Mitchell Seligson

Dissertations Chaired

  • Elizabeth Brooke Harlowe, (currently tenured Associate Professor, The College of St. Catherine) 1993, “Producers, Exporters and the State: Coffee Policy and Development in Ecuador.”
  • Julio Francisco Carrión (currently Associate Professor, University of Delaware) 1993, “Political Participation in Peru.”
  • Andrew J. Stein (currently U.S. State Department Office of Research, Washington) 1995, “The Prophetic Mission, the Catholic Church and Politics: Nicaragua in the Context of Central America.”
  • Orlando Pérez, (currently Full Professor, Central Michigan University) 1996, “Elites, Power and Ideology: The Struggle for Democracy in Panama.”
  • Silvia Lucrecia del Cid Avalos (deceased) 1997, “Ethnicity, Political Culture, and the Future of Guatemalan Democracy.”
  • Yasuhiko “Emo” Matsuda, (currently senior staff, The World Bank) 1997, “An Island of Excellence: Petróleos de Venezuela and the Political Economy of Technocratic Agency Autonomy.”
  • Jamie Elizabeth Jacobs, 1997, “Democratizing the Environment in Brazil: Perception and Participation in the Urban Periphery.”
  • Ariel Armony,(currently Director, University Center for International Studies, and Professor of Public and International Affairs and Political Science, Universiyt of Pittsburgh) 1998, “Democracy and the Double-Edged Sword of Civil Society: Argentina in Comparative Perspective.” Professor Ariel Armony has been awarded an endowed chair at Colby College effective the fall of 2006.
  • Juliana Martínez (Associate Professor, Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales, Universidad de Costa Rica”) 1998, “Policy Environments and Selective Emulation in the Making of Health Care Policies: The Case of Costa Rica, 1920-1997.”
  • Ernesto Cabrera,(currently Research analyst IPOS-ASI Market Research, Stamford, CT) 1998, “The Political Consequences of Electoral Laws in Argentina: District Level Analysis and the Importance of Sub-National Elections.”
  • Mike Kulisheck, (currently employed as a public opinion researcher, Colorado) 1998, “Legislators, Representation, and Democracy: An Institutional Analysis of Deputy Responsiveness in Venezuela.”
  • Cynthia Chalker Franklin,1998, “Riding the Wave: The Domestic and International Sources of Costa Rican Democracy.”
  • Don Kerchis, (currently Director of International Initiatives, Slippery Rock College, PA.) 1998, “The Impact of International Training on Democratic Values, Attitudes and Behavior: An Evaluation of the Costa Rican CAPS High School Program.”
  • Damarys Canache, (currently Assiociate Professor, University of Illinois) 1999, “Political Support in a Fragile Democracy: The Venezuelan Case.”
  • Jonathan Hiskey, (currently Associate Professor, Vanderbilt University) 1999, “Does Democracy Matter?: Electoral Competition and Local Development in Mexico.” Winner of the APSA 2001 Gabriel Almond Dissertation Award for the Best Dissertation in Comparative Politics.
  • Ricardo Córdova, (currently Executive Director, FundaUngo, El Salvador), 2001 “Voting in Central America.”
  • Jorge Papadopulos, (currently CIESU, Montevideo, Uruguay), 2001, “Politics and Ideas in Policymaking: The Reform of the Uruguayan Pension System in Comparative Perspective.”
  • Julia Smith (currently Assistant Professor, Eastern Washington University, co-chaired with Hugo Nutini, Department of Anthropology), 2001, “Towards Sustainability: Small Scale Coffee Production in a Post Green Revolution World.”
  • Maria Pia Scarfó, (currently with Medicaid Rights, New York) “The Impact of Political Corruption on System Support in Nicaragua: 1996-1998,” 2002.
  • Annabelle Conroy, (Assistant Professor, University of Central Florida) “Localities Against the State: The Civic Committee Movement in Bolivia.” 2002
  • William Lies, (currently Executive Director of the Center for Social Concerns of the University of Notre Dame and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science), 2002 “Religious Socialization, Competition and Chilean Politics.”
  • Mahendra Lawoti (GSPIA), currently Professor, Department of Political Science, Western Michigan University), “Exclusionary Democratization: Multicultural Society and Political Institutions in Nepal,” 2002.
  • Dinorah Azpuru, (currently Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Wichita, and Coordinator of the Democratic Values and Peace Program, ASIES, Guatemala) “Democracy at Risk: Citizens’ Support for Undemocratic Options,” 2003.
  • Mary Malone, (currently Associate Professor, University of New Hampshire), “Respect for the Law in Latin America,”2004.
  • Siddhartha Baviskar, (currently Researcher, the Danish National Centre for Social Research) “Political Support as a Leading Indicator of Democratic Collapse and Ressurection: The Case of Chile, 1958-1973 and 1988-1995”, 2004.
  • Rosario Queirolo, (currently, Associate Professor, Department of Communications, University of Montevideo and co-director, LAPOP Uruguay) “The Impact of Neoliberal Political Reforms on Latin Americans’ Voting Behavior (1980-2004),” 2007.
  • José René Argueta, (currently Researcher, U.S. Bureau of the Census) “The Importance of ‘Rational’ Voters for Electoral Accountability in Highly Institutionalized Party Systems,” 2007.
  • Daniel Moreno Morales, (currently Director, Ciudadanía, Bolivia and Team Leader, LAPOP Bolivia) 2008, “Ethnic Identity and National Politics: A Comparison of Indigenous Identity and Political Participation in Bolivia and Guatemala.”
  • Abby Beatriz Córdova Guillén, (currently Assistant Professor, University of Kentucky), 2008 “Divided We Fail: Economic Inequality, Social Mistrust, And Political Instability In Latin American Democracies.”
  • Juan Carlos Donoso, (currently Senior Researcher, Pew Research Center) 2009 “A Means To An End: Judicial Independence, Corruption And The Rule Of Law In Latin America.”
  • Maria Fernanda Boidi, (currently Assisstant Professor Universidad de Montevideo, Uruguay) 2009 “The Missing Connection: Trust in Legislatures in Latin America.”
  • José Miguel Cruz (currently Assistant Professor, Florida International University), 2010, “Democratization under Assault: Criminal Violence in Post-Transition Central America.
  • Daniel Montalvo, (currently Program Manager, LAPOP) 2011, “Decentralization and Participatory Democracy in Latin America: the Political Survival of Local Elites.”
  • Brian Mathew Faughnan (currently in employed by the U.S. government), 2013, “Substituting the State:  The Effects of the National Federation of Colombian Coffee-Growers on Democratic Behaviors and Attitudes.”
  • Mariana Rodríguez (currently LAPOP staff), “The Sustainability of Populism in Times of Crisis: Explaining The Chávez Phenomenon,” 2013.

    • Vivian Schwarz-Blum, “Citizens in the New Latin American State: Politics, the Economy and the Dynamics of Democratic Legitimacy in Bolivia and Latin America,” 2014

    • Mason Moseley (currently post-doc at the University of Pennsylvania), “From Ballots To Blockades: The Normalization Of Protest In Latin American Democracies,” 2014.