Christopher Diaz
Assistant Professor of Government
EDUCATION:
Texas A&M University, Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (December 2001).
The University of Texas at Austin, Bachelor of Arts in Government (May 1993).
ACADEMIC POSITIONS:
Assistant Professor—Department of Geography, Government and History at Morehead State University (August 2003 to present).
Assistant Professor—Division of Social Work, Behavioral and Political Sciences at Prairie View A&M University (August 2002 to May 2003).
Visiting Assistant Professor—Department of Political Science at Texas A&M University (January 2002 to July 2002).
Assistant Lecturer—Department of Political Science at Texas A&M University (August 1999 to December 2001).
Graduate Research Assistant—Department of Political Science at Texas A&M University (August 1995 to August 1999).
DISSERTATION:
“Old Hacks or New Blood?: The Effects of Heightened Inter-party Competition on PRI Candidates and Campaigns for the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, 1994-2000.”
Committee: Robert Harmel (chair), Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson, Patricia Hurley
PUBLICATIONS:
“Electoral Competition in Mexico and Career Trajectories of PRI Gubernatorial Candidates, 1991-2001.” Politics & Policy, March 2005.
“Old Hacks or New Blood?: The Effects of Inter-Party Competition on PRI Candidates for the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, 1997-2000.” Journal of Legislative Studies, Winter 2004.
“Who Gets Legislation Passed in a Marginal Legislature and is the Label ‘Marginal Legislature’ Still Appropriate? A Study of the Honduran Congress.” Comparative Political Studies, August 1999 (co-authored with Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson).
UNDER REVIEW:
“How the Mighty Have Fallen: the Decline of Presidential Agenda-Setting Power in the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, 1994-2005.”
“Competition or Copy-Catting?: Factors Driving Campaign Professionalization in Mexican Legislative Races, 1994-2003.”
BOOK REVIEW:
Dilemas de la democracia en México: los actores sociales ante la representación política. 2002. Aline Hémond and David Recondo (eds.). Instituto Federal Electoral and El Centro Francés de Estudios Mexicanos y Centroamericanos: Mexico City. (forthcoming in Política y Gobierno).
CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION:
“Traditional or Professional?: Competition and Campaign Spending in Mexican Legislative Races, 1994-2003.” Presented at the 2006 Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, April 20-23, 2006.
“How the Mighty Have Fallen: the Decline of Presidential Agenda-Setting Power in the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, 1994-2003.” Presented at the 2006 Meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico, March 15-18, 2006.
“Legislative Entrepreneurship in Post-Transition Mexico: an Analysis of Bill Initiation Behavior in the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, 1994-2003.” Presented at the 2005 Meeting of the Southwestern Social Science Association, New Orleans, LA, March 23-26, 2005.
“Do ‘Nuevo PRI’ Deputies in Mexico Legislate Differently than Their ‘Dinosaurio’ Predecessors?: a Preliminary Analysis of Bill Initiation in the Mexican Chamber of Deputies.” Presented at the 2004 Meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, Las Vegas, NV, October 7-9, 2004.
“Electoral Competition in Mexico and Career Trajectories of PRI Gubernatorial Candidates, 1991-2001.” Presented at the conference, Empirical Research on Democracy and Democratization: Contributions from Texas A&M Doctorates, Program in the Cross-National Study of Politics, Texas A&M University, November 22-23, 2002.
“The Effects of Party Competition on Campaign Professionalization in Mexican Legislative Races, 1997-2000.” Presented at the 2002 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, April 25-28, 2002.
“Old Hacks or New Blood?: The Effects of Heightened Inter-Party Competition on PRI Candidates for the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, 1997-2000.” Presented at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, San Francisco, CA, August 30-September 2, 2001.
“Effects of Party Competition on the Quality of PRI Candidates: An Analysis of Mexican Gubernatorial Elections, 1989-1999.” Presented at the 2000 Meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, Miami, FL, March 16-18, 2000.
“Subversive to Non-Subversive: the Effects of Opportunity Structures and Relative Deprivation on Political Parties.” Presented at the 1999 Meeting of the Southwestern Political Science Association, San Antonio, TX, March 31-April 3, 1999.
“Who Gets Legislation Passed in a Marginal Legislature, How, and What Types of Legislation Is It? A Study of the Honduran Congress.” Presented at the 1997 Meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, Guadalajara, Mexico, April 17-19, 1997 (co-authored with Michelle M. Taylor).
“Electoral 'Management' of Opposition Parties Through Inducements and Constraints by Mexico's PRI, 1970-1994: A Preliminary Model of Dynamic Preemptive and Reactive Strategies.” Presented at the 1997 Meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, Guadalajara, Mexico, April 17-19, 1997.
GRANTS AND AWARDS:
Recipient of Morehead State University internal research grant entitled, “Democratization and Campaign Professionalization in Mexican Congressional Elections, 1994-2003.”
Recipient of National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant (SES-9905560) for investigating the relationship between increased competitiveness in the Mexican party system and changes in both candidate quality and campaign quality in the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), July 1, 1999 to June 20, 2000.
Recipient of the International Education Fee Scholarship from the Study Abroad Office at Texas A&M University for the purpose of intensive language study in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico at the Centro de Estudios para Extranjeros of the Universidad de Guadalajara (Summer 1997).
Texas Achievement Award (University of Texas at Austin, 1990-93).
FIELDWORK EXPERIENCE:
In June 2005, I traveled to Mexico City to collect campaign spending data for the 2003 midterm election for seats in the Chamber of Deputies, as well as campaign spending data for senatorial elections from 1997 to 2000.
During the period January to April 2000, I conducted elite interviews with 24 PRI members of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies in Mexico City as part of the data collection effort for the dissertation. The deputies were asked about various aspects of their electoral campaigns in 1997, and about personal/biographical characteristics.
During the summer of 1999, I made an exploratory trip to Mexico City for the purpose of determining what data were available for my dissertation and in what form. While in Mexico City, I was able to collect data on bills and amendments filed in the Chamber of Deputies during the 56th and 57th Legislatures, obtain biographical data on the membership of those two Legislatures, and acquire campaign spending data from the Instituto Federal Electoral (IFE) at the district level for relative majority seats in the Chamber from both the 1994 and 1997 elections.
During the summer of 1998, I collected archival data on deputy behavior in the Asamblea Legislativa in San José, Costa Rica as part of a larger study involving deputy behavior in five other Latin American countries (National Science Foundation, SBR–9708936, “Collaborative Research on Variation in Legislative Entrepreneurship in Presidential Systems: Data Beyond the U.S. Case”; Brian F. Crisp and Mark P. Jones-principal investigators, Michelle M. Taylor-coprincipal investigator). This data collection effort involved reading expedientes (bills) and proyectos (decrees) to determine sponsorship and success/failure of legislation.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
Taught at Texas A&M:
POLS 329–Introduction to Comparative Politics (Fall 1999-Spring 2002)
POLS 209–Introduction to Political Science Research Methods (Fall2001)
POLS 206–American National Government (Fall 2001-Summer 2002)
Taught at Prairie View A&M:
POSC 3573—Introduction to Latin American and Caribbean Politics (Spring 2003)
POSC 2133—Introduction to Political Science (Fall 2002)
POSC 1123—American Government II
Taught at Morehead State:
GOVT 141—U.S. Government
GOVT 230—Introduction to Comparative Politics
GOVT 301--Comparative Politics of Development
GOVT 304—Politics of Transitions
GOVT 332—Politics of Latin America and the Caribbean
GOVT 399—Politics of Mexico
Taught Politics of Mexico and U.S.-Latin American Relations in the Kentucky Institute for International Studies (KIIS) study abroad program in Morelia, Michoacán from May 25th to June 28th, 2006.
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATIONS:
Visiting Researcher–Department of Political Science, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, Mexico City (Spring 2000).
NON-ACADEMIC POSITIONS:
Night Clerk—Chief Clerk’s Office of the Texas House of Representatives, 74th Legislature (January to May 1995).
Proofreader—Texas Legislative Council, Austin, TX (December 1994 to January 1995).
Legal Assistant—Law Offices of Joanalys B. Smith, Austin, TX (July to November 1994).
Messenger—Law Firm of Ludlum & Ludlum, Austin, TX (September 1993 to July 1994).
Messenger—Sergeant-at-Arms Office of the Texas House of Representatives, 72nd and 73rd Legislatures (May 1992 to June 1993).
ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP:
Latin American Studies Association
American Political Science Association
Midwest Political Science Association
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE:
Manuscript reviewer for Comparative Political Studies and American Journal of Political Science.
Reviewed book manuscript submitted to Edwin Mellen Press for publication entitled, Democratization and Clientelism: the Impact of Regime Change on Ruling Party Clientelism in Taiwan and South Korea, by Hans Stockton of the University of St. Thomas, August 2003.
Served on the Ted Robinson Memorial Award committee for the Southwestern Political Science Association, 2002-03.
Served on the committee to select the best undergraduate paper in comparative politics in the State of Texas, Program in the Cross-National Study of Politics, Texas A&M University, Spring 2001.
UNIVERSITY/DEPARTMENTAL SERVICE:
Faculty advisor for Pi Delta chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha at Morehead State University, Fall 2004 to the present.
Project co-director of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program at Prairie View A&M University, 2002-03.
Graduate student representative on comparative politics search committee, Texas A&M University, Spring 2001.
Political Science representative to the Graduate Student Council, Texas A&M University, 1998-99.
Organized and coordinated the Workshop on the Change in the Relationship of Parties and Democracy held at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, April 4-6, 1997.
METHODS SKILLS:
Formally trained and experienced in the application of OLS, SUR, logit, Poisson and negative binomial regression analysis, factor analysis, and difference of means using SPSS and STATA.
LANGUAGES:
Spanish (proficient)
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
My research examines how electoral competition, divided government, party politics, and voter preferences affect the legislative behavior of deputies on the floor and in the committees of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies. Through collaboration with other students of Latin American legislatures, I hope to extend this research to include other countries in the region.
REFERENCES:
Dr. Robert Harmel
Professor
Department of Political Science
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-4348
(979) 845-5124
Dr. Patricia A. Hurley
Professor
Department of Political Science
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-4348
(979) 845-1928
Dr. Michelle Taylor-Robinson
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-4348
(979) 845-2674
Dr. Maria C. Escobar-Lemmon
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-4348
(979) 845-1442
escobar@politics.tamu.edu