Governance / Democracy

Research Interest

Abhay Aneja

Professor
Law

Abhay Aneja is a Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He studies how legal institutions shape social and economic inequality, from domestic and comparative perspectives, with a focus on the law of democracy and criminal justice.

Elena Chachko

Assistant Professor of Law
Berkeley Law
Elena Chachko is an Assistant Professor of Law at Berkeley Law School. She was the inaugural Rappaport Fellow at Harvard Law School. Motivated by experience in diplomacy and intelligence analysis, Professor Chachko’s research explores the intersection of law and geopolitics. Her recent projects study international cooperation in the administrative state, how agencies engage with international norms and practices in domestic regulation, the emergency governance of domestic and international institutions, the security and geopolitical aspects of tech governance, national security in economic...

Arjun Solanki

Undergraduate Student
Operations Research and Management Science
Economics

Arjun Solanki is a sophomore majoring in ORMS and Economics. He is interested in financial, behavioral economics, and economic development. Previously, he has worked with the Union I&B Ministry (GOI) in tracking and analyzing various government policies in the broadcasting sector. Outside of his academic pursuits, he loves playing cricket and is a part of the professional Cricket Team at UC Berkeley. On his path towards graduation, Arjun aspires to pursue Quant/Finance.

Chris Hoofnagle

Professor of Law in Residence
Law

Chris Jay Hoofnagle helps students from different disciplines understand the interplay of law and technology. He is the author of Law and Policy for the Quantum Age (with Simson Garfinkel, Cambridge University Press, 2022). An elected member of the American Law Institute, Hoofnagle is of counsel to Gunderson Dettmer LLP.

Rodrigo Ramirez-Perez

Undergraduate Student
Political Science
Philosophy

Rodrigo Ramirez-Perez is a third year Political Science and Philosophy major. His academic interests include international organizations and their subversion of state sovereignty, the causes and exacerbating elements of genocides, and the long-term state stability-related effects of state violence on citizen populations. Rodrigo has served as a research assistant to Dr. Susan Hyde since May 2020, researching regional organizations, human rights, and policing in the United States. Since 2016, Ramirez-Perez has worked as a leadership...

Wendy Zhou

Undergraduate Student
Political Economy
Goldman School of Public Policy

Wendy Zhou is a junior from Alameda, CA studying Political Economy and Public Policy, with a concentration in development economics. Her academic interests center around the modernization of the Four Asian Tigers, rural-to-urban migration, and the efficacy of China’s poverty alleviation campaign on improving intergenerational mobility and quality of life. Zhou is passionate about democratization and human rights. While attending the University of Hong Kong in Summer ‘19, she engaged with the increasingly volatile Hong Kong politics and participated in pro-democracy protests. She currently...

Mallika Luthar

Undergraduate Student
Political Science

Mallika Luthar is a fourth-year student majoring in Political Science with minors in Public Policy and Human Rights. Her research interests include exploring election outcomes and the impacts of technology on political participation. She is currently working on an honors thesis focusing on the effects of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Elections on political preferences. Upon graduation, Mallika will be working as a technology policy consultant before going to law school to pursue tech/IP law. Outside of her academic and professional interests, Mallika loves being outdoors, playing piano...

Tara Allegra Fermanto

Undergraduate Student
Political Economy
Business Administration

Tara Allegra is a senior majoring in Political Economy and Business Administration, with a minor in Global Poverty and Practice. Her research interest broadly includes human rights issues, democratization, and international development. Tara is fluent in Bahasa Indonesia and Malay, and is currently studying French. Over the summer, Tara worked as a finance intern at The World Bank in Washington, DC. Currently, she is an economic research intern for the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In her free time, she loves to paint, listen to music, and learn new languages!

Michelle Reddy

Program Director and Assistant Adjunct Professor
Master in Development Practice (MDP), Goldman School of Public Policy

Michelle Reddy is a political sociologist with interests in international development and organizations. Her recent work has largely focused on social mobilization during crises: Ebola, COVID-19, and the European migration crisis and how crises reflect wider challenges in democracy and development. A second, related line of work focuses on the expansion and professionalization of civil society organizations, education, and health NGOs in developing countries.

Dorothy Kronick

Assistant Professor of Public Policy
Goldman School of Public Policy

Dorothy Kronick is a political scientist focused on contemporary Latin American politics, especially Venezuelan politics. Her work on crime and policing in the Americas highlights unintended consequences of common policies such as seizing illegal drugs or rewriting criminal procedure codes. She also studies democratic backsliding and competitive authoritarianism.