my research interests
At first, I was interested in politics because it allowed me to analyze the decisions being made on the national and state level. However, when I started my undergrad career, I asked more questions that strayed away from a focus on American institutions and electoral consequences. Eventually, my interest moved on from American Politics and I started to become more fascinated with the questions that tackle why non-state actors mobilize, organize, and take action against a more organized (most of the time) state government.
Although an extremist group may try and establish some sort of legitimacy, their radical nature may materialize as a violent action against the state or state-affiliated actor. Why? The international community may frown upon these violent actions, and these international actors may be the only ones who can provide aid to poor regimes; now we must consider when an extremist group seize control of a state. The Taliban, for example, is in dire need of aid, but international actors may be reluctant to provide it if the Taliban does not change their ways or enact major reform to their governmental structure and ideology. Although the Taliban may be staying loyal to their ideology by committing acts of political violence, such actions may harm the regime. Will they concede in any way? Will they deviate from their past violence to legitimize their regime?
While my past research has focused on Latin American politics, institutions, and mass-public opinions, I am confident I can use the skills I have learned to analyze these behaviors. Recently, I wrote a term paper analyzing the Zapatista struggle (Mexico) and supported a hypothesis calling the 1994 Uprising a deviant case when applying more common hypotheses related to the causes of ethnic conflict citing governmental exclusion as a major cause. I would like to continue this project using economic data and projections related to the signing of NAFTA to formulate a more appropriate hypothesis for the EZLN to stage an uprising against the Mexican state.
At UC Berkeley, I will continue to study the actions of these international actors and apply advanced quantitative methods to the study of such groups and individuals.
