Book Project

Restrictionist Consolidation: The Republican Party and the Politics of Immigration Policy, 1965-2016

My book project, based on my dissertation research, explores the sources of change over time on the issue of immigration in the Republican Party since the 1960s. I aim to identify and explain how, why, and when GOP leaders consolidated around a restrictionist position in policymaking. I adjudicate between existing explanations, such as the election of Donald Trump, the civil rights realignment, demographic change, partisan polarization, changing business incentives, and coalitional bargaining, and I propose a new theoretical framework for understanding party position change. Building upon work on coalitional bargaining, I argue that configurations of groups that are not incorporated by party leaders can bring about change. I show how restrictionists strengthened their organizational capacity, leveraged new resources, and built alliances in order to flip the balance of power in the Republican Party. 

My interview research draws insights from 52 in-depth interviews with:

• former officials and staffers who worked closely on immigration policy in Congress and the executive branch, including six former members of Congress and 20 former congressional staffers

• current and former immigration activists and lobbyists, including supporters and opponents

• other immigration policy experts, such as think tank scholars

My research has been supported by:

• Harry Middleton Fellowship in Presidential Studies from the LBJ Foundation ($5,000)

• Robert and Elizabeth Dole Archive and Special Collections Research Fellowship from the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics ($4,000)

• Short Term Scholar Award: Jacob K. Javits Collection from the Marian B. and Jacob K. Javits Foundation ($2,500)

• Peter and Edith O’Donnell Endowment Grant Program from the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs ($1,800)

• Research Travel Grant from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation ($1,500)

• Abba P. Schwartz Research Fellowship from the JFK Library Foundation ($1,350)

Research on Policy Feedback

"The Myth of Deliverism: The Limited Electoral Benefits of Policy Feedback" (with Daniel J. Galvin and Chloe Thurston)

My working paper with Daniel J. Galvin and Chloe Thurston contends that deliverism, a "pop" political science theory that argues that parties can increase their own electoral support through policymaking and has been embraced by contemporary political figures as diverse as Donald Trump, Zohran Mamdani, and New York Times columnist Ezra Klein, has many theoretical and empirical shortcomings. We review the American politics literature on mass policy feedback effects and propose that there is a tradeoff under scope conditions of high partisan polarization between policy durability and partisan electoral success.

Research on Right-Wing Populism

"Networks among Right-Wing Populist Heads of State: Qualitative and Statistical Evidence" (with Jaye Seawright and Arne Holverscheid)

My working paper with Jaye Seawright and Arne Holverscheid traces the origins of the global wave of right-wing populism since the mid-2010s. Evaluating explanations that emphasize a set of parallel developments against theories of network ties among leaders, we analyze the in-person meetings and the public speeches of six world leaders: Jair Bolsonaro, Giorgia Meloni, Javier Milei, Narendra Modi, Viktor Orban, and Donald Trump. We show from the meetings that Bolsonaro and Orban played a central role in the forging of linkages, and we demonstrate from the speeches that the leaders discuss similar topics, with Bolsonaro, Meloni, Milei, and Orban in the most structurally pivotal positions.