Ian Turner

Ian Turner is the Daniel H. Wallace Chair of Civic Government and Associate Professor of Political Science. He has broad research interests in American political institutions, executive branch and bureaucratic politics, special interest politics, political economy, and applied game theory and formal modeling. His research has been published in leading academic journals such as the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, and the Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization. His teaching spans courses on American political institutions, bureaucratic politics, money in politics, game theory, and applied formal modeling. Before coming to Pitt he held faculty positions at Texas A&M University and Yale University, the latter of which he was awarded the Poorvu Family Fund for Academic Innovation Award for excellence in teaching in 2024.

Courses Taught

PS1217 - Democracy and Bureaucracy

Education & Training

PhD - Washington University in St. Louis, 2015

Representative Publications

"Democratic Accountability with Citizen Coproduction" (with Jie Ma and Keith Schnakenberg). Forthcoming. American Political Science Review.
"The Institutional Foundations of the Power to Persuade" (with Carlo Prato). 2026. American Journal of Political Science 70(1): 120-135.
"Dark Money & Politician Learning" (with Keith Schnakenberg). 2026. Journal of Politics 88(1): 177-191.
"Presidential Leadership and Strategic Legislative Polarization" (with Benjamin S. Noble). 2026. Presidential Studies Quarterly 56(1).
"Formal Theories of Special Interest Influence" (with Keith E. Schnakenberg). 2024. Annual Review of Political Science 27: 401-421.
"Motivated Reasoning and Democratic Accountability" (with Andrew T. Little and Keith E. Schnakenberg). 2022. American Political Science Review 116(2): 751-767.
"Reviewing Procedure vs. Judging Substance: The Scope of Review and Bureaucratic Policymaking." 2022. Journal of Political Institutions and Political Economy 2(4): 569-596.
"Helping Friends or Influencing Foes: Electoral and Policy Effects of Campaign Finance Contributions" (with Keith Schnakenberg). 2021. American Journal of Political Science 65(1): 88-100.
"Ex Post Review and Expert Policymaking: When Does Oversight Reduce Accountability?" (with John W. Patty). 2021. Journal of Politics 83(1): 23-39.
"Policy Durability, Agency Capacity, and Executive Unilateralism." 2020. Presidential Studies Quarterly 50(1): 40-62.
"Signaling with Reform: How the Threat of Corruption Prevents Informed Policymaking" (with Keith Schnakenberg). 2019. American Political Science Review 113(3): 762-777.
"Political Agency, Oversight, and Bias: The Instrumental Value of Politicized Policymaking." 2019. Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization 35(3): 544-578.
"Legislative Capacity and Credit Risk" (with David Fortunato). 2018. American Journal of Political Science 62(3): 623--636.
"Allies or Commitment Devices? A Model of Appointments to the Federal Reserve" (with Keith Schnakenberg and Alicia Uribe). 2017. Economics & Politics 29(2): 118-132.
"Working Smart and Hard? Agency Effort, Judicial Review, and Policy Precision." 2017. Journal of Theoretical Politics 29(1): 69-96.