ALLISON N. GROSSMAN

​Welcome! I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Tulane University. My research investigates how so-called "fragile" states cooperate with (or contest) international efforts to prevent and respond to natural disasters and emergencies, including climate change, public health crises, and conflict. I investigate these issues in the Sahel and West Africa, where foreign intervention has profound consequences for governance. A related strand of work explores the ethics of field and experimental research in political science and develops new tools for scholars working internationally. My work has been published in the Journal of Politics, the Journal of Experimental Political Science, and PS: Political Science & Politics.

 

I earned my PhD in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Immigration Policy Lab at Stanford University. My dissertation and book project explores the conditions under which host governments enable or prevent humanitarian aid from reaching its intended recipients in emergencies. I leverage cross-national data, original surveys, and in-depth interviews to trace the process through which governments decide to acknowledge an emergency exists, allow international organizations to provide aid, and impose restrictions on aid delivery.

 

My research has been supported by the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, the West Africa Research Association and Innovations for Poverty Action. At Stanford, the King Center on Global Development supported my research. At Berkeley, I received support from the Center for African Studies, Institute for International Studies, and Organizing to Advance Solutions in the Sahel.