Dean Schafer

Dean, Schafer, Dean Schafer, dean schafer, PhD Candidate, CUNY, Political Science, City University of New York, democracy, autocracy, authoritarianism, data science
dean schafer, Dean Schafer, the city university of new york, the graduate center, CUNY, political science, PhD, Central European University, Democracy Institutedean schafer, political science, cuny, city university of new york, Central European University, Democracy Institutedean schafer, political science, cuny, city university of new york, CEU, Central European University, Democracy InstituteDean, Schafer, Dean Schafer dean schafer the city university of new york, the graduate center, CUNY, political science, PhD, CEU, Central European University, Democracy Institutedean schafer, political science, cuny, city university of new york, CEU, Central European University, Democracy InstituteDean Schafer, political science, data science, Middle East, Turkey, democracy, authoritarianism, CEU, Central European University, Democracy Institute

Comparative democracy & autocracy, computational social science, text analysis, political economy, party systems, Turkey, Middle East

Hello! I am an Assistant Professor at Mississippi State University. Before that, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the Central European University in Budapest with the AUTHLIB project. I completed my Ph.D. in Political Science at the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY).

My research interests include political economy, comparative democracy & autocracy, political parties, and data science methods. My current project examines the incentives that shape coalition building in backsliding democracies. 

I scrape social media data to get leverage on the attitudes, networks, and behavior of political elites, which is especially useful in hard-to-observe settings such as authoritarian countries. I also draw on surveys, economic data, and fieldwork.

I find that authoritarian populists follow as much as lead. Political elites responsible for dismantling democratic institutions are often responding to the preferences of economic elites and a few select social groups based on shared identity. My work has been published in Party Politics, South European Society and Politics, and Nationalities Papers, as well as public-facing outlets including The Democracy Paradox and Foreign Policy in Focus.

I also study Middle East politics, broadly. I have spent years living, studying, and researching in the region, including in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey. I speak Turkish at home and am advanced in Arabic. 

Dean Schafer, dean schafer political science cuny phd CV curriculum vitae

CV

dean schafer, Dean Schafer, cuny, CUNY, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, political science, publications, research

PUBLICATIONS

dean schafer, research, political science, City University of New York, CUNY Graduate Center, current projects, research projects, authoritarian politics, democratic decline

CURRENT PROJECTS

Dean Schafer, dean schafer political science teaching cuny Queen's College, City University of New York CUNY

TEACHING