CDDRL's class of 2020 pre- and postdoctoral fellows

Hometown: Bethesda, MD

 

Academic Institution: Harvard University

 

Discipline and degree conferral date (or expected): Government, May 2019

 

Research Interests: Authoritarianism, corruption, East Asia, comparative politics

 

Dissertation Title: Combating Corruption in Authoritarian Regimes

 

What attracted you to the CDDRL Pre/post-doctoral program? I was attracted by the opportunity to work with and learn from the remarkable scholars at CDDRL, at FSI, and in the broader Stanford community. I’m excited that this program brings together scholars with diverse substantive and regional expertise to advance our knowledge about critically important political, economic, and legal issues around the world.

 

What do you hope to accomplish during your nine-month residency at the CDDRL? Primarily, I hope to revise my dissertation into a book manuscript. I also hope to advance other projects on issues of authoritarianism, corruption, and East Asian political development, as well as to collaborate on new ideas with scholars at Stanford.

 

Fun fact: I have more friends in real life than on social media.

Academic Institution: University of California, Berkeley

 

Discipline and degree conferral date (or expected): Political Science (expected 2020)

 

Short list of Research Interests: Democratic decline, Digital politics, Populism, Migration

 

Dissertation Title: Engineering Extremism: How Digital Platforms Radicalize Politics

 

What attracted you to the CDDRL Pre/post-doctoral program? The Center’s intellectual

community is comprised of world-renowned scholars researching global populism and

examining the ways in which digital technology shapes democracy. Having the opportunity to

workshop my research in this community is invaluable.

 

What do you hope to accomplish during your nine-month residency at the CDDRL? I plan to write up the dissertation and finish some remaining experimental analysis. I also hope to collaborate on research with other CDDRL fellows and faculty. 

 

Fun fact: I have never written a to-do list.

Academic Institution: MIT

 

Discipline and degree conferral date (or expected): Summer 2019

 

Short list of Research Interests: Political Economy of Development, Comparative Political Behavior, Intermediaries, Bureaucracy, Clientelism, Accountability, Survey and

Experimental Methodology.

 

Dissertation Title: Clients or Citizens?: The Bureaucratic Costs of Claim-Making in Mexico

 

What attracted you to the CDDRL Pre/post-doctoral program? The amazing intellectual

richness and interdisciplinarity of the group of scholars at CDDRL. I am excited to discuss policy relevant research and engage diverse theoretical perspectives on democracy and development.

 

What do you hope to accomplish during your nine-month residency at the CDDRL? A book manuscript! In my book, I argue that bureaucratic transaction costs often make it unfeasibly difficult for individuals to pursue welfare benefits directly. Instead, these costs make individuals dependent on clientelist intermediaries, who demand political favors in return for access.

Mediated avenues of distribution prevent individuals from learning to navigate the bureaucracy and experience its processes and thus to see themselves as citizens with rights and entitlements. As a result, instead of strengthening political engagement and citizenship, the pursuit of social welfare benefits tends to intensify ties of dependency and obligation to political parties and their local intermediaries—a process I term the clientelist feedback loop.

 

Fun fact: By the time I was 13, I knew the lyrics of all Beatles songs, including bootlegs and rarities. For me, singing Revolver on repeat was crucial in mastering spoken English (and in learning about oppressive taxation).

Hometown: San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

Academic Institution: Stanford University (Ph.D.)

 

Discipline and degree conferral date (or expected): Political Science (expected 2020)

 

Short list of Research Interests: My dissertation examines the variation in behaviors in organized crime groups in Latin America and the ways in which drug trafficking organizations weaken state

capacity. I also have developed an interest in understanding how police violence becomes established as an institutional norm and how it can be curbed.

 

Dissertation Title: Crime and Impunity: Organized Crime and State Capacity in Latin America

What attracted you to the CDDRL Pre/post-doctoral program? I'd already been around CDDRL,

serving as a Teaching Assistant for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law and working

at the Poverty, Violence, and Governance Lab and so have a deep appreciation for the intellectual environment and breadth of perspectives at the Center.

 

What do you hope to accomplish during your nine-month residency at the CDDRL? I’m hoping that in addition to finishing my dissertation which examines the determinants of organized crime behavior, I’ll be able to develop lines of research on the determinants of police violence and criminal investigation as well as a series of projects I’ve begun at the Poverty, Violence, and

Governance Lab at CDDRL.

 

Fun fact: I can cook a decent paella, which is a meal I've been trying for years to convince family and friends to use as a replacement for the turkey as the centerpiece at Thanksgiving.