2022 Graduate Publications

The Sublime and the Pale Blue Dot: Reclaiming the Cosmos for Earthly Nature

Avery Lord — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 17:48:08 +0000

The Sublime and the Pale Blue Dot: Reclaiming the Cosmos for Earthly Nature Avery Lord Thu, 06/18/2026 - 11:48

The Sublime and the Pale Blue Dot: Reclaiming the Cosmos for Earthly Nature

By: Matt Harvey

Abstract:

Amidst a worsening climate crisis, there is growing public discourse theorising the possible colonisation of outer space to secure a sustainable future for humanity. In the face of these escapist fantasies, political discussion on humanity’s relation to the universe is notably limited and primarily frames space exploration as a dangerous Promethean endeavour. While I do not contest this claim, I argue that humanity’s technological capabilities and acquired knowledge of the universe can alternatively facilitate an Earth-centred engagement with the Cosmos as a sublime aesthetic experience. I frame the sublime Cosmos and its infinite expanse of dynamic material forces, as a site of resistance against Promethean visions of human mastery and colonisation. I then theorise how the sublime Cosmos can be productively engaged as a source of political imagination and spiritual elevation. Recovering a spiritual attachment to Earth is necessary, for we are irrevocably tied to this rapidly destabilising planet.

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Refuge and Representation: The Political Integration of Refugees and Immigrants in Democracies

Avery Lord — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 17:41:07 +0000

Refuge and Representation: The Political Integration of Refugees and Immigrants in Democracies Avery Lord Thu, 06/18/2026 - 11:41

Refuge and Representation: The Political Integration of Refugees and Immigrants in Democracies

By: Hannah L. Paul

Abstract:

What explains variation in the political integration of immigrants and refugees in established,
democratic countries? Post-resettlement, people with refugee backgrounds must find ways to work,
cultivate social ties, and adapt to a new political system. In order for immigrants and refugees to
experience meaningful representation in politics, they must find ways to become involved and get
the political system to respond to their preferences. Across four stand-alone chapters, I examine
the factors that increase support for immigrants and refugees in host country populations and test
the factors that promote refugee engagement in politics in their host country. In Chapter 2, I
analyze a survey of young adults in Sweden, which shows that the psychological trait of empathy
is associated with support for immigrants. Addressing the possible mediating effect of partisan
leaning, results from a mediation analysis suggest that natural empathy directly affects attitudes
towards immigrants. In Chapter 3, I test an intervention designed to trigger empathy and support
for refugees using an original survey experiment administered in the United States. I find that
personalizing language about a refugee’s forced migration experience, similar to the testimonials
shared by pro-refugee groups and advocates, has no effect on people’s feelings of empathy for
refugees and does not change their support for refugees compared to the control group. In Chapter
4, I examine the political attitudes of refugees themselves using a mixed methods approach that
utilizes group interview data and a survey experiment. I find that refugees view politics through
a personalized lens. Across groups, participants expressed the importance of political leaders’
characteristics in making decisions about whom to support. Using a survey experiment administered
to Bhutanese refugees in Michigan, I explore the effects of perceptions of the character of political
leaders on refugees’ political trust and find that personalizing the Governor of Michigan leads to
a modest increase in trust for the Governor compared to the control group. The personalizing

treatment does not influence other forms of political trust or different types of attitudes, suggesting
that personalizing a political leader has a narrow effect and does not lead to diffuse trust or increased
political efficacy. In Chapter 5, I examine the factors that increase support for political institutions
among refugees. Pitting three explanations for political engagement against each other, I test
whether refugee party support is primarily formed by the state, the market, or society. I find that
refugees who participate in a state-run integration course are more likely to support a political
party compared to refugees who have not taken the course. Integration course participation also
leads to increases in political interest, political knowledge and fewer reports of discrimination.
Taken together, this research informs our understanding of ways to accommodate the political
integration of growing involuntary migrant populations across Europe, the United States and other
refugee-receiving places.

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The Role of NGOs in Forest Governance: Unintended Consequences of REDD+

Avery Lord — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 17:36:23 +0000

The Role of NGOs in Forest Governance: Unintended Consequences of REDD+ Avery Lord Thu, 06/18/2026 - 11:36

The Role of NGOs in Forest Governance: Unintended Consequences of REDD+

By: Adriana L Molina Garzón

Abstract:

The proliferation of non-governmental organizations in environmental governance is well known. NGOs took a more active role during the early 2000s supported by the substantial flow of climate change financial aid in the design and implementation of mitigation programs to reduce deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). These programs were conceived under the premise of international flow of resources to finance market-oriented programs to incentivize conservation. However, global carbon markets failed to materialize in a sustainable way, so many REDD+ programs took a results-based approach where the program design included a bundle of interventions aimed at enabling measures or the provision of incentives to protect forests, not always including payments for environmental services (PES).

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Enforcement and inequality in collective PES to reduce tropical deforestation: Effectiveness, efficiency and equity implications

Avery Lord — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 17:22:17 +0000

Enforcement and inequality in collective PES to reduce tropical deforestation: Effectiveness, efficiency and equity implications Avery Lord Thu, 06/18/2026 - 11:22

Enforcement and inequality in collective PES to reduce tropical deforestation: Effectiveness, efficiency and equity implications

By: Julia Naime, Arild Angelsen, Adriana Molina-Garzón, Cauê D Carrilho, Vivi Selviana, Gabriela Demarchi, Amy E Duchelle, Christopher Martius

Abstract:

Collective Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES), where forest users receive compensation conditional on group rather than individual performance, are an increasingly used policy instrument to reduce tropical deforestation. However, implementing effective, (cost) efficient and equitable (3E) collective PES is challenging because individuals have an incentive to free ride on others’ conservation actions. Few comparative studies exist on how different enforcement strategies can improve collective PES performance. We conducted a framed field experiment in Brazil, Indonesia and Peru to evaluate how three different strategies to contain the local free-rider problem perform in terms of the 3Es: (i) Public monitoring of individual deforestation, (ii) internal, peer-to-peer sanctions (Community enforcement) and (iii) external sanctions (Government enforcement). We also examined how inequality in wealth, framed as differences in deforestation capacity, affects policy performance. We find that introducing individual level sanctions can improve the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of collective PES, but there is no silver bullet that consistently improves all 3Es across country sites. Public monitoring reduced deforestation and improved the equity of the program in sites with stronger history of collective action. External sanctions provided the strongest and most robust improvement in the 3Es. While internal, peer enforcement can significantly reduce free riding, it does not improve the program’s efficiency, and thus participants’ earnings. The sanctioning mechanisms failed to systematically improve the equitable distribution of benefits due to the ineffectiveness of punishments to target the largest free-riders. Inequality in wealth increased group deforestation and reduced the efficiency of Community enforcement in Indonesia but had no effect in the other two country sites. Factors explaining differences across country sites include the history of collective action and land tenure systems.

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Outsiders on the Rise: New Parties and Party Competition in Multilevel Systems

Avery Lord — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 17:13:07 +0000

Outsiders on the Rise: New Parties and Party Competition in Multilevel Systems Avery Lord Thu, 06/18/2026 - 11:13

Outsiders on the Rise: New Parties and Party Competition in Multilevel Systems

By: Christopher Jorde

Abstract:

Recent elections in Europe have seen the explosive growth of new parties, many of which have not only won seats in parliament but have become leaders in government. Yet support for new parties remains a puzzle. If voter expectations about which parties are likely to win or lose solidify with each passing election, then new parties should be less likely to emerge over time. This project explores three questions related to new parties: What explains support for new parties? How do new parties compete with mainstream parties? And why do voters support some new parties but not others?

In this project I argue that multilevel systems present new parties with opportunities to compete with mainstream parties and win voter support. First, when regional or European elections have more permissive electoral institutions, and when regions have more governing authority, new parties will receive a greater share of votes. Having established an electoral foothold at the regional or European level, new parties may better compete in subsequent national elections. Second, multilevel systems open up dimensions of conflict that new parties can leverage to compete with mainstream parties. Specifically, new parties can distinguish themselves by focusing on issues of European integration in European Parliament elections and issues of regional autonomy in regional elections. Third, regional and European elections enable voters to support new parties on the basis of attitudes toward European integration or regional autonomy. Furthermore, if a new party performs well in a European or regional election, voters may increasingly view that party as viable in mainstream party competition and continue to support that party in later national elections. Using a variety of cross-national election data, party manifestos data, and individual cross-sectional and long-term panel surveys I find robust support for these arguments.

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Why Do Politicians Use Racist Rhetoric? A Comparative Text Analysis of English and Spanish-Speaking Democracies

Avery Lord — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 17:11:00 +0000

Why Do Politicians Use Racist Rhetoric? A Comparative Text Analysis of English and Spanish-Speaking Democracies Avery Lord Thu, 06/18/2026 - 11:11

Why Do Politicians Use Racist Rhetoric? A Comparative Text Analysis of English and Spanish-Speaking Democracies

By: Jordan N. Hale

Abstract:

Ethnicity is a salient social identity in most democracies. Why is political rhetoric about ethnicity more common and more insulting in some elections than others? Comparative politics scholars often recommend less majoritarian electoral institutions for ethnically divided societies (Lijphart 1984; Horowitz 1985). They make this recommendation based on the cases of extremely divided societies where no ethnic majority exists, and studying macro level outcomes like the persistence of democracy and peace. Their analysis ignores the plurality of the world’s democracies, where an ethnic majority exists. They also did not have the technological ability or data necessary to compare rhetoric across countries and elections. Using current machine learning techniques on the text of political manifestos and tweets, I construct two datasets of ethnic rhetoric in 80 elections in 13 English and Spanish-speaking democracies, one of legislative candidate tweets, and the other of party manifestos. I find that the electoral institutions condition the effect of demographic diversity on the political salience of ethnic identity. Similarly, the impact of ethnicity’s salience on racist or xenophobic rhetoric is conditioned by the electoral system as well. Ethnic rhetoric predicts hate crimes and discrimination, and corresponds with less ethnically inclusive governing coalitions. However, there does seem to be an independent effect of electoral institutions on the inclusivity of governing coalitions apart from just the impact it has indirectly through rhetoric.

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Unbinding the Executive? Public Opinion and Presidential Accountability in Latin America

Avery Lord — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 17:08:43 +0000

Unbinding the Executive? Public Opinion and Presidential Accountability in Latin America Avery Lord Thu, 06/18/2026 - 11:08

Unbinding the Executive? Public Opinion and Presidential Accountability in Latin America

By: Brett R Bessen

Abstract:

In presidential democracies, public opinion is thought to constrain the executive through elections and protests. However, citizens' ability to make considered judgments about presidents and hold them accountable is unclear. I examine how citizens evaluate presidents in Latin America in three interrelated chapters. I first investigate how political conversation shapes citizens' candidate preference during presidents' regular time in office. Using panel data from Brazilian president Lula da Silva's first term, I find that political conversation with disagreeing partners induces preference change among presidential supporters and opposition supporters. Second, I analyze the effect of presidential discourse on public attitudes about measures that undermine checks on the executive.

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Another day, another currency: self-interest, experience, and attitudes toward dollarization in Ecuador

Avery Lord — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 17:02:02 +0000

Another day, another currency: self-interest, experience, and attitudes toward dollarization in Ecuador Avery Lord Thu, 06/18/2026 - 11:02

Another day, another currency: self-interest, experience, and attitudes toward dollarization in Ecuador

By: Brett R Bessen, Brendan J Connell

Abstract:

How, if at all, does self-interest bear on individuals’ economic policy preferences? Though conventional theories of preference formation usually assume a role for self-interest, the informational demands associated with understanding economic policies can prevent individuals from forming attitudes on an egocentric basis. Building on work showing that policy-specific information facilitates egocentrism, we argue that personal experience with alternative policy options is necessary for self-interested preferences to materialize. To test this argument, we leverage Ecuador’s adoption of the U.S. dollar (i.e., dollarization) and examine whether material-based preferences toward exchange rate policy are conditional on individuals experiencing the transition from the Ecuadorian sucre to the dollar. We find that lived experience with dollarization causes policy preferences to align more closely with citizens’ self-interest, as proxied by measures of capital ownership and skill level. In addition, personal experience with dollarization drives attitudes against a dollarized economy, but primarily among poor and low-skill workers—precisely the groups that benefit less from this policy shift. Rather than entirely discredit the role of economic self-interest, these findings suggest that scholars devote greater attention to how contextual factors can strengthen egocentric policy attitudes.

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Landscape of extremist behavior in games

Avery Lord — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 15:52:46 +0000

Landscape of extremist behavior in games Avery Lord Thu, 06/18/2026 - 09:52

Landscape of extremist behavior in games

By: R Kowert, A Newhouse

Abstract:

Game Developers Conference

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Breaking the building blocks of hate: A case study of minecraft servers

Avery Lord — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 15:50:21 +0000

Breaking the building blocks of hate: A case study of minecraft servers Avery Lord Thu, 06/18/2026 - 09:50

Breaking the building blocks of hate: A case study of minecraft servers

By: Rachel Kowert, Austin Botelho, Alex Newhouse

Abstract:

A report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) center of Technology and Society

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