What are your thoughts on this sub-subfield? Is it worthwhile to pursue? I will be applying this fall and just trying to get a head start on admissions. I'm studying history and polisci as an undergrad, and a lot of the work in APD seems to coincide with those two fields. What would be some good places to study APD? I've been looking at Cornell, although their Americanists are getting pretty old (Lowi, Bensel, Shefter, Sanders), Yale, Brandeis, Oregon, and UMass-Amherst (the last two I would consider "safeties" although with the sounds of admissions over the last few years, nothing is safe anymore.)
American Political Development
(47 posts) (2 voices)-
Posted 3 years ago #
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no jobs. srsly.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Let me respond with two thoughts:
1) This has been discussed before, quite a bit. You may have to dig back in the archives but you'll find it.
2) Feel free to email me (floridagooner at gmail dot com) and I'll give you some more thoughts there.
Posted 3 years ago # -
If you are serious about employment, you should be expanding the schools that you are considering. At the very least, Harvard, Berkeley and Princeton are obvious possibilities for APD, with strong general American programs. From some angles, Stanford is a possibility, as is UCSD and UCLA. Columbia has produced people in the past, but not lately (to my knowledge). Texas and Virginia have that orientation, and would at least trump UMass and potentially Brandeis and Oregon.
Posted 3 years ago # -
If you are serious - let me agree and disagree with those above - APD is a limited field - not that you can't get a job, your prospects there are limited in the same manner as many subfields - but the available scholars to work with are quite limited. I can't imagine going to Stanford to work on APD - but maybe I missing something. Princeton if you want to labor and race stuff, but otherwise no. The clear top places, and there is not much after these, are Harvard, Berkeley, Yale, and UCLA (and maybe Wisconsin). But each of those places has only one scholar that really studies APD (UCLA has two), so make sure that you fit with that scholar.
Posted 3 years ago # -
^I think the Stanford poster was confused (and may not know what APD is). If you want to to rat choice/quant poli sci applied to historical questions, then Stanford could be good (e.g. Weingast, Brady, etc.). Frankly, you'd probably have an easier time getting a job than if you did APD.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Cornell, Yale, and Brandeis are definitely the best of the one's you mention. Brandeis is less known broadly but in APD has a great reputation and has produced in recent-ish years the likes of Novak, McMahon, and Tichenor. I agree that UMass and Oregon are steps under. Michigan is another school not yet mentioned, as is the New School.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Absolutely not Stanford! David Brady is almost 70 and he is the closest thing they have to an APD type, and not too close. He has had students, but they are not of that variety. Terry Moe was somewhat sympathetic but he is obsessed with school choice now. The chances of Stanford hiring anyone else who would be interested in APD approach zero.
But if you are interested in fake history Weingast could be a good mentor.
Posted 3 years ago # -
APD is a dying fi..el...d...zzZZZZZZzzzz.....
Posted 3 years ago # -
I just googled Weingast's CV...hilarious. He has citizenship, marital status, date and place of birth. What a relic
Posted 3 years ago # -
It also depends some what others interests you have. If you're thinking APD and courts/law, Princeton (Whittington and Frymer) is the place. APD and bureaucracy, Harvard (Carpenter and Skocpol). APD and presidency, Yale (Skowronek). APD and Congress, probably Berkeley (Schickler) or to a lesser extent Yale (Mayhew -- not really APD but has a great historical mind). APD and race, either Harvard (Hochschild) or Princeton (Frymer). Cornell also has Mettler, who is good, but it's true Lowi and Shefter are getting up there in age. As good as Tichenor is, Oregon is a HUGE step down. Who does Michigan have besides Rob Mickey? Brandeis (Novak, btw, isn't a product of the PSCI dept) and UMass aren't places I'd send students. Of lower-tier programs, I'd think about UVA (the best of the second tier) with Milkis and Ceasar, Texas with Tulis and Trubowitz and Ritter, BC with Kersch and Melnick (esp if you're interested in law/courts), Penn with Gottschalk and Smith, or Johns Hopkins with Sheingate and Teles. In general, though, APD is a difficult enough field to get a job in (I say this as someone in the field) that you really want to be at a top program. Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, Princeton would be (in no particular order -- or, in different orders depending on interests) the top 4.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Michigan now has two stellar APD/law folks: Pam Brandwein and Bill Novak (law school).
Posted 3 years ago # -
Berkeley (Goldman school) also has Sean Farhang (APD/courts), who is very sharp, and David Vogel (role of business, policymaking). Also, Penn's got two more excellent APD(ish) scholars: John Lapinski (Congress) and Adolph Reed (race, American political thought).
Posted 3 years ago # -
UT-Austin also has Bat Sparrow.
Posted 3 years ago # -
the way to do APD and expand your options for future employment is to do a second field in public law, and get yourself some experience teaching con law.
Posted 3 years ago # -
What about taking an APD approach to institutions (the way Skowronek does with the presidency), wouldn't that give me teaching/research experience in institutions while also employing some of the methods/theories of APD? Am I completely off base here?
Posted 3 years ago # -
In theory, yes, but hard-core F/Q institutionalists won't take you seriously, and if you need them to get a job, you'll be in trouble. I'm not the poster ^^, but the advice about public law is pretty sound. A bunch of young APD/courts people have landed good jobs lately.
Posted 3 years ago # -
I think the other way to think about is "what is APD?" Most of the posts above assume that you can only work with APD scholars as such, but if you bridge out to work with other American politics faculty as well and incorporate a broader range of methods/approaches into your work and can show how you are relevant to mainstream interests, then you can sell your work to a broader audience. There's more than one way to work on politics and history, and it is possible to get mainstream institutionalists to take the work seriously if you can talk the talk and show why your questions and research design are meaningful.
Posted 3 years ago # -
If you have interest in formal/quant work, that makes a lot of sense. If you know that's not your cup of tea, I wouldn't suggest trying to convince non-APD people --except a select few particularly catholic souls (Mayhew, Claudine Gay, Doug Arnold) --
that APD is worthwhile (it's an uphill battle).Posted 3 years ago # -
Claudine Gay?????
Posted 3 years ago # -
Yeah, not sure she's ever had students with qualitative/historical-type interests. Mayhew and Arnold, though, almost certainly have.
Posted 3 years ago # -
In the category of "lower tier programs" I'd add Georgia, although only if you're interested in Congress and know in advance that you can work with Carson.
Posted 3 years ago # -
U of Washington would be a decent option for APD. The public law people (McCann, Lovell) would be good for a public law student, as would Smith, and at the junior level, Murakawa. Now that a particular 800 pound guerilla is no longer in charge of American there, there's room for APD students there. And if you're not super ambitious about a top R1 job, the placement record is decent.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Carson? For APD? Not.
Posted 3 years ago # -
I think the OP should be specific about what she means by "APD". Is this "traditional" APD of the historical institutionalist variety?
Posted 3 years ago # -
There really are no APD jobs, but APD interests are a plus in many circumstances. Become an Americanist--parties, election, Congress, etc.--and get into the best program for your specialty, and do historically rich research. Don't worry about labels.
Posted 3 years ago # -
^ good advice.
Posted 3 years ago # -
in other news: the bear just made an appearance on gradcafe. the horror!!
Posted 3 years ago # -
APD people are getting jobs, at R1s and even more so at liberal arts colleges.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Virtually no jobs are advertised as APD, even at LACs. I know of APD people who got jobs that were advertised as American parties, elections, groups, Congress, or public policy.
Posted 3 years ago #