Below is an alphabetical list of Ph.D. students and recent graduates currently on the job market. Please feel free to contact them, their advisors, or the Director of Graduate Studies, Rikhil Bhavnani, for additional information.
Saloni Bhogale
Ph.D. Candidate: Comparative Politics | Political Methodology
Email: bhogale@wisc.edu | Website | CV
Research Interests
Political economy of development, Access to Justice, Legal Institutions, Causal Inference, South Asia
Dissertation Title
“Essays on Judicial and Legislative Institutions”
References
Rikhil Bhavnani, Sameer Deshpande, Yoshiko Herrera, Adeline Lo
Veronica Judson
Ph.D. Candidate: American Politics
Email: vjudson@wisc.edu | Website | CV
Research Interests
Elections, Political Parties, Legislative Redistricting, Congress, Voting Behavior
Dissertation Title
“Disrupting the Electoral Landscape: How Representatives Respond to Change in Election Laws”
References
Oliver Lang
Ph.D. Candidate: Comparative Politics
Email: omlang@wisc.edu | Website | CV
Research Interests
Media, Political Communication, Survey Experiments, Text-as-data, Prejudice Reduction, Censorship and Propaganda
Dissertation Title
“Propaganda and the logic of competition in autocratic media markets”
References
Jessie Munson
Ph.D. Candidate: American Politics
Email: jemunson@wisc.edu | Website | CV
Research Interests
American politics, Congress, political institutions, representation, political communication, comparative legislatures, British politics, elections
Dissertation Title
“Talking About Blocking: How Senators Discuss Filibustering”
References
Allison Myren
Ph.D. Candidate: International Relations
Email: amyren@wisc.edu | Website | CV
Research Interests
International political economy, politics of finance and financial stability, global financial governance
Dissertation Title
“Managing Financial Crises: The Political Economy of Demand for Global Financial Insurance”
References
Mingcong Pan
Ph.D. Candidate: Comparative Politics | Political Methodology
Email: mingcong.pan@wisc.edu | Website | CV
Research Interests
Political Economy, Authoritarian Politics, Elite Politics, Public Opinion, Identity, China
Dissertation Title
“The Trilemma of Authoritarian Rule: Power, Bureaucratic Competence, and Political Survival”
References
Yoshiko Herrera, Nadav Shelef, Paul Castañeda Dower, Yiqing Xu
Hyemin “Hamni” Park
Ph.D. Candidate: Political Theory
Email: hpark362@wisc.edu | Website | CV
Research Interests
Comparative political theory; modern Japanese, Chinese, and Korean political thought; language and translation.
Dissertation Title
“Three Trajectories of Liberty in Modern Japan, China, and Korea”
References
Khasan Redjaboev
Ph.D. Candidate: Comparative Politics | International Relations
Email: redjaboev@wisc.edu | Website | CV
Research Interests
Comparative politics, comparative and historical political economy of development, public administration and governance in authoritarian states, social policy and redistribution, with an empirical focus on post-communist Eurasia and Central Asia
Dissertation Title
State Patriarchy: How Communist Colonialism Shaped Authoritarian Eurasia
References
Rikhil Bhavnani, Yoshiko Herrera, Paul Castañeda Dower, Steven Brooke, Aili Mari Tripp
Ethan vanderWilden
Ph.D. Candidate: Comparative Politics | Political Methodology
Email: ethan.vanderwilden@wisc.edu | Website | CV
Research interests:
Political Behavior, Democratic Backsliding, Nostalgia, Radical Right, Nationalism, Europe, Experiments
Dissertation Title
“Authoritarian Nostalgia and Linked Party Success”
References
Recent Graduates on the Job Market
Priyadarshi Amar
Ph.D. jointly in Political Science and Agricultural & Applied Economics (May 2025)
Email: priyadarshi.amar@gmail.com | Website | CV
Research Interests
Political Representation, Political Economy of Development, Local Governments, Electoral Quotas, Election Rules, Misinformation, Politics of South Asia
Dissertation Title
“Essays on Political Candidacy and Representation in India’s Village Governments”
References
Rikhil Bhavnani (co-chair), Laura Schechter (co-chair), Yoshiko Herrera, Simon Chauchard, Reed Lei, and Priya Mukherjee
Marko Kljajic
Ph.D. in Political Science Comparative Politics
Email: kljajic@wisc.edu | Website | CV
Research Interests
Political Violence, Reconciliation, Collective Victimhood, Collective Acknowledgment, Transitional Justice, Experiments
Dissertation Title
“The Victimhood Dilemma and the Promise of Mutual Acknowledgement”
References
Nadav Shelef, Jonathan Renshon, Yoshiko Herrera, Erica Simmons, Scott Straus
Garrett Jones
Ph.D. Candidate: Political Theory | American Politics
Email: gjjones3@wisc.edu | Website | CV
Research Interests
American Political Thought, The U.S. Presidency, Constitutionalism, Early Modern Political Theory, Public Law
Dissertation Title
“Outside but Not Against the Law: The Implied Powers Presidency”
References
Michelle Schwarze (Chair), Daniel Kapust, Benjamin Kleinerman
Phillip Pinell
Ph.D. Candidate: Political Theory
Email: pinell@wisc.edu | Website | CV
Research Interests
Iberian and Latin American Political Thought, Memory, Identity, Nationalism, Citizenship Studies, Liberalism/Illiberalism, Phenomenology and Hermeneutics
Dissertation Title
“Memory Politics: The Contested Past as an Aid to Liberty”
References
Richard Avramenko, Joshua Dienstag, Daniel Kapust, Michelle Schwarze
Timothy Tennyson
Ph.D. Candidate: Political Theory | American Politics
Email: ttennyson@wisc.edu | Website | CV
Research Interests
History of Political Thought, Civic Education and Citizenship, Modern and Contemporary Liberalism, Moral and Political Psychology
Dissertation Title
“Fostering Freedom: Judgment in Early-Modern Liberal Educational and Political Thought”
References
Richard Avramenko, Dan Kapust, Michelle Schwarze, Adam Nelson
Thomas Worth
Ph.D. in Political Science (August 2024)
International Relations | American Politics
Email: worth3@stolaf.edu | CV | Website | Google Scholar
Research Interests
Gender and US politics; US foreign policy; feminist security studies; International Relations theory; masculinity and International Relations; the measurement of gender identity
Dissertation Title
“A War of Their Own: Masculinity, Femininity, and the Gender Gap in Support for War”
References
Awards
2023-2024 UW–Madison College of Letters and Sciences Capstone Teaching Award
Hohyun Yoon
Ph.D. in Political Science (August 2024)
International Relations
Email: hhyoon@sas.upenn.edu | Website | CV
Research Interests
International conflict, political psychology, emotions, text data, experimental methods
Dissertation Title
“Emotion and Coercive Credibility in International Crises”
References
Andrew Kydd, Jon Pevehouse, Jessica Weeks, Jonathan Renshon, Adeline Lo
X (Xunchao) Zhang
Ph.D. Candidate: International Relations
Email: x.zhang@wisc.edu | Website | CV
Research Interests
International Security, Public Opinion, Revenge and Revanchism, Leaders, Intergroup Conflict, US foreign policy, Experimental Method
Dissertation Title
“Cycle Of Suffering, Spiral of Revenge: When Revenge Provokes―and When It Deters”
References
Xinzhi Zhao
Ph.D. in Political Science (August 2024)
Political Theory | Comparative Politics
Email: zhaoxz@umd.edu | CV | Website
Research Interests
Modern Western political, social, and economic thought; Enlightenment political thought; political and social epistemology; knowledge and democracy; political realism; comparative political thought
Dissertation Title
“The Enlightenment of Interests: David Hume and Adam Smith on Philosophers, the Public, and the Pursuit of Interests”
References
Daniel Kapust, Michelle Schwarze, Howard Schweber, James Messina