PhD Students

For those looking at the PhD program at Berkeley, I'm happy to work with any student admitted to our PhD program who wishes to work with me, but am not directly involved with the admissions process. You do not need to email me before you apply to our PhD program. Questions about graduate admissions can best be directed to psgradadvise@berkeley.edu, if they are not already answered on this website.

All of my current and former PhD students are listed below. They work on topics spanning IR, Comparative, and American Politics. My former PhD students have gone on to public policy jobs, the private sector, post-docs, and faculty positions after completing their degrees. I am very proud of all of them! Working with PhD students is the best part of my job.

Current PhD Students

Rekai Rusinga
Dissertation Committee Member, University of California, Davis

Leo Di Bonaventura
Dissertation Committee Chair, University of California, Berkeley

Shira Cohen
Dissertation Committee Member, University of California, Berkeley

Donghui Li
Dissertation Committee Chair, University of California, Berkeley
Hedging between International Democratic Promotion and International Autocratic Sponsorship

Lauren Barden-Hair
Dissertation Committee Chair, University of California, Berkeley
Corporate Double Takes: When Firms Agree To Conduct Foreign Security Policy

Alia Braley
Dissertation Committee Member, University of California, Berkeley

Alexander Stephenson
Dissertation Committee Co-Chair, University of California, Berkeley
Essays on Police Reform

Former PhD Students

Dr. Jennie Barker
Dissertation Committee Chair, University of California, Berkeley
Standing Up for Democracy? Democracy Promotion under Emerging Multipolarity

Dr. Andrew Blinkinsop
Dissertation Committee Co-Chair, University of California, Berkeley
The Limits of Elite Influence on Public Opinion of Foreign Policy

Dr. Oren Samet
Dissertation Committee Chair, University of California, Berkeley
Challenging Autocrats Abroad: Opposition Parties on the International Stage

Dr. Tara Chandra
Dissertation Committee Chair, University of California, Berkeley
Untangling Dynamics in Civil Conflict: Explaining Insurgent Behavior Toward Women

Dr. Daniel Balke
Dissertation Committee Member, University of California, Berkeley
Peace, Prevention, and Global Public Goods: Exceptional Finance and Inducing Reform from Aid Recipients

Dr. Melissa Samarin
Dissertation Committee Member, University of California, Berkeley
Citizen-initiated Contacting in the Russian Federation: Approaches from the Citizen Perspective

Dr. Katherine Beall
Dissertation Committee Chair, University of California, Berkeley (Spring 2022)
Trading Sovereignty for Self-Determination: Regional Organizations, Authority, and Human Rights

Dr. Allison Grossman
Dissertation Committee Co-Chair, University of California, Berkeley (Spring 2021)
Managing Humanitarian Emergencies: How Host Governments Constrain International Intervention

Dr. Torey McMurdo
Dissertation Committee Member, Yale University (Spring 2022)
No Angels: The Politics of U.S. Information Interventions in Cold War Elections

Dr. Lauren Pinson
Dissertation Committee Member, Yale University (Spring 2020)
Money or Blood? Why States Allow Illicit Economies

Dr. Justine Davis
Dissertation Committee Member, University of California, Berkeley (Spring 2020)
Wartime Experiences of Civic Leaders: Legacies of Civil War, Rebel Control, and Democratization in Post-Conflict Africa

Dr. Elizabeth Wellman
Dissertation Committee Co-Chair, Yale University (Spring 2019)
Citizenship Beyond Borders: Emigrant Enfranchisement in Africa

Dr. Lynn Hancock
Dissertation Committee Member, Yale University (Fall 2018)
{Reply: All} An Experimental Study of Legislative Responsiveness

Dr. Suparna Chaudhry
Dissertation Committee Chair, Yale University (Spring 2016)
The Assault on Democracy Assistance: Explaining State Repression of NGOs

Dr. Lionel Beehner
Dissertation Committee Chair, Yale University (Spring 2016)
A Means of First Resort: Contested Sovereignty, Non-State Actors and Norms of Nonintervention

Dr. Arsène Brice Bado
Dissertation Committee Co-Chair, Université Laval (Spring 2016)
Foreign Electoral Assistance as a Strategy of Peace-Building in Post-Conflict Societies

Dr. Kaeli Anderson
Dissertation Committee Member, Yale University (Spring 2015)
Security Cooperation and Access Politics: An Analysis of Access Rights among Distant, Proximate, and Local Powers

Dr. Salvador Santino F. Regilme, Jr.
Dissertation Committee Member, Freie Universität Berlin (2015)
The Albatross of Post-9/11 US Foreign Policy in the Developing World: From Struggling Liberal Democracies to Illiberal National Security States in Southeast Asia

Dr. Inken von Borzyskowski
Dissertation Committee Member, University of Wisconsin, Madison (May 2014)
A Double-Edged Sword: The Effects of International Assistance on Election Violence

Dr. Kevin Pallister
Dissertation Committee Member, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2013)
Bringing the Ballot Box to the People: Election Administration and the Origins of Inclusive Voting Practices

Dr. Paul Lagunes
Dissertation Committee Member, Yale University (2012)
Monitoring as a Democratic Imperative: A Study on Corruption and Accountability in Mexico

Dr. Karisa Cloward
Dissertation Committee Member, Yale University (2010)
When Norms Collide: Micro-Level Responses to the Transnational Campaign Against Gender-Based Violence