Fields of Interest
Biography
Rebecca U. Thorpe is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington. Her research focuses on U.S. political institutions and state development, with an emphasis on the growth and fortification of American empire, mass suburbanization & urban gentrification, and the rise of expansive U.S. prison complex. Her first book, The American Warfare State: The Domestic Politics of Military Spending (University of Chicago Press, 2014), examines the development and persistence of a permanent U.S. military complex and growth in presidential power to launch military actions. She is currently working on a second book project examining how state interventions shaped the racial and spatial dimensions of poverty, violence and incarceration in post-World War II American society.
Her work has received national recognition, including the American Political Science Association's Richard Neustadt Award for best book on executive politics in 2015, the D. B. Hardeman Award presented by the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation for the best book on the US Congress in 2016, and APSA’s Heinz Eulau Award for the best article in Perspectives on Politics in 2016.
Thorpe received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Maryland in 2010. She was a Research Fellow at The Brookings Institution from 2008-2009. During the 2009-2010 academic year she worked on Capitol Hill as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow.
Research
Selected Research
- Thorpe, Rebecca U. Review of "Republic in Peril: American Empire and the Liberal Tradition," by Hendrickson, David C. In Journal of American History, Vol. 105, Issue 4, March 2019.
- Hendrickson, David C. "Republic in Peril: American Empire and the Liberal Tradition." Journalof American History, Vol. 105, Issue 4, March 2019.
- Thorpe, Rebecca U. Review of "The Workfare State: Public Assistance Politics from the New Deal to the NewDemocrats," by Eva Bertram. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015. Response toEva Bertram’s review of The American Warfare State: The Domestic Politics of MilitarySpending. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 2014. In Perspectives on Politics, March 2018.
- Rebecca U. Thorpe. "US Empire in the Age of Trump.” Class, Race and Corporate Power,. 2018. Vol. 6: Issue 1, Article 3.
- Walker, Hannah L., Rebecca U. Thorpe, Emily K. Christensen, and J. P. Anderson. "The hidden subsidies of rural prisons: Race, space and the politics of cumulative disadvantage." Punishment & Society, vol. 19, no. 4, 2017, pp. 393-416.
- Rebecca U. Thorpe. “Democratic Politics in an Age of Mass Incarceration.” Democratic Theory and MassIncarceration, edited by Albert Dzur, Ian Loader & Richard Sparks (Oxford University Press, 2016)).
- Thorpe, Rebecca U. "Perverse Politics: The Persistence of Mass Imprisonment in the Twenty-first Century." Perspectives on Politics, vol. 13, Issue 3, Sept. 2015, pp. 618-637.
- Rebecca U. Thorpe. " The American Warfare State: The Domestic Politics of Military Spending." Chicago IL, University of Chicago Press, 2014.
- Thorpe, Rebecca U. "Urban Divestment, Rural Decline and the Politics of Mass Incarceration." The Good Society, Vol. 23, no. 1, 2014, pp. 17-29.
- Jim Gimpel, Frances Lee, and Rebecca Thorpe. “The Geographic Distribution of the Federal Stimulus of 2009." Political Science Quarterly, 2012-2013.
- Jim Gimpel, Frances Lee, and Rebecca Thorpe. “The Wellsprings of Candidate Emergence: The Distinctive Origins of Statewide Candidates." Political Geography, February 2011.
- Thorpe, Rebecca U., W. McIntosh, M. Evans and S. Simon.,"Legal Mobilization and US Supreme Court Decision Making in Property and Civil Rights Cases, 1978-2003,” (with ). Property Rights and Neo- Liberalism: Cultural Demands and Legal Actions, edited by W. McIntosh & L. Hatcher (Ashgate Press, 2010).
- Rebecca Thorpe. “The Role of Economic Reliance in Defense Procurement Contracting.” American Politics Research, June 2010.
- W. McIntosh, M. Evans, S. Simon, and B. Thorpe. 2010. “Legal Mobilization and US Supreme Court Decision Making in Property and Civil Rights Cases, 1978-2003,” in Property Rights and Neo-Liberalism: Cultural Demands and Legal Actions, edited by W. McIntosh & L. Hatcher.
- Thorpe, Rebecca U. Review of "General Ashcroft: Attorney General At War," by Baker, Nancy V. In Law & Politics Book Review,Vol. 16, No. 9, September 2006.
Courses Taught
Spring 2024
Winter 2024
Autumn 2023
Spring 2023
Winter 2023
Autumn 2022
Spring 2022
Winter 2022
Autumn 2021
Spring 2021
Spring 2020
Winter 2020
Autumn 2019
Spring 2019
Autumn 2018
Autumn 2017
Spring 2017
News & Events
Related News
- Autumn Faculty Panel: The 2022 Midterm Election Results & Implications for 2024 - November 16, 2022
- Faculty Panel: The Biden Agenda: Promises and Prospects - January 7, 2021
- Video: Faculty Panel Session 3: A Turning Point? Impacts for Our Democracy - November 3, 2020
- Election 2020: A Turning Point? - August 27, 2020
- Faculty Perspectives on the George Floyd Protests - June 4, 2020
- Winter Faculty Panel: Communication Breakdown: The Crisis of Public (Dis)Information - January 9, 2020
- Three Faculty Panels address the impact of the 2016 Presidential Election in the US and Around the World - June 29, 2017
- The Department in the News - June 28, 2017
- A new form of corruption: Professors Smith & Thorpe address Trumpʼs Nordstrom Tweets on KUOW - February 13, 2017
- “Final Chance”: The Independent Interviews Professor Thorpe about Electoral College Vote - December 18, 2016
- What Now? Faculty Panel Discusses the 2016 Election & Its Aftermath - December 3, 2016
- FIUTS Lecture: Making Sense of the US Election - November 10, 2016
- Prof. Rebecca Thorpe wins Award for Article in Perspectives on Politics - September 20, 2016
- Understanding the Role of Religion in American Politics - June 27, 2016
- Retrospective: Faculty Discuss Race, Prisons & Protests with Students - June 2, 2016
- Rebecca Thorpe’s book ‘American Warfare State’ honored - March 30, 2016
- Prof. Thorpe Discusses the Impact of Rural Prison Economies on Mass Incarceration in LSE Blog - December 9, 2015
- Affiliated Centers: WISER is now WISIR - November 18, 2015
- Prof. Rebecca Thorpe in the Washington Post, Republicans and Democrats support sentencing reform. This is what stands in their way. - October 5, 2015
- Prof. Rebecca Thorpe in UW Today for her new book, The American Warfare State: The Domestic Politics of Military Spending - June 30, 2014
- Why Cutting Government Spending is So Hard: Perspectives on National Government Spending - April 3, 2013
- 2011 Political Science News Summary - December 31, 2011
Related Events
- Graduate Professionalization Workshop on Conference Presentations - January 19, 2023 - 1:30pm to 3:00pm
- Autumn Faculty Panel: Assessing the 2022 Midterm Election Results With Implications for the Next Two Years and for 2024 - November 14, 2022 - 5:00pm to 6:30pm
- Prospectus and Dissertation Roundtable: Graduate Studies and the Graduate Students Professionalization Series - May 13, 2022 - 1:30pm to 3:00pm
- Graduate Workshop: Demystifying the MA Paper - December 3, 2021 - 1:30pm to 3:00pm
- Funding and Grants Workshop - October 19, 2021 - 12:00pm to 1:30pm
- WISIR Brownbag with Prof. Becca Thorpe - March 5, 2021 - 12:00pm to 1:00pm
- Winter 2021 PoliSci Faculty Panel: The Biden Agenda: Promises and Prospects - February 22, 2021 - 5:30pm
- Faculty Panel -- Election 2020: A Turning Point? Session 3: Impacts for Our Democracy - October 29, 2020 - 6:00pm to 7:00pm
- Winter Faculty Panel Feb. 25th: Communication Breakdown: The Crisis of Public (Dis)Information - February 25, 2020 - 4:45pm to 6:30pm
- The 2016 Election: What Now? - November 16, 2016 - 4:30pm to 6:00pm
- Making Sense of the U.S. Elections - November 2, 2016 - 3:30pm to 5:00pm
- Spring Political Science Faculty Panel: Police, Prisons & Protest - April 19, 2016 - 4:30pm