The first theme of my research focuses on the structure and quality of policing both within and across developing countries.  Using a variety of data sources and empirical approaches, this set of papers explore the factors that influence when police forces act effectively to maintain peace and order or, alternatively, as agents of state repression. Further, I study how and when civilians engage with the police and when they turn to self-defense or vigilantism.

Papers  

• Policing in a Post-Conflict State: Evidence from Uganda. 2022. Comparative Political Studies 55(9): 1595–1628. [Ungated version] 

• Police Institutions and Post-Conflict Peace (with Leonardo Arriola, Aila Matanock, & Michaela Mattes).  2021. Journal of Conflict Resolution 65(10): 1738-1763. [PDF - Open Access]

• Citizen Cooperation with the Police: Evidence from Contemporary Guatemala (with Elaine K. Denny, Wayne Pitts & Erik Wibbels). 2023. Comparative Political Studies 56(7): 1072-1110. [Ungated version]

• Public Trust, Policing, and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from an Electoral Authoritarian Regime (with Rob Blair, Travis Curtice, and Guy Grossman). 2022. Social Science & Medicine 305: 115045.

• State Absence, Vengeance, and the Logic of Vigilantism in Guatemala (with Gabriella Levy, Diego Romero, & Juan Tellez) [Forthcoming at Comparative Political Studies] [Ungated version]

The next theme of my research agenda examines the dynamics of migration and deportation and the subsequent challenges of reintegration. Much of this work is based on original data collection in Guatemala. Between October 2019 and March 2020, we conducted a survey of newly arrived deportees at the Air Force base in Guatemala City’s international airport. That airport is the arrival point for deportees sent to Guatemala--usually 3-5 plane loads on multiple days per week. Our survey team interviewed deportees at a nearby office immediately after being processed and collected contact information for phone surveys for a follow-up interview one, three, and six months later. Our survey highlights numerous characteristics of Guatemalan deportees, their experiences of being displaced and challenges in reintegrating in Guatemala. To date we have interviewed 1,357 deportees upon arrival and conducted over 600 follow-up surveys.

• Extortion and Civic Engagement among Guatemalan Deportees (with E. Denny, G. Levy, and M. Villamizar Chaparro) (Forthcoming at the British Journal of Political Science) [PDF - Open Access]

• Economic Insecurity and Deportees’ Decision to Re-Migrate in a COVID-19 Era (with Elaine Denny, Diego Romero, and Erik Wibbels). 2021. Journal of Political Institutions and Political Economy 2(1): 1-21. [PDF]

• The Human Impact of Deportation (with E. Denny, D. Romero, G. Levy, W. Pitts, J. F. Tellez, M. Villamizar Chaparro, E. Wibbels, P. Zabala) 

The final theme of my research agenda examines the connections between electoral politics, conflict, and development. These papers focus on how electoral and violent conflict shape the geographic provision of public goods and development spending.  

Working Papers

• The Political Logic of Electricity Provision in Post-Conflict Uganda

• State Building and the Geography of Governance: Evidence from Satellites (with Florian Hollenbach, Michael Ward, and Erik Wibbels)

• Competitive Elections and Public Goods Distribution in Africa (with Leonardo Arriola, Donghyun Choi, & Matthew Gichohi)

• Candidates and Combatants: Why Do Simultaneous Electoral and Armed Campaigns Occur? (with Aila Matanock)