Electoral Dis-connection: The Limits of Re-Election In Contexts of Weak Accountability

Date: 

Tuesday, September 24, 2019, 12:00pm

Location: 

CGIS South, S250, 1730 Cambridge Street

Speaker: Julie Weaver, PhD candidate, Department of Government
Moderator: Fernando Bizzarro, PhD student, Department of Government; Graduate Student Associate, DRCLAS

headshot of Julie WeaverConventional academic wisdom holds that the carrot and stick of re-election incentivizes politicians to perform and gives voters an important tool for holding their public officials accountable.  This presentation explores the seemingly unusual case of Peru, where voters reject the very right of incumbents to run for a second term, and vote not only bad performers out of office, but good ones as well.  Through a detailed sub-national study of mayoral politics in Peru, the study highlights the crucial role of oversight institutions to explain when and why re-elections stop working to create electoral accountability.

Julie Anne Weaver is a PhD candidate in the Department of Government at Harvard University. She studies comparative politics and the political economy of development, with a focus on local-level political accountability in developing countries, particularly in Latin America.  Her dissertation and book project studies how political accountability operates in settings where institutions and political parties are weak.  Julie holds a BA in Sociology from Barnard College and an MA in International Development and International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Fernando Bizzarro is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Government at Harvard and a Graduate Student Associate to the DRCLAS. A political scientist from Brazil, he researches the nature, causes, and consequences of democracy and political parties in Latin America.

The Tuesday Seminar Series is a bring your own brown bag lunch series. Please feel free to enjoy your lunch at the lecture, drinks will be provided.