Overview

Research Interests
  • Political Development
  • Social Movements and Civil Conflict
  • At the moment, I am mainly working on my second book (R&R at Cambridge University Press) on the political origins of democracy and dictatorship in their modern forms, using the political and economic transformations at the turn of the Twentieth Century as evidentiary empirics. In addition to the book, I am involved in a number of projects on the contemporary and historical patterns of autocratic and democratic politics (often making parallels and contrasts between the two), you can find a list of these ongoing projects below.
    • Contact: navid.mehrdad@yale.edu
    Academic Appointments
    • Henry Hart Rice Family Foundation Visiting Fellow, Yale University, 2019-20
    • Visiting Fellow, European University Institute, April-June 2019
    • Associate Professor, Political Science Department, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia, 2016-2019
    • Lecturer, Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences (QMSS) Program, Columbia University, 2015-2016
    • Postdoctoral Fellow in Regional Political Economy, The Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, 2014-2015
    Ph.D. in Political Science, Yale (2014) 
    Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Stanford (2006) 
    M.S., B.S. Sharif University of Technology (2002,2001)
    Books
    1. [Revise and Resubmit, Cambridge University Press] Political Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy 
    2. [2017, Cambridge University Press] Leading from the Periphery & Network Collective Action Link 
    Drafts
    1. Navid Mehrdad, Welfare or Identity politics? On the logic of Radical Right Mobilization
      • Surveys and survey experiment in Italy, 2019
    2. Navid Mehrdad, Nationalism or Welfare? Turnout Mobilization in Non-Competitive Elections Link
      • Survey experiment in Moscow, 2018
    3. Navid Mehrdad, The Logic of Niche Parties’ Ideological Linkage and Targeted Redistribution to the Underclass Link
      • Turkish electoral and socioeconomic stats under AKP
    4. Navid Mehrdad, Political Modernization Theory and Electoral Engagement with Bureaucratic Authoritarianism Link
      • Historical statistics from the Iranian elections 1906-1975
    5. Navid Mehrdad, The Political Logic of Redistribution in Elite-Induced Democratizations Link
      • Russian privatization statistics 1992-1996
    6. Navid Mehrdad, Political Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy
      • Historical statistics of suffrage extension in Europe
    Projects in Progress
    1. Navid Mehrdad, Elite Competition or Redistributive Policy? On the Logic of Anti-Corruption Campaigns in (Democracies and) Autocracies 
    Awards
    • Best Book Award (2015-17) American Political Science Association’s Political Net- works Section for ‘Leading from the Periphery & Network Collective Action’ Cam- bridge University Press 2017
    • International Communications Association, Political Communication Division’s Best Political Communication Article of the Year Award (2015) for ‘Media Disruption and Revolutionary Unrest: Evidence from Mubarak’s Quasi-Experiment’ Political Communication 2014–31(1) 
    Recent Teaching
    • Comparative Politics:
      • Comparative Politics of Eurasia, 2017, 2018 (HSE), 2019 (Yale) Link
    • Research Methods:
      • Theory and Methodology of Political Research, 2016, 2017, 2018 (HSE) Link
    Presentations
    Professional Service
    • Reviewer for American Journal of Political Science,  American Political Science Review, British Journal of Political Science, Government & Opposition, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, Journal of Politics, National Science Foundation, Political Behavior, Post-Communist Economies, Post-Soviet Affairs, PS: Political Science & Politics, World Politics
    Fieldwork
    • Ankara & Istanbul, Beijing, Cairo, Florence & Milan, Moscow & St. Petersburg, Tehran
    References
    • Carles Boix
    • Jeff Goodwin
    • Helen Milner