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Beth Reingold, Emory University, beth.reingold@emory.edu

This year's conference theme, 'Politics in Motion: Change and Complexity in the Contemporary Era," is particularly suited to the challenges and opportunities faced by scholars interested in state-level politics and policymaking. The diverse and dynamic political institutions and cultures of the American states are fertile ground for exploring many of the most interesting developments in contemporary politics and political science. In an era of devolution, the states have literally put American politics in motion, providing the proving grounds for policy innovation, electoral reform, institutional development, and diverse leadership. Yet, as the states so clearly demonstrate, such profound change rarely proceeds in a monolithic or simplistic fashion. Across and within the states, political change occurs in fits and starts; it assumes various forms, for various reasons; and its effects are equally diverse. In short, change and complexity go hand in hand. The State Politics and Policy section welcomes proposals that grapple with the simultaneity of change and complexity in contemporary politics by capitalizing on the theoretical, empirical, and/or methodological strengths and resources of the subfield.

How might the multiplicity and variety of institutions, electorates, leaders, and cultures within and across the states help us better capture and understand the complexity of political change? How can we capitalize on the multiplicity and variety of methodological approaches available in the state politics subfield-from the single-state qualitative to the cross-state comparative to the large-N quantitative? What sorts of new data sources and innovative measurement strategies can state politics scholars employ to better describe and explain complex patterns of change and continuity within and across the various states and state-level institutions?

As always, the section seeks a wide range of theoretically grounded and methodologically rigorous proposals that contribute to our knowledge of state politics, utilize the states to address important questions and controversies in the study of politics writ large, or both. Proposals that cross institutional boundaries and/or engage scholars from multiple sections are strongly encouraged.