The Department of Politics and Government of Illinois State University held the 24th annual Conference for Students of Political Science at Bone Student Center, April 22, 2016.

The conference was cosponsored by Pi Sigma Alpha, the national honor society of political science. About 60 graduate and undergraduate students representing 12 colleges and universities participated in the conference and presented their research. The topics of these papers include political theory, group identity, international organizations, social justice, poverty and development, human rights, international conflicts, among others. All the student papers can be viewed at the department conference website.

The Department of Politics and Government was represented well with nine undergraduate and eight graduate students serving as chairs, discussants and paper presenters.

Professor Debra Leiter, Department of Political Science, University of Missouri, Kansas City, offered the keynote luncheon address entitled “Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About: Political Communication and Vote in East and West Germany.” Examining German citizens’ electoral behavior, she showed that political communication had a significant effect on how and why voters split their tickets in the 1990 election.

The 2016 student conference was organized by Professor Carl Palmer.

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