Job market candidates 2025-2026 Subfield: Comparative Politics

My research explores organised crime-related violence, governance, and State-building, with a regional focus on Latin America. In my doctoral dissertation, I seek to explain variation in territorial control in Latin American cities, offering a theoretical framework to account for how and why States are able to build and sustain territorial control in areas dominated by criminal groups. I test my theoretical claims across several empirically rich case studies, drawing on original data gathered through hundreds of research interviews. These were undertaken in six cities from across Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. 

College: Green Templeton College

Thesis Title: “Coercion, Capital, and The Latin American City: Understanding Territorial Control and Governance in Marginalized Urban Communities”.

Supervisor: Professor Timothy Power

As a comparativist, I am interested in political parties and institutional development in post-conflict settings; collective political violence; electoral behaviour; and human rights. My doctoral dissertation explains divergent party building trajectories in the aftermath of Latin American civil wars. It combines theory development with rich empirics based on structured and unstructured data, including thorough analysis of in-depth interviews, archival material, and surveys.

College: Green Templeton College

Thesis Title: Designed for War, (Un)Successful in Democracy: Party-Building after Civil Conflict in Latin America

Supervisor: Professor Timothy Power

I study how material inequality and social identity interact to shape democratic representation and redistribution. My dissertation investigates why political inclusion for marginalized groups translates into substantive representation, and when it fails to do so. Related projects examine accountability in weakly institutionalized democracies, and the causes and consequences of dynastic politics. To investigate these questions, I apply quasi-experimental methods to newly assembled administrative datasets and explore mechanisms using text analysis, survey evidence, and qualitative fieldwork. I am also interested in how asset risks and credit access shape identity preferences and demand for social insurance.

College: Nuffield College

Thesis Title: Who gives what, and why? Essays on the Political Economy of Identity and Inequality

Supervisor: David Rueda