Associate Professor @RiceUniversity || scholar of American political institutions || author of False Front: https://xitter.cf/t.co/lKIO6obUqc
Ann Arbor, MI
Joined July 2025
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Rice is recruiting 2(+) professors this Fall! Open rank, open field. Looking forward to meeting people who want to come do their best work in our growing Department, at a growing University. apply.interfolio.com/190537
Kenny Lowande retweeted
Recent prescriptions and policies would have us judge research by non-evidentiary standards, e.g. presumed political impact and scholar identity. In a new essay, Tom Clark and I argue empirical claims should instead be evaluated based on evidentiary strength. We outline a framework for judging evidence, and show its usefulness by revisiting high-profile scholarly disagreements spanning policing, political violence, election administration, and terrorism, before critiquing non-evidentiary approaches. We also argue social science needs a culture that is hospitable to critique—rather than one which condemns critics as “bullies”—if quality standards are to be upheld.
dropbox.com/scl/fi/fsgpflron…
amazing humans haven't learned yet that if any one person was in charge, the results don't look good
Kenny Lowande retweeted
Defenders of restraints on presidential power should remember that abstract commitments to democracy do not seem to sway voters, but arguments about what systems solve problems might. | Kenneth Lowande
Read the full essay: civitasoutlook.pulse.ly/ykug…
now that proponents of the unitary executive got what they wanted, it is time to put the predictions they've made about how government will work to the test
early data does not look good for their key claims; not surprising given what we know about presidential behavior
Defenders of restraints on presidential power should remember that abstract commitments to democracy do not seem to sway voters, but arguments about what systems solve problems might. | Kenneth Lowande
Read the full essay: civitasoutlook.pulse.ly/ykug…
Knew a lot of things would be different at a smaller university, but really under-estimated how much better it is to have 1 person to go to when you need something.
There's something soul-crushing about working through 8-layers of bureaucracy & emails & tickets at big orgs.
Very important and timely reminder for everyone in the media; Trump isn't an aberration, here. All contemporary presidents caught on to the fact that the media tends to parrot policy announcements in a way that makes the political shop in the WH very happy.
Kenny Lowande retweeted
I used Claude Code to build an website that implements the simulations presented in "Making in the Supreme Court: The Politics of Appointments, 1930-2020" (with Chuck Cameron) that predict the composition of the Supreme Court under different scenarios.
jkastellec.github.io/msc-sim…
Kenny Lowande retweeted
This is a really hard position to take in the academy. It is also correct. It's impossible not to be alarmed by Trump--but alarm shouldn't drive scholarship. We need a firewall between our personal views and our academic writing.
How should scholars who study American politics change what they do in light of the Trump administration?
The emerging consense is: write about Trump, go normative, and raise "alarm bells."
TLDR: This is a bad idea.
In a new review, I write about the costs of this kind of scholarship, and how scholars should "respond" to the moment: myumi.ch/w9R2W
I'm hiring a Postdoctoral Research Fellow!
Something that should be obvious after this past year: The American presidency and the executive branch, more broadly, are far and away the most important political institutions in American politics.
Many thanks to generous support from the Hewlett Foundation for seeing a desparate research need. If we are in a new era when most policy is made by American presidents from the top-down...
...we need to invest more resources into understanding what happens after the president says "go."
Applications due Feb 16. Please reach out to me with questions.
apply.interfolio.com/178829
Putting together my grad syllabus in American political institutions. Anyone have recommendations for new "must-read" books?
The Trump admin owns the public narrative by taking executive action, over and over. Our new study shows this strategy has detectable impacts on Google search traffic for the incumbent president. Ballpark est. similar to pop artists when they release a new album.
Link to full study and more info: myumi.ch/W6Pz7
