Embedded Files
Over the past few decades, political scientists have refined the conceptualization, measurement and theory of political institutions, creating law-like understandings of the way in which political actors respond to the strategic environment that institutions shape. Meanwhile, country specialists in every part of the globe have struggled to understand why certain institutions do not work they way that these theories predict and have called for an increased sensitivity to context. The Political Institutions and Social Structure project seeks to contribute to that context by systematically conceptualizing and measuring macro social structure - the social and economic groups individuals belong to and the way in which these identities are related - and re-evaluating these institutional theories in a new light.The development of the Cross-national Indices of Multi-dimensional Measures of Social Structure, or CIMMSS, was a first step in this process that eventually evolved into its own separate project. Please see that research page for more details on these new measures have been applied to such outcomes as economic growth, riots and civil war onset.I use CIMMSS in this project to develop and test "context-conditional" institutional institutional theories relating to public goods provision, economic growth, democratic stability, and political violence.In addition, I have undertaken field research in Thailand and Mauritius, as well as comparative historical analyses of other countries, such as Burma, Indonesia and New Zealand.Two book-length projects are currently underway.The first, entitled United they Stand, Represented they Fall: Electoral Rules, Ethnicity and Public Goods Provision in Developing Countries, is currently under review at a leading university press.Data collection on a second book provisionally entitled Designing Democratic Institutions in Sociological Contexts is almost complete.
Quantitative Studies
Published
Constitutions, Cross-cutting Cleavages and Coordination: The Provision of Public Goods in Developing Countries. Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of PhD in Political Science, University of Michigan (2009).
"The Myth of Consociationalism" (2012) Comparative Political Studies (with Kharis Templeman)
Under Review
"Ethnic Structure and Economic Growth" Under Review
Conference Papers
Qualitative Studies
Published
“Electoral Reform and Public Policy Outcomes in Thailand: The Politics of the 30-Baht Health Scheme”. (2011) World Politics 63(1): 165-202.
"Forcing the Genie Back in the Bottle: Sociological Change and Institutional Reform in Thailand." (2012) Journal of East Asian Studies 12: 57-88 (with A. Hicken).
Under Review
Conference Papers
New Wine in Old Bottles: Revisiting the Effect of Ethnic Diversity on Economic Growth. Cross-cutting Cleavages and Institutional Filtering. To be presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Consortium of Political Science Research (2009) in Potsdam, Germany.
This paper has since been split into two working papers upon feedback at the ECPSR conference.
1. "Ethnic Structure and Economic Growth"
2. "Institutions, Ethnic Diversity and Economic Growth"
Broadening Minds: Social Structure, Constituency Breadth and Public Goods Provision in Developing Democracies. Paper presented at the 67th annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, The Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, IL, Apr 02, 2009
This paper has been developed into "Ethnicity, Institutions and Public Goods Provision", currently under review
Institutional Change and Social Policy in Thailand in the Post-1997 Constitutional Era. Paper presented at the 66th annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Palmer House Hotel, Hilton, Chicago, IL, Apr 03, 2008
This paper was developed into Electoral Reform and Public Policy Outcomes in Thailand, World Politics.
The Political Economy of the 30-baht Health Insurance Scheme in Thailand: Insights into the Politics and Policymaking of the Thaksin era. Council of Thai Studies, November 2007, Madison, Wisconsin.
This paper was developed into parts of my book manuscript, United They Stand, Represented They Fall.
“Forcing the Genie Back in the Bottle: Sociological Considerations of Institutional Reform through the Window of Thai Health Policy.” (with Allen Hicken). Presented at Association for Asian Studies (AAS), March 2010.
This paper was developed into "The 2007 Thai Constitution and Policymaking." Revise and resubmit (with Allen Hicken)
The Electoral Geography of Violence in Iraq. Presented at the annual conference of the American Political Science Association, September, 2010, Washington, D.C. See the Iraq: Elections and Violence Project.
A Tale of Two Tigers The Effective Constituency and Social Welfare Policy in Thailand and Mauritius. Comparative Politics Workshop, February 13th, 2009.
This was developed into material for my book manuscript, "United They Stand, Represented They Fall"
A Formal Model of How Electoral Rules affect Constituency Breadth Conditional on Social Structure. Presented at Empirical Implications of Theoretical Models (EITM) 2008.
This paper was developed into a 2008 MPSA paper, and finally "Ethnicity, Institutions and Public Goods Provision", currently under review
Turning Malays into Thai-men: nationalism, ethnicity and economic inequality in Thailand South East Asia Research, 15, no. 1 (March 2007): 53-87.
The Ethnicity of Poverty in Thailand. Paper presented at the International Conference on The Changing Mekong: Pluralistic Societies Under Seige, Khon Kaen University, Thailand. (July 2004)
This paper was developed into Turning Malays into Thai-men, South East Asia Research.
Works in Progress:
Ethnic Diversity and Foreign Aid (with Dan Nielsen)
Electing to Develop (with Dan Nielsen and Allen Hicken)
Political Risk and Currency Markets (with Aaron Gifford)
Works in Progress:
The 2010 Elections in Mauritius: The Triumph of Majoritarianism. Work in Progress.
The Electoral Geography of Ethnicity in Burma. Work in Progress.
Tier Valuation in Mixed-Member Electoral Systems (with Ray Christensen)
Overview of the Thai 2011 Elections (with Allen Hicken)
The Meaning of Elections in Laos. See the Lao Political Institutions in Comparative Perspecitve project.
Civil War & Social Stability
Are ethnically diverse countries more likely to experience ethnic civil wars and riots? If so, why have the empirical findings been ambiguous? Drawing on my new indices of cross-cuttingness, I investigate the role of "ethnicity" in shaping the costs of rebel mobilization. I also explore how democratic institutions can harness bad ethnic structures to avoid riots and other forms of political violence. Publications:
Cross-cuttingness, Cleavage Structures and Civil War Onset. (2011). British Journal of Political Science 41(1), 111-138.
"Horizontal Equality, Crosscutting Cleavages and Civil War" (Forthcoming) Journal of Conflict Resolution (with J. Gubler)
Conference Papers:
Inter-Ethnic Associations, Out-Group Tensions and Inter-Personal Transfers: An Experiment in Chennai, India. To be presented at the annual conference of the American Political Science Association, September 2011, Seattle. (with Michael Davidson).
The Electoral Geography of Violence in Iraq. Presented at the annual conference of the American Political Science Association, September, 2010, Washington, D.C.
Consociationalism vs. Majoritarianism: Re-evaluating the debate in the context of social structure. Presented at the annual conference of the American Political Science Association, September 05, 2009, Toronto. (with Kharis Templeman).
This paper was developed into "The Myth of Consociationalism", Comparative Political Studies.
It has also been further developed into the following paper joint with Kharis Templeman:
1. “Can Institutional Design Prevent Democratic Breakdown?: An Empirical Investigation”
Ethnic Income Inequality, the Geographic Dispersion of Ethnic Groups, Ethno-Religious Cross-cuttingness and Civil War Onset. Conference on Rethinking Ethnicity and Ethnic Strife: Multidisciplinary Perspectives in Budapest, September 25-27, 2008. (with Joshua Gubler)
This paper was developed into "Horizontal Equality, Crosscutting Cleavages and Civil War", Journal of Conflict Resolution.
Works in Progress:
Ethnic Riots and The Cross-Cutting Cleavages Theory. Work in Progress. (with Joshua Gubler).
Aid and Democracy Promotion in Africa (with Dan Nielson, Mike Findley, and Rich Nielsen)
Terrorism and Ethnic Structure (with Mike Findley)
Economic sanctions and democratization (with Darin Self)
Political Parties
Why do some developing democracies have numerous, ethnically-based political parties, while others develop a small number of broad-based, multi-ethnic parties? Does ethnic structure affect the electoral volatility of political parties? I investigate the manner in which social structure is filtered through democratic institutions such as the electoral rules to shape the party system.Publications:
Cross-cutting Cleavages and the Number of Parties. (Under Review)
Conferences:
"Cross-cutting Cleavages and Party Nationalization." To be presented at the annual conference of the American Political Science Association, Seattle (with Allen Hicken).
Works in Progress:
Which Cleavages Matter? Work in Progress.
The Geographic Distribution of Ethnic Groups & The Number of Parties. Work in Progress.
Ethnic Inequality and the Number of Parties. Work in Progress
Cross-cutting Cleavages, Ethnicity and Electoral Volatility. Work in Progress (with Allen Hicken).
District-Level Social Structure & The Number of Parties. Work in Progress. See GMED Project.
The Meaning of Party Identity in Thailand. See the Thailand Experimental Survey Project.
Ethnicity & Social Structure
Across a range of outcomes, from economic growth to democratic stability, "ethnic diversity" has been postulated to affect the ability of citizens to coordinate and cooperate. Most empirical studies to date, however, have relied on the number and relative size of ethnic groups to measure this concept. Seeking to enrich our conceptualization and operationalization of diversity in quantitative studies, I develop a measure of cross-cutting cleavages and other multi-dimensional measures of social structure along several cleavages, namely religion, income and geographic region. In a second project, I estimate sub-national measures of social structure.Publications:
The Measurement of Cross-cutting Cleavages and Other Multidimensional Cleavage Structures. (2011). Political Analysis 19(1): 48-65.
Conferences:
"Explicit Information, Identifiability, and Ethnic Discrimination" (with Thomas Bossuroy)
“Caste, Cross-cutting Cleavages & Public Goods Provision in India.” To be presented at the annual conference of the American Political Science Association, September 2011, Seattle (with Thomas Bossuroy).
Inter-Ethnic Associations, Out-Group Tensions and Inter-Personal Transfers: An Experiment in Chennai, India. To be presented at the annual conference of the American Political Science Association, September 2011, Seattle. (with Michael Davidson).
Affirmative Action, Social Mobility and the Politics of Caste in India. Presented at the annual conference of the Association for Asian Studies, Hawaii, 2011. (with Thomas Bossuroy and Jerome Samraj).
“Social Divisions, Interpersonal Transfers and Public Goods: A field-lab experiment amongst slum populations in India.” Presented at the International Conference on Social Cohesion and Development, 20-21 January 2011, Paris, France. Organized by the OECD Development Centre, with the financial support of Fundación Internacional y para Iberoamérica de Administración y Políticas Públicas (FIIAPP).
Works in Progress:
Subnational Measures of Ethnic Diversity (with Jeff Tanner).
The Political Implications of Experimental Research (with Josh Gubler)
Other projects see the India Ethnicity Experiment project.
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