Mack Mariani, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor, Hamilton College
Research Agenda

Recommended
Reading

The Insider's Guide to Political Internships, ed. by Grant Reeher and Mack Mariani



Diverging Parties: Social Change, Realignment and Party Polarization, by Jeffrey Stonecash, Mark Brewer and Mack Mariani

Research Interests

I am currently pursuing projects and research related to several areas of study, including: Congress and the legislative process, women and politics, and internships and experiential learning.

Congress and the Legislative Process

My research in this area has generally been focused on the way that changes in party constituencies have helped shape party agendas, floor votes, and the electoral strategies pursued by the two major parties. I'm also interested in writing about the legal, political and institutional impediments to congressional policy making and am currently working with Christopher Lucas of Brooklyn Law School to revise and update a case study that details the struggle between Congress and the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) over federal policies regulating the transportation of egg products.

Past research in this area:

• Diverging Parties: Social Change, Realignment and Party Polarization, with Jeffrey Stonecash and Mark D. Brewer (Boulder: Westview Press, 2002).
  
  
• “Northern Democrats and Party Polarization in the U.S. House,” (with Mark D. Brewer and Jeffrey M. Stonecash).  Legislative Studies Quarterly, Vol. XXVII (August 2002): 423-44.
  
  
• “Republican Gains in the House, 1994-1996: Class Polarization in American Politics,” (with Jeffrey M. Stonecash).  Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 115, No. 1 (Spring 2000): 93-113.
  
  
• “Maintaining a Republican Senate in New York: Apportionment, Incumbency, and Campaign Spending,” (with Jeffrey M. Stonecash, et al). Comparative State Politics, Vol. 19, No. 4 (August 1998): 19-29.
  

Current research in this area:

• "Congressional Micromanagement or Bureaucratic Resistance?" Congress, FSIS, and the Egg Products Inspection Act, with Christopher Lucas, Brooklyn Law School (Writing Summer/Fall 2006).
  

Women and Politics

My research in women and politics focuses on the way that the political opportunity structure shapes political ambitions and political opportunities differently for men and women. I recently completed my dissertation and am presenting a paper relating to this research at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association in Philadelphia in September 2006. I am focusing on turning this paper into an article and preparing for a book-length project on this subject with the addition of interview data with state legislators in my sample during the summer of 2007.

Past research in this area:

• Dissertation: A Gendered Pipeline?  The Advancement of State Legislators to Congress in Five States  –  An assessment of the impact of personal, cultural, and structural variables on the advancement of female state legislators to Congress in five states from 1993 to 2002.  Committee: Kristi Andersen (chair), Jeffrey Stonecash, Grant Reeher, Rogan Kersh, Kira Sanbonmatsu (Ohio State).  Defended March 24, 2006.

Current research in this area:

• Paper: A Gendered Pipeline? The Advancement of State Legislators to Congress in Five States (1993-2002), paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, September 2006.

Internships and Experiential Learning

I am also very interested in pursuing projects and research related to political internships and experiential learning opportunities. As a former congressional intern, supervisor of interns, and co-editor of The Insider's Guide to Political Internships, I believe that the study of politics should be a hands-on experience that combines classroom instruction with observation and participation in the real world.

In my view, studying politics without ever leaving the classroom is like studying chemistry without ever visiting the laboratory. It can be done, but to truly understand the subject, you ought to spend some time studying it up close and personal.

My interest in experiential learning started with a summer internship with Rep. Jack Kemp (ret., R-NY). I would go on serve as an intern in the Washington office of Rep. Bill Paxon (ret., R-NY), which led to four years of work as a congressional aide (most of it on Capitol Hill). During my time in Washington, I supervised interns in Rep. Paxon's Washington internship program and worked closely with hundreds of interns while serving as a member of the residence life staff of the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Programs.

Past research in this area:

• The Insider's Guide to Political Internships: What to Do Once You're in the Door, with Grant Reeher (Boulder: Westview Press, 2002) - This project came out of my experience as an intern and the realization that even the very best students typically lack the basic writing, research, and communication skills needed to hit the ground running as a political intern. I worked on this project with Grant Reeher at Syracuse University and together we pulled together a series of articles from a bipartisan group of political experts from academia and state/national politics. In addition to sharing the editing responsibilities, I contributed the chapter on "Constituent Letters" and co-authored the chapter on "Capitol Hill" internships with my friend and former Capitol Hill colleague, Paul Scolese.
  

Current research in this area:

• "Promoting Political Engagement through a Multi-Class Campaign Simulation" (Writing Summer 2006)
  
  
• "The Effect of Internships on the Political Attitudes and Efficacy of Undergraduate Students" (Research Fall 2006, Writing Winter 2007)

If you have any questions about my research, or this web site, please send me an e-mail at mmarian@hamilton.edu and I will do my best to respond quickly.