Christopher Wlezien
Professor
Office: 440 Gladfelter Hall
Phone: 215-204-7258
E-mail: wlezien@temple.edu
Christopher Wlezien is Professor of Political Science at Temple University. He joined the faculty from Oxford University, where he was Reader of Comparative Government and a Fellow of Nuffield College. While at Oxford, he co-founded the ESRC-funded Oxford Spring School in Quantitative Methods for Social Research. Previously, he taught at the University of Houston, where he was founding director of the Institute for the Study of Political Economy. He holds or has held visiting positions at Columbia University, European University Institute (Florence), Instituto Empresa (Madrid), Juan March Institute (Madrid), McGill University (Montreal), Sciences Po (Paris), and the University of Manchester (UK). He received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1989 and his B.A. from Saint Xavier College (Chicago) in 1984.
His primary, ongoing research develops a “thermostatic” model of public opinion and policy and examines the dynamic interrelationships between preferences for spending and budgetary policy in various domains. A cross-national investigation focusing on the US, the UK, and Canada is the subject of a book entitled Degrees of Democracy, published by Cambridge University Press. Wlezien edited a related book on Who Gets Represented?, which was recently published by the Russell Sage Foundation. His most recent paper in the area tests theories about the effects of federalism, executive-legislative imbalance, and the proportionality of electoral systems in 17 countries.
His other major area of research addresses the evolution of voter preferences over the course of the election cycle. It has been the subject of numerous articles and a book, entitled The Timeline of Presidential Elections, which is forthcoming from the University of Chicago Press. His most recent paper in the area compares the historical performance of election prediction markets and pre-election polls.
Wlezien is founding co-editor of the international Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties and also edits the “Poll-Reviews” section of Public Opinion Quarterly. He is a member of the editorial boards of six journals.
Courses:
PS 3101 Presidency
PS 8100 Time Series
PS 8101 Government in American Society
PS 8109 Campaigns and Elections
PS 8320 Comparative Political Behavior
Selected recent journal articles:
“Performance Pressure: Partisan Alignment and the Economic Vote,” with Mark Andreas Kayser. European Journal of Political Research, vol. 50, 2011.
“Federalism and Public Responsiveness to Policy,” with Stuart Soroka. Publius, vol 41, 2011.
“Distinguishing between Most Important Issues and Problems?” with Will Jennings. Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 75, 2011.
“Balancing, Generic Polls and Midterm Congressional Elections,” with Joseph Bafumi and Robert S. Erikson. Journal of Politics, vol. 72, 2010.
“Center-Party Strength and Major-Party Polarization in Britain,” with Jack H. Nagel. British Journal of Political Science, vol. 40, 2010.