Featured Faculty Research – Department of Government

Fickle Prosociality: How Violence against LGBTQ+ People Motivates Prosocial Mass Attitudes toward LGBTQ+ Group Members

Marcel Roman co-published a research article in the American Political Science Association (APSA). The paper uses a Fickle Prosocial Violence Response Model to explain how indirect exposure to civilian-perpetrated violence against marginalized minority groups motivates prosocial attitudes toward victimized groups. Although the mass public may not sympathize with marginalized groups, they may adopt prosocial attitudes toward…

Defiant pride: Origins and consequences of ethnic voting

American Journal of Political Science (AJPS) published an article by Assistant Professor Mashail Malik. Using research from Karachi, Pakistan, Malik examines why voters remain loyal to ethnic parties when they receive minimal material improvements. Why do voters often remain loyal to ethnic parties despite receiving little in terms of material welfare? I develop a theory…

Thomas Paine’s Natural Society and the End of Politics

Jordan Ecker has published a chapter about Thomas Paine from his dissertation, “The Politics of Natural Society,” which he is currently turning into a book manuscript, in the journal American Political Thought. This article offers an interpretation of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense read through its theory of natural society. It argues that Paine’s politics in…

Collective Representation in Congress

Cambridge University Press published an article by Gov professor Stephen Ansolabehere and Yale Assistant Professor of Political Science, and Gov Ph.D. holder, Shiro Kuriwaki, which analyzes public opinion on multitudinous issues and how Congress succeeds or fails in representing the majority. The aspiration of representative democracy is that the legislature will make decisions that reflect…

Late adolescents entering college intending a career as police officers hold more right-leaning views than their peers

Marcel Roman has co-published a research article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The paper uses survey data from late adolescents to suggest that police officers are not merely occupationally socialized, but right-leaning from the start. One longstanding explanation for bias and excessive force in policing is selection—the assertion that those who select to…

How Will We Know When We Have Lost Our Democracy?

American flag waving in the wind with blue sky behind it

The New York Times recently published an article by Gov faculty Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt, and Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto, Lucan Way, asking how will Americans know when we have lost our democracy? “Authoritarianism is harder to recognize than it used to be. Most 21st-century autocrats are elected. Rather than violently…

India’s New Minority Politics

Feyaad Allie, Assistant Professor of Government, published an essay in the Journal of Democracy on elections, minorities, political parties in India. Over the past decade, India has been central to debates on democracy. Many viewed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) underperformance in the 2024 election as a sign of democratic resilience. This essay argues instead…

White Power! How White Status Threat Undercuts Backlash Against Anti-democratic Politicians

Kiara Henandez, Ph.D. Candidate, Taeku Lee, Bae Family Professor of Government, and Marcel Roman, Assistant Professor of Government, published an article in the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics. Prior research shows that the pro-Trump, anti-democratic January 6th insurrection (J6) led to a short-term reduction in Republican support for President Trump. However, it remains unclear why the…

The George Floyd Effect: How Protests and Public Scrutiny Changed Police Behavior

man with a speakerphone at a BLM protest

Marcel Roman co-authored an article for Perspectives on Politics titled “The George Floyd Effect: How Protests and Public Scrutiny Changed Police Behavior”. The murder of George Floyd in May 2020 sparked a wave of Black Lives Matter protests in many cities throughout the United States. Protesters’ demands ranged from constraints on police use of force…

Short-term exposure to filter-bubble recommendation systems has limited polarization effects

Naijia Liu has co-published a research article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The paper showcases an experimental design that mimics the YouTube interface, and discusses how the authors were able to demonstrate that presenting people with more partisan video recommendations has no detectable polarizing effects on users’ attitudes in the short term. …