The Latin American Elections Hub (LATAM-EH) aims to enhance dialogue between the U.S. audience—particularly in Michigan and the Midwest—and Latin America. To achieve this, the hub organizes panels to discuss the most significant elections in the region, their relevance to the U.S., and the associated democratic risks. LATAM-EH also seeks to create a network of… Continue reading Latin American Elections Hub
Research Theme: Politics & Governance
Cohesion under Crisis: Concepts, Measures, Implications
The four-year project, “Cohesion under Crisis: Concepts, Measures, Implications,” will investigate the role of social cohesion in weathering crisis, focusing on the Indo-Pacific region: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Vietnam. Leveraging the skills of a team of researchers across multiple institutions, the project will develop and assess a new conceptual framework for studying social cohesion… Continue reading Cohesion under Crisis: Concepts, Measures, Implications
Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem)
Academic researchers, policy practitioners, and the general public alike have come to depend on indicators of democracy such as the Freedom House and Polity indexes. Such indicators are used to trace waves of democracy, educate students about world politics, test theories about the causes and consequences of democracy, allocate foreign aid, assess efforts to promote… Continue reading Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem)
RAPID: Quasi-Experiment on the Effect of Disaster-induced Displacement
This project examines the political consequences of Hurricane Harvey by studying post-Harvey migration patterns as an event with serious political and economic consequences. This framework examines variations in the decision of displaced individuals to move to different areas and how this affects their associated experience. Researchers also examine how people’s political attitudes change in response… Continue reading RAPID: Quasi-Experiment on the Effect of Disaster-induced Displacement
Micro-Foundations of Conflict Escalation (MiCE)
Micro-Foundations of Conflict Escalation (MiCE) will improve understanding of how and why conflicts escalate. Previous research has, for the most part, treated conflict as an either-or phenomenon. If it has shown any interest in escalation, it has confined itself to pointing to very broad structural factors that increase the risk of a conflict being either… Continue reading Micro-Foundations of Conflict Escalation (MiCE)
World Values Survey (WVS)
The World Values Survey (WVS) is an international research program devoted to the scientific and academic study of social, political, economic, religious and cultural values of people in the world. In order to monitor changes in values and understand their implications, the WVS has carried out successive waves of surveys since 1981 in over 120 countries, containing… Continue reading World Values Survey (WVS)
The Continent of International Law (COIL)
The Continent of International Law (COIL) research program lies at the intersection of international relations and international law. Principal Investigator Koremenos argues that the design provisions of international law matter, and, when chosen correctly, help states confront harsh international political realities and thereby increase the incidence and robustness of international cooperation. Because the set of cooperation problems… Continue reading The Continent of International Law (COIL)
Mobilizing Social Assets for Productive Use of Renewable Energy in Rural Tanzania
Building on research and data from the “Transformations in Poverty and Property Rights in Rural Tanzania” project (2009-present), the key objectives of this study are to: Strengthen understanding of the types of social assets that can advance productive uses of renewable energy in rural Tanzania; Enhance capacity in regional universities for assessment of village-based social assets that… Continue reading Mobilizing Social Assets for Productive Use of Renewable Energy in Rural Tanzania
Local Patterns of Election-Related Violence and Peace
This project is a partnership between the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA) and University of Michigan, with support from the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) to leverage election observer missions and local election results to inform the challenges of building sustainable peace in Africa. It collates results from roughly 300 polling stations in… Continue reading Local Patterns of Election-Related Violence and Peace
xSub: Cross-National Data of Sub-National Violence
xSub is a repository of micro-level, subnational event data on armed conflict and contention around the world. Our goal is to preserve and consolidate multiple open-source data collections in one comprehensive electronic archive, creating a “database of databases” for purposes of research, education, policy-making and evaluation. The archive currently includes data on armed conflict and contention… Continue reading xSub: Cross-National Data of Sub-National Violence