2011 E.E. Schattschneider Award

Awarded for the best doctoral dissertation completed and accepted during the past two calendar years in the field of American government and politics.

Award Committee: Eileen McDonagh, Chair, Northeastern University; Timothy R. Johnson, University of Minnesota; and S. Karthick Ramakrishnan, University of California

Recipient: Adam Seth Levine, Cornell University

Dissertation: "Strategic Solicitation: Explaining When Requests for Political Donations Are Persuasive"

Citation: In this innovative and rigorous dissertation, Adam Seth Levine employs an experimental design to test the conditions under which people participate in politics. In particular, he explores the relationship between economic resources and political contributions. His findings that economic troubles increase rather than depress volunteerism contribute crucial insights central to a broad range of fields, including political behavior, political psychology, behavioral economics, and American politics.