Welcome! I’m Mike, a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the Graduate School of North American Studies of the Freie Universität Berlin. My research interests include political parties, intra-party factions, and candidate nomination systems. My thesis examines intra-party factions in recent congressional primary competitions and considers their contribution to trends of partisan polarization in Congress.
Research
Party Factions & Partisan Polarization in Congressional Nominations: How Ideological & Factional Primaries Influence Candidate Positions
Dissertation in Political Science
Committee: Christian Lammert, Sean M. Theriault, Max Steinhardt, Rachel M. Blum, and David Bosold
The thesis first documents changes in the dynamics of U.S. congressional primary competition between 2006 and 2020; namely, the proliferation of ideological and factional contests. I then consider the impact of primaries on candidate positions in terms of the selective (voter) effect, between-election adaptative effect, and within-election adaptative effect. Taken together, these findings indicate that primary voters do not selectively reward non-centrist position-taking, but candidates often behave as if they do, adapting their positions both between and within election cycles. These findings align with existing literature that primary selectorates are not more ‘extreme’ than non-primary voting party voters but suggest that candidates are responding to the widely-held narrative that they are.
Publications
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Cowburn, Mike and Rebecca Kerr. 2022. “Inclusivity and Decentralisation of Candidate Selectorates: Factional Consequences for Centre-Left Parties in England, Germany, and the United States”. Political Research Quarterly.
Cowburn, Mike and Michael T. Oswald. 2020. “Legislator Adoption of the Fake News Label: Ideological Differences in Republican Representative Use on Twitter”. The Forum 18(3): 389–413.
Book Chapters
Cowburn, Mike. 2022. “Experience Narratives and Populist Rhetoric in U.S. House Primaries” in Michael T. Oswald (ed.) The Palgrave Handbook of Populism. Palgrave Macmillan.
Cowburn, Mike. 2020. “The Transformation of the Congressional Primary” in Michael T. Oswald (ed.) Mobilization, Representation and Responsiveness in The American Democracy. Palgrave Macmillan.
In Progress
Cowburn, Mike and Marius Sältzer. “Partisan Communication in Two-Stage Elections: The Effect of Primaries on Intra-Campaign Positional Shifts in Congressional Elections” [Revise & Resubmit]
Blum, Rachel M. and Mike Cowburn. “How Local Factions Pressure Parties: Activist Groups & Primary Contests in the Tea Party Era” [Under Review]
Mike Cowburn and Curd B. Knüpfer. “The Emerging Fault Line of Alternative News: Intra-Party Division in Republican Representatives’ Media Engagement” [Under Review]
Other Publications
Cowburn, Mike. 2020. “Not Just the Presidency: Congressional Primaries 2020.” Atlantische Akademie
Cowburn, Mike. 2020. “Fostering Engagement in Primaries and Caucuses.” PolticalScienceNow
Conference Papers
04/2022 | Annual Midwest Political Science Association Conference (MPSA), Chicago, IL Paper: “How Local Factions Pressure Parties: Activist Groups & Primary Contests in the Tea Party Era” Paper: “The Emerging Fault Line of Partisan Media News: Intra-Party Division in Republican Representatives’ News Engagement” |
01/2022 | 48th Annual Conference of the American Politics Group of the UK Political Studies Association (PSA)* Paper: “How Local Factions Pressure Parties: Activist Groups & Primary Contests in the Tea Party Era” |
09/2021 | 117th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA), Seattle, WA Paper: “The Effects of Primaries on Intra-Campaign Positions in Congressional Elections” Paper: “Intra-Party Division and News Media Engagement Among Republican Legislators” |
06/2021 | 11th Annual Meeting of the European Political Science Association (EPSA)1 Paper: “Primary Roots of Partisan Polarization: The Effects of Primaries on Intra-Campaign Positional Shifts in Congressional Elections” |
06/2021 | Annual Conference of the German Association for American Studies (DGfA)1 Paper: “Congressional Primaries in the 21st Century: Participation, Inequality, and Intra-Party Division” |
04/2021 | Annual Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA)* Paper: “Partisan Communication in Two-Stage Elections: The Effect of Primaries on Intra-Campaign Positional Shifts in Congressional Elections” |
03/2021 | Political Studies Association Annual Conference* Paper: “Inclusivity and Centralisation of Candidate Selectorates: Factional Consequences for Centre-Left Parties in Germany, England, and the United States” |
01/2021 | 49th Annual Conference of the American Politics Group of the UK Political Studies Association* Paper: “Legislator Adoption of the Fake News Label: Ideological Differences in Republican Representative Use on Twitter” |
11/2020 | Annual Meeting of the Political Science Section of the German Association for American Studies* Paper: “Republican Legislator Adoption of the Fake News Label” |
09/2020 | 116th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association* Paper: “Ideological Difference & Party Destabilization in Congressional Primary Contests” |
08/2020 | European Consortium for Political Research General Conference* Paper: “Intra-Party Ideological Disagreement in Congressional Nomination Processes” |
07/2020 | Early Career Network Annual Conference of the Political Studies Association* Paper: “The Rise of Ideology in U.S. Congressional Primaries” |
06/2020 | Annual Conference of the European Political Science Association* Paper: “Ideological Competition in U.S. Congressional Primaries” |
06/2020 | Annual Conference of the German Association for American Studies~ Paper: “Polarizing Primaries? Income Inequality & Congressional Candidate Selection” |
04/2020 | Annual Midwest Political Science Association Conference~ Paper: “From Personal to Ideological: The Transformation of the Congressional Primary” Paper: “The Evolution of the Fake News Label: Ideology & Time in Congress as Determinants of Republican Representative Use on Twitter” |
12/2019 | British Association for American Studies Postgraduate Conference, British Library Paper: “Communication in Congressional Primaries: The Rise of Ideology in Intra-Party Contests” |
11/2019 | Annual Meeting of the Political Science Section of the German Association for American Studies, Heidelberg University Paper: “Democratic Re-Engagement? The Ideological Foundations of Growing Primary Participation” |
06/2019 | Threatened Democracies: Interdisciplinary Conference in North American Studies, University of Göttingen Paper: “Fractured Parties and Factional Nominations” |
06/2019 | Intra-Party Politics in Times of Crisis: Party Congress Research Group Annual Meeting, University of Strathclyde Paper: “Intra-Party Factionalism and Ideological Competition in US Congressional Primaries” |
11/2018 | Annual Meeting of the Political Science Section of the German Association for American Studies, Passau University Paper: “Mediators of Faction: The Transformation of the Congressional Primary” |
~ conference canceled due to COVID-19, proposal accepted, conference paper written and shared with panelists
Teaching
2021 | MA Seminar – U.S. Political Parties in a Partisan Era |
2019 | BA Seminar – Polarization in US Politics |
2018 & 2019 | Teaching Assistant – Understanding North America (Political Science) |
Education
2019-present | Ph.D. Political Science Graduate School of North American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin |
2017-2019 | MA North American Studies John-F-Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin – 1.0 Master Thesis: Mediators of Faction: Ideological Competition in Congressional Primaries |
2005-2008 | BA Politics University of Exeter – 2:1 Hons |