Ash Community Speaker Series -- The Politics of Visibility: Local Elections and Democratic Representation in Brazil

Date: 

Friday, March 29, 2019, 12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Ash Center Foyer, 124 Mount Auburn St., Floor 2, Suite 200N

Do local elections promote responsive governance in the global south? In this talk, Peter Johannessen, Ash Center Democracy Postdoctoral Fellow, AY 2018-2020, will draw on evidence from Brazil to illustrate how local elections can undermine policy responsiveness in highly decentralized contexts. He will demonstrate that voters can unwittingly push mayors to prioritize highly visible infrastructure projects at the expense of less visible – but potentially more effective – policies.

 Lunch will be served.  

The Ash Community Speaker Series features discussions with students, faculty, fellows, and alumni whose research or other academic work is supported by the Ash Center. The series is a forum to discuss new ideas, innovative work, and ongoing projects that are related to the Ash Center's mission to make the world a better place by advancing excellence and innovation in governance and public policy through research, education, and public discussion.