Evolutionary Approaches to Politics

Session Submission Type: Virtual Created Panel

Session Description

Across numerous domains of inquiry, scholars have found value in viewing social dynamics through an evolutionary perspective. This panel demonstrates the utility of evolutionary approaches across a wide range of different topics within political science. Peter Corning applies a positive political theory approach to the evolution of cooperation in his paper “The Evolution of Politics: Our First Five Million Years.” Maciej Potz’s “Voluntary Costly Signaling in Religious Communities: A Political Interpretation,” explores how religious activity can be understood within an evolutionary biological framework with costly individual behavior conceptualized in a group dynamic. And Bradley A. Thayer applies evolutionary insights to the field of international relations and the rise of the People’s Republic of China, in his paper, “The PRC’s Rise and the Life Sciences.” Finally, Nicholas Geiser’s paper, “What Exactly is Risky about Germ-Line Engineering?” explores bioethical dilemmas across different applications of germ-line research.

Sub Unit

• Related Groups / Association for Politics and the Life Sciences

Individual Presentations

• The Evolution of Politics: Our First Five Million Years - Peter Corning, Institute for the Study of Complex Systems

• Voluntary Costly Signaling in Religious Communities: a Political Interpretation - Maciej Potz, University of Lodz

• The PRC's Rise and the Life Sciences - Bradley A. Thayer

• What Exactly is Risky About Germ-Line Genetic Engineering? - Nicholas Geiser, Brown University

Chair

• Aleksander Ksiazkiewicz University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Discussant

• Claire Gothreau Rutgers University