The Bradlow Report — 11 December 2023
11 December 2023
Volume 4, Issue 1
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It’s been a bit of a break since I’ve shared writing here. Like many others, I’ve been navigating new professional commitments along with the evolving online self-publishing landscape. But I’m hoping to give this newsletter a more concerted focus in the new year, as “micro-blogging” platforms languish in an increasingly intellectually bereft wilderness.
I’m writing from central New Jersey, where I moved eighteen months ago to work as a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University. Mid-way through this year, I began a new job at Princeton as an assistant professor, appointed in both the School of Public and International Affairs — formerly known as “the Woodrow Wilson School” — and the Department of Sociology. My time here has allowed me to finish revising my first book, which will be published sometime in the second half of 2024 by Princeton University Press, included in its series Princeton Studies in Global and Comparative Sociology. Next year, I’ll be sharing more about this book, along with new work that I’ve begun on industrial policy and climate change in middle income countries.
In the meantime, in this edition of “The Bradlow Report,” I wanted to share a few pieces of writing — both public-facing and more academically-oriented —published over the past year on the fate of democracy and urbanization. If you find any of these interesting, I’d love to hear from you!
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At the beginning of 2023, Lula returned to the presidency of Brazil. On January 8, right-wing supporters of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro stormed the buildings of the presidency, legislature and judiciary demanding their hero’s return to office. For the occasion, I wrote an article in Foreign Affairs with Mohammad Ali Kadivar, a longtime collaborator and author of the excellent book Popular Politics and the Path to Durable Democracy (Princeton University Press 2022). We analyzed how Brazil’s civil society had been critical to repelling the threat that Jair Bolsonaro posed to Brazilian democracy and helped pave the way to Lula’s electoral victory. As a consequence, we argued that, “as Lula fights to prevent his country from sliding back into autocratic rule, he will have to rely on this wide, organized social base of support to again strengthen the institutional basis of Brazilian democracy.”
“How Brazil Can Prevent an Authoritarian Resurgence.” Foreign Affairs.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/brazil/how-brazil-can-prevent-authoritarian-resurgence
Later in the year, I returned to some of these themes in a letter published in the Financial Times about the role of the US in ensuring that Brazil’s democratic election was free and fair, and that its result was honored.
https://www.ft.com/content/d7dbe4f1-92da-4752-a949-848c0a86dce2
“Why US should take pride in Brazil’s democratic vote.” Financial Times.
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Along with two excellent economists, Will Violette and Stefano Polloni, I co-authored a new study in the Journal of Urban Economics examining the effects on the neighboring built environments of public housing projects in the Johannesburg metropolitan region in South Africa. We found that these projects have significantly positive benefits for nearby neighborhoods in terms of infrastructural improvements.
“Public housing spillovers: Evidence from South Africa.” Journal of Urban Economics.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2022.103527
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As part of a great team focused on five different countries in the Global South, I co-authored a study in PLOS Global Public Health on the role of civil society in shaping responses to the covid-19 pandemic. The countries covered in the article include India, Kenya, Mexico, Philippines, and South Africa.
“The role of civil society organizations (CSOs) in the COVID-19 response across the Global South: A multinational, qualitative study.” PLOS Global Public Health.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0002341
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Finally, I reviewed a fascinating new book by Daniel Agbiboa about democracy, corruption, and urban transportation in Lagos, Nigeria, in the Journal of Law and Political Economy.
“Review of They Eat Our Sweat: Transport Labor, Corruption, and Everyday Survival in Urban Nigeria by Daniel E. Agbiboa. Oxford University Press (2022).” Journal of Law and Political Economy.
https://doi.org/10.5070/LP64162697
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