Governance / Democracy

Research Interest

Aila Matanock

Associate Professor
Political Science
Center on the Politics of Development

Aila Matanock is an Associate Professor in Political Science at the University of California Berkeley. She was also previously a national fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and has received research support from the National Science Foundation, the Minerva Research Initiative, the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, and the Center for Global Development. Prof. Matanock studies statebuilding and civil conflict, with a particular focus on the influence of international actors and civilian participation.

Katerina Linos

Professor
Law

Katerina Linos is a Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. She is also the Co-Faculty Director of Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law and received a 2017 Carnegie fellowship to investigate the European refugee crisis. Prof. Linos studies international law, comparative law, European Union law, employment law and migration, focusing particularly on why law reforms and policy innovations spread around the world in waves.

Thad Dunning

Professor
Political Science
Center on the Politics of Development

Thad Dunning is the Robson Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also the founding faculty director of the Center on Politics of Development and authored several award-winning books, including Crude Democracy: Natural Resource Wealth and Political Regimes and Natural Experiments in the Social Sciences: A Design-Based Approach, both of which received Best Book Awards from the American Political Science Association. Prof. Dunning studies comparative politics, the political economy of development, and research methods,...

Juan Campos

Graduate Student
Political Science

Juan Campos is a Ph.D. student in political science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is generally interested in studying security institutions, political violence, and corruption in Latin America. His most recent research assesses the causes and consequences of drug trafficking violence in Mexico. Campos holds an M.A. in political science from California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) and a B.A. in government and international politics from George Mason University. Before starting his doctoral program at UC Berkeley, Campos was a research assistant at CSULB and worked as...

Surili Sheth

Graduate Student
Political Science

Surili Sheth is pursuing a Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of California at Berkeley. Her research interests center on identities (such as gender, religion, and caste), public service delivery, local institutions and inequality in South Asia and the United States. Prior to pursuing her Ph.D., Surili worked as a fellow with IMAGO Global Grassroots in Ahmedabad and Delhi, a manager with IDinsight in Hyderabad, Vijayawada, and Delhi, and a research associate with the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) in Hyderabad, India. In these capacities, she has worked with SEWA,...

Nicholas Kuipers

Graduate Student
Political Science
Center on the Politics of Development

Nicholas Kuipers joined the Center on the Politics of Development in August 2017. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in Political Science at the UC Berkeley. His research interests include comparative politics and political economy, with a particular focus on the origins and consequences of democracy and conflict in Southeast Asia. Nick holds a B.A. in Politics from Oberlin College. Prior to pursuing his Ph.D., he worked as a researcher in Jakarta at SMRC, a local political consulting firm specializing in survey research. In 2014-2015, Kuipers received a Fulbright grant to Indonesia.

Pranav Gupta

Graduate Student
Political Science

Pranav Gupta is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to joining UC Berkeley, he had completed an M.Sc. in Political Science and Political Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He also holds a B.A. in Economics from St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi. His broad research interests include party systems, voting behavior, and the politics of public service delivery.

He is also a...

Anirvan Chowdhury

Graduate Student
Political Science
Center on the Politics of Development

Anirvan Chowdhury is a graduate student at UC Berkeley’s department of political science. His broad research interests lie in comparative politics and the political economy of development. His current projects centre on women’s political mobilisation and collective action, ideology in political parties, and public service delivery. Prior to this, Chowdhury worked at the International Food Policy Research Institute and the World Bank in Washington DC, and at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, India. He has studied economics and public policy at the Madras School of...

Elena Amaya

Graduate Student
Sociology

Elena Amaya is a PhD Student in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. She studies antisemitism, gendered violence and law with a historical focus on war and genocide.

Chai Peddeti

Graduate Student
Nuclear Engineering

Chai Peddeti is a first year PhD student in the Nuclear Engineering Department at the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in Nuclear Materials. His work involves analyzing irradiated material using various laser-based spectroscopy techniques. Peddeti is interested in non-proliferation, nuclear policy relating to nuclear materials, global relations, and nuclear security.