Lauren Young

Columbia University

Lauren Young is a PhD candidate in the political science department at Columbia University writing a dissertation on the conditions under which politicians choose to use violence over patronage to win elections in Zimbabwe. Her research interests include violent electoral politics, post-conflict political development, and humanitarian response. In addition to Haiti, she has conducted field-based research in Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, and Zimbabwe.

Existing theories of democratic reversals emphasize that elites mount actions like coups when democracy is particularly threatening to their interests.

Existing theories of democratic reversals emphasize that economic incentives should determine when elites resist democracy. Naidu, Robinson and Young (2017) argue that the capacity to organize coups against democracy is also important, and is shaped by the structure of the social network.

Existing theories of coups against democracy emphasize that elite incentives to mount a coup depend on the threat that democracy represents to them and what they stand to gain from dictatorship.

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Lauren Young

Researcher's Grant Projects

Haitian Business Elites and Their Consequences for Development

Researcher's Publications

Social Origins of Dictatorships: Elite Networks and Political Transitions in Haiti

Social Origins of Dictatorship: Elite Networks and Political Transitions in Haiti

Social Origins of Dictatorships: Elite Networks and Political Transitions in Haiti