Summary
Democracy Squad is a virtual organizing space for George Mason University students, staff, faculty, and alumni, to promote positive civic engagement on campus. Participants commit to taking actions that reinforce democratic values and institutions in and around Mason nation.
We reinforce democracy by taking action to alleviate sources of democratic weakness. Democracy Squad does this in three main areas: address inequality (income, race healthcare, etc.), promote political representation (strengthen parties, increase voting rights, support reform efforts to expand the citizen-representative tie, etc.), and improve the information environment (promote events that share scientific and high quality information, etc.).
Organized by Professor Jennifer Victor, Democracy Squad participants commit to building a positive campus environment that promotes democracy. Democracy Squad is administered through Magnify, a social networking tool designed to help people solve collective action problems.
Why Democracy Squad?
Source: Professor Jennifer Victor website
This 5 minute video invites affiliates of George Mason University to join a Democracy Squad, a non-partisan effort to foster civic engagement and voting, during fall 2020.
There are three reasons it is important to organize the campus community to engage in politics:
- Over the past several years, partisan polarization has contributed to the decline of democratic norms. Political science has shown that democratic institutions fail when citizens and leaders fail to adhere to democratic norms. We can shore up democracy, its institutions and norms, by taking positive actions to reinforce them.
- Politics and policy at the federal level are are damaged and gridlocked. We can reinforce democracy by taking actions in our community.
- Modern American politics are ugly. Conditions are ripe for misinformation, conspiracy, and sometimes violence. As a campus community, it is important to be a model of positive civic engagement. Democracy Squad highlights partisan-neutral, positive civic participation.
What does Democracy Squad do?
Volunteers in Professor Victor’s Democracy Squad connect through Magnify, a social media application designed to facilitate collective action. Democracy Squad includes a collection of projects, big and small, to help facilitate positive civic engagement on campus. Democracy Squad members can join one another’s projects or event, or post their own. Examples include: attend an open panel or talk on campus, attend a local city council meeting, create an info-graphic about misinformation and post it on social media, create a chalk campaign to thank first responders and essential workers, and more!
Can small, individual acts really reinforce democracy?
Yes. How do I know that small, individual acts can reinforce democracy? Because it’s the only thing that ever has. When combined, small acts of individuals add up to collective action. When people reinforce democratic values, the democracy is strengthened.
What type of small acts are most effective at reinforcing democracy?
To support democracy, take actions that directly impact the sources of polarization: inequality, weak parties, and lack of shared information. The books listed below each category help to explain how trouble in these three areas have contributed to polarization. Taking action to correct these, can counteract polarization. Examples of current Democracy Squad projects that speak to these challenging areas are listed below.
1. Inequality (economic, racial, health, education, environmental, etc.). Polarization rises with inequality. Read more about how inequality contributes to democratic decline in these books:
- Larry Bartels, Unequal Democracy (take action: food bank donation project)
- Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow (take action: share antiracism resources)
- Richard Rothstein, The Color of Law (take action: help elderly people access pharmacies and food)
- Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson, Let Them Eat Tweets
- Isabelle Wilkerson, Caste
2. Strong political parties have a moderating effect on political candidates. Strengthen parties that support democratic values. People are attracted to extremism and anti-democratic movements when they feel unrepresented. Change election laws to promote multi-partyism and generate more representation.
3. Bifurcated information environment contributes to polarization.
What has Democracy Squad done?
During the peak of the 2020 election season, George Mason University’s Democracy Squad boasted about 120 members who took more than 100 actions in 48 different local projects. Our movement was noticed by the Mason community and spread to other campuses, including University of Texas, Austin.
How do I join Democracy Squad?
Join Democracy Squad by creating an account on Magnify and joining the Democracy Squad organization on Magnify. You can then join a project that is already posted, or create your own project in Democracy Squad. Proposed projects will require approval from Professor Victor. Student generated projects are encouraged and should be consistent with the goals of Democracy Squad: encourage Mason Nation to take positive actions that reinforce democracy, reduce partisan polarization, and support democratic norms and values through civic engagement.
Click Here to Join Democracy Squad
You can also join Democracy Squad using Magnify invite code: “squadgoals.” Democracy Squad is open to any George Mason University student, staff, alumni, or faculty.
Sample Projects
Source: Democracy Squad Magnify page
Attend a Meeting: City Council of Fairfax
Assignment
Choose a Fairfax City government meeting to participate in (virtually) from the list here: https://www.fairfaxva.gov/services/about-us/city-meetings
Write which meeting you’ll attend in the comments. Post a photo and any thoughts that you have about your experience afterwards!
Description
The City of Fairfax has a council/manager form of government. The mayor and six council members are elected every two years on an at-large, non-partisan basis. The current term expires 6/30/2022.
Participatory democracy requires participation. Sign up to listen to an upcoming city council meeting for the city of Fairfax, VA. Let us know which meeting you’ll be joining in the comments. Take a photo while you’re listening, and share your thoughts!
Register to vote or verify your registration
Assignment
Use this link citizen portal to register to vote in Virginia, or verify your registration:
https://vote.elections.virginia.gov/VoterInformation
Description
It will take you less than five minutes to complete this project. Register to vote or verify that you are registered to vote. Done!
A Healthy Community: Workout Together
Assignment
Can you build a healthy community? Democracy starts by building social cohesion. If you are a Mason student, sign up for an exercise class and invite your family or friends to join you. It’s a free resource. A healthy community is one that collaborates, whether that’s with voting or fitness. Sharing events bring us together.
Let us know what you’re doing and send us a photo in the comments!
Description
Are you a Mason student? In case you haven’t already signed up for this free benefit, BurnAlong is a free health and wellness app you have unlimited access to thousands of on-demand and live video classes spanning 45+ health and wellness categories (from cardio to yoga to dance to mindfulness to sleep to nutrition to financial wellbeing to prenatal to kids classes to classes for chronic conditions).
You can take classes alone or you can also invite up to 3 friends and family to join you in a live class – see and hear each other while taking classes together. Again, the service is available free of charge to you and your family members (you can add up to four family members under your account).
Run for Student Government
Assignment
Sign up to lead. Email sg@gmu.edu to register to run for student government! Leadership starts with you.
Description
Each spring, Student Government hosts an election for Student Body President, Vice President, and 30 Student Senator positions. The Student Body President and Vice President run as a combined ticket and students running for Senate can choose to run alone or with a “coalition” or group of other students (please keep in mind that each member must still be elected). For more information please email sgedc@gmu.edu.
Propose your own project or event in GMU Democracy Squad!
Magnify page
Assignment
To complete this assignment, propose a new project in GMU Democracy Squad. It can be an event about voting that you want to help promote, or an original idea you have about how to help Mason nation get ready to vote in 2020. Projects must be non-partisan and promote positive campus civic engagement. Post about your new project in comments below so we can see the movement grow.
Description
The more projects there are for students to complete, the more activity, energy, and engagement democracy squad will create. As the projects and engagement grows, more and more of Mason nation will be ready to vote in 2020.
Dr. Jennifer Nicoll Victor, organizer
Source: Personal Website
Jennifer Nicoll Victor
Associate Professor
Schar School of Policy and Government
George Mason University
Professor Victor studies the U.S. Congress, legislative organization and behavior, social network methods, political parties, campaign finance, organized interest groups, and lobbying. She is the co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Political Networks (2017). She is the co-author (with Nils Ringe) of Bridging the Information Gap: Legislative Member Organizations in the United States and the European Union (U. Michigan Press 2013). Professor Victor has published research in the American Journal of Political Science, the British Journal of Political Science, American Politics Research, Party Politics, Interest Groups & Advocacy, P.S.: Political Science and Politics, and elsewhere. In 2019 she was awarded George Mason University’s Teaching Excellence Award.
Professor Victor is a co-founding contributor to the political science blog “Mischiefs of Faction,” and is a contributing writer for GEN by Medium. Her public scholarship has also appeared in The New York Times, The Conversation, OUP Blog, and LSE US Politics blog. Professor Victor serves on the Board of Directors of the non-profit, non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, is the past president of the National Capital Area Political Science Association, and past Chair of the APSA organized section on Political Networks. She served as a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Kluge Center at the Library of Congress from September 2019 to January 2020. In 2005 she served as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow in the office of Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND). From 2003-2012 she was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh. She joined the faculty at George Mason University in 2012. Professor Victor holds a B.A. in Political Science from University of California, San Diego (Magna Cum Laude, 1997), and an M.A. (1999) and Ph.D. (2003) in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis.
Areas of Research
- Campaign Finance
- Elections
- Interest Groups
- Legislatures
- Quantitative Methods
- Social Network Analysis
- U.S. Politics
Contact and e-profiles
- Email me: jvictor3@gmu.edu
- Mischiefs of Faction (blog)
- Twitter @jennifernvictor
- Google Scholar Profile
- Women also Know Stuff Profile
- Medium Profile
Physical Address
George Mason University
Research Hall 343
Mailing Address
Schar School of Policy and Government
George Mason University
4400 University Drive, 3F4
Fairfax, VA 22030
Direct: (703) 993-3202
Main: (703) 993-1400
Videos
The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress will hold a hearing titled “Promoting Civility and Building a More Collaborative Congress”
13:20 to 18:00 Opening Remarks by Dr. Victor
46:00 to 47:30 Earmarks
1:11:45 to 1:12:36 Congressional District partisanships
1:19:55 to 1:22:46 Willingness for civility
1:26:14 to 1:28:13 Campaign Finance
BBC World interview regarding DNC convention
Professor Victor Explains the Politics of the United States Supreme Court
This video is part 12 in the new 24-part series “Understanding the US Government” by Professor Jennifer Nicoll Victor, Ph.D., for The Great Courses Plus. You can watch the rest of this series here:
Research
Books
Victor, Jennifer Nicoll, Alexander H. Montgomery, and Mark Lubell, eds. 2017. The Oxford Handbook of Political Networks. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press Inc. http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190228217.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190228217
Ringe, Nils and Jennifer Nicoll Victor. 2013. Bridging the Information Gap: Legislative Member Organizations in the United States and the European Union. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press (2013).
https://www.press.umich.edu/5803596/bridging_the_information_gap
Peer Reviewed Published Articles
Stein, Robert Stein, Christopher Mann, Charles Stewart III, with Zachary Birenbaum, Anson Fung, Jeb Greenberg, Farhan Kawsar, Gayle Alberda, R. Michael Alvarez, Emily Beaulieu, Nathaniel A. Birkhead, Frederick Boehmke, Joshua Boston, Barry C. Burden, Francisco Cantu, Rachael Cobb, David Darmofal, Thomas C. Ellington, Terri Fine, Charles J. Finocchiaro, Michael Gilbert, Victor Haynes, Brian Janssen, David Kimball, Charles Kromkowski, Elena Llaudet, Ken Mayer, Matthew R. Miles, David Miller, Lindsay Nielson, Yu Ouyang, Costas Panagopoulos, Andrew Reeves, Min Hee Seo, Haley Simmons, Corwin Smidt, Rachel VanSickle-Ward, Jennifer Nicoll Victor, Abby Wood, Julie Wronski. “Waiting to Vote in the 2016 Presidential Election: Evidence from a Multi-County Study.” Political Research Quarterly, March, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912919832374.
Victor, Jennifer Nicoll, and Gina Yannitell Reinhardt. 2016. “Competing for the Platform: How Organized Interests Affect Party Positioning in the United States.” Party Politics, December, 1354068816678888. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068816678888.
Victor, Jennifer Nicoll and Gregory Koger. 2016. “Financing Friends: How Lobbyists Create a Web of Relationships among Members of Congress.” Interest Groups & Advocacy. On-line first 24 May 2016. doi:10.1057/iga.2016.5
Ringe, Nils, Jennifer Nicoll Victor, and Justin H. Gross. 2013. “Keeping Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer? Information Networks in Legislative Politics. British Journal of Political Science, 43(3): 601-628. (PDF)
Victor, Jennifer Nicoll. 2011. “Legislating versus Campaigning: The Legislative Behavior of Higher Office Seekers.” American Politics Research, 39(1): 3-31. (PDF)
Victor, Jennifer Nicoll and Nils Ringe. 2009. “The Social Utility of Informal Institutions: Caucuses as Networks in the 110th U.S. House of Representatives.” American Politics Research, 37(5): 742-66.. (PDF)
Koger, Gregory and Jennifer Nicoll Victor. 2009. “Polarized Agents: Campaign Contributions by Lobbyists.” PS: Politics & Political Science, 42(3): 485-488. (PDF)
Victor, Jennifer Nicoll. 2007. “Strategic Lobbying: Demonstrating how Legislative Context Affects Interest Groups’ Lobbying Tactics” American Politics Research, 35(6): 826-845. (PDF)
Bottom, William P., Gary J. Miller, Cheryl L. Eavey, and Jennifer Nicoll Victor. 2000. “The Institutional Effect on Majority Rule Instability: Bicameralism in Spatial Policy Decisions.” The American Journal of Political Science. 44(3): 523-540. (PDF)
Book Chapters and Non-Peer Reviewed Publications
Victor, Jennifer Nicoll. 2019 (forthcoming). “Lobbying Networks,” in The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Persuasion, Elizabeth Suhay, Bernard Grofman, and Alexander Treschel, eds. Oxford University Press: New York.
Victor, Jennifer Nicoll and Elsa T. Khwaja. 2019 (forthcoming). “Network Analysis: Theory and Testing”, in The Sage Handbook of Research Methods in Political Science & IR, Luigi Curini and Robert Franzese, eds. Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA.
Stein, Robert Stein, Christopher Mann, Charles Stewart III, with Zachary Birenbaum, Anson Fung, Jeb Greenberg, Farhan Kawsar, Gayle Alberda, R. Michael Alvarez, Emily Beaulieu, Nathaniel A. Birkhead, Frederick Boehmke, Joshua Boston, Barry C. Burden, Francisco Cantu, Rachael Cobb, David Darmofal, Thomas C. Ellington, Terri Fine, Charles J. Finocchiaro, Michael Gilbert, Victor Haynes, Brian Janssen, David Kimball, Charles Kromkowski, Elena Llaudet, Ken Mayer, Matthew R. Miles, David Miller, Lindsay Nielson, Yu Ouyang, Costas Panagopoulos, Andrew Reeves, Min Hee Seo, Haley Simmons, Corwin Smidt, Rachel VanSickle-Ward, Jennifer Nicoll Victor, Abby Wood, Julie Wronski. (forthcoming) “Polling Place Practices,” in Kathleen Hale and Bridgett A. King, eds. The Future of Election Administration, Palgrave.
Victor, Jennifer Nicoll. 2017. “Unraveling 2016: Comments on Gelman and Azari’s 19 Things.” Statistics and Public Policy 4 (1): 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1080/2330443X.2017.1399846.
Victor, Jennifer Nicoll. 2016. “Campaign Finance and Political Polarization: When Purists Prevail.” The Forum 14 (4). https://doi.org/10.1515/for-2016-0042.
Ringe, Nils, Jennifer Nicoll Victor, and Wendy Tam Cho. 2016. “Legislative Networks,” in Oxford Handbook of Political Networks, Jennifer Nicoll Victor, Alexander H. Montgomery, and Mark Lubell, eds. Oxford University Press.
Van Thomme, Jack, Ringe, Nils, and Jennifer Nicoll Victor. 2015. “Explaining Reelection: Expertise, Influence, and Intergroups.” In Kaeding, Michael and Niko Switek (eds.): Die Europawahl 2014. Wiesbaden (Germany): Springer VS.
Victor, Jennifer Nicoll. 2012. “Gridlock Lobbying: Breaking, Creating, and Maintaining Legislative Stalemate.” In Interest Group Politics, 8th ed, Allan J. Cigler and Burdett A. Loomis, eds. Washington, DC: CQ Press. Reprinted in Principles and Practice of American Politics: Classic and Contemporary Readings, 6th ed., Samuel Kernell and Steven S. Smith, eds., Washington, DC: CQ Press (2015).
Epstein, Lee, Jeffrey A. Segal, and Jennifer Nicoll Victor. 2002. “Dynamic Agenda Setting on the U.S. Supreme Court: An Empirical Assessment.” Harvard Journal on Legislation, 39(2). (PDF)
Working Papers
Reinhardt, Gina Yanitell and Jennifer Nicoll Victor. “A Dynamic Theory of Political Parties: Party Positioning and the Success of Organized Interests.” Working Paper
Victor, Jennifer Nicoll, Stephen Haptonstahl, and Nils Ringe. “Multiplex and Longitudinal Legislative Networks and the Potential for Caucuses to Alleviate Partisan Polarization” Working Paper.
“Addressing congressional partisan polarization one caucus at a time,” with Nils Ringe. Working paper.
Recent Conference Presentations
“Do viral political tweets promote discourse or belligerence?” with Eric Vorst, presented at the 12th Annual Political Networks Conference, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, May 29, June 1 2019.
“Using Tension to Advance Your Career.” Invited address as Senior Distinguished Scholar at Visions in Methodology, Ohio State University, May 7, 2018.
“Legislative Networks and Partisan Entrenchment,” presented at the Midwest Political Science Association meeting in Chicago, Illinois, April 4-7, 2019, and Political Parties in Comparative Perspective, Villa Le Balze, Florence, Italy, March 22 & 23, 2018; presented at the Midwest Political Science Association meetings in Chicago, Illinois April 7, 2018; presented by invitation at the St. Louis Area Methods Meeting (SLAMM), Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, April 20, 2018.
“The role of caucuses in partisan entrenchment in Congress,” presented at the 10th Annual Political Networks Conference, Columbus, Ohio, June 16, 2017 [PAPER] [SLIDES]; American Political Science Association Meetings, San Francisco, CA Aug 31 – Sept. 2, 2017. [PAPER] [SLIDES]
“Can Caucuses Alleviate Congressional Polarization?,” with Stephen Haptonstahl and Nils Ringe. Paper presented at the Southern Political Science Association Meeting, San Juan, Puerto Rico, January 7-9, 2016; Midwest Political Science Association Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, April 8-10, 2016; Political Networks Annual Conference and Workshops, St. Louis, Missouri, June 23-25, 2016. [Slides] [Paper]
“(Self)-Organizing the Legislature: Committees, LMOs, and Community Structures in EP and US Congress,” paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, San Francisco, CA, Sept. 2-5, 2015. [Slides] [Paper]
“Financing Friends: Legislators, Lobbyists, and the Pervasive Influence of Campaign Finance,” with Gregory Koger. Paper delivered on a panel at the 8th annual Workshops & Conference on Political Networks. Portland State University, Portland, Oregon. June 17-20, 2015. [Slides] [Paper]
“Legislative Member Organizations in a Comparative Perspective: Exploring the Bridging Nature of LMO Ties in Three Parliaments,” with Nils Ringe. Paper delivered on a panel at the meetings of the American Political Science Association, Washington, DC. Aug. 28-31, 2014. [Slides] [Paper]
“(Self)-Organizing the Legislature: Committees, Intergroups, and Community Structures in the European Parliament,” with Nils Ringe. Invited paper presentation at “Political Networks in a Transatlantic Perspective Workshop.” July 14-15, 2014, University of Colorado, Boulder. [Slides] [Paper]
“(Self)-Organizing a Legislature: How lawmakers’ institutions reveal policy preferences and priorities”, with Nils Ringe. Political Networks Conference, McGill University, Montreal, Ontario, Canada. May 29-May 31, 2014 [Slides] [Paper]
“Jane of all Trades, Master of None: The Representational Trade-off of Female Members of Congress.” Presented at the Annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois, April 2-5, 2014. [Slides] [Paper]
“Coordinating the Congress: Explaining Caucus Persistence in the United States House,” with Nils Ringe. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois, August 29-September 1, 2013. [Paper] [Presentation Slides]
“Multiplex Legislative Networks and the Power of Caucuses to Alleviate Partisan Polarization,” with Stephen Haptonstahl and Nils Ringe. Presented at the 6th Annual Political Networks Conference, Bloomington, Illinois (Indiana University), June 27-29, 2013. [Paper] [Presentation Slides]
“Solving Congressional Partisan Polarization one Caucus at a Time,” with Nils Ringe (University of Wisconsin, Madison). Presented at the Midwest Political Science Association Meetings, Chicago, Ill, April 10-14, 2013. [Paper] [Presentation Slides]
“Competing for the Platform: The Politics of Interest Group Influence on Political Party Platforms,” with Gina Yannitell Reinhardt (Texas A&M University). Presented at the 2013 Southern Political Science Association Meetings in Orlando, Florida, January 3-6, 2013 [Paper] & Meetings of the American Political Science Association, New Orleans, LA. Aug, 30 – Sept. 2, 2012 (conference canceled due to hurricane) [Paper]
“Second Street Gangs: Ad Hoc Policy Commissions in the Senate,” with Kristen Coopie Allen, Ian Palmer Cook, and Zachary Auter (University of Pittsburgh). Presented at the 2013 Southern Political Science Association Meetings in Orlando, Florida, January 3-6, 2013 [Paper] [Presentation Slides] & Midwest Political Science Association Meetings, Chicago, IL April 10-14, 2013 [Presentation Slides] & 6th Annual Political Networks Conference, Bloomington, Illinois (Indiana University), June 27-29, 2013. [Paper] [Presentation Slides]
“Bridging the Information Gap: Legislative Member Organizations in the US & EU.” Presented with Nils Ringe at the 2012 Political Networks Conference in Boulder, Colorado, June13-16, 2012. [Presentation Slides]
“The Friendly Legislator: How Social Connections Affect Legislative Voting in the European Parliament.” Presented with Nils Ringe at the 2012 Meetings of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, April 12-15, 2012 & 2012 Meetings of the American Political Science Association, New Orleans, LA. Aug, 30 – Sept. 2, 2012 (conference canceled due to hurricane) [Paper]
“Networking the House: Caucuses in the U.S. House of Representatives.” Presented at the Political Networks Conference, Duke University (May 19-22, 2010), the Political Networks Conference, University of Michigan (June 17-19, 2011) [Paper] [Presentation Slides], and the American Political Science Assoc. Meetings, Seattle, WA (September 1-4, 2011). [Paper] [Presentation Slides]
“The Agreement Score: Legislative Networks and Ideology.” A working paper with Seth Masket (University of Denver), Betsy Sinclair (University of Chicago), and Gregory Koger (University of Miami). Presented at the Midwest Political Science Association Meetings, Chicago, IL (April 18-21, 2010), the American Political Science Association Meetings, Washington, DC (September 2-5, 2010) and the American Political Science Association Meetings, Seattle, WA (September 1-4, 2011). [Paper] [Presentation Slides]
“Show Me the Money: Political Ambition, Specialization, and PAC Donations,” with Alex Morin (Texas A&M University, graduate student). Presented at the Midwest Political Science Association Meetings, Chicago, IL (April 18-21, 2010). [Paper]
“Ted Kennedy, Orin Hatch, and other Strange Bedfellows: A Network Analysis of Legislative Voting,” with Gregory Koger (University of Miami). Presented at the Visions in Methodology Conference, March 18-20, 2010, University of Iowa. [Paper] [Presentation Slides
Recommended Links
Updated August 13, 2014
Political Science
American Political Science Assoc.
APSA advocacy page
Midwest Political Science Assoc.
Southern Political Science Assoc.
Society for Political Methodology
Political Networks Section
European Political Science Assoc.
European Consortium for Political Research
Political Networks Paper Archive
INSNA (Sunbelt)
Legislative Studies Section
SSRN Political Science
NetSci
The Forum
Political Blogs
Mischiefs of Faction
Monkey Cage
Five Thirty Eight (Nate Silver)
Math of Politics (John Patty)
A Plain Blog About Politics (Jonathan Bernstein)
USAPP (American Politics and Policy, LSE)
Duck of Minerva (IR)
Brendan Nyhan
Enik Rising (Seth Masket)
Smoke-Filled Room
Wonkblog
FiveRupies
GeoSocial Analysis
DailyKos
Lawyers, Guns, & Money
Complexity and Social Networks Blog
Social Capital Blog
News- General
Washington Post
New York Times
National Journal
Politico
The Hill
C-Span
Roll Call
CQ Weekly
News—Elections
NJ: Political Connections
NJ: The Cook Political Report
NJ: Hotline
NJ: Race Tracker
Congress Research, Documents, Sources
Thomas/Congress.gov
Congressional ProQuest
Congressional Biographical Directory
Congressional Record
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation
Congresslink
CRS Reports I
CRS Reports II
CRS Reports III
Congressional Bills
Congressional Hearings
Legistorm (staff salaries and financial disclosures)
Political Graveyard
GovTrack
Dirksen Center
Federal Government Sources
Federal Register
Federal Digital System
Annual Code of Federal Regulations
Presidential Documents
National Archives
White House
Supreme Court
House
Senate
Federal Government Guide
GMU Library Poli Sci Info Guide
DATA Sources
Legislative Explorer (interactive lawmaking)
The Legislative Effectiveness Project
Cong. Roll Calls: Voteview, WaPo Congress Votes
Advocacy and Public Policymaking
Federal Lobbyist Online Registration
Lobbying Disclosure—House
Lobbying Disclosure—Senate
LittleSis
Charles Stewart’s Data Page
Americans for Democratic Action
Congressional District Data
American National Election Studies
Cooperative Congressional Election Study
Presidential Atlas
ICPSR
GDELT Event Database
Polidata
GDP Forecast
ODUM Dataverse
Economagic
District Shape Files
Congressional Bills Project
Chapel Hill Expert Survey (EU)
Harvard Dataverse
The Koblenz Network Collection
UCI Network Data Repository
Stanford Large Network Dataset Collection (SNAP)
Global Media Freedom Data (1948-2012)
Campaigns, Elections, and Campaign Finance
Center for Responsive Politics: Opensecrets
Follow the money
Fundrace
Database on Ideology, Money in Politics, and Elections (DIME)
Campaign Finance Institute
Federal Election Commission
Political Money Line
Gallup
Polling Report
Pollster
Election Passport
Campaign Finance Limits (by law)
Software, Statistics, Analysis, and Math
R (for everything)
Stata (for traditional statistical analysis)
Stack Overflow (for all kinds of software, coding help)
Yoshikoder (for content analysis)
JFreq (for word counting)
LaTex, BiBtex, Starter
Wolfram MathWorld
Khan Academy
Opossem (Social Science Education in Methodology)
Social Observatory Coordinating Network
Gary King’s Software Page
Network Analysis
Hanneman and Riddle (textbook)
UCInet
Pajek
NodeXL (for Excel based network analysis)
Statnet (for network analysis)
StOCNET
PNet
Senate Social Graph
Harvard Program on Networked Governance
Center for Complex Network Research (Northeastern U.)
Complexity in Social Networks Blog
Stanford Network Analysis Project
Yale Institute for Network Science
Duke Network Analysis Center
Center for Computational Analysis of Social and Organizational Systems (CASOS)
Tnet
Writing
George Mason Univ. Writing Center
UW Madison Writing Center
Guide to APSA Style
Purdue Online Writing Lab
Grammar Girl
Inspirational and Informative TED Talks
Can Government be Innovative?
30 is not the new 20
How great leaders inspire action?
Do schools kill creativity?
Why we have too few female leaders
The happy secret to better work
Malcolm Gladwell on spaghetti sauce
The hidden influence of social networks
Andrew Solomon: Love, no matter what
Rita Pierson: Every kid needs a champion
Interactive and Instructive
Election Simulator
Marketplace Budget Hero
Implicit Associations Test
Indebted
Introduction to the Federal Budget Process
Generate Sampling Distributions
The Redistricting Game
Games with a Purpose
Political Compass
Wordle
