Tanushree Goyal’s dissertation wins American Political Science Association Award
We are delighted to announce that Politics DPhil alumna Dr Tanushree Goyal is joint winner of the Mancur Olson Award 2022, for the best dissertation in political economy.
The award, which is given annually by the American Political Science Association (APSA), recognises her excellent work on ‘Representation from Below: How Women Mobilize Inside Parties’. The award committee, composed of Brandice Canes-Wrone (chair), Nikhar Gaikwad and Jorge Mangonnet, were impressed with Tanushree’s dissertation, which explored the link between female party activists and wider gender representation at all levels of politics.
Her research found that recruitment of women at the lower levels of party organizations - or “Representation from Below” – had a positive effect; making female politicians competitive in top-level politics, putting women’s issues on the party manifesto, and mobilising women both to go to the polling booths and to march on the streets.
Tanushree commented: "Our understanding of representation, distributive politics, and political participation is incomplete without recognising the link between women politicians and grassroots party activists.
“I am therefore delighted that my dissertation – and my novel theory of female-led political party building – has received this recognition."
Tanushree’s supervisor Dr Robin Harding said: “Tanushree’s dissertation is hugely deserving of the Mancur Olson Award for the best dissertation in political economy. Her doctoral research was in equal parts innovative and rigorous, and makes a powerful contribution to our understanding of gender inequalities in political opportunity and participation. ”
Since completing her DPhil at the Department Tanushree has been an Academy Scholar at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies. She will join Princeton Politics in July this year as Assistant Professor in Comparative Politics.
The Mancur Olson prize will be presented at the Political Economy section business meeting at the APSA meeting in Montreal, on Friday 16 September.
