Dr Jody LaPorte
Dr Jody LaPorte
- Gonticas Fellow in Politics and International Relations
- Director of Studies for PPE
- Associate Fellow for Alumni Relations
- Harassment Adviser
Profile
I completed my undergraduate degree at Yale University, and my MA and PhD in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. I arrived in Oxford in 2013 to take up an early career post at the Department of Politics and International Relations and St Hilda’s College, followed by two years as a lecturer at the Blavatnik School of Government. I have been at Lincoln since 2017, where I am the Gonticas Fellow in Politics & International Relations and Director of Studies for PPE.
College Teaching
At Lincoln, I teach the first-year ‘Practice of Politics’ paper, as well as the core modules in International Relations and Comparative Government for second-year students. I also offer tutorials for the undergraduate option on Russian and Post-Soviet Politics.
As Director of Studies for PPE, I serve as the first point of contact for prospective and current students in the PPE course at Lincoln. I also take the lead in coordinating academic expectations and discipline, teaching provision, and student support within PPE.
- Research
My research interests fall at the intersection of comparative politics and international relations. Much of my work focuses on the politics of non-democratic regimes, with central attention to the countries of post-Soviet Eurasia. I am interested in how domestic and foreign pressures—including patterns of corruption, the legacies of communism, and contemporary human rights norms—shape political outcomes. In addition to these substantive issues, I am also active in the field of political science research methods, where my recent publications seek to develop new tools for using qualitative data to make causal claims.
- Select publications
‘Process Tracing and the Problem of Missing Data’ (with Ezequiel Gonzalez-Ocantos), Forthcoming in Sociological Methods and Research
‘Foreign versus Domestic Bribery: Explaining Repression in Kleptocratic Regimes', Comparative Politics, 50:1 (October 2017): 83-102
‘Hidden in Plain Sight: Political Opposition and Hegemonic Authoritarianism in Azerbaijan', Post-Soviet Affairs, 31:4 (April 2015): 339-366.
‘Confronting a Crisis of Research Design', PS: Political Science & Politics, 47:2 (April 2014): 414-417. Reprinted in special issue, ‘Navigating the Profession,’ (February 2016).
‘Putting Typologies to Work: Concept-Formation, Measurement, and Analytic Rigor’ (with David Collier and Jason Seawright), Political Research Quarterly, 65:1 (March 2012): 217-232.