Department of Political Science
Christopher Z. Mooney is the W. Russell Arrington Professor of State Politics in the Political Science Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Professor Mooney served as director of IGPA from 2013 through 2017, and from 2004-2013, he was an IGPA faculty member at University of Illinois at Springfield. Mooney studies comparative U.S. state politics, with special focus on state legislatures, and he is a noted expert on term limits. Since 2010, the American Political Science Association’s State Politics and Policy section has awarded the annual Christopher Z. Mooney Prize for the best dissertation the field. In 2012, Professor Mooney was awarded that section’s Career Achievement Award, and in 2017, he was elected to a two-year term as its president.
The main focus of Professor Mooney’s research involves the study of state politics and policy in the United States. In particular, his work deals with state legislatures, lawmaking, and morality policymaking. He is currently working on a long-term project exploring how state legislators think about cause and effect in public policy. He also is the co-author of one of the leading undergraduate textbooks in his field, State and Local Politics: Institutions and Reform, published by Wadsworth/Cengage.
IGPA Research By
July 13, 2020How Will Illinois’ Push for Mail-In Balloting Affect Voter Confidence in the November 2020 Election?
April 14, 2014Broad interests, narrow interests, and the politics of the budgetary process
February 20, 2014The Illinois Report 2014
February 18, 2014Across the board cuts
February 20, 2013Revisiting redistricting
February 20, 2013The Illinois Report 2013
May 25, 2011Rethinking redistricting
January 20, 2011Legislative redistricting in the 50 states in 2010: Best practices
January 20, 2011The Illinois Report 2011
January 20, 2010Opportunities for reform and culture change in Illinois politics
January 20, 2010The Illinois Report 2010
January 21, 2009Some implications of the 2008 election
January 21, 2009The Illinois Report 2009
December 1, 2007State legislative term limits in Illinois? Prospects and potential impacts
IGPA Research By
February 20, 2013Revisiting redistricting
February 20, 2013The Illinois Report 2013
May 25, 2011Rethinking redistricting
January 21, 2009Some implications of the 2008 election
January 21, 2009The Illinois Report 2009
November 3, 2007What odds for the sale of the Illinois state lottery?
Brian Gaines' research deals with all aspects of elections, electoral rules, and public opinion. Some of his recent work has dealt with campaign-finance fraud, pros and cons of convenience voting, inference from survey experiments, and assessing bias in electoral maps, and has appeared in such outlets as the American Statistician, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Political Analysis, and State Politics and Policy Quarterly. He has published op eds in many newspapers in Illinois, the San Jose Mercury News, and the Wall Street Journal. He follows politics in the United States, Canada, the UK, Germany, and, to a lesser extent, Europe and Australia. Two of his major projects at present are a multi-nation survey about parties and partisanship and a study of public opinion about fairness in taxes.
IGPA Research By
May 10, 2022The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on State Court Proceedings
December 10, 2020Pandemic Stress Indicator: Expert Panel
November 9, 2020Pandemic Stress Indicator: Expert Panel
September 29, 2020Policy Spotlight: Ongoing Expert Advice on Pandemic Policies
September 24, 2020Pandemic Stress Indicator: Expert Panel
September 2, 2020Pandemic Stress Indicator: Expert Panel
August 4, 2020Pandemic Stress Indicator: Expert Panel
July 21, 2020Pandemic Stress Indicator: Expert Panel
July 13, 2020How Will Illinois’ Push for Mail-In Balloting Affect Voter Confidence in the November 2020 Election?
July 7, 2020Pandemic Stress Indicator: Expert Panel
June 23, 2020Pandemic Stress Indicator: Expert Panel
June 9, 2020Pandemic Stress Indicator: Expert Panel
June 2, 2020Pandemic Stress Indicator: Expert Panel
March 25, 2014Public opinion and political viability of budget tools
February 20, 2013Revisiting redistricting
February 20, 2013The Illinois Report 2013
May 25, 2011Rethinking redistricting
January 1, 2011Picking the president by popular plurality? Prospects and partisan politics
January 21, 2009Some implications of the 2008 election
January 21, 2009The Illinois Report 2009
January 1, 2009Wall Street weakly, or how and when Obama won the presidential race
November 3, 2007What odds for the sale of the Illinois state lottery?