Students on the Market

The following Ph.D. candidates are on the job market for the 2012-2013 year:

Stacy Clifford

• stacy.a.clifford@vanderbilt.edu
• Curriculum Vitae
• Major Field of Study: Feminist Theory, Liberal Political Thought, Contemporary Democratic Theory, Disability Studies, Feminist Research Methods, and Qualitative Research Methods
• Dissertation Title: Indispensable Idiocy: Cognitive Disability and the Social Contract
• Dissertation Defended: May 3, 2011
• Dissertation Abstract: What is the connection between cognitive disability and political theory? Most political theorists have assumed that no longstanding connection exists and presume that disability is a relatively recent topic of theoretical interest. This assumption, however, elides the actual history of cognitive disability within political theory. Beginning with the work of John Locke, my dissertation uncovers how the concepts of cognitive disability and modern citizenship emerged simultaneously, co-constructing the limits of personhood, the scope of justice, and political agency. Guided by feminist theory and methodology, my project utilizes observations of current disabled self-advocates to rethink the meaning and activity of citizenship.
• Dissertation Advisor: Brooke Ackerley
• Dissertation Work: Working Paper 1

Margarita Corral

• margarita.corral@vanderbilt.edu
• Curriculum Vitae
• Major Field of Study: Comparative Politics, American Politics, Methods
• Dissertation Title: Uneven Representation? Analysis of Democratic Responsiveness in Latin America
• Dissertation Defense Date: Spring 2013

• Dissertation Abstract: To what extent do disparities in material resources translate into inequalities in political representation in Latin America, and what factors exacerbate or ameliorate such divides? My dissertation analyzes differences in the degree to which legislators represent the policy preferences of poor versus wealthy constituents across Latin America and assesses the degree to which certain institutional or cultural features affect that relationship. I develop and test the argument that marginalized citizens have greater opportunities to be represented in electoral systems in which the rules of the game incentivize close relationships between citizens and their representatives. At the same time, I consider the effects that an active and participatory culture has on representation. The data used for the project are comparative mass and elite survey data from Latin America combined with case-specific data collected through fieldwork in Bolivia.
• Advisor: Elizabeth J. Zechmeister

Rebecca McBride

• rebecca.a.mcbride@vanderbilt.edu
• Curriculum Vitae
• Major Field of Study: International Relations, Comparative Politics, Russian and Post-Soviet Politics, Political Theory, Network Analysis Theory and Methods
• Dissertation Title: The Diffusion of Intercountry Adoption: Learning and Networks in the Global Arena
• Dissertation Defense Date: Spring 2013
• Dissertation Abstract: More than 230,000 foreign-born children were adopted into US families in the past decade.  The number of children adopted into families that do not share their race, ethnicity, and national origin has steadily increased as families in developed states have turned to foreign countries for children to adopt. 
  I study the flow of children across borders, and the political factors that shape that flow.  My dissertation addresses the foundational question of my research agenda: Why would a state allow foreigners to adopt its vulnerable children, and what explains the timing of such decisions across the international system?  I argue that the spread of intercountry adoption is a process of policy diffusion: states learn from the experience of other states that intercountry adoption is an effective solution for domestic child welfare problems.  I show how the domestic political, economic, and demographic characteristics of states shape the likelihood that they will learn from the experience of other states that allow intercountry adoption, as well as how states learn from each other the most effective cooperative frameworks for exchanging children through intercountry adoption.
• Dissertation Advisors: James Lee Ray and Giacomo Chiozza
• Dissertation Work: Chapter 4: ''The Diffusion of Intercountry Adoption: Learning in the Global Arena''

 

Carrie Russell

• carrie.russell@vanderbilt.edu
• Curriculum Vitae
• Major Field of Study: Public Law, Constitutional Law, Civil Rights and Liberties, Identity Politics, Southern Politics, Race and Politics
• Dissertation Title: “Reckoning with a Violent and Lawless Past: A Study of Race, Violence and Reconciliation in Tennessee”
• Dissertation Abstract: Using theories of racial threat, transformational justice and the principles of equal protection that undergird the Rule of Law in constitutional democracies, this project examines how a legacy of unacknowledged historical injustice influences the legitimacy of democratic institutions. Through systematic analysis of census data, newspaper archives and property records, I offer evidence in support of the proposition that past refusal of local, state and federal institutions to provide due process or the equal protection of law to Black Tennesseans hindered Black economic growth and trust in government amongst all Tennesseans. Further, the legacy of injustice remains a critical obstacle for present day governmental legitimacy within Tennessee. By examining their communal efforts to overcome similar obstacles, I find the best policies reflect the specific needs of the communities where wrong-doing took place. I conclude with public policy proposals that could pragmatically further these efforts in Tennessee.
• Dissertation Advisor: Carol Swain
• Dissertation Work: Chapter 1