Political Science

A panel of Vanderbilt political science faculty explored the factors that led to the Jan. 6 riot in a virtual event, “Dissent, Disorder and Democracy: What Led to the U.S. Capitol Insurrection.” Hosted by the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy, the panel also engaged with the event’s serious implications for the strength of the nation's democracy. Read More

A panel of political science faculty will examine the social, legal and psychological causes and consequences of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol during a live virtual conversation hosted by The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy on Tuesday, Feb. 23. Read More

The co-chairs of The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy appeared on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" Feb. 4 to discuss the university’s nonpartisan initiative that aims to elevate research and evidence-based reasoning in the national discourse. Read More

On the heels of the launch of The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy, several Vanderbilt University faculty have been tapped for their expertise relevant to the Biden administration’s transition, the presidential inaugural address and the predominant theme of unity in America. Read More

The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy debuted an exclusive conversation series featuring a tone-setting discussion on the redemptive power of reason and evidence in American politics with former vice president Al Gore and presidential historian Jon Meacham, followed by a dialogue between Meacham and Condoleezza Rice, the 66th Secretary of State, on the project’s first case study. Read More

Former Vice President Al Gore and the 66th Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice each will provide timely conversations with Vanderbilt’s Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian and biographer, on Thursday, Jan. 14, to support the debut of the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy. Read More

After months of exploring how higher education could play a meaningful and active role in bridging longstanding partisan fissures, Vanderbilt University today launched the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy, which aims to strengthen the nation’s democratic institutions by advancing evidence-based research in the national discourse on unity. Read More

Vanderbilt political scientist Joshua Clinton led a team of researchers to analyze data from more than 1 million U.S. adults, determining that partisanship is more closely related to social mobility—defined here as social contact and travel within and among communities—during the COVID-19 pandemic than the incidence of COVID-19 cases or deaths in the community. Read More

The deep partisan divide in Tennessee has never been more apparent than on the questions of whether citizens will get the COVID-19 vaccine and curb holiday travel at the height of the global pandemic, according to the latest Vanderbilt Poll-Tennessee. The poll also found a deep chasm between registered voters on the legitimacy of the results of the presidential election. Read More

Read about the latest faculty, staff and student awards, appointments and achievements. Read More

Strategic challenges in U.S. military history, unpacking the 2020 election and the reduction of stress through Tai Chi are among the topics offered by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Vanderbilt for winter 2021. The noncredit classes are open to all those age 50 and older. Read More

With a statistical network to model civil conflict, political scientist Cassy Dorff applies a data-based lens to understanding war and peace. Read More

The Latin American Public Opinion Project's efforts never stopped when Vanderbilt closed labs in mid-March due to COVID-19. Instead, director Elizabeth Zechmeister’s team pivoted to exclusively remote work and tackled the monumental task of overhauling research protocols to acquire data that reveals new insights about the pandemic’s effects on democracy. Read More

Eunji Kim, a scholar of American public opinion, political communication and political psychology, and Caroline Randall Williams, an award-winning poet, author and activist, have been selected as Vanderbilt Global Voices Fellows for the spring 2021 semester. Read More

This election night, Sam Feist, BA’91, will perform one of his more unusual duties as head of CNN’s Washington Bureau. Assuming the results are clear-cut, he will—in consultation with CNN’s statisticians and political scientists—call the winner of the presidential race for the network. It is a responsibility he has held since 2004, and one that he does not take lightly. Read More

Shatema Threadcraft, whose scholarship focuses on the intersection of race and gender, will join the departments of Gender and Sexuality and Political Science in the College of Arts and Science as associate professor in January 2021. Read More

Ethnocentric concerns about the growing political power and social influence of immigrants, African Americans and Latinos are undermining Republicans’ commitment to long-held democratic norms, according to new research by Vanderbilt University political science professor Larry Bartels. Read More

Benjamin Walter, an emeritus political scientist whose teaching and research interests included American government, environmental policy and suburban politics, has died. Read More

Jon Meacham, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Professor of the American Presidency, implored Americans to embrace “the best parts of our soul” and let history “be our guide” during a nationally televised speech Aug. 20. Read More

Geist answers questions about working in the media during this tumultuous news cycle, launching his Sunday show, and his strong affinity for Nashville and the Commodore community. Read More