Past Projects
- Dataset Creation Mechanism for Drs. Nils Ringe and Jennifer Victor - Summer 2007
- Drs. Ringe and Victor needed to create a large-n dyad-based dataset from smaller datasets. I developed a system with Excel--chosen because of its widespread use, portability, and ease--whereby they and their RAs could seed the file and the dataset would then be created. A link to their project will be posted as it reaches an appropriate stage of the research process.
- Relevant Links: Project's page available upon request | Dr. Ringe | Dr. Victor
- Refining and Redefining the Second-Order Election Model: Protest or Pure Preference Voting in Central and Eastern Europe - 2006
- Our previous research (Koepke and Ringe 2006) finds the second-order election model, one of the most widely accepted theories of voting, unable to explain voting patterns in Central and Eastern Europe. Possible explanations for the unexpected finding, however, went untested. This paper addresses that shortcoming by theorizing and testing the lack of protest votes against incumbent government parties in second-order CEE elections. One possible reasons is the prevalence of sincere voting, where votes are lodged strictly for parties that voters perceive to best represent their ideological and/or ethnically defined interests. In addition, we use recent research on economic voting (Tucker 2006) to reconceptualize and test, on the basis of ideological connections to the political system and (communist) past, what constitutes a protest vote.
- Relevant links: Presentation
- The Tree Outside My Window - 2006
- This is two-phase project with Michael. The first phase is to record a spoken word album; this phase is now complete. The second phase of the project is accompany a selection of those poems to music; this phase has been put on hold.
- Relevant links: http://jasonkoepke.com/Projects/MJ
- Koepke, Jason R. and Nils Ringe, 2006. The Second-Order Election Model in an Enlarged Europe. European Union Politics 7 (3), 321-346
- On 1 May 2004, the European Union (EU) welcomed its new member states from Central and Eastern Europe. This paper considers to what extent one of the most widely tested and supported theories of voting behavior in Western Europe, the second-order election model, applies in the enlarged EU. We test the model using election data from the new member states and find that voters do not cast protest votes against their incumbent national governments in second-order elections, that is, elections where voters believe little to be at stake. This finding contradicts one of the model’s basic propositions and runs counter to the empirical reality in the old member states, with potentially significant implications for inter- and intra-institutional politics in the EU.
- Relevent Links: Abstract | Paper | Published Version | Data (xls): EP and Local
- Just Turtles - 2005
- Three-member band creating some rather depressing, but at times amusing, music. Four song EP is half finished, with the last two tracks needing to be re-recorded and mixed.
- Relevant links: http://jasonkoepke.com/Projects/JustTurtles
- Russian and East European Graduate Student Conference, University of Pittsburgh - 2003-2004
- Initiated annual graduate student conference, recruited team of co-organizers, and chaired the all-graduate student organizing committee. Our responsibilities included marketing, concept and theme development, catering, housing, and supply procurement. The conference was deemed an unqualified success with more than seventy submissions from across North America and Europe. These submissions were double-blind reviewed and 29 graduate students were invited to present (March 5-6, 2004). The conference has been an annual event ever since.
- European and Eurasian Interest Group, University of Pittsburgh - 2003-2004
- Co-founder and President (2003-2004). This graduate student group was established to (1) create a forum where graduate students in all different disciplines, studying all different things, and at all different stages in their education can come to exchange notes, news, and research ideas and (2) to organize and host an annual graduate student conference (see above). The organization, with a changed name, continues to be active.
- Janus, University of Maryland - 2000-2001
- Co-founder and co-editor of the first undergraduate history research journal at the University of Maryland. We wanted to create an opportunity for undergraduate students to engage in the same types of research and discussions that graduate students and faculty do. Submissions were accepted only from undergraduates and were double-blind reviewed by members of the editorial board. We lobbied and worked with faculty to secure an office, office equipment, and a small budget. Issues were published semesterly.
- Maryland Parliamentary Debate Society, University of Maryland - 1997-2000
- Co-founder, Secretary (Spring 1999), and President (Fall 1999) of the first parliamentary debate society/team at University of Maryland, College Park. Responsibilities included recruiting members, developing and securing a budget, and hosting an annual (sometimes bi-annual) two-day tournament with more than 50 participants, plus judges and spectators. Tournaments are held every weekend during the academic year up and down the East Coast. The team, although it started out small, has grown tremendously and been incredibly successful.
- Trails from the Past, Paint Branch Elementary School, Prince George's County, Maryland - 1999-2000
- Once a week instruction of 6th graders to link and incorporate concepts of history, music, government, and art to ideas of diversity using the students' own backgrounds.
- One Through Ten - 1998
- One Through Ten is an album worked on through most of 1998 by Dave Gibson and myself. Dave rapped and we co-produced the tracks, using what little equipment I had at the time (a laptop, one turntable, tape deck, Radioshack mic, lots of records).
- Relevant Links: http://jasonkoepke.com/Projects/GJ