RENAN LEVINE

Assistant Professor of Political Science URL: http://individual.utoronto.ca/renan

Department of Political Science Email: renan.levine@utoronto.ca

100 St. George Street, Suite 3009 Phone (w): (416) 978 – 0743

Toronto, ON M5S 3G3 (h): (416) 848 – 1871

Education

Duke University. Ph.D. in Political Science. December 2003.

Dissertation: “Dynamics of Multicandidate Elections: Menu-dependent Preferences.”

Committee: John H. Aldrich (Chair), Jeffrey Grynaviski, Michael C. Munger, John W. Payne.

Exam Fields: American and Comparative Politics. April 1999.

Teaching Politics Certificate, 2001.

I.C.P.S.R. Summer School, Summer 1997.

Trinity College, Dublin. Visiting Student in Dept. of Political Science, Spring 1999.

University of Rochester. B.A. Magna Cum Laude with High Honors in Political Science. 1996.

Oxford University, Worcester College, Visiting Student in Politics, 1994‑5.

Akiba Hebrew Academy, Merion, Pennsylvania. H.S. 1992.

Academic Appointments

2003- University of Toronto, Assistant Professor of Political Science

2000-2003 Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University, Lecturer

1999 Humboldt Universitat, Berlin, Visiting Lecturer

Publications

“Foreign Lobbying” in Peter Francia, Burdett A. Loomis and Dara Z. Strolovitch, Guide to Interest Groups and Lobbying in the United States. CQ Press, 2010 (with Arnd Jurgensen). Under contract.

A review of the evolving lobbying tactics engaged in by foreign interests and the institutional and legal context that creates incentives for lobbying and public diplomacy efforts.

“Framing, Public Diplomacy, and Anti-Americanism in Central Asia,” International Studies Quarterly (with Edward Schatz), Accepted pending minor revisions.

To test the efficacy of American public diplomacy abroad, we showed respondents a statement about the US, attributed to several different figures. Those who read the quote attributed to President Bush had lower opinions of the US, but after a discussion with peers, those views partially dissipated. Respondents had more positive views of the US if they engaged in a discussion with peers who had generally positive views of the US.

“Fringe Candidates Can Change Perceptions of Centrist Candidates,” Political Behavior. Accepted pending minor revisions.

The presence of an extreme third party candidate causes perceptions of the nearest candidate to appear more centrist, potentially helping the centrist candidate win the median voter.

“Comparing Strategic Voting under FPTP and PR,” Comparative Political Studies 43.3 (March 2010), (with Paul Abramson, John Aldrich, André Blais, Matthew Diamond, Abraham Diskin, Indridi Indridason, and Daniel Lee)

Contrary to conventional wisdom, patterns of strategic voting under FPTP and PR are strikingly similar. A comparative study of elections in five countries indicates that strategic voting may actually be more common under PR.

“Coalition Considerations and the Vote,” in Asher Arian and Michal Shamir, eds. The Elections in Israel, 2006. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Press, 2008, pp. 45-68. (with Paul R. Abramson, John H. Aldrich, Andre Blais, and Daniel Lee)

Strategic voting in Israel decreased in 2006 compared to 2003 as a result of wishful thinking and the absence of some of the strategic incentives that existed in the previous election.

“Canadian Voting Behavior in Comparative Perspective,” in Richard Simeon, Rob Vipond, Jennifer Wallner and Linda White, eds. The Comparative Turn: The Canadian Contribution. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2008 (with Jim Farney)

Reviews Canadian contributions to comparative theories of voting to identify fruitful future avenues of investigation.

“Sources of Bias in Voter Expectations under Proportional Representation,” Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties 17.3 (2007): 215-234.

Partisans’ exaggerated expectations are the product of biased recollections of recent polls and wishful thinking. These biased expectations were not mitigated by increased levels of political knowledge.

“Feast or Famine at the Federal Luau? Understanding Net Federal Spending under Bush,” The Forum 4.2 (2006): Article 6 (with Peter Francia).
Available at: http://www.bepress.com/forum/vol4/iss2/art6

Republican “red” states received more federal benefits per tax dollar compared to “blue” or battleground states under President G. W. Bush. We find that this difference persists even after controlling for income disparities and demographic differences.

“Do Voters Vote for Government Coalitions? Testing Downs’ Pessimistic Conclusion,” Party Politics 12.6 (2006): 691-705 (with Andre Blais, John H. Aldrich, and Indridi H. Indridason).

Contrary to Downs’ conclusion that ‘most voters do not vote as though elections were government-selection mechanisms’ in countries that regularly produce coalition governments, we find that coalition considerations motivated some Israeli voters in 2003 to vote for a party other than their favorite.

“Coalition Considerations and the Vote,” in Asher Arian and Michal Shamir, The Elections in Israel, 2003. Transaction Press (English), 2005 and Jerusalem, Israel: Israel Democracy Institute (Hebrew), 2004 (with John H. Aldrich, Andre Blais, and Indridi Indridason).

The desire to influence post-election coalition negotiations helps explain why many Israeli voters cast strategic votes in 2003. This explains why levels of strategic voting are surprisingly high in a nearly pure-PR electoral system with a low threshold for representation.

“Strategic Abandonment or Sincerely Second Best? The 1999 Israeli Prime Ministerial Election,” Journal of Politics 66.3 (2004): 706–728 (with Paul R. Abramson, John H. Aldrich, Matthew Diamond, Thomas J. Scotto and Abraham Diskin).

Models of strategic voting behavior based on the multi-candidate calculus of voting reveal that strategic voting in a majority-with-runoff election closely resembled the level and nature of strategic voting found in the plurality systems for which the models were originally developed.

Working Papers. Available at: http://works.bepress.com/renan/

“A Palin Effect?” (with Ian Worte)

An examination of American National Election Study Panel data shows that the nomination of Palin and the GOP convention did cause many Republicans to enthusiastically embrace the McCain ticket, but as the campaign progressed, Palin had a negative effect on many voters indifferent between McCain and Obama.

“Reading the 2008 Presidential Campaign in Tehran” (with Elahé Aiaseh)

Analyzing coverage of the 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign in two Iranian papers reveals much about Iranian attitudes towards the US and engagement with the US. A government newspaper tended to be critical of both candidates, while an independent newspaper focused more on Obama.

“Choice Difficulty and the Compromise Effect in Candidate Choice.”

Contrary to conventional wisdom but consistent with consumer marketing theories, moderate candidates can benefit when third-party candidates enters on their flank because voters who find the choice to be difficult become more likely to choose a candidate that appears to be a compromise between two extremes.

“Why are there so many parties? Understanding the Canadian Party System,” (with Jim Farney).

The existing comparative literature fails to explain why Canada has so many parties compared to other countries nor can they readily explain recent changes in the party system. Focusing on the institutional incentives that lead to new, non-centrist, parties forming and attracting votes enables us to accommodate changes in the Canadian party system. These incentives exist both when the winner of an election is widely expected and when there is a chance of a minority government.

“Voters' Expectations Over Election Outcomes under Proportional Representation,” (with Valery Kisilevsky).

Before the 2006 Israeli election, many citizens offered predictions of the largest parties inconsistent with the recent published polls. Showing respondents the latest poll did not affect their expectations, but such information did influence predictions for smaller, less well-known parties.

“Framing, Public Diplomacy, and Anti-Americanism in Central Asia,” (with Edward Schatz).

We test the efficacy of U.S. efforts to use public diplomacy to improve America’s image with an experiment carried out in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. We find that the attribution of messages about the U.S. matters, but these effects partially dissipate after people have an opportunity to talk about the U.S. with their peers. After such discussions, views of the U.S. tend to improve, leaving most respondents with mildly positive views of the U.S.

“An Analysis of Source and Frame Interactions on Attitudes towards Stem Cell Research,” Political Communication (with Laura B. Stephenson).

Using data from an original internet survey of Canadian adults, we compare how the identity and expertise of different messengers influence the effect of a frame on preferences towards stem cell research. When a message is delivered by a source with specific expertise in the logic underlying the frame, we find that the message has a greater influence, especially on the salience of certain beliefs for opinion formation; however, the beliefs activated were often contrary to the message, indicating that these beliefs strengthened in resistance to the message.

“Message or Messenger? The Limits of Moral Leadership,” (with Laura B. Stephenson).

In an experiment implemented on campuses in two countries, we test the impact of a religious leader and a political leader by investigating how opinions change when these leaders frame their comments using material or ethical terms. We find that changing the identity of the messenger had an independent priming effect on which beliefs heavily factor into our subjects’ deliberations about stem-cell research and government spending cuts.

“Subadditivity and the Unpacking Effect in Political Opinions”

When a broad description of a policy is “unpacked” into more specific component policies, support for the component policies exceeds support for the original, broad policy. Extends work by Tversky and colleagues emphasizing the increased availability of information about component events on judgments of probabilities to public opinion questions.

Conference Papers

“Framing, Public Diplomacy, and Anti-Americanism in Central Asia,” Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, September 3-6, 2009 (with Edward Schatz).

“Revealing Strategic Scrutiny: Coalition Considerations and the Vote.” Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 2-5, 2008.

“Crossing Borders: Ethnic and Religious Interest Group Organizing in Domestic and Foreign Politics.” Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 3-6, 2008.

“Why are there so many parties? Understanding the Canadian Party System.” Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 20-23, 2006 (with Jim Farney).

“Message or Messenger: Limits of Moral Leadership.” Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 20-23, 2006 (with Laura B. Stephenson).

“When Israelis die, does it make the front page?” Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association. January 8-10, 2005.

“Givers and Taker States: Partisan Patterns of Federal Taxation and Spending.” Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association. January 8-10, 2005 (with Peter Francia).

“’Timbits Aboot Canada:’ Theorizing about Canadian Voting and Party Competition in Comparative Perspective.” Annual Meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association. June 1-3, 2005. (with Jim Farney)

“Dynamics of Multi-Candidate Campaigns: Menu-Dependent Preferences.” Paper prepared for delivery at the 2002 Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association.

“A Whodunit from Old Virginia: Who killed the Readjuster Party?” Paper prepared for delivery at the 2002 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association.

“Prime Minister and Parliament: Strategic Straight Ticket Voting.” Paper prepared for delivery at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (with Paul Abramson, Paul, John H. Aldrich, Matthew Diamond, Abraham Diskin and Thomas J. Scotto).

“Teaching Website Design in Business Classes.” Paper prepared for delivery at the 2001 Hawaii Conference on Business, Honolulu, Hawaii, June 14-17 (with Gary Gereffi and Martha Martinez).

“Strategic Abandonment or Sincerely Second Best? Strategic Voting in the 1999 Israeli Election.” Paper prepared for delivery at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois, April 19-22 (with Paul Abramson, Paul, John H. Aldrich, Matthew Diamond, Abraham Diskin and Thomas J. Scotto).

“Job Insecurity and Globalization: Evidence From Europe.” Paper prepared for delivery at the 1999 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Atlanta, GA, September 2‑5, 1999 (with John Aldrich, Claire Kramer, Peter Lange, Renan Levine, John Rattliff, Laura Stephenson and Elizabeth Zechmeister).

“Racing the Titanic: Globalization, Insecurity and American Democracy.” Paper prepared for delivery at the 1999 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Atlanta, GA, September 2‑5, 1999 (with Aldrich, John, Claire Kramer, Peter Lange, Renan Levine, John Rattliff, Laura Stephenson, Elizabeth Zechmeister).

“Betting on the Horses: Expectations of the National Economy and Presidential Election Predictions.” Paper prepared for delivery at the 1999 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Atlanta, GA, Sept. 2‑5.

Non-academic Publications

“Sarah, Trig, Piper, Willow and I.” Department of Political Science [University of Toronto] Discourse. Spring 2009.

“Institutions matter to baseball: How two journalists from Colorado could have kept Philadelphia’s Jimmy Rollins from winning the National League Most Valuable Player Award.” Department of Political Science [University of Toronto] Discourse. Fall 2007.

“Are your tax dollars going to Republicans?” Black Policy.org. University of Denver, Center for African-American Policy. http://www.blackpolicy.org/resources/guesteditorial32206.html March 22, 2006.

“Inching forward without Sharon.” Black Policy.org. University of Denver, Center for African-American Policy. http://www.blackpolicy.org/resources/inchingforwardwithoutsharon.html January 23, 2006.

“A legacy of facts on the ground.” Toronto Star; Jan 6, 2006; pg. A.17.

“[Israeli] Domestic political institutions and their social context” Shem Shel Shemayim. April 2005. Merion, PA: Akiba Hebrew Academy.

“Can 59 million people be wrong?” Department of Political Science [University of Toronto] Discourse. Spring 2005.

“What Was President Reagan's Greatest Legacy?” The Window.net (New College) and Canadian University Press Wire. June 20, 2004.

“Readjuster Party of Virginia,” “Consumer Party,” “Eugene McCarthy,” and related biographies. In Immanuel Ness and James Ciment. Encyclopedia of Third Parties in America. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2000.

Special Awards and Honors

Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Duke University, April 2003

University of Rochester Student Life Award, 1995 ‑ 1996.

Alumni Scholar at the University of Rochester, 1992 ‑ 1996.

National Merit Scholarship Finalist, 1992.

Research Awards

University of Toronto, Connaught start-up research grant, 2004: $10,000.

University of Toronto, Israel Studies Programme, 2004: $4,000.

University of Western Ontario Internal SSHRC Grant: $6,000

(Awarded to Laura B. Stephenson, Renan Levine as co-investigator).

National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant, 2001.

National Science Foundation Honorable Mention, 1997.

List of Courses Taught

University of Toronto

Intro to U.S. Politics 2003-2004, 2004-2005.

Introduction to Research Methods 2003-2004, 2005-2006, Summer 2006, 2006-2007, 2008-2009, Summer 2009 (co-instructor).

Political Strategy and Policy Entrepreneurship. Fall 2003, Spring 2007, Spring 2008.

Topics in U.S. Government: Opinions, Choices and Voting, 2004-2005.

Craft of Political Research. 2007-2008 (co-instructor), 2008-2009.

Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

Political Analysis for Public Policy, Fall 2000, Fall 2001 and 2002-2003.

Urban Politics: Getting Along, Fall 2001.

Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany

“American Parties: The Future of German Politics?” Summer 1999.

Theses supervised

M.A. Mark Lehman, “Affect Change: The increased influence of attitudinal factors on Canadians’ support for legalizing same-sex marriage,” 2006 (Secondary supervisor).

Administrative Positions and Departmental Service

Co-Director, Academic Job Placement, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, 2005-2008.

Graduate Affairs Committee, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, 2005-2008.

Blackboard Advisory Group, Duke University Center for Instructional Technology.

Organizer, Congress to Campus – two-day visit of two former members of Congress to University of Toronto. Spring 2005, Fall 2006.

Co-organizer, Chris Matthews talk at Rotman School of Business, co-sponsored by Department of Political Science. Fall 2005.

“Discovery Day.” Co-organizer of Department of Political Science booth. Fall 2004.

Department search committee member, 2004-2005; 2005-2006.

Other teaching and lectures

U.S. Politics

Munk Centre, Univ. of Toronto. April 3, 2006; Oct. 28, 2008; Nov. 3, 2008

University of Toronto at Mississauga. January 30, 2008; October 7, 2008.

Democrats Abroad, Canada. Thanksgiving Dinner (keynote). Toronto. November, 2006.

Business Council Deputies Conference. Government of Ontario, Toronto. September 22, 2005.

Judea Reform Congregation, Durham, NC. Adult education class, 2002.

Israeli Politics

Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto. April 3, 2006; Feb. 12, 2009.

Solel Congregation, Mississauga, ON. August 12, 2006; March 7, 2006.

Beth Tzedek Congregation, Toronto, ON. March 1, 2006 and a small discussion group in 2005.

Wolfond Centre. University of Toronto, January 18, 2006, March 23, 2006.

Duke University, Freeman Center for Jewish Life. March 27, 2006.

Etobicoke Senior Centre, World Events Forum. April 21, 2005.

Judea Reform Congregation, Durham, NC. Adult education class, 2001.

Academia and Pedagogy

University of Toronto Career Centre. October 19, 2005.

University of Toronto. University College. The 500. March 15, 2005.

Professional Affiliations

American Political Science Association, Canadian Political Science Association, Midwest Political Science Association, Society for Judgment and Decision-Making.

Other Professional Activities

Referee: American Journal of Political Science, American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, Political Behavior, Public Choice, Journal of Political Science Education, Journal of Labrador and Newfoundland Studies, W.W. Norton, University of Toronto Press.