Catlan Reardon

Catlan Reardon is a PhD candidate in Political Science and a Research Associate at the Center on the Politics of Development at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research lies at the intersection of elite political behavior, violence, and the political economy of development, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Her dissertation and first book project, The Ties that Bind or Break: Local Leaders, Dispute Arbitration, and Violence in Nigeria, examines the influence of local leaders on mitigating or exacerbating violence through examining their key roles as arbiters of local disputes. She has conducted fieldwork in India, Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria and has consulted on projects with USAID, DAI, and Mercy Corps.

Prior to graduate school, Catlan worked for Innovations for Poverty Action in Uganda and Kenya managing studies on micro-savings, health and governance, and technology diffusion. She also was a Research Manager at the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University. Catlan holds an M.A. in Political Science from Leiden University and a B.A. in Political Science from Wake Forest University.