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Daniel Wirls

Daniel Wirls   
Daniel Wirls
    Title:  Professor of Politics & Department Chair
    Email:  wirls@ucsc.edu
    Phone:  (831) 459-2134 Office
(831) 459-3125 Fax
    Office:  154 Merrill Faculty Annex
    Office Hours:  Fall 2009 Mondays 8:30-11:30

Research Focus 
Daniel Wirls has research interests in four areas of American politics: Congress, U.S. political history, the politics of military policy, and contemporary political transformations. His recent projects have focused on congressional history and the politics of bicameralism. He is currently working on an analysis of U.S. military policy from the end of the Cold War to the war in Iraq, as well as a critique of the Senate, with an emphasis on the nature and consequences of Senate representation and procedures.

Selected Publications 
Books

Irrational Security: The Politics of Defense from Reagan to Obama, Johns Hopkins University Press, forthcoming 2010.

Daniel Wirls and Stephen Wirls, The Invention of the United States Senate, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.

Buildup: The Politics of Defense in the Reagan Era , Cornell University Press, 1992.

Articles and Book Chapters

“Hidden in Plain Sight: The Bush Military Buildup,” in Inside Defense: Understanding U.S. Military Policy in the 21st Century, Derek Reveron and Judith Stiehm (eds.),Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2008, 99-114.

"The 'Golden Age' Senate and Floor Debate in the Antebellum Congress," Legislative Studies Quarterly (May 2007): 193-222.

"'The Only Mode of Avoiding Everlasting Debate': The Overlooked Senate Gag Rule for Antislavery Petitions," Journal of the Early Republic (Spring 2007): 115-138.

"Madison's Dilemma: Revisiting the Relationship between the Senate and the Great Compromise at the Constitutional Convention," in James Madison: The Theory and Practice of Republican Government, Samuel Kernell (ed.), Stanford University Press, 2003: 156-183.

"Voting Behavior: The Balance of Power in American Politics," in The Elections of 2000 , Michael Nelson (ed.), Congressional Quarterly, 2001: 93-108.

"Regionalism, Rotten Boroughs, Race, and Realignment: The Seventeenth Amendment and the Politics of Representation," Studies in American Political Development (Spring 1999): 1-30; and "Beyond Bias: A Rejoinder to Ellis and King," Studies in American Political Development (Spring 1999): 46-49.

"The Consequences of Equal Representation: The Bicameral Politics of NAFTA in the 103rd Congress," Congress and the Presidency 25 (Autumn 1998): 129-145.

"Busted: Government and Elections in the Era of Deficit Politics," in Do Elections Matter? (3rd ed.), Benjamin Ginsberg and Alan Stone (eds.), M. E. Sharpe, 1996: 65-85.

"Congress and the Politics of Military Reform," Armed Forces and Society (Summer 1991): 487-512.

"The Gender Gap in American Elections: Lingering Illusions and Political Realities," in Do Elections Matter? (2nd ed.), Benjamin Ginsberg and Alan Stone (eds.), M. E. Sharpe, 1991: 117-133.

"Reinterpreting the Gender Gap," Public Opinion Quarterly 50 (Fall 1986): 316-330.

Courses Taught 
POLI 200C - States & Political Institutions
POLI-120A-01 - Congress, President & The Court in American Politics

Education History 
Ph.D. Cornell University 1988

B.A. Haverford College 1982

Curriculum Vitae 
 
Daniel Wirls's Curriculum Vitae File Type:PDF (184.7 KB)