Here's a video explaining Pivotal Politics that's appropriate for anyone with some familiarity with basic spatial models that I made for my honors "Theories of American Political Institutions" class this fall Let me know if you find it useful! youtu.be/Ofn6ueuNkSo?...

I've had a lot of fun this summer animating classic (but technical) political science theories for a class I'm teaching this quarter These two figures confused me a TON when I first saw them in Pivotal Politics as a first year grad student

Hurricanes can bring disaster. Presidents can help – or not. Are we playing politics with disasters? Read the latest from @nicholasnapolio.bsky.social: goodauthority.org/news/hurrica...

Check out this new @bjpols.bsky.social article from Asst. Prof. @nicholasnapolio.bsky.social: “Executive Policymaking Coalitions, Veto Activation, and Collective Action Problems.” The article explores how agency coalitions activate veto points and leverage congressional collective action problems.

The final paper from my dissertation is now out in @bjpols.bsky.social! I argue that federal agencies collaborate in the policymaking process in order to induce collective action problems in Congress and to pit oversight committees against each other so that agency policies stick.

NEW - Executive Policymaking Coalitions, Veto Activation, and Collective Action Problems - cup.org/3UNAjok - Nicholas G. Napolio #OpenAccess

I've spent part of my summer working on a series of videos designed to introduce students to the workhorse spatial model of politics. If you teach spatial models of politics, feel free to use! Any suggestions on content or presentation are very welcome as I haven't tested these with anyone yet.

🚨 RESOURCE ALERT! 🚨 We have a new teaching resource for you: Animated Politics. This video series explains the logic, math, and science behind politics. Watch and share: goodauthority.org/news/animate...

🚨New publication in JPIPE🚨 I scale executive agencies along a liberal –conservative dimension using LLMs to produce dynamic measures of ideology spanning 1949–2020. Estimates and pre-print available on my website, linked here: nicholasnapolio.com/research

Really happy to share my paper "Executive Policymaking Coalitions, Veto Activation, and Collective Action Problems" has been conditionally accepted at the BJPS!

Photo from this year's USC graduation! 2025 PhD graduates @alcocerjj.bsky.social & @rcenteno.bsky.social alongside 2023 Phd @nicholasnapolio.bsky.social, who was visiting campus! Jose is off to Harvard, Raquel is off to Caltech, and Nico is tenure-track at UC, Riverside! #USCgrad @usc.edu

Very excited to share a new project I've been working on. MCs have a statistically detectable preference for enforcing the separation of powers, but it is rarely big enough to dominate their policy preferences and affect their roll call vote choices. Very early project - open to all feedback!

Looking fwd to Jeff Jenkins' PIPE workshop on 4/15 at @priceschool.usc.edu w/ @nicholasnapolio.bsky.social as discussant. I'll present a new @usc-clear.bsky.social paper on the impact of genAI on the U.S. fed civil service (arxiv.org/abs/2503.09637).

Congratulations to all the graduate students who presented work at #MPSA2025! We had an amazing showing from our department. #polisky

My inaugural Good Authority post!

Coming to MPSA 2025! I've organized a conference-within-a-conference on the separation of powers. We've got a great lineup of scholars working at the intersection of legislative and executive politics. And I'm very grateful to the @dfadcoalition.bsky.social for sponsoring the CwC!

Excited to join the team! I’ll be writing about one post a month on American political institutions and current events.

Conclave being about spatial voting with a valence dimension?? Best picture, now.

I'm not sure "voters are dumb" is the right conclusion to be drawn from data on differences in partisan perceptions of the economy.

Join us for a conversation with faculty to talk about the election this Wednesday. See the flyer below for details.

Somehow have never come across this article written by Scalia in 1981 arguing that Republicans should abandon their support of limitations on agency action since they now controlled the administrative state. Later he'd support Chevron deference, totally consistent. www.cato.org/sites/cato.o...

I'm happy to announce that Jeff Jenkins and I have signed a contract with Cambridge University Press to write the book, "Political Parties, Congressional Politics, and the American Civil War."

Two major events are taking place on October 27: 1) The release of 1989 (Taylor's Version) 2) The 2023 SoCal PIPE Conference at @ucrpolisci.bsky.social If you're in the area and want to learn about political institutions/economy, join us! P.S. There *may* be touches of Swift interspersed

My article “Executive Coalition Building” is now published open access in the Journal of Public Policy 🎉 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

I’m very excited to share the program for this fall’s SoCal Political Institutions and Political Economy Conference hosted by @ucrpolisci.bsky.social (co-organized by @drdrmiller.bsky.social and myself) If you’re interested in attending, please contact David or me.

Prof. @nicholasnapolio.bsky.social explains how California Senator Dianne Feinstein's death may impact government.

My research with Christian mentioned in the NYTimes 👇

In wake of Feinstein's death, @nytimes.com @upshot.nytimes.com discusses consequential congressional deaths, including my research w/ @nicholasnapolio.bsky.social in APSR. Read here to learn about how LBJ garnered Dem Senate control in 1954 due to deaths, and more. www.nytimes.com/2023/09/30/u...

UCR Political Science has joined us in the bluest of skies! @ucrpolisci.bsky.social What other department accounts have migrated over here?

RIP Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The Senate is now tied 50D-49R instead of 51-49. If 1 D votes w/ all 49 Rs, outcomes change. The last time a Senator died sending Senate this narrow and effectively a tie was 1953-54. @nicholasnapolio.bsky.social & I write about it here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Study by @christiangrose.bsky.social and @nicholasnapolio.bsky.social shows even a brief shift in partisan majority in the U.S. senate can affect legislation. Here's a quick Friday post highlighting research relevant to something in the news. ↓

In light of Senator Dianne Feinstein's passing, I'm reupping my @theconversationus.bsky.social blog post with @christiangrose.bsky.social where we provide some context on what happens when senators die or are incapacitated.

SoCal Polisky people working on political institutions or political economy: come to the PIPE Conference @nicholasnapolio.bsky.social and I are organizing at UCR on 10/27! Click here if you're interested in presenting, discussing, or attending (deadline 9/15): docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...