Nico Napolio
@nicholasnapolio.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Political Science at UC Riverside 🏳️🌈
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?...
Let me know if you find it useful!
youtu.be/Ofn6ueuNkSo?...
Pivotal Politics: Simulating the US Congress
YouTube video by Animated Politics
youtu.be
September 22, 2025 at 2:32 PM
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?...
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
These two figures confused me a TON when I first saw them in Pivotal Politics as a first year grad student
September 9, 2025 at 5:22 PM
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
These two figures confused me a TON when I first saw them in Pivotal Politics as a first year grad student
Reposted by Nico Napolio
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...
Are we playing politics with disasters?
Read the latest from @nicholasnapolio.bsky.social: goodauthority.org/news/hurrica...
Hurricanes can bring disaster. Presidents can help – or not.
The White House has weakened FEMA’s ability to respond to natural disasters.
goodauthority.org
September 8, 2025 at 2:02 PM
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...
Are we playing politics with disasters?
Read the latest from @nicholasnapolio.bsky.social: goodauthority.org/news/hurrica...
Reposted by Nico Napolio
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.
@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.
September 2, 2025 at 4:57 PM
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.
@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.
August 29, 2025 at 8:14 PM
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.
@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.
Reposted by Nico Napolio
NEW -
Executive Policymaking Coalitions, Veto Activation, and Collective Action Problems - cup.org/3UNAjok
- Nicholas G. Napolio
#OpenAccess
Executive Policymaking Coalitions, Veto Activation, and Collective Action Problems - cup.org/3UNAjok
- Nicholas G. Napolio
#OpenAccess
August 27, 2025 at 9:25 AM
NEW -
Executive Policymaking Coalitions, Veto Activation, and Collective Action Problems - cup.org/3UNAjok
- Nicholas G. Napolio
#OpenAccess
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.
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.
One Dimensional Spatial Politics: The Median Voter Theorem
YouTube video by Animated Politics
www.youtube.com
August 7, 2025 at 4:44 PM
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.
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.
Reposted by Nico Napolio
🚨 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...
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...
Animated Politics, a new teaching resource.
This video series explains the logic, math, and science behind politics.
goodauthority.org
August 6, 2025 at 1:02 AM
🚨 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...
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
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
July 17, 2025 at 3:10 PM
🚨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
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!
June 30, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Really happy to share my paper "Executive Policymaking Coalitions, Veto Activation, and Collective Action Problems" has been conditionally accepted at the BJPS!
Reposted by Nico Napolio
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
@usc.edu
May 16, 2025 at 8:59 PM
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
@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!
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!
May 16, 2025 at 6:54 PM
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!
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!
Reposted by Nico Napolio
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).
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).
April 8, 2025 at 5:31 PM
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).
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).
My inaugural Good Authority post!
President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s frontal assault on the federal bureaucracy is a particularly intense manifestation of a strategy Republican presidents have pursued since at least the 1980s.
However, Trump has supercharged the GOP playbook.
Read the latest: goodauthority.org/news/trump-r...
However, Trump has supercharged the GOP playbook.
Read the latest: goodauthority.org/news/trump-r...
Presidential assertions of power over the bureaucracy are nothing new
Trump has supercharged the GOP playbook, however.
goodauthority.org
April 3, 2025 at 1:19 AM
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!
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!
March 11, 2025 at 9:21 PM
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!
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.
New voices join Good Authority!
We welcome nine political scientists to our team of experts in our latest cohort of Good Authority fellows.
Learn more here: goodauthority.org/news/new-voi...
We welcome nine political scientists to our team of experts in our latest cohort of Good Authority fellows.
Learn more here: goodauthority.org/news/new-voi...
Meet our 2025-2026 Good Authority fellows!
We welcome nine new Good Authority fellows for 2025-2026! Meet the new team here.
goodauthority.org
February 27, 2025 at 8:59 PM
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.
December 27, 2024 at 2:50 AM
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.
November 22, 2024 at 12:59 AM
I'm not sure "voters are dumb" is the right conclusion to be drawn from data on differences in partisan perceptions of the economy.
Reposted by Nico Napolio
Join us for a conversation with faculty to talk about the election this Wednesday. See the flyer below for details.
November 19, 2024 at 7:02 PM
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...
Later he'd support Chevron deference, totally consistent.
www.cato.org/sites/cato.o...
www.cato.org
November 21, 2024 at 5:52 PM
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...
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."
October 20, 2023 at 10:07 PM
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."
Reposted by Nico Napolio
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
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
October 17, 2023 at 6:12 PM
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
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...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
October 12, 2023 at 2:31 PM
My article “Executive Coalition Building” is now published open access in the Journal of Public Policy 🎉
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
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.
@drdrmiller.bsky.social and myself)
If you’re interested in attending, please contact David or me.
October 10, 2023 at 5:49 PM
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.
@drdrmiller.bsky.social and myself)
If you’re interested in attending, please contact David or me.