Graduate Study




Current and former students

Graduate teaching is one of the most rewarding things I do, and it’s a privilege to work with so many great students. The Yale program emphasizes that students should explore a wide range of topics and methods, and  make the transition from students to active scholars and researchers as soon as possible.

What careers does a Yale Ph.D. lead to?

A Ph.D. at Yale leads to a wide variety of positions: from LACs to research universities, to a variety of rewarding positions in policy or the private sector. Here is a list, complete as far as I’m aware (July 2015), of all the Ph.D. students on whose committees I have served. I’ve listed each student’s name, thesis topic, and initial academic or policy position. This should give prospective students a sense of the range of topics that I might be able to supervise, as well as some information on where students end up after graduation.  I’ve listed the full committee for each student, with an asterisk indicating the chair. Please send updates if you have them!

I am working with other students in the Yale program than those mentioned here, but those students have not yet advanced to candidacy. If you are thinking of Yale for graduate school please contact me directly and I’ll put you in touch with them so you can get their perspective on the program.

Current Students (Students who are ABD but have not yet defended)

  1. Gautam Nair (Expected Spring 2020) The Politics of Inequality and Redistribution in Two Domains. [Wilkinson (Chair), Greg Huber, Frances Rosenbluth, Alex Debs]. Fellowship at U. Penn then Assistant Professor (2020-), Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.
  2. Shikhar Singh: Political Behavior.
  3. Shahana Sheikh: Political Behavior.
  4. Dipin Kaur: Security Studies.
  5. Drew Stommes: Political Behavior.
  6. Jacob Rinck (Yale, Anthropology) Political economy and political culture in Nepal’s Tarai[Sara Shneiderman (Chair), K. Sivaramakrishnan, Wilkinson]

 

Students Who Have Defended

  1. Nikhar Gaikwad (Yale, 2018). Who Organizes? Labor, firms and trade policies in divided democracies. [Wilkinson (Chair), Kenneth Scheve (Stanford), Thad Dunning (Berkeley)]. Leitner Postdoc at Princeton, then Assistant Professor, Columbia University.
  2. Pia Raffler (Yale, 2018). Political oversight and local public service provision in Uganda. [Thad Dunning, Chris Blattman, Wilkinson]. Leitner Postdoc at Princeton, then Assistant Professor, Harvard University Department of Government.
  3. Francesca Grandi (Yale) Explaining sub-national variation in violence in post-WWII Italy[Stathis Kalyvas (Chair), Elisabeth Wood, Wilkinson]. Editor of the IISS Armed Conflict Survey and Senior Fellow for Conflict, Security and Development.
  4. Gareth Nellis (Yale, 2017). Selecting India’s leaders: three empirical essays on political elites. [Wilkinson (Chair), Susan Stokes, Greg Huber]. EGAP Fellowship at UC Berkeley, then Assistant Professor, UCSD Political Science.
  5. Niloufer Siddiqui (Yale, 2017) Explaining Party Violence: Electoral Politics and Conflict in Pakistan. [Wilkinson (Chair), Elisabeth Wood, Jason Lyall].
  6. Stephen Rosenzweig (Yale, 2017). The Logic of Violence in Electoral Competition. Tenure Track Assistant Professor position at Boston University.
  7. Julia Choucair Vizoso (Yale). Why do minority regimes survive? [Ellen Lust (Chair), Steven Wilkinson, Nicholas Sambanis]. Editor in chief of the online journal, Sada
  8. Michael Weaver (Yale, 2016) Why does Ethnic Violence become Unacceptable? [Wilkinson]. University of Chicago Society of Fellows, then Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia.
  9. Kristin Plys (Yale, Sociology, 2016). National Liberation, Class Struggle and Indian Coffee House[Julia Adams (Chair), Charles Lemert, Emily Erikson, Wilkinson]. Assistant Professor, Sociology, University of Toronto.
  10. Rob Blair (Yale 2015), The Peacekeeper State [Nicholas Sambanis*, Chris Blattman (Columbia), Wilkinson]. Assistant Professor, Brown University.
  11. Madhavi (Divya) Devasher (Yale 2014)* Masjid versus Mandal: cross-ethnic voting in India [Steven Wilkinson (Chair), Tariq Thachil, Thad Dunning]. Princeton Post Doc in 2015-16 then Assistant Professor at University of New Hampshire.
  12. Erica de Bruin (Yale, 2014)*.  War and Coup Prevention in Developing States [Wilkinson*, Bruce Russett, Nicholas Sambanis, Thad Dunning]. Assistant Professor position, Hamilton College.
  13. Sarah Parkinson (Chicago). Reinventing Resistance: Palestinian Refugee Camps and Post-PLO Politics in Lebanon. [Lisa Wedeen, John Padgett (Chair), Wilkinson] Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota, now Assistant Professor SAIS JHU.
  14. Nick Smith (Chicago, 2013) The Politics of Protection: Crime, Policing, and Everyday State Building in Democratic South Africa[John Comaroff, Dan Slater, Lisa Wedeen,* Steven Wilkinson]. Assistant Professor, City College of New York.
  15. Paul Kenny (Yale, 2013) From Patronage to Patriotism: Patron-Client Ties and Nationalist Mobilization in the Indian States, 1929-1949.[Jim Scott,* Keith Darden, Jacob Hacker, Wilkinson] TT Australian National University.
  16. Shivaji Mukherjee (Yale, 2013). Low Intensity Long Duration Conflict: The Maoist Insurgency in India. [Wilkinson*,  Elisabeth Wood, Kenneth Scheve, Jason Lyall]. Assistant Professor, University of Toronto.
  17. Arvind Elangovan (Chicago, SALC/History 2012).  From a Colonial to a Democratic State: The Making of the Indian Constitution 1935-50. [Dipesh Chakrabarty,* Steven Pincus, Steven Wilkinson]. Assistant Professor, Marquette.
  18. Bonnie Weir (Chicago, 2012). From Bullets to Ballots: The Political Transformation of Violent Opposition Movements. [John Mearsheimer,* Robert Pape, Steven Wilkinson]. T-T University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
  19. Lauren Duquette (Chicago, 2011)* Migrant Collective Remittances: Transforming Public Goods and Local Democratic Governance in Mexico. [John Padgett, Alberto Simpser, Wilkinson*]. Assistant Professor, UCLA.
  20. Anoop Sadanandan (Duke, 2011). Why do States Decentralize? The Politics of Decentralization in India. [Donald L. Horowitz*, Karen Remmer,  Guillermo Trejo, Wilkinson]. Assistant Professor, Syracuse.
  21. Ong, Kian Ming (Duke, 2010). The Persistence and Breakdown of Hegemonic Party Regimes. [Donald Horowitz,* Scott de Marchi]. Lecturer UCSI (to 2013), and since May 2013 DAP Member of the Malaysian Parliament from Serdang.
  22. Paul Staniland (MIT, 2010). Explaining Cohesion, Fragmentation and Control in Insurgent Groups.[Stephen Van Evera, Roger D. Petersen*, Barry Posen, Wilkinson]. Assistant Professor, University of Chicago.
  23. Bethany Lacina (Stanford, 2010) How Insurgents Win: A Political Theory of Accommodation and Repression [David Laitin*, James D. Fearon, Jeremy Weinstein, Wilkinson]. Assistant Professor, University of Rochester.
  24. Emily Meierding (Chicago, 2010). Fuel for the Fire? Oil and International Territorial Disputes.  [Charles Lipson*, John Mearsheimer, Wilkinson]. T-T Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland.
  25. Mona Mehta (Chicago, 2010) Mandates of Violence: A Dilemma of Representative Democracy in Gujarat, India. [Lisa Wedeen*,  Martha Nussbaum, Dan Slater, Susanne H. Rudolph, Wilkinson]. Assistant Professor, Scripps College (now at IIM Ahmadabad).
  26. Camber Warren (Duke, 2008). Communicative Structure and the Emergence of Armed Conflict. [Robert O. Keohane,* Scott de Marchi, Chris Gelpi, Wilkinson]. Research fellow, ETH, Zurich, Switzerland (now at Naval Postgraduate School, Monterrey).
  27. Ashwini Chhatre (Duke, 2007). Democracy on the Commons: Political Competition and Local Cooperation for National Resource Management. [Meg McKean*, Karen Remmer, Randall Kramer, Wilkinson]. Assistant Professor, University of Illinois-Urbana, Geography.
  28. Yoonkyung Lee. “Democratization, Globalization and Labor Policy in Asia: The case of Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand.” (Duke 2006) T-T, Sociology, SUNY Binghampton. [Herbert Kitschelt*, Wilkinson].
  29. Seth K. Jolly. (Duke, 2006). A Europe of Regions? Regional Integration, Sub-National Integration, and the Optimal Size of States. [Herbert Kitschelt*, Robert O. Keohane, Gary Marks, Wilkinson]. Assistant Professor, Syracuse.
  30. Ericka Ann Albaugh (Duke, 2005). The Colonial Image Reversed: Advocates of Multilingual Education in Africa. [Donald L. Horowitz*, Robert O. Keohane, Catherine Newbury, Wilkinson] Assistant Professor, Bowdoin College.
  31. Atkinson, Carol T. (Duke, 2003). The Construction of Democracy: Political Socialization through Military Engagement. [Joseph Grieco, Chris Gelpi, Scott de Marchi, Charles Krupnick, Wilkinson] Assistant Professor, Vanderbilt.
  32. Harlan Koff (Duke, 2002). Fortress Europe or a Europe of Fortresses? The integration of non European Union immigrants in Western Europe. [Peter Lange, Herbert Kitschelt, Donald L. Horowitz, Wilkinson] Assistant Professor, Université de Luxembourg.