Dr. Laurel Yacuta

Laurel's Headshot

Position Title
Lecturer

  • Comparative Politics
  • International Relations
Kerr Hall 576
Office Hours
Tuesday/Thursday 12:30-1:30pm
Bio

My research agenda focuses broadly on examining the causes of intrastate violence on the regime and societal level. My graduate work, advised primarily by professors Josephine Andrews and Lauren Young, focuses specifically on disaggregating regime types by separating civil liberties from electoral dimensions and exploring the variances within non-electoral components (civil society freedoms, freedom of religion, and rule of law) affect intrastate violence.

I have a methodological interest in: multi-dimensional scaling, factor analysis, duration modeling, geographical and spatial analysis, survey and experimental design, and unexpected event during survey analysis.

In another project I am working on, my coauthor and I test the role of different religious organizational characteristics in a novel randomized control survey experiment in India. In this survey we aim to illuminate how outgroup affect and approval for violence against outgroups are affected by religious organizational structures. 

Other projects I am involved in include: effects of state repression on voter behavior and trust in regimes in Zimbabwe; examining Eastern versus Western Europe Cabinet stability; and have contracted with the World Bank to consult on survey analysis and political violence issues in Central Asia and Zimbabwe.

Education and Degree(s)
  • Bachelors of Arts: International Relations at UC Davis
  • PhD of Political Science at UC Davis
Courses
  • Introduction to Comparative Politics
  • Central and Eastern European Politics
  • Politics of Development
  • International Relations of Western Europe
Research Interests & Expertise
  • Research Interests: Political Violence, Civil War, Intra-state Violence, Regime Measurement, Democratization, Autocratization
  • Methods: Multi-dimensional scaling, Experiments, Surveys, Duration Modeling, Geographical and Spatial Analysis
  • Regions: Russia, Eastern Europe, Post Soviet Countries, India