Matt Grossmann
Matt Grossmann is Assistant Professor of Political Science. He began work at MSU in 2007 after receiving his Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley. His research concerns interest group representation and influence, campaigns and elections, political networks, and federal policy change in the United States. This year, he is teaching Campaigns & Elections, Political Parties & Interest Groups, and Evaluating Evidence in Social Science.
His book, The Not-So-Special Interests: Interest Groups, Public Representation, and American Governance, is available now from Stanford University Press. The book explains why certain public groups, such as Jews, lawyers, and gun-owners, develop substantially more representation than others and why certain organizations, like the National Rifle Association, become the presumed spokespersons for these groups in all types of media and all branches of government.
He has published journal articles on policy change, issue area differences, political party networks, interest groups, the legislative process, negative campaigning, the consulting industry, group theory, ethnic representation, environmental organizations, technology policy debates, campaign professionalization, and public opinion about campaigns. His research appears in the Journal of Politcs, American Politics Research, and twelve other journals. He is also co-author of a Campaigns & Elections textbook (available now from W. W. Norton) and author of a forthcoming edited volume, New Directions in Interest Group Politics.
His next book, Artists of the Possible: Governing Networks and American Policy Change Since 1945, is under contract at Oxford University Press and complete. The book covers the political circumstances and actors responsible for domestic policy change in 14 issue areas in all three branches of government. It argues that macro political trends do not explain the ideological direction or amount of federal policy change since WWII. The book shows that neither the issue agenda of government nor the concerns of the public are a reliable guide to policy change. Instead, cooperation and compromise among well-known interest groups, long-serving legislators, and presidents produces policy change, but only if policymakers settle on a cross-issue agenda of government expansion.
In addition to academic work, he wrote a state commission report on the use of the Internet in political campaigns and co-authored a book on campaign strategy for practitioners. He also serves as the director of the Michigan Policy Network, an outlet for online reporting and research on state policy by MSU undergraduates.
Subfields
American Politics, Public PolicyResearch Specializations
Political Behavior, Political Institutions, ElectionsRecent Publications
- Matt Grossmann. Forthcoming. "The Variable Politics of the Policy Process: Issue Area Differences and Comparative Networks." Journal of Politics.
- Matt Grossmann and Kurt Pyle. Forthcoming. "Lobbying and Congressional Bill Advancement." Interest Groups & Advocacy.
- Matt Grossmann. 2012. "Interest Group Influence on U.S. Policy Change: An Assessment Based on Policy History." Interest Groups & Advocacy.
- Matt Grossmann. Under Contract. Artists of the Possible: Governing Networks and American Policy Change Since 1945. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Matt Grossmann. 2012. The Not-So-Special Interests: Interest Groups, Public Representation, and American Governance. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
- John Sides, Daron Shaw, Matt Grossmann, and Keena Lipsitz. Forthcoming in 2011. Campaigns & Elections: Rules, Reality, Strategy and Choice. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
- Matt Grossmann. 2012. "What (or Who) Makes Campaigns Negative?" American Review of Politics.
- Grossmann, Matt. "Online Student Publishing in the Classroom: The Experience of the Michigan Policy Network." PS: Political Science & Politics 44(3).
- Grossmann, Matt, John Sides, and Keena Lipsitz. 2010. "Do Voters Perceive Negative Campaigns as Informative Campaigns?" American Politics Research.
- Grossmann, Matt. 2010. "Political Science at the State University in the State Capital." The Forum 8(3)
- Grossmann, Matt, and Casey Dominguez. 2009. "Party Coalitions and Interest Group Networks." American Politics Research 37(5).
- Grossmann, Matt. 2010. "La Poésie et la Prose des Lobbies sous Obama." Revue Internationale et Stratégique.
- Grossmann, Matt. 2009. "Do the Strategists Know Something We Don't Know? Campaign Decisions in American Elections." The Forum 7(3).
- Grossmann, Matt. 2009. "Going Pro? The Professional Model and Political Campaign Consulting." Journal of Political Marketing 8(2).
- Grossmann, Matt. 2009. "Campaigning as an Industry: Consulting Business Models and Intra-Party Competition." Business & Politics, 11 (1).
- Grossmann, Matt. 2009. "Who Gets What Now? Interest Groups Under Obama." The Forum, 7 (1).
- Grossmann, Matt. 2008. "Just Another Interest Group? Organized Ethnic Representation in American Politics." National Political Science Review, 11 (1).
- Grossmann, Matt. 2006. "Research Note: Environmental Advocacy in Washington." Environmental Politics, 15 (4).
- Grossmann, Matt. 2006. "The Organization of Factions: Interest Mobilization and the Group Theory of Politics." Public Organization Review, 6 (2).
- Grossmann, Matt, Keena Lipsitz, John Sides, and Christine Trost. 2005. "What Voters Want From Political Campaign Communication." Political Communication, 22 (3).
- Grossmann, Matt. 2005. "The Dynamics of a Disturbance: New and Established Interests in Technology Policy Debates." Knowledge, Technology & Policy, 18 (3).
