Department News | Faculty News | Graduate News | Undergraduate News
- Peter Hall explores “Capitalism and Democracy: Does One Dominate the Other?” at Munk Center Distinguished Lecture Series
As part of the University of Toronto’s Munk Center Distinguished Lecture Series, Peter A. Hall, Krupp Foundation Professor of European Studies, delivered an engaging talk titled “Capitalism and Democracy: Does One Dominate the Other?” in January. Hall is a political economist and a resident faculty member of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies… - New book publication for Jennifer Hochschild
Jennifer Hochschild is the Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government at Harvard University, Professor of African and African American Studies, and Professor of Public Policy. A former Chair of the Department of Government, she also holds a lectureship at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Jennifer studies and teaches about the intersection of American politics and political… - Democrats wrongly assume only Trump’s words alienate Latinos
Marcel Roman, Assistant Professor of Government, has co-authored an article for The Washington Post with Amanda Sahar d’Urso, an assistant professor at Georgetown University’s Department of Government. The piece explains how “Critics of the term “Latinx” argue that only 4 percent of Hispanics use it because most are offended by how it anglicizes Spanish or signals elitism. Our research shows… - Stephanie Ternullo returns to alma mater, delivering the inaugural Cummings Lecture Series
Stephanie Ternullo, Assistant Professor of Government, returned to her alma mater Amherst College to deliver the inaugural Cummings Lecture in the new Cummings Lecture Series. Presented by the CHI and the Samuel B. Cummings Lecture Fund, the Cummings Lecture Series is an interdisciplinary collaboration between Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology, and Classics. Each semester it will feature… - Taking a deep dive into the data in CAPS post-election event
Stephen Ansolabehere, the Frank G. Thompson Professor of Government, and Elliott Morris, Editorial Director of Data Analytics at ABC News and 538, dissected the 2024 election data in a Center for American Political Studies (CAPS) and Institute of Politics (IOP) event – moderated by Ryan Enos, Professor of Government and director of CAPS. The well-attended… - Social Europe Podcast: The emotional underpinnings of populism
Peter A. Hall, the Krupp Foundation Professor of European Studies and a resident faculty member of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard, was recently interviewed on the Social Europe podcast. The episode was hosted by Henning Meyer, the CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Social Europe, with the pair discussing how perceptions of… - Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt publish op ed in NYT
Steven Levitsky, David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies, and Daniel Ziblatt, Eaton Professor of the Science of Government, have published an op ed in the New York Times titled “There Are Four Anti-Trump Pathways We Failed to Take. There Is a Fifth.” The piece, which in itself has received much commentary, tackles the topic of authoritarianism… - Michael Sandel brings back legendary ‘Justice’ course to Sanders Theatre
“Justice: Ethical Reasoning in Polarized Times” – the legendary Gen Ed offering – has returned to Sanders Theatre this semester after more than a decade of online only availability. Created by Michael Sandel, the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government, the course was originally launched in 1980 and became wildly popular for its… - Theda Skocpol delivers the James Madison Award Lecture at APSA
The James Madison Award is presented every three years by the American Political Science Association (APSA) to honor an American political scientist who has made a distinguished scholarly contribution to political science. The 2023 award was presented to Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology. As part of the award, the recipient delivers the… - The Khaldun Award recognizes Theda Skocpol’s illustrious career
The Khaldun Award – given by the Comparative Historical Sociology section of the American Sociological Association – is meant to recognize a “lifetime of outstanding contributions to the subfield of comparative-historical sociology”. It is simply “one of the most celebrated awards given by the section, presented only to scholars of the utmost distinction” – and… - We’re in “a time of incredible social, economic, and political transformation” says Danielle Allen
Following weeks of speculation and turmoil, President Biden announced this weekend (July 21) that he is withdrawing from the 2024 race. Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to head up the party’s ticket, a move that was quickly followed by a surge of public support from hundreds of Democratic lawmakers, as well as numerous governors once thought… - Shterna Friedman awarded international theory prize
The International Conference for the Study of Political Thought (CSPT) has awarded Shterna Friedman the 2024 Melvin Richter Prize for her doctoral dissertation: Kant, Hegel, and the Rise of Systemic Social Theory. The Richter family established the Melvin Richter Prize as a tribute to Mel Richter, one of the founders of CSPT and a generous… - The Hill op-ed from Professor Paul Peterson
Paul E. Peterson, the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government, Director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance, and Senior Editor of Education Next: A Journal of Opinion and Research at Harvard University, has published an open letter to President Biden in The Hill. In the op-ed, titled ‘Mr. President, please pardon Trump for the country’s—and your… - Study published during Harvard Climate Action Week
A new study – led by Stephen Ansolabehere, the Frank G. Thomson Professor of Government – has launched as part of Harvard Climate Action Week (June 10-14), hosted by the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability. The conference invites climate experts, leaders, and stakeholders to come together and explore solutions to the climate crisis’s most… - Double win at APSA Awards
Professor of Government Dustin Tingley and PhD alumni Harry Oppenheimer have both been named American Political Science Association (APSA) award winners for their fantastic respective work. Dustin Tingley and his co-author Alexander F. Gazmararian – a doctoral candidate in the Department of Politics at Princeton University – have been awarded the APSA STEP Section Don… - Celebrating Richard Tuck
Many faculty, former students, and friends came together over the weekend of April 13-14 for a conference in honor of our distinguished colleague Richard Tuck. Held at Princeton University, the event celebrated not only Richard’s retirement but more than four decades of teaching, writing, and intellectual camaraderie. Political theorist and historian of political thought, Richard… - Junior Faculty Stephanie Ternullo publishes first book on white voters in America’s heartland
Understanding how local contexts determine why white voters in America’s heartland are shifting to the right is the driving force behind Stephanie Ternullo’s first published book How the Heartland Went Red: Why Local Forces Matter in an Age of Nationalized Politics. Stephanie Ternullo is an Assistant Professor of Government at Harvard, joining the department after… - Daniel Carpenter curates historic petitions for All the Voices in the House event
A dynamic group of spoken word artists will read and reinterpret powerful petitions from disenfranchised individuals seeking their rights in the 17th and 18th centuries at All the Voices in the House, a groundbreaking event created by Revolutionary Spaces. The petitions were curated by Daniel Carpenter, the Allie S. Freed Professor of Government and Chair… - Revealing research on how lawyers are shaping policy from the shadows published by Daniel Carpenter
Daniel Carpenter, the Allie S. Freed Professor of Government and chair of the Department of Government, has published a research article titled Lawyers as Lobbyists: Regulatory Advocacy in American Finance, which reveals the secret world of lobbying government regulators. First published by Cambridge University Press and then the journal Perspectives on Politics, the study –… - Kosuke Imai has been awarded the 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship
Kosuke Imai, Professor of Government and Statistics, has been awarded the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship for research, joining the ranks of more than 19,000 Fellows honored since 1925. The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, now in its 99th year, has recognized and awarded monetary prizes to the 2024 class of trail-blazing fellows, all of whom were… - Professor Steve Levitsky Featured on The Daily Show with Jon StewartSteve Levitsky, David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government, was recently on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to discuss his book, “Tyranny of the Minority,” co-authored with Daniel Ziblatt, Eaton Professor of the Science of Government….
- Professor Jeff Frieden Featured on EconoFact PodcastJeff Frieden, Stanfield Professor of International Peace, was featured on the EconoFact Podcast on March 17th, titled People, Communities and Economic Changes. You can read more and listen to the podcast here: https://econofact.org/podcast/people-communities-and-economic-changes…
- Persecuted Minorities and Defensive Cooperation: Contributions to Public Goods by Hindus and Muslims in DelhiMelani Cammett Faculty, Comparative Politics How does intergroup inequality, specifically minority experiences of persecution, affect contributions to local public goods? Based on an original survey experiment and qualitative research in slums in Delhi, we examine how Hindus and Muslims respond to social norms around promoting cooperation on community sanitation. Mainstream theories of development predict greater…
- Stephanie TernulloAssistant Professor of Government My research focuses on the relationship between place, politics, and political identity. Before coming to the Government Department, I developed my first book project on this topic as a PhD student in a Sociology Department – during the 2020 presidential election, I conducted a qualitative, comparative study of three White, postindustrial…
- Complementarity and Public Views on Overlapping Domestic and International Courts (with Kelebogile Zvobgo)Stephen Chaudoin Faculty, International Relations Overview: Can international organizations (IOs) turn the tide of resistance to their authority? We consider a class of IOs bound by the complementarity principle: they only act when domestic institutions fail. IOs like the International Criminal Court (ICC) have placed great faith in complementarity as an argument to rally support…
- The Election Effect: Democratic Leaders in Inter-group Conflict (with Sarah Hummel and Yon Soo Park)Stephen Chaudoin Faculty, International Relations Overview: Many interactions between countries depend on choices made by democratically selected leaders. We argue that the experience of being elected alters subsequent leader behavior at the international level, a phenomenon we call the election effect. Specifically, democratic election intensifies in-group identification and generates a sense of obligation to voters,…
- Government Prof. Latanya Sweeney in Conversation with President Obama at Berkman Klein/HLS “Future of the Internet” SummitProf. Latanya Sweeney and other leaders in the field of technology science will be talking with President Obama at the “Future of the Internet” Summit on Wednesday, Oct. 18th, sponsored by Harvard Law School and the Berkman Klein Center. Members of the public are welcome to watch a livestream of the conference by signing up at…
- Mashail MalikAssistant Professor of Government In much of my research, I investigate whether and how people construct meaning out of the ascriptive identities the outside world assigns to them, and what implications this meaning-making process has on their politics. At Harvard, I have loved the opportunity to pursue this research agenda in engagement with such a…
- Stephen RosenBeton Michael Kaneb Professor of National Security and Military Affairs I have been a member of the Government Department, and the (W)CFIA for over 50n years, and have always been treated with kindness and patience beyond what I deserved. In days past, what gave me the most pleasure was the company of extraordinary professors, some…
- If a Statistical Model Predicts That Common Events Should Occur Only Once in 10,000 Elections, Maybe it’s the Wrong ModelGary King Faculty, Methods and Formal Theory Overview: Election surprises are hardly surprising. Unexpected challengers, deaths, retirements, scandals, campaign strategies, real world events, and heresthetical maneuvers all conspire to confuse the best models. Quantitative researchers usually model district-level elections with linear functions of measured covariates, to account for systematic variation, and normal error terms, to…
- Algorithm-Assisted Redistricting Methodology (ALARM) ProjectKosuke Imai Faculty, Methods and Formal Theory Overview: Together with two graduate students – Christopher Kenny and Tyler Simko – as well as an alumni of this department – Shiro Kuriwaki at Yale University, we developed a simulation algorithm and used it to detect gerrymandering. Our algorithm was discussed by supreme court justices in one…
- Measuring the Partisan Behavior of U.S. Newspapers, 1880 to 1980James SnyderFaculty, American Politics Overview: In this project—joint with Shigeo Hirano at Columbia University—we study newspaper partisan behavior and content, which we measure using coverage and commentary of partisan activities, institutions and actors. We use this measure to describe the levels of relative partisan behavior during the period 1880 to 1900, and to describe changes…