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Center for New Institutional Social Sciences (CNISS)

Washington University in St. Louis

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Phone: 314-935-5068

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Website: http://cniss.wustl.edu

“Constitutions,

Voting and

Democracy”

The 2001

William H. Riker

Conference

December 7-8, 2001

Eliot 300

Washington University in

St. Louis

Sponsored by The Center for

New Institutional Social

Sciences and The Center in

Political Economy

The Center in Political Economy and the Center for New Institutional Social Sciences are proud to sponsor the 2001 William H. Riker Conference, December 7-8, 2001, at Washington University in St. Louis.

William H. Riker became famous not just for his work on the functioning of democracy, but also for his singular vision in creating the school of rational choice (or positive political theory) in political science. After moving from Lawrence College, Wisconsin, to be chair of the Department of Political Science at Rochester University, Riker set about attracting young scholars and gifted graduate students who would go on to develop new ideas in social choice and game theory, and literally revolutionized the social sciences as we know them today.

Friday, December 7^th

Morning

9:30 a.m.: Breakfast

10:00 a.m.-12:00 noon: Keynote Speakers: Opening Session

Russell Hardin

“Street-Level Epistemology and Democratic Participation”

Norman Schofield

“Constitutions, Voting and Democracy”

Discussants: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Kenneth Shepsle

Afternoon

12:30-2:00 p.m.: Lunch

2:30-5:00 p.m.: On Federalism

David Mckay

“William Riker on Federalism: Sometimes Wrong But More Right than Anyone Else”

Andrew Rehfeld

“The Lone Gunman: James Madison and the concept of constituency”

Olga Shvetsova

“Self-Enforcing Federalism”

Discussant: Jonathan Riley

Saturday, December 8th

Morning

9:30 a.m.: Breakfast

10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon: Legislative Politics

John M. Carey and Gina Y. Reinhardt

“Coalition Brokers or Breakers: Brazilian Governors and Legislative Voting”

William Bianco, Ivan Jeliazkov, and Itai Sened

“The Meaning of Elections: Exploring Simulation of the Uncovered Set”

Discussant: Gary Miller

Afternoon

12:30-2:00 p.m.: Lunch

2:30-5:00 p.m.: Democracy and the Courts

Ethan Leigh Bueno de Mesquita and Matthew Stephenson

“Precedent – Use It or Lose It? An Informational Model of Judicial Decision-Making”

Sunita Parikh

“Interbranch Conflict and New Courts: The Federal Court of India, 1939-1949”

John Londregan

“Common Law Versus Civil Code: The Silver Lining to Cloudy Legal Standards”

Discussant: Lee Epstein