Research
Dissertation Research
My book-length dissertation project uses primary data from an original survey on Bangladeshi respondents and secondary data to explore how recipient citizens perceive foreign aid delivery channels, and how foreign aid bypassing affects political support. In recent decades, Western donors have been increasingly bypassing recipient government institutions and channeling development assistance through non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Foreign aid scholars argue that donors are motivated to outsource development assistance to NGOs because of poor governance and capacity constraints in recipient countries. But what shapes beneficiaries’ attitudes toward the modes of foreign aid delivery? How does foreign aid channeling through non-state actors affect popular support for incumbent administrations in aid-receiving countries? My dissertation combines a case study on Bangladesh and a large-n analysis to explore these questions. My findings suggest that donor bypassing of recipient government institutions is informed by the contextual realities of recipients and that the practice has implications for political support in these countries.
I am also engaged in individual and coauthored projects on the politics of foreign aid delivery tactics, public opinion on foreign aid modalities, the developmental impact of democratic politics, institutional design and fiscal spending and accountability, and correlates of non-violent resistance campaign onset.
Publications
Bypassing the Incumbent: Leadership Tenure and Foreign Aid Channels (with Susan Allen and Lauren Ferry). 2023. Global Studies Quarterly, 3 (1), 1-12.
Affinity or Effectiveness? Donors' Preferences for Bypass Aid (with Susan Allen and Lauren Ferry). 2024. International Interactions, 50(2), 243-272.
Representation Matters? Female legislators and Women’s health in Bangladesh (with Samuel Brazys). 2024. World Development, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106708.
Working Papers and Work Under Review
Effective Aiding: Public Opinion on Foreign Aid Delivery in Bangladesh, Forthcoming
Politics at play: Electoral Competition and Human Development in Bangladesh (with Muhammad Al Amin)
Foreign Aid Delivery Tactics and Political Support in Bangladesh
Designed to Insulate? Corruption, Clarity of Responsibility, and Electoral Accountability in Latin America
When Stability Suffices: Aid Bypass in Electoral Authoritarian Regimes
Trade Openness and the Onset of Major Nonviolent Resistance Campaigns: An Empirical Analysis
Research in Progress
Does the Channel of Foreign Aid Delivery Matter? Public Opinion on US Foreign Aid Bypass (with Susan Allen and Lauren Ferry)
Gubernatorial Term Limits and State Government Expenditures: A Synthetic Control Analysis
Research Report
CPD (2011). State of the Bangladesh economy in FY2010-11 (first reading). CPD Occasional Paper 92. Dhaka: Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).