Jeffrey M. Stonecash

Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Political Science

Contact Information
jstoneca@syr.edu


(315) 443-3629
Curriculum Vitae
Stonecash CV

Degree

Ph.D., Northwestern University, 1975

Specialties

Political parties, realignment of their electoral bases, and the impact of changing alignments on the nature of policy debates

Courses

Biography

Degrees:

B.A., Muskingum College, Economics and Political Science, 1969
M.A., University of Virginia, Economics, 1970
M.A., Northwestern University, Political Science, 1973 
Ph.D., Northwestern University, 1975

Publications

• The Battle over Personal Responsibility in American Politics (with Mark D. Brewer; Oxford University Press, 2015)
  
  
• Party Pursuits and the Presidential-House Election Connection, 1900-2008, (Cambridge, 2013)
  
  
• Understanding American Political Parties: Democratic Ideals, Political Uncertainty, and Strategic Positioning, (Routledge, 2012)
  
  
• Counter Realignment: Political Change in the Northeast.  (with Howard L. Reiter: Cambridge, 2011)
  
  
• New Directions in Party Politics, Editor (Routledge, 2010)
  
  
• The Dynamics of the American Party System (with Mark D. Brewer; Cambridge, 2009)
  
  
• Reassessing the Incumbency Effect (Cambridge, 2008)
  
  
• Split: Class and Cultural Divisions in American Politics (with Mark D. Brewer; CQ Press, 2007) Parties Matter: Realignment and the Return of Partisanship (Lynne-Rienner, 2006)
  
  
• Governing New York State (SUNY Press, 2006)
  
  
• Political Polling (Roman and Littlefield, 2003, 2009)
  
  
• The Emergence of State Government: Parties and New Jersey Politics, 1950-2000 (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2002)
  
  
• Diverging Parties: Social Change, Realignment, and Party Polarization (Westview Press, 2002)
  
  
• Class and Party in American Politics (Westview Press, 2000)

Research Projects

The Curious Pursuit of the Incumbency Effect.  In the 1970s academics began a persistent effort to explain the rising incumbency effect, or the ability of incumbents to increase their vote percentage and ward off challengers.  The presumption was that an increase began in the 1960s.  Subsequent analyses indicate that there was little increase and that which did occur was only for Republicans.  It was partisan and not general.  The focus of this book is how and why could academics have spent 40 years seeking to explain a change that did not occur.  It is a study of the sociology of knowledge and how that creates a consensus on research questions, even when supporting empirical evidence is questionable.