The Corry Colloquium Speaker Series of the Department of Political Studies presents:

Peggy Kohn - University of Toronto

"The Promise and Perils of Participatory Democracy: Lessons from Non-profit Housing Cooperatives" 

Friday, November 10, 2023 

12:00-1:30 PM

Robert Sutherland Hall | Room 334

Light lunch served

Dr. Peggy Kohn is a professor of political theory at the University of Toronto whose primary research interests are in the areas of the history of political thought, critical theory, social justice, and urbanism. Prof. Kohn will tentatively speak about the results of a study on solidarity and democracy in non-profit housing cooperatives in Canada. The project, entitled “Demoralizing Democracy," sits at the intersection of political theory and urban studies.

Click the link below for more information about this event and to read the abstract!

The Canadian Opinion Research Archive (CORA) and the Corry Colloquium Speaker Series of the Department of Political Studies present:

J. Scott Matthews - Memorial University

"Quality Control: Unpacking the Microfoundations of Retrospective Voting" 

Friday, October 20, 2023 

12:00-1:30 PM

Robert Sutherland Hall | Room 334

Light refreshments served

Abstract: The theory of retrospective voting – the idea that voters reward and punish incumbents at the ballot box according to their record of performance in office – is one of the dominant models in the study of voting behaviour. The model also aligns with common intuitions about how democracy ought to work. Yet, we have remarkably little credible evidence for the theory’s fundamental premises: that citizens integrate streams of performance information into manageable impressions of the state of the world during an incumbent’s term, and then form appraisals of incumbents based on those impressions. In this talk, I will advance a novel experimental framework for studying the microfoundations of retrospective voting. I will also report results from an extended series of experiments applying the framework to a range of critical questions regarding how, and how well, voters evaluate incumbent performance. I will conclude that the results suggest voters process performance information in a way that ably, if not always optimally, identifies competent incumbents.

The Canadian Opinion Research Archive [CORA] and the Department of Political Studies present:

"Survey Research on Race in Canadian Politics: A Work in Progress"

with Erin Tolley (Carleton University)

Thursday, September 21st, 2:30 – 3:30 pm

Robert Sutherland Hall, Room 334

*Light refreshments served

Researchers increasingly recognize the need for more racially disaggregated research and data, but the infrastructure for conducting this research in Canada remains under-developed, especially in politics. This talk will provide insights from two works in progress. First, I will discuss the mechanics of a collaborative project with Operation Black Vote Canada and provide early findings from a survey we conducted with Black Canadian candidates and officeholders. Second, I will introduce new work with Dr. Fan Lu and Dr. Debra Thompson, which aims to understand and improve measures of racial identity in survey research on politics. The talk will make a case not just for more research on race but better tools for doing that work.