Ashley Wright is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Politics and International Relations. Her current research focuses on the political economy of foreign aid, particularly how the political structure of the US shapes its foreign aid allocations. She studies the extensive involvement of federal agencies and their interactions with Congress in the foreign aid process, employing empirical and text analysis. 

I am a third-year DPhil Student in Politics at Merton College and the Department of Politics and International Relations of the University of Oxford. I study the creation and variation in the institutional design of independent non-majoritarian institutions, specifically Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs). What explains the adoption of ACAs? Why do they take particular institutional forms? What are the consequences of choosing one model over another?