Darin DeWitt
Office: SSPA 227
Phone: (562) 985-4711
Email: Darin.DeWitt@csulb.edu
I am a professor of political science and co-director of the Long Beach Center for Urban Politics and Policy at 做厙TVState University, Long Beach. I study how institutions, elites, and ideas shape American politics, with a focus on political leadership, celebrity advocacy, and conspiracy theory politics. My new book, How Lincoln Won: The 1860 Presidential Election and the Origins of the Civil War (with Thomas Schwartz; LSU Press, 2026), focuses on Abraham Lincoln as a political strategist. My projects in development focus on humor and political culture, including Conservative Camp (with Nicole Seymour) and Whit Stillman: Interviews (for the University Press of Mississippi). Before coming to Long Beach, I earned my Ph.D. in political science from UCLA and my Master of Public Policy from the London School of Economics.
Scholarly Publications
, with Thomas Schwartz. 2026. Baton Rouge: Louisiana University Press.
, with Nicole Seymour. 2025. In The Oxford Handbook of Screen Comedy, eds. William V. Costanzo and Peter C. Kunze. New York: Oxford University Press.
with Matthew D. Atkinson. 2025. In Whispers in the Echo Chamber: Folklore and the Role of Conspiracy Theory in Contemporary Society, eds. Jesse A. Fivecoate and Andrea Kitta. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
. 2021. Political Studies Review 19(3): 501-510.
. 2021. The Journal of Legislative Studies 27(1): 73-92.
Moral Obligation in an Anarchic World, with Matthew D. Atkinson. 2021. The Expanse and Philosophy: So Far Out Into Darkness, ed. Jeffrey Nicholas. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.
with Matthew D. Atkinson. 2019. Political Studies 67(1): 83-99.
, with Matthew D. Atkinson. 2019. In Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them, ed. Joseph E. Uscinski. New York: Oxford University Press.
, with Matthew D. Atkinson and Drew Wegner. 2019. In Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them, ed. Joseph E. Uscinski. New York: Oxford University Press.
, with Matthew D. Atkinson and Joseph E. Uscinski. 2019. In Handbook of Conspiracy Theory and Contemporary Religion, eds. Asbj繪rn Dyrendal, David G. Robertson, and Egil Asprem. Leiden: Brill.
Abraham Lincoln. 2018. In , ed. Lori Cox Han. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Celebrity Policy Entrepreneurs Expand the Scope of Conflict. 2018. , eds. Heather E. Yates and Timothy G. Hill. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
, with Matthew D. Atkinson. 2017. 做厙TVJournal of Politics and Policy 9(3). []
, with Alexandra Apolloni and Matthew D. Atkinson. 2017. Ethnomusicology Review 21.
Conspiracy Theories in the 2016 Election: Costly Signals or Conventional Wisdom, with Matthew D. Atkinson and Joseph E. Uscinski. 2017. In , eds. Christopher J. Galdieri, Tauna S. Sisco, and Jennifer C. Lucas. Baltimore: Lexington Books.
with Matthew D. Atkinson. 2017. PS: Political Science and Politics 50(2): 354-358.
, with Thomas Schwartz. 2016. PS: Political Science and Politics 49(4): 805-806.
, with Thomas Schwartz. 2016. PS: Political Science and Politics 49(4): 791-796.
, with Matthew D. Aktinson. 2016. Celebrity Studies 7(1): 119-121.
, with Michael Chwe, Kim Yi Dionne, and Michael Stone. 2015. Urban Affairs Review 51(4): 533-562.
Popular Writing
. And Philosophy. May 4, 2022.
, with Matthew D. Atkinson. Political Insight. May 17, 2018.
, with Matthew D. Atkinson and Joseph E. Uscinski. London School of Economics United States Politics and Policy Blog. March 13, 2018.
, with Matthew D. Atkinson and Joseph E. Uscinski. London School of Economics United States Politics and Policy Bog. March 5, 2018.
, with Matthew D. Atkinson and Joseph E. Uscinski. Mischiefs of Faction at Vox. May 2, 2017.
? with Matthew D. Atkinson. Monkey Cage at The Washington Post. March 7, 2016.
, with Matthew D. Atkinson. Monkey Cage at The Washington Post. October 9, 2015.
, with Matthew D. Atkinson. Monkey Cage at The Washington Post. September 25, 2015.
