PSP Fall 2021 6

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CONTENTS
FALL 2021
THE SYAHIM MAG
FOREWORD 2
INTERNATIONAL CRMINAL COURT AND
MONEY IN POLITICS 3
The BYU Department
of Political Science,
consistent with the aims
of a BYU education,
intends to foster “Lifelong
Learning and Service.”
We hope to provide
our alumni with
intelligent, thoughtful
and sophisticated
analysis of important
issues, and to act as
a catalyst for service
in our communities,
neighborhoods, nations
and the world.
EVENTS AND PROGRAMS 5
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHER 10
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHTS 11
STUDENT SPOTLIGHTS 13
FACULTY SPOTLIGHTS 14
FACULTY PUBLICATIONS
`17
FACULTY IN THE NEWS 19
FACULTY QUOTES 23
Publisher:
Jay Goodliffe, Chair
Editor:
J. Matthew Clarke
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Graphic Designer:
Sydney Freeman

THE BUZZ IN THE AIR
August 26th, 2021
Today is my favorite day on the BYU campus. It is the
first day of new student orientation. I love the buzz in the
air, and I love to see these kids bursting with excitement
(and nervousness) about what lies ahead.
Most of these students are very faithful Latter-Day Saints.
But some of them come to us with serious concerns
about their faith and their status in the church. They
have deep questions that are hard to answer. Some are
already rapidly proceeding towards the exits. As BYU
faculty, we do everything we can to build their faith. We
give them reasons to stay.
FOREWORD
FALL 2021
Most of these students are mentally and emotionally
strong, but a rapidly growing proportion come to us
with depression and anxiety. As BYU faculty, we try to
help strengthen them and steer them towards resources
that can help.
Most of these students come here loaded with privilege.
They are very kind, good-hearted kids, but they don’t
always see how that privilege has shaped their world. As
BYU faculty, we try to help them see so that they can
love their brothers and sisters with more empathy.
Most of these students come to us brimming with
confidence, but they will all face challenges. They
discover quickly that BYU is an intellectually challenging
place. They learn quickly that adulthood is laced with a
variety of challenges they hadn’t anticipated. And some
come to us with a history of abuse, neglect, disability, or
economic hardship that has stolen their confidence. As
BYU faculty, we teach all of our students that they are
children of God with an unlimited, divine potential.
Most of these students fit in quite easily socially, but too
many feel they don’t belong. This may be due to their
race or ethnicity, their economic background, their
sexual orientation or identity, their family history, or
any number of reasons. As BYU faculty, we welcome
each of them. We let them know—regardless of where
they come from—that they belong; they belong with us.
So, to all you parents out there who have or hope to
have your children join us at BYU, know that we, as BYU
faculty, have your back. We will love your children as
we love our own. We are not perfect, but they are safe
with us.
SVEN WILSON
Outgoing Chair of the Department of Policitcal Science
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THE SYAHIM MAG
Professors Jay Goodliffe and Darren Hawkins on the
International Criminal Court
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At the end of World War II, some idealistic states
and non-state actors pushed for the creation of a
permanent international court of human rights that
would build on the success at Nuremberg, Germany
where a series of military tribunals were held after WW
II prosecuting prominent members of Nazi Germany
for crimes against humanity. Yet most states, concerned
about their sovereignty, strongly resisted such a court,
even for the most heinous crimes. Over the next 40
years, proponents kept proposals for a court alive in
obscure United Nations (UN) study commissions but
never made substantial progress.
This is how Professors Jay Goodliffe’s and Darren
Hawkins’ article entitled “A Funny Thing Happened on
the Way to Rome: Explaining International Criminal Court
Negotiations” (Journal of Politics, 71, 977-997), begins.
At the end of the Cold War and in the face of brewing
human rights troubles in Yugoslavia and Somalia,
a few states decided to make a renewed push for an
international court. The UN General Assembly (GA)
delegated the task of creating a draft statute to the
International Law Commission (ILC), an expert body
of legal scholars that had studied the issue on and
off during the previous decades. The Commission,
well-experienced with state reluctance to actually do
anything to protect human rights, produced an August
1994 draft statute that envisioned a relatively weak
International Criminal Court (ICC) that would serve as
an agent of the Security Council.
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Virtually everyone expected that only a relatively
toothless Court that served the interests of powerful
states could gain approval.
The ICC, however, became the first and only
permanent international court with jurisdiction to
prosecute individuals for the international crimes of
genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the
crime of aggression. It was intended to complement
existing national judicial systems, and it may, therefore,
exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts are
unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals. The ICC
lacks universal territorial jurisdiction, however, and
may only investigate and prosecute crimes committed
within member states, crimes committed by nationals
of member states, or crimes in situations referred to
the Court by the United Nations Security Council.
Some key characteristics of the ICC include: trials are
fair, the prosecution is independent, defendant’s rights
are upheld, victims’ voices are heard, participating
victims and witnesses are protected, and the court
engages in a two-way dialogue with communities that
have suffered from crimes under its jurisdiction. The
ICC has over 900 staff members, from 100 states, with
six official languages: English, French, Arabic, Chinese,
Russian and Spanish. So far, 30 cases have come before
the Court, and ICC judges have issued 35 arrest
warrants. The judges have issued 10 convictions and 4

acquittals, so far, since 2002, nearly 20 years since its
inception.
One key case at present is that of Ali Muhammad Ali
Abd-Al-Rahman, who was transferred to the ICC's
custody on 9 June 2020, after surrendering himself
voluntarily in the Central African Republic. The initial
appearance of Mr Abd-Al-Rahman before the ICC took
place on 15 June 2020. According to the Prosecution's
submission of the Document Containing the Charges,
Mr Abd-Al-Rahman is suspected of 31 counts of
war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly
committed between August 2003 and at least April
2004 in Darfur, Sudan. The confirmation of charges
hearing took place on 24 -27 May 2021.
The next steps for Mr. Abd-Al-Rahman’s trial, include:
After hearing the oral submissions of the Prosecutor,
the Legal Representatives of the Victims and the
Defense from 24 to 26 May, 2021, the judges have
entered their deliberations. The Pre-Trial Chamber
shall deliver its written decision within 60 days of the
date on which the confirmation hearing ends. This is a
good example of how the court works.
question: why did states create an institution to
enforce international norms in such robust ways, even
facilitating possible strong ICC action against highlevel
government officials? Such behavior is puzzling
because states that jealously guard their sovereignty
have traditionally been reluctant to support
international institutions with the ability to enforce
international norms.
The article argues that governments support (or fail to
support) international institutions because they care
deeply about potential reactions of the international
partners on whom they depend for a diverse set of
goods that range from trade to security to votes and
support in international organizations. They labeled
this set of partners as a “dependence network” and
argue that leaders watch closely how
(continued on page 24)
To understand how the idea of the ICC evolved from
a “toothless” Court, to one with substantial power,
this article by Goodliffe and Hawkins analyzes the four
formation years, from 1994 to 1998, when a “funny
thing happened on the way to the Rome Statute”,
before the ICC foundational documents were adopted
in July 1998. States unexpectedly strengthened the
ILC’s proposal for a weak Court in several ways: In the
end, states endowed the Court with an independent
prosecutor able to initiate cases, prevented the Court
from falling under exclusive Security Council control,
granted the Court automatic jurisdiction upon state
ratification of the statute, and granted relatively
permissive conditions under which the Court could
exercise its jurisdiction. None of these provisions
existed in the ILC’s original draft.
The ICC was formally founded on July 1, 2002 in
Rome, Italy, but has since found its seat in the Hague,
Netherlands as an intergovernmental organization and
international tribunal.
The reach and teeth of the ICC provoke a compelling
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PROFESSOR KELLY
PATTERSON'S 2021
HICKMAN LECTURE
EVENTS AND
PROGRAMS
Today I would like to present something
that Professor Karpowitz and I have been
working on for years and is part of a
larger book project on individualism. We
have spent countless hours refining the
measures. We have conducted multiple
surveys, and we have presented the
research in multiple academic venues. We
want to present something today to honor
Dean Hickman that is fresh and timely.
anymore to Americans?
Michael Sandel, in Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?, wrote
that “The hollowing out of the public realm makes it difficult
to cultivate the sense of solidarity and sense of community on
which democratic citizenship depends.” (p. 267).
The pandemic has made us particularly aware of whether or
not America retains a vocabulary capable of helping us navigate
through the demands of individualism and a public good.
These are just a smattering of headlines that call attention to
the dilemma, and the ways in which public life in America seems
to be a war of all against all.
Individualism as a word has increased in usage over the history of
the republic. Individualism and the public good have increased,
but they are not equal in usage. See chart below.
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The “Big” Question that we want to
talk about today is the tension between
individualism and regard for the community.
This “question” has animated theorists and
social scientists for centuries now, and it
was certainly one of the major tensions at
the heart of the American founding. James
Madison wrote and defined “Factions” as “A
number of citizens, whether amounting to
a minority or majority of the whole, who
are united and actuated by some common
impulse of passion or interest, adverse
to the rights of other citizens or to the
permanent and aggregate interests of the
community.”
Alexis de Tocqueville made many
observations about America and early
on noted the character and qualities of
American political life: Individualism is “a
calm and considered feeling which disposes
each citizen to isolate himself from the
mass of his fellows and withdraw into the
circle of family and friends;” “with this little
society formed to his taste, he gladly leaves
the greater society to look after itself”
(Tocqueville 1969, 506, emphasis added
)
If Americans tend toward individualism,
would it be possible to preserve a vocabulary
of democratic citizenship? How does this
individualism affect the way in which we
interact in the public arena? Does the
idea of a public arena even mean anything
Certain phrases capture the essential qualities of individualism.
Many, if not all of these phrases, have increased in usage over
time. In this slide, the N-Gram analysis predicts the fifth word.
So, whenever people say, “I do what I . . . ,” the N-gram analysis
fills in the word that is most likely to follow: “I do what I . . . can,
want, have, like, will, am, do, etc.” These are “Phrases associated
with Individualism”.
N-Gram analysis of “Do what you _______”: want, can,
have, do, like, say, think, are, will, you please. Again, these are
phrases associated with Individualism. Concepts associated with
Individualism: N-Gram analysis of “no right or wrong_______”:
answers, way, in, home, ways, to, about, responses, side.

What we want to examine today is the extent
to which we might find a particular form of
individualism to be at odds with some of the
activities that are often associated with a
regard for the public.
Thinking about the meaning of individualism
is at the core of this project: the relationship
of self and authority. Individualism involves
the individual as the primary or perhaps
even sole source of all authority on matters
of importance to that individual. And on
that view, the individual has the capacity
to determine the course of her life and the
values that will define that life without outside
interference. The term “individualism” is
often attributed to “self-authorization.”
Individualism is a value, but in political
science it has been measured with a distinctly
economic frame. Political scientists have
identified a variety of “political values”.
Among those are support for equality, liberty,
welfare, and individualism. However, the
operationalization of individualism has a
distinctly economic frame. When discussing
individualism, political theorists and social
psychologists use the term in more than just
an economic framework, however. Within the
economic frame are prevalent ideas, such as:
any person who is willing to work hard has a
good chance at succeeding; but also, hard work
offers little guarantee of success; most people
who don’t get ahead should not blame the
system, and they really have only themselves
to blame; even if people are ambitious, they
often cannot succeed; if people work hard,
they almost always get what they want; but
even if people try hard, they often cannot
reach their goals.
Two facets of individualism emerge when
reading the philosophers and political theorists
who have written about individualism. First:
The belief that authorities external to the selfconstrain
liberty, and; Second, The belief that
only moral choices that are self-authorized are
legitimate.
We conducted two different surveys in the
United States to test a different dimension of
individualism to see if it might help explain
current political attitudes and behaviors. The
second survey was completed in July of 2020 in
the midst of the pandemic.
Results: moral individualism and the American
dream. Those who score higher on the moral
individualism scale are more likely to say that
the American dream consists in the “freedom
to do whatever you want” and “finding personal
fulfillment.” Moral individuals are also less
likely to say that “making a difference in the
community” and “having a happy family” are
important to them.
Results: moral individualism and
civic engagement. Those higher
on the moral individualism
score are least likely to identify
any form of volunteering that
they find enjoyable. So, moral
individualism is associated with
a decrease in indicating interest
in any form of volunteering.
They are also more likely to
report that they did not engage
in any political participation in
the last year.
Author David Linker used moral
individualism to assess responses
to the pandemic. “Underlying all
of these sources of opposition to
public-health measures is a deeper cause that
intertwines with and underlies all of them, at
least in part—and that is the old-fashioned, pigheaded
individualism of the American people.”
David Linker, American Individualism is a
Suicide Pact.
Our conclusions to this study so far:
Individualism is a prominent American value.
And Individualism has multiple subcomponents:
“moral individualism” seems to be one of those
subcomponents. And moral individualism
promotes the self, but it makes it hard to promote
collective efforts in various spheres, including
politics and public health.
Thank you, Dr. Patterson, for a fascinating ongoing
study of American individualism.
Pictured on top left:
Dr. Kelly Patterson, Professor of Political Science, delivered the 2021
Hickman Lecture on Thursday, March 22, 2021. He has been with
BYU since August of 1993, over 28 years, after receiving his PHD at
Columbia University, and teaches courses in American Politics. What
follows is an edited version of his Hickman Lecture:
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THE ACADEMIC COUNCIL
ON THE UNITED NATIONS
SYSTEM
EVENTS AND
PROGRAMS
ACUNS ANNUAL
CONFERENCE 2021
Academic Council on the United Nation System
The Annual Conference for the ACUNS
was organized to take place at Fordham
University in New York City, but due to
lingering effects of the pandemic, once
again, as with last year, the conference
went entirely virtual through Zoom
meetings.
The 2021 Annual Meeting, 24-26
June 2021, featured an outstanding
global effort with approximately 500
participants spanning all the world’s
time zones. The six headliner plenary
sessions included the formal launch
of the Global Governance Innovation
Network. View the plenary sessions
on the ACUNS YouTube channel. The
Annual Meeting included 57 panels and
roundtables and highlighted 12 recently
published books.
BYU Professor Kendall Stiles is one
of the Editors in Chief of the ACUNS
Journal “Global Governance: A review
of Multilateralism and International
Organizations”, and BYU Political
Science is hosting the journal until 2023.
This year’s annual conference, attended by
Dr. Stiles, and Managing Editor Matthew
Clarke, also from BYU Political Science,
focused on “Toward a ‘Fit for Future’ United
Nations System.” Some of the presentations
included: a John W. Holmes Memorial
Lecture by Mr. Mark Malloch Brown, a British
diplomat and former member of the Labour
Party, and Minister of State for Africa,
Asia and the UN, and currently President
of the Open Society Foundations; also, “A
Conversation about Peacekeeping with Mr.
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under-Secretary-
General for Peacekeeping Operations” at the
UN, etc.
Some of the more important statements
discussed during the conference were:
It is through the UN that we can solve
common problems of humanity; Achieving
a UN that is “fit for purpose” is critical;
Women as shapers of this transformation;
gender equality is critical; COVID has had
a disproportionate impact on women and
people of color; developing countries must
be less and less dependent on developed
countries; developing countries must take
care of their own system; The International
Order is Anarchical; developed countries
generally take care of themselves first, then
help developing countries; Behavior of
individuals is critical—how do people behave?
How do we get people to do what they need
to do? Countries with strong public health
systems—Universal Healthcare—succeed
better during events like a pandemic; The UN
can help in leadership development—each
country needs local leaders, and especially
developing countries need leaders.
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Alexis de Tocqueville; (29 July 1805 – 16 April 1859), was a French
aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist, political philosopher and
historian. He is best known for his work Democracy in America (two
volumes, 1835 and 1840) and The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856). In
both, he analysed the improved living standards and social conditions
of individuals as well as their relationship to the market and state in
Western societies. Democracy in America was published after Tocqueville's
travels in the United States and is today considered an early work of
sociology and political science.
As emphasized in Introduction to Book I of Democracy in America,
the purpose of the work is somewhat beyond the American democracy
itself, which was rather an illustration to the philosophical claim that
democracy is an effect of industrialization. This focus on the philosophy
of history justifies a certain ambiguity in using the word 'democracy'
and explains why Tocqueville even ignores the intents of the Founding
Fathers of the United States regarding the American political system.
Tocqueville was an ardent supporter of liberty. "I have a passionate love
for liberty, law, and respect for rights", he wrote. "I am neither of the
revolutionary party nor of the conservative. [...] Liberty is my foremost
passion". He wrote of "Political Consequences of the Social State of the
Anglo-Americans" by saying: "But one also finds in the human heart
a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to want to bring
the strong down to their level, and which reduces men to preferring
equality in servitude to inequality in freedom".
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
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His view on government reflects his belief in liberty and the need for
individuals to be able to act freely while respecting others' rights. Of
centralized government, he wrote that it "excels in preventing, not
doing".
Tocqueville continues to comment on equality by saying: "Furthermore,
when citizens are all almost equal, it becomes difficult for them to
defend their independence against the aggressions of power. As none of
them is strong enough to fight alone with advantage, the only guarantee
of liberty is for everyone to combine forces. But such a combination is
not always in evidence".
Tocqueville explicitly cites inequality as being incentive for the poor to
become rich and notes that it is not often that two generations within
a family maintain success and that it is inheritance laws that split and
eventually break apart someone's estate that cause a constant cycle of
churn between the poor and the rich, thereby over generations making
the poor rich and the rich poor. He cites protective laws in France at
the time that protected an estate from being split apart among heirs,
thereby preserving wealth and preventing a churn of wealth such as was
perceived by him in 1835 within the United States.
Source: Tocqueville, Alexis de (2000). Democracy in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, and https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville.
THE SYAHIM MAG
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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
Curt Magleby
After more than three decades lobbying for the auto industry, from 1988 to 2020, Curt
Magleby retired from Ford at the end of a tumultuous year, though he says he's particularly
proud of how the company has responded to the coronavirus pandemic.
Magleby, Ford’s vice president of U.S. government relations until Dec. 31, 2020, said that
the pandemic allowed for Ford to broaden its brand and, as a result, his scope as a lobbyist.
The automaker assembled 50,000 ventilators to help with response efforts and announced
in September it would donate 100 million masks through 2021.
Magleby began working for Ford in 1988. He had just received his master’s in business
and started working in finance in the electronics division at the company’s Rawsonville,
Mich., plant, where he quickly learned about the importance of personally representing
the brand.
He was eventually promoted to be Ford's top lobbyist in 2011, though unlike many in
government relations, he never worked in partisan politics, a subject that came up during
a meeting that year with the president of the United Auto Workers.
Curt holds a BS and MBA from BYU and has been active in politics and lobbying much of
his professional life.
https://thehill.com/buGsiness-a-lobbying/business-a-lobbying/530157-fords-chief-lobbyist-retiring-we-representfamilies
Curt Magleby with then Chairman Wiliam Clay Ford, Jr., Henry Ford's last remaining grandson.
Rachel Sheffield
Rachel Sheffield, new Chapter VP for Washington,
DC, is a Senior Policy Advisor for the Joint Economic
Committee, Office of Vice Chairman @SenMikeLee,
and former @Heritage analyst in welfare policy,
including: Faith, Family, Freedom. Rachel studied at
BYU for her BS and MS.
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G. Kevin Jones
G. Kevin Jones graduated with a BS
degree Summa Cum Laude from
Brigham Young University in I974 and
received his JD Cum Laude from the
same institution in 1977. He also holds
an LL.M. (Master of Laws), 1984, degree
from the University of Utah and an S.J.D.
degree (Doctor of Juridical Science),
1990, from the University of Virginia, the
highest degree awarded for the study of
law. He is admitted to practice law before
the Utah Supreme Court, the United
States District Court for the District
of Utah, the Tenth Circuit Court of
Appeals, and the United States Supreme
Court.
Jones is accomplished in law, has
authored award-winning law review
articles, and was active in the Mormon History Association serving for nearly 20 years as
the Business Manager and Member of the Executive Committee of the Journal of Mormon
History. He was an Attorney-Advisor in the Intermountain Regional Office of the Solicitor,
United States Department of the Interior, Salt Lake City, Utah, serving as legal counsel
to the Utah units of the National Park Service, the Upper Colorado Region, Bureau of
Reclamation (federal water projects), and defending tort (personal injury) claims against
the United States, 1980-2021. Jones has received numerous special achievement awards for
his legal work in the Department of the Interior, has supervised the office intern program,
and mentored over 75 law students from such schools as the University of Michigan, the
University of Chicago, New York University, Notre Dame University, and Brigham Young
University.
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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
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Kevin has supported writing at BYU Political Science through his awards for many years, and
our students benefit significantly thereby. We thank him, sincerely, for the opportunities
he has provided our students.
Cade Clark
Cade Clark, new Chapter President for Washington,
DC, is Vice President of Government Affairs
at Helicopter Association International (HAI).
Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, HAI members
safely fly more than 5,000 helicopters some 2.3
million hours each year. HAI is governed by a Board
of Directors elected from the membership, with daily
operations conducted by a dedicated professional
staff. Cade studied at BYU for his Bachelors in Political
Science, and Colorado State for MBA.
THE SYAHIM MAG
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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Adam Roberts, Best Paper Award winner in G.
Kevin Jones Sigma Writing Award
Adam Roberts, a BYU student, received the
Best Paper Award from the G. Kevin Jones
Sigma Writing Awards for his work entitled,
“Populism and Evangelicalism: A Crosscountry
Analysis of Chile and the United
States” ($1000 Sigma, 2021)
In the paper, he found that evangelicals
are significantly more populist than
other religious groups in the US, but in
Chile evangelicals are not more populist than other groups. Evangelicalism, Roberts writes, is a
Christian movement gaining in popularity throughout the globe, and is a trans-denominational
movement found in almost every Protestant denomination and tradition including the Baptists and
Pentecostal churches. In 2016, about two-thirds of all Protestants and one in four Christians were
evangelicals, most of which live in the United States, where one-quarter of the nation’s population
is evangelical. Adam examined cases in Chile and the US, and found that evangelical identity is
associated with populist attitudes in the US, but not for Chile. Adam’s research as an undergraduate
can help understand connections between many religious faiths and populism. Thank you, Adam,
for an insightful paper, and congratulations on your first prize of $1,000.
After working for a few years, Adam’s plan is to pursue a Ph.D. in Political Science, with a focus on
quantitative political methodology. He would like to thank Prof. Kirk Hawkins for his help on this
paper, as well as the professors at BYU who have helped him become a better writer.
See his article at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sigma/vol38/iss1/3/
Kesley Powell, President of Women in Politics
Kesley is a Sophomore studying Political
Science with an emphasis in Political Strategy,
and minors in History and Sociology. She is
currently a research assistant for Jay Goodliffe
and a research fellow with the Center for
the Study of Elections and Democracy. She
is interested in identity politics and the role
minority groups play in the political system. In
the fall, Kesley will be interning in Washington
D.C. through the Washington Seminar
program. Upon graduation, she plans to
pursue a PhD in Political Science. In her free
time, she enjoys camping, watching sports, and
reading the news.
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Jay Goodliffe
Jay Goodliffe is the new chair of the
BYU Political Science Department.
As a Professor of Political Science, Jay
specializes in American Politics and
Methodology. He grew up in California—
Walnut Creek and San Francisco—and
in the Shaker Heights area of Cleveland,
Ohio. Then his family moved to Salt
Lake City where Jay graduated from
East High School. Jay then went on to
MIT for undergraduate work, studying
aerospace engineering, with a minor in
Political Science, pausing his studies to
serve in the Taejon Korea Mission. Since
he liked politics (and the career paths in
political science), Jay attended graduate school in political science, turning his hobby
(and undergraduate minor) into a career. Jay went to a quantitative program at the
University of Rochester, and the applied the skills developed at MIT to substantive
problems in Political Science. He received both his M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science at
the University of Rochester.
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In the summer of 2018, under Jay’s direction, BYU hosted the 35th annual meeting for
the Society for Political Methodology (“PolMeth”). Over 200 eminent scholars attended
and presented papers at the conference.
Money and Politics
Much of Jay’s research has been on money and politics. He has found that money is
necessary but not sufficient to win an election. Candidates use money strategically.
Incumbents would like to raise money to scare potential opponents away, but that rarely
works. Incumbents mostly raise and save money because they are risk averse: They do
it because they are worried a strong challenger will enter the race and perhaps even
outspend them. And all candidates are worried that outside groups like Super PACs will
overwhelm the electoral contest with large sums of money. Thus, money is strategically
used as insurance more than deterrence. See: Goodliffe, J. (2004). “War Chests as
Precautionary Savings.” Political Behavior 26(4): 289-315.
On the donor side, money is becoming more like voting. Most people do not donate in
large sums to a Super PAC like George Soros and other billionaires. Most people donate
a smaller amount directly to candidates like $100. What is their motivation? It is often
for the same reasons that people vote: “I really like Trump,” or “I really like Biden,” (or
“I really dislike Trump,” or “I really dislike Biden”). Donating is more prevalent than it
was, as technology has made it easier to donate now. See: Magleby, D., Goodliffe, J. &
Olsen, J. (2018). Who Donates in Campaigns? The Importance of Message, Messenger,
Medium, and Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Although there is a lot of money in the campaign finance system, the money often
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FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
comes in on opposing sides. If the money only came in on one side, then that money
might be more influential, but if one side sees the opportunity for influence, the other
side will recognize it an bring in money to oppose that influence. See: Magleby, D., &
Goodliffe, J. (2018). Interest Groups in the 2016 Election. In David B. Magleby (Ed.),
Financing the 2016 Election (pp. 87-129). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
Jay’s Goals for the Department as Our New Chair
Jay’s vision for the department is to continue to foster the department’s strengths:
outstanding students, strong staff, and wonderful faculty that are recognized in the
profession for their achievements. Past Political Science chairs were excellent stewards
of the department: Sven Wilson, Darren Hawkins, Ray Christensen, Kelly Patterson, and
David Magleby. Jay is fortunate to have all of these previous department chairs still here
to advise and guide him and the department.
Dr. Elizabeth McGuire
Dr. McGuire recently finished her PhD at Yale
University, with her dissertation exploring how
social groups affect the diffusion of gender norms
and how women process female role models in
politics. Her research focusing on gender politics,
development politics, and African politics. She
qualified in comparative politics, political economy and
international relations.
Dr. McGuire grew up primarily in the mountain west
and is a graduate of Brigham Young University with
a BA in International Relations (’13). She has conducted field research with Oxford
University, the Center for Global Development, and IPA. Studying with Drs. Daniel
Nielson and Michael Findley at BYU exposed McGuire to the career opportunities
available for researchers. She participated in the mentored research abroad program in
Uganda while an undergraduate, and learned the value of experimental research, as well
as critical skills in project design and field research. She has consistently returned to the
African continent to conduct field experiments since that time and enjoys the creativity
and challenge of working with experiments in that context.
Dr. McGuire joined the BYU Political Science faculty in the summer of 2021.
Dr. David Rommey
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David Romney, Assistant Professor of Comparative
Politics, joined us in Summer 2021 after work at Harvard
University, where he received his PhD in Government in
2020 and was a postdoctoral fellow 2020–2021. Before
attending Harvard, he received his B.A. in Middle East
Studies and Arabic, with a minor in Modern Hebrew,
from Brigham Young University in 2013.
David studies intergroup relations, looking at how
members of ethnic groups form attitudes and develop
group norms toward others as well as how we can change those attitudes and norms
to improve intergroup relations. He also studies social media, misinformation, and

conspiracy theories. In both research agendas, he uses a diverse set of methodological
approaches, including lab and survey experiments, natural experiments, and
computational textual analysis. His research projects primarily focus on the Middle East,
where he has spent close to a year total in Jordan and Israel, but he has done research
abroad in India and at home in the United States as well.
Professor Richard Davis Retires
BYU Professor of Political Science Richard Davis, stepped down as the Coordinator for our Civic
Engagement Leadership Minor as of May 1, 2020, and then retired quietly from the Department
of Political Science after over 20 years of service, in the Spring of 2021. We thank Richard for his
excellent work, from heading up the “Futures” committee which generated the idea of greater
involvement in civic engagement, to hosting an annual civic engagement research conference
on campus, hosting a lecture series on various avenues of civic engagement, and promoting civic
engagement through on campus advocacy for things such as voter enrollment, political debates,
etc. He has done a terrific job that deserves our combined gratitude. Thank you, Richard.
Richard received a BA in Political Science from BYU and a PhD in Political Science from Syracuse
University. He has advocated and written about reforms to the selection process to the United States
Supreme Court after what he said is a process that has become more and more political. “I think
those days are gone, when you could just look
at the merits of a nominee and say this person
belongs on the court,” said Richard Davis, a
political science professor at Brigham Young
University. “You have the Democrats portray
the nominee one way, the Republicans another
way, (and) when they get on the court, they
are tagged. They are their person or their
person,” he added.
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Davis has advocated reforms to the court,
beginning with term limits for the nine
justices, which would allow for an automatic
replacement every two years.
“If we had an 18-year term limit for justices,
then we would know when they are going to
leave the court, and there wouldn’t be this
concern about, when is the next time we are going to have a nomination,” he said. Davis also said
the country needs a bipartisan nominating commission, focused on finding impartial jurists. Davis
believes both parties need to act to keep politics from overtaking the highest court in the land.
Dr. Davis also founded the United Utah Party in 2017, and served as Chairperson until 2020. In 2016,
a small group of people in Utah began talking about the possibility of forming a new party. We
held several meetings in early 2017 in various parts of the state to involve more and more people.
Eventually, we formed a political action committee and then, in late spring of 2017, filed to become a
political party. The past four years have been quite a ride. We have gone from nothing to a political
party with thousands of registered members and even more supporters who vote for our candidates.
In 2021, the United Utah Party has eighteen candidates running for the Utah State Legislature,
which is the largest slate of candidates of any party other than the Democrats or Republicans. The
UUP candidates have drafted a statement that explains their legislative priorities as a caucus for the
2021 legislative session. Davis notes that the UUP offers voters an opportunity to choose a candidate
without partisan baggage.
Thank you for your years of service, Richard!
THE SYAHIM MAG
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FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
Christopher Krewson
Christopher Krewson is an Assistant Professor in the
Political Science Department at Brigham Young University.
Christopher’s research is based in American politics, with a
focus on judicial politics, political institutions, and political
behavior. His work examines judicial behavior both off and
on the bench, as well as public perceptions of the Court.
Chris grew up in Clovis, California in the Central Valley. In
High School he played volleyball and had a record number
of blocks. After graduation, he went on a mission to Samoa.
Since his mission, his parents moved to Maryland, then to
Chicago, then to Northern Wisconsin. Chris wanted a career
where he could stay for his whole life. He came to BYU and
majored in American Studies with a minor in Statistics.
Perhaps the most influential part of his undergraduate work
was his time on the Washington Seminar where he worked
in the Federal Judicial Center, researching on the court mingled with law students. As a result, he
pursued a PhD in Political Science at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He is a Bucks fan!
(They just won the NBA championship 2021.) He met his wife in high school. They started to date at
BYU after he returned home from his mission. They married during his time as an undergraduate
at BYU; they had two children at BYU, one child in Wisconsin, and then their fourth in California
where he worked for two years at the Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, which is located
in southern California near Los Angeles. He has been in the BYU political science department
since 2020, when he was hired during the current pandemic. His parents live in Chippewa Falls,
Wisconsin.
His scholarship focuses on American Politics, especially the
courts, with a focus on the Supreme Court. He believes that term
limits might be one way to de-politicize the courts, with vacancies
occurring at regular intervals. Term limits may lessen the political
stakes associated with any one given vacancy and lead to less
Thank you Dr. Sven Wilson
We wanted to extend a heartfelt thank you to Dr. Sven Wilson, who
has served as Department Chair for the past seven years. We will focus
on his scholarship in a future issue, but wanted to make sure he knows
how much we appreciate his work on behalf of BYU Political Science
and his stabilizing, encouraging presence. Thank you, again.
Ryan Davis Promotion to Associate Professor
Ryan Davis has been promoted to Associate Professor! He also
received the Martin B. Hickman Excellence in Teaching Award from
the College of Family, Home and Social Sciences this past August.
Congratulations Ryan!
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Ryan centers his pedagogy on teaching students how to apply
philosophical thinking to the world around them. One student
summed up the effect of his tutelage by saying that they now “think
of my own arguments, and the arguments of others, in a more
constructive way—as premises leading to a conclusion.” He is best
known for his deep love of the greater sage-grouse and Taylor Swift
lyrics, resulting in students observing that he is “inadvertently hilarious” and “really defies the idea
of a stoic philosophy professor.”

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THE SYAHIM MAG

FACULTY PUBLICATIONS
FOUNDING FACTIONS: HOW
MAJORITIES SHIFTED AND
ALIGNED TO SHAPE THE U.S.
CONSTITUTION
JEREMY POPE AND SHAWN TREIER
As of December 1, 2020, Professor Jeremy Pope’s book with
Shawn Treier (Australian National University) is out with the
University of Michigan Press: Founding Factions: How Majorities
Shifted and Aligned to Shape the U.S. Constitution
The fundamental importance of the 1787 Constitutional
Convention continues to affect contemporary politics. The
Constitution defines the structure and limits of the American
system of government, and it organizes contemporary debates
about policy and legal issues—debates that explicitly invoke the
intentions and actions of those delegates to the Convention.
Virtually all scholarship emphasizes the importance of
compromise between key actors or factions at the Convention.
In truth, the deep structure of voting at the Convention remains
somewhat murky because the traditional stories are incomplete.
There were three key factions at the Convention, not two.
The alliance of the core reformers with the slave interests
helped change representation and make a stronger national
government. When it came time to create a strong executive,
a group of small state delegates provided the crucial votes.
Traditional accounts gloss over the complicated coalition politics
that produced these important compromises, while this book
shows the specific voting alignments. It is true that the delegates
came with common purposes, but they were divided by both
interests and ideas into three crosscutting factions. There was
no persistent dominant coalition of reformers or nationalists;
rather, there was a series of minority factions allying with
one another on the major issues to fashion the compromise.
Founding Factions helps us understand the nature of shifting
majorities and how they created the American government.
WHO DONATES IN
CAMPAIGNS?
DAVID B. MAGLEBY, JAY GOODLIFFE, AND JOSEPH A. OLSEN
The Importance of Message, Messenger, Medium, and Structure.
Cambridge University Press. While much is known about
who votes in American elections, much less is known about
who donates. In this book, the authors utilize a unique and
historically unprecedented data set of donors from the 2008 and
2012 presidential elections to answer longstanding questions:
what is the relationship between donors and candidates? How
do candidates attract and respond to contributors? How do
campaign strategies reflect changing campaign finance laws and
the development of the internet?
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With unprecedented cooperation from the Obama, McCain,
and Romney campaigns, the authors investigate presidential

campaign donors at all giving levels to produce the most
systematic and complete analysis of donors to presidential
nominees to date. As elections are decided increasingly by
donors' dollars, Who Donates to Campaigns? provides relevant
research on the broader trends in partisan polarization and,
more generally, on how campaigns can engage more citizens in
political participation.
SUPREME DEMOCRACY
RICHARD DAVIS
Richard Davis wrote Supreme Democracy. In the nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries, Supreme Court nominations were
driven by presidents, senators, and some legal community
elites. Many nominations were quick processes with little Senate
deliberation, minimal publicity and almost no public involvement.
Today, however, confirmation takes 81 days on average-Justice
Antonin Scalia's former seat has already taken much longer to filland
it is typically a media spectacle. How did the Supreme Court
nomination process become so public and so nakedly political?
What forces led to the current high-stakes status of the process?
How could we implement reforms to improve the process?
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FACULTY PUBLICATIONS
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In Supreme Democracy: The End of Elitism in the Supreme Court
Nominations, Richard Davis, an eminent scholar of American
politics and the courts, traces the history of nominations from the
early republic to the present. He examines the component parts of
the nomination process one by one: the presidential nomination
stage, the confirmation management process, the role of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, and the increasing involvement
over time of interest groups, the news media, and public opinion.
The most dramatic development, however, has been the
democratization of politics. Davis delves into the constitutional
underpinnings of the nomination process and its traditional
form before describing a more democratic process that has
emerged in the past half century. He details the struggle
overimage-making between supporters and opponents
intended to influence the news media and public opinion. Most
importantly, he provides a thorough examination of whether or
not increasing democracy always produces better governance,
and a better Court. Not only an authoritative analysis of
theSupreme Court nomination process from the founding era
to the present, Supreme Democracy will be an essential guide to
all of the protracted nomination battles yet to come.
UNDERSTANDING GLOBAL
COOPERATION
PROFESSOR KENDALL STILES AND PROFESSOR KURT MILLS
BYU Professor Kendall Stiles, and Professor Kurt Mills edited
Understanding Global Cooperation. This work is a collection of
twenty-five articles previously published in Global Governance
- one from each year of the journals existence highlighting
some of the best work published in the journal, along with an
Introduction by the two editors.
THE SYAHIM MAG
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FACULTY IN THE NEWS
THE “WADE JACOBY PRIZE”
EUROPEAN UNION STUDIES ASSOCIATION
Professor Wade Jacoby, who passed away on February 29, 2020, has
recently receive a posthumous honor. The Chair of the European
Union Studies Association (EUSA), Sara Wallace Goodman,
announced in July of 2021 that the organization voted to rename
EUSA's prize for Best Dissertation the “Wade Jacoby Prize.”
The European Union Studies Association (EUSA) is the premier
scholarly and professional association focusing on the European
Union, the ongoing integration process, and transatlantic relations.
Founded in 1988, EUSA now has over 600 members throughout North America, all EU member
states, and on all continents, representing the social sciences, the humanities, business and law
practitioners, news media, and governments on both sides of the Atlantic.
The EUSA Prize for Best Dissertation in EU studies is awarded to a dissertation written in English
on any aspect of European integration submitted in completion of the Ph.D. at any university in the
two academic years preceding an upcoming EUSA Conference.
Wade loved working with graduate students, and EUSA Executives believe this prize really honors
his spirit and memory. We miss you Wade!
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND, 2020
PROFESSOR JOEL SELWAY PUBLISHED ON THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTE BLOG
What do the Hunger Games, Hamtaro (a famous Japanese cartoon),
and Harry Potter have in common? All have been referenced in
recent Thai protests. For the past three months, tens of thousands
of people have been protesting across Thailand. The protesters are
mostly students, but their demands are much more serious than
their symbols of teen pop culture might suggest. Their original set
of demands included three core reforms: dissolving the House of
Representatives, a military-dominated body which came to power
in sham elections in 2019; drafting a new constitution, a military-drafted charter was introduced
in 2017; and ending intimidation of the people, such as by arresting protest leaders and issuing
emergency decrees. They have since broached the once-taboo topic of monarchical reform,
demanding that the king be subject to the constitution and stay out of politics.
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The scope of these protests, both in the boldness of their demands as well as the breadth of their
support, makes them different than the polarized mass protests of the past two decades that saw
opposing red and yellow shirts throng the streets. Rather, the 2020 protests look more similar to
those in 1973, 1976, and 1992 — protests that continued a battle over Thai nationalism that began
in 1932. In an open letter to the government published in the Thai Enquirer, one young protester
captured the spirit of this battle: “You tell us we should love our country, religion, and monarchy.
We have very different ideas about what this means. The country is not its government. The
country is its people. And I love my country, but I will love it on my own terms … Not because a

power tells us what to think and who to love under fear of death and imprisonment.
”
See link: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/11/02/thailands-nationalmoment-protests-in-a-continuing-battle-over-nationalism/
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MONDAY, AUGUST 2, 2021
QUINN MECHAM AT THE KENNEDY CENTER
On Monday, August 2, 2021, it was announced that Quinn Mecham has been named associate
director for research and academic programs at the Kennedy
Center, effective January 2022. Mecham replaces Stan Benfell, who
was recently named director of the Kennedy Center after Renata
Forste's appointment as international vice president of BYU.
Mecham is currently the coordinator of the Middle East Studies/
Arabic program at the Kennedy Center. He has taught in the
Political Science department at BYU since 2013 and has also been
an Academy Scholar at Harvard University, a visiting scholar at
George Washington University, a professor at Middlebury College,
and a member of the Policy Planning Staff of the U.S. Department
of State focusing on the Arab Gulf, political Islam, and global
religious affairs. He earned his PhD in Political Science from
Stanford after studying at BYU.
Quinn is also running for City Council in Orem, Utah this summer and fall of 2021. We wish Quinn
best of luck in his desire to serve in the public sector, in addition to his work at BYU.
SATURDAY, MAY 1, 2020
NEW COORDINATOR FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT LEADERSHIP AT BYU
COLLEGE OF FHSS
Quin Monson from Political Science has agreed to assume
the leadership role for Civic Engagement beginning May 1,
2020, from Professor Richard Davis. Quin has considerable
experience working with both political candidates and
governmental and non-governmental agencies and will add a
new perspective to this program. We look forward to seeing
the program under his leadership.
THE SYAHIM MAG
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FACULTY IN THE NEWS
TUESDAY, APRIL 13TH, 2021
ON TOP OF MIND
Wealthier nations in Europe and North America have snatched up the majority of COVID-19 vaccine
doses manufactured globally, while some low-and-middle-income countries around the world have
yet to administer a single dose of the vaccine. This is the vaccine inequality that the World Health
Organization has been warning against for the last year. Quinn Mecham is a professor of political
science at Brigham Young University. Listen here: https://tinyurl.com/2cc3yw38
SATURDAY, MAY 5TH, 2021
ON TOP OF MIND
President Joe Biden’s plans to invest in infrastructure, create jobs, and strengthen the safety net for
American families have drawn comparisons to the sweeping agendas of two previous Democratic
presidents. But Republicans in Congress dismiss the president's plans as an expensive, big-government
approach. Grant Madsen and Christ Karpowitz help to put Biden's plans into perspective.
Madsen is a historian and professor at Brigham Young University, and Karpowitz is a professor of
political science and co-director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at BYU.
Listen to it here: https://tinyurl.com/yhnxzsee
FRIDAY, JUNE 17TH, 2021
ON TOP OF MIND
President Joe Biden just met for his first summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin
called the meeting “construction”; Biden said he was looking to establish a “stable, predictable
relationship.” Historian Grant Madsen and political scientist Chris Karpowitz, both professors at
Brigham Young University, analyze the summit. Here’s the link: https://tinyurl.com/byuradio
TUESDAY, JULY 28TH, 2021
ON TOP OF MIND
A timely segment on Tunsia with Quinn Mecham. Tunisia was the only country to transition to
democracy as a result of the 2011 Arab uprising. A dangerous power grab has now thrown that
democracy into doubt and chaos—and some citizens are actually welcoming the shift toward
authoritarian rule. Quinn Mecham, a professor of political science at Brigham Young University and
regular guest on Top of Mind, examines the situation.
Listen to it here: https://tinyurl.com/uwkfj378
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(continued from page 4)
other governments behave within their dependence network and alter their own actions to be
more consistent with those of their partners. Leaders value approval from network partners. A
dependence network is a set of partners states with whom it regularly engages in exchanges of
valued goods. And the article suggests that they expect states to engage in “diffuse reciprocity”
with their network partners where they reasonably expect some return for their behavior.
On June 1, 1998, states convened in Rome to finalize the ICC Statute. And, in the end, supporters
decided they had the votes to push through a very strong Court. The central insight of this article
is that actors consider the likely reactions of their network partners when making enforcement
decisions. This is why states agreed to a strong ICC. If the government in question depends on
countries that have committed to a strong ICC, leaders will likely conclude that their partners
will react positively to those who also commit to punish human rights violations.
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INTERNATIONAL COURT ARTICLE
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Thus, for any particular government, the larger the proportion of its network partners
that strongly supported the ICC, the stronger the pressure of committing to the ICC as an
enforcement mechanism, and the greater the likelihood that the government would commit.
Dependence matters because states can impose rewards and punishments, either material or
social, on others.
The central refinement of this article over most of the scholarly work on interdependence, is to
conceptualize dependence as existing within a network.
Dr. Goodliffe and Dr. Hawkins’ most striking conclusion is that even in the face of these
numerous control variables, trade networks still mattered and in fact exerted as large of a
substantive influence as the better-known and more widely discussed factors. The evidence for
trade networks is remarkably robust, surviving multiple models where other variables failed,
suggesting that state positions on the ICC were influenced by their trade partners. (Jay Goodliffe
& Darren Hawkins (2009).)
Thank you, Dr. Goodliffe and Dr. Hawkins for a fascinating article.
THE SYAHIM MAG
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FACULTY QUOTE
BY
STAN TAYLOR
Professor Emeritus, BYU Political Science
This morning I want to read and comment on a few of the themes found in this sacred
“declaration of belief regarding governments and laws” that we know as section 134 of
the Doctrine and Covenants. The teachings contained therein make clear what must
be rendered to Caesar and what must be rendered to God. Verse 1 begins, “We believe
that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man.” What a simple, yet
bold, opening to this declaration. Keep in mind that this declaration was adopted by the
Church “after the mobbings, the plunderings, [and] the assassinations” that were a part
of the Church’s early experience in Missouri. This statement was written by “a people,
who, judged by human standards, had every reason to feel that their government
had failed, and that they might not hopefully and successfully look thereto for their
protection” (J. Reuben Clark, Jr. CR, April 1935, p. 90). This opening declaration lays
to rest the deceit of both ancient and modern anarchists that government is evil . . .
Why would the Lord institute government among his children when government has
the potential of becoming dictatorial and of limiting human freedom? This question
is answered in verse 6 of this section: “As without [government and its laws] peace and
harmony would be supplanted by anarchy and terror.”
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“Stan Taylor, “Accountable Citizenship,”
devotional address given on 5 May, 1998,
see speeches.byu.edu.

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