Studying democracy, its rules, and its participants
About
I am a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center. My research asks what makes democratic inclusion possible — and what holds it back. I approach that question from two directions: studying the institutions and rules that govern political power, and studying the psychological forces that shape how citizens engage with democracy and the political process.
Research
My work connects two lines of inquiry. The first asks when and why the rules that govern political power change — and how that process either widens or narrows democratic access. My dissertation examines why state legislatures sometimes adopt reforms that expand citizen power and constrain their own authority (for example, campaign finance regulations, independent redistricting commissions, ethics oversight bodies). Focusing on New York — the non-ballot-initiative state that adopted more such reforms than any other in the twenty-first century — I draw on interviews, archival records, and quantitative analysis to trace the multi-stage process through which these reforms becomes law. A second line of work asks what psychological predispositions generate resistance to inclusive democracy. Ongoing projects examine belief in the Great Replacement Theory, how authoritarianism shapes opposition to symbolic policies about multiracial democracy, and racial bias in how state legislators respond to constituents. My research interests are informed by nearly a decade of work as a democracy reform practitioner. I've witnessed firsthand the promise and the difficulty of institutional change.