynamics of Discharge Petitions”

Gail Baitinger (American): “If It’s Sunday, It’s Meet the Men: Explaining Women’s Numeric Under-Representation in the News”

Julie Wronski (George Washington): “Authoritarianism and Social Identity Sorting: Exploring the Sources of American Mass Partisanship”

Boris Shor (Georgetown), Nolan McCarty (Princeton), Jonathan Rodden (Stanford), Chris Tausanovitch (UCLA), and Christopher Warshaw (MIT): “Geography, Uncertainty, and Polarization”

Midterm Election Roundtable
Thursday, October 23, 2014, 7:30-9:00 pm. 
Marvin Center Amphitheater, 800 21st Street NW, 3rd floor

Panelists:
Nate Cohn (New York Times)
Sean Theriault (University of Texas)
Karen Tumulty (Washington Post)
David Wasserman (Cook Political Report)

Moderated by: John Sides, NCAPSA President and George Washington University

NCAPSA Annual Business Meeting: Election of Officers & Presentation of Walter Beach Pi Sigma Alpha Award
Friday, September 5, 2014, 12-1 pm
APSA Headquarters, 1537 New Hampshire Avenue NW

George Kundanis was the 2014 Walter Beach Pi Sigma Alpha Award winner. This annual recognition of a colleague honors extraordinary accomplishments in political science and public service.  Mr. Kundanis, who holds a PhD in political science from the University of Wisconsin and has served the U.S. Congress for 37 years, most recently as Deputy Chief of Staff to Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

Roundtable discussion of Hans Noel's book, Political Ideologies and Political Parties in America.
Wednesday April 30, 2014, 4:00pm-5:45pm
McNeir Auditorium, Georgetown University.

Panelists:
Jonathan Ladd (Georgetown)
Matt Yglesias (Vox.com)
Tom Mann (Brookings Institution)
John Sides (GW and Washington Post)
Kristina Miler (Univ of Maryland-College Park)
Hans Noel (Georgetown)

Congress & the President at War: Checks or Imbalance?
Thursday, August 1, 2013, 9-10 am
Wilson Center, Fifth Floor Conference Room, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.

Keynote by Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), vice chairman, House Armed Services Committee

Panelists:
Prof. Stephen M. Griffin, Tulane University, author, The Long Wars and the Constitution
Frances M. Fragos Townsend, former White House Homeland Security Advisor (invited)
Robert Litwak, Vice-President for Scholars, Wilson Center
Don Wolfensberger, President, NCAPSA

NCAPSA Annual Business Meeting: Election of Officers & Presentation of Walter Beach Pi Sigma Alpha Award
Tuesday, September 10, 2013, Noon-1:00 pm
APSA Headquarters, 1537 New Hampshire Avenue NW

NCAPSA American Politics Workshop
Monday, June 3, 2013, 10am to 3:30pm
University of Maryland, College Park

Antonio Rodriguez (Maryland) and Stella Rouse (Maryland): “Look Who's Talking Now (About Immigration)! How Social Networks Enhance Latino Political Participation”

Antoine Yoshinaka (American) and Seth McKee (South Florida, St. Petersburg): “The Political Ambition and Electoral Performance of Southern Legislative Party Switchers”

David Konisky (Georgetown), Jamie Monogan (Georgia), and Neal Woods (South Carolina): “Strategic Placement of Air Polluters: An Application of Point Pattern Models.”

Danny Hayes (George Washington) and Matt Guardino (Providence): “The Power of Foreign Voices and the Limits of Partisan Cue-Taking: U.S. Public Opinion about Military Action against Iran”

Book Launch for The Gingrich Senators: The Roots of Partisan Warfare in Congress
Thursday, April 25, 2013, 5:00-6:00 pm
Woodrow Wilson Center, Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Featuring:
Sean M. Theriault, Author and Professor of Political Science, University of Texas

Moderated by:
Donald R. Wolfensberger, President, NCAPSA & Senior Scholar, Wilson Center

The much venerated Senate of the mid-twentieth century is now a distant memory. Today senators routinely electioneer on the Senate floor, play games with the legislative process, and question each other's motives. Sean M. Theriault documents how one group of senators has been at the forefront of the transformation-the “Gingrich Senators,” which he defines as those Republicans who previously served in the House after New Gingrich was first elected. He shows how the Gingrich Senators are more conservative and more likely to engage in partisan warfare than the other Republicans.

Filibuster Reform 2013: What Happened?
9 am – 10:30 am on Thursday, March 21, 2013
Bipartisan Policy Center, 1225 Eye Street NW, 10th Floor

For the second consecutive Congress Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has considered exercising the “nuclear” or “constitutional” option to force a change in filibuster rules by simple majority vote instead of the two-thirds vote required to end debate on rules changes. And, for the second time, a bipartisan agreement was reached at the last minute to avert the crisis by reducing the number of possible filibusters in return for more fairness in offering amendments. How does this deal compare with the previous one and are reformers satisfied with the results? These and other questions were examined by a panel of experts from Congress and academia.

Watch the video from this event.

NCAPSA American Politics Workshop
January 7, 2013, 10:00am to 3:30pm
American University, hosted by the Department of Government and Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies

Jennifer Victor (George Mason) and Greg Koger (Miami): “Financing Friends: Legislators, Lobbyists, and the Pervasive Influence of Campaign Finance”

Jim Gimpel (Maryland), Frances Lee (Maryland), and Mike Parrott (Maryland): “Business Interests and the Party Coalitions: Industry Sector Contributions to U.S. Congressional Campaigns”

Daniel Schlozman (Johns Hopkins): “The Making of Partisan Majorities: Political Parties, Social Movements, and Electoral Change”

David Karol (Maryland): “Forcing Their Hands? Campaign Finance Law, Retirement Announcements and the Rise of the Permanent Campaign in Congressional Elections”

NCAPSA Annual Business Meeting: Election of Officers & Presentation of Walter Bach Pi Sigma Alpha Award

Wednesday, September 12, 2012, 12:00 PM
APSA Headquarters, 1537 New Hampshire Avenue NW

I. M. 'Mac' Destler was the 2012 Walter Beach Pi Sigma Alpha Award winner. This annual recognition of a colleague honors extraordinary accomplishments in political science and public service.

Dr. Destler is the Saul Stern Professor of Civic Engagement in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland. He specializes in the politics and processes of U.S. foreign and trade policymaking. He is the author or co-author of 14 books, most recently In the Shadow of the Oval Office: The President's National Security Advisor from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush (Simon and Schuster, 2009; coauthored with Ivo H. Daalder). His American Trade Politics won the Gladys Kammerer Award in 1986 for the best book on U.S. national policy. Mac will join NCAPSA members and other friends for a brown bag lunch and presentation at noon on Wednesday, September 12. The title of his talk is “Making Government Real.”

Panel Discussion of It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism

Wednesday, June 6

Panelists:
Thomas E. Mann, Brookings Institution
David Karol, University of Maryland
Matt Green, Catholic University

Congress's Influence on Foreign Policy: For Better or Worse?
(cosponsored by The Congress Project, Woodrow Wilson Center, and NCAPSA)

The panel explored the current role of the US Congress in foreign policy from a historical perspective and looked ahead to 21st century challenges.

Panelists:
Former congressman Richard Gephardt (D-MO), president & CEO, Gephardt Government Affairs
Former senator John E. Sununu (R-NH), senior policy advisor, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
James M. Lindsay, senior vice president, the Council on Foreign Relations
Gail Russell Chaddock, staff writer, The Christian Science Monitor
Moderator: Don Wolfensberger, director, The Congress Project

Panel Discussion of Family of Freedom: Presidents and African Americans in the White House

June 7, 2011

Mr. Kenneth Walsh spoke about his recently published book, Family of Freedom: Presidents and African Americans in the White House. The book examined racial attitudes and policies from George Washington to Barack Obama.

Mr. Walsh has covered the White House since 1986 and is former president of the White House Correspondents' Association. He has written five books on aspects of the presidency and is an adjunct professor of communication at American University.

Book Discussion: Solving the Reemployment Puzzle: From Research to Policy

May 26, 2011

Dr. Stephen Wandner spoke about Solving the Reemployment Puzzle: From Research to Policy, which won the 2010 Richard A. Lester Prize for the Outstanding Book in Labor Economics and Industrial Relations from the Industrial Relations Section at Princeton University. The book provides an insider's perspective into both the Clinton and Bush administrations' policies toward joblessness and reemployment, and the social science behind them.

Dr. Wandner, formerly a senior economist at the US Department of Labor, is currently a visiting fellow at the Center of Labor, Human Services, and Population at the Urban Institute.