Adjunct Assistant Professor at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
About
Brigitte Seim is a scholar of comparative politics, focusing on the political economy of development. Her research agenda examines the relationship between citizens and political officials, with a particular emphasis on accountability in consolidating democracies. To conduct this research, she partners with government institutions, international organizations, policy makers, and other scholars. She obtained her PhD in political science from the University of California, San Diego in 2014. For the 2014-2015 academic year, Dr. Seim was a postdoctoral research fellow with the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project. She joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill as an assistant professor in the Department of Public Policy and Peter Thacher Grauer Fellow in 2015.
Current Work:
Brigitte Seim's ongoing research projects pertain to the micro-dynamics of the accountability mechanisms between citizens and government. One project combined a regression discontinuity design and behavioral games to study how the treatment of holding office affects the strategic behavior of elected officials in Zambia. Another project is based on a field experiment in Malawi examining corruption discrimination based on political power. A series of field experiments are underway in Malawi regarding foreign aid.
Research Area(s):
- Governance and Accountability
- Democratization
- African Politics
