ProfessorJos Dornschneider-Elkink

Areas of specialisation: Quantitative methods in political science; referendum voting behaviour; spatial econometrics; statistical network analysis; agent-based modelling; Russian and Chinese politics; regime personalisation. 

Jos Dornschneider-Elkink's research focuses on three different strands, all involving the application or development of statistical methods to the study of political science. The main research agenda concerns the development of techniques for spatial econometric analysis of political phenomena, building on his PhD thesis on the international diffusion of democracy. Recent research concentrates on the estimation of spatial econometric models with discrete dependent variables and the use of statistical network models to evaluate diffusion mechanisms. While spatial and network correlations are common in studies of policy diffusion, regime transitions, voting behaviour, etc., little attention has thus far been paid to the resulting complications in statistical estimation, in particular when the dependent variable is dichotomous in nature.

The second strand is concerned with the application of recent advances in statistical analysis to the study of political elites in Russia, with a focus on understanding institutionalisation, personalisation, and patronage networks in the Kremlin. Ongoing research expands on this research with applications to the Chinese political system.

The third strand studies voting behaviour in particular in referendums and parliamentary elections in Ireland, building on previous collaboration with Richard Sinnott, with a particular focus on the role of political knowledge in voting behaviour.

See http://www.joselkink.net/research.php for a detailed overview.