Tyson Roberts
Field:
Comparative Politics and International Relations
Dissertation Title:
Democracy, Development, and the International Poltical Economy: Political Institutions and Investment Financing Strategies in Sub-Saharan Africa
Committee:
Barbara Geddes (Co-Chair), and
Dan Posner (Co-Chair)
Date of Completion: June 2010
Contact Information:
Tyson Roberts
UCLA Political Science Department
4289 Bunche Hall
Los Angeles, California 90095-1472
Phone: 310-825-4331
Fax: 310-825-0778
Curriculum Vitae:
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Dissertation Summary:
My dissertation explores how changes in the
international political economy affect politics in Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular regime type (democracy vs.
dictatorship) and economic development strategy (statist vs. capitalist). In the dissertation, he develops a game theoretic
formal model to demonstrate the strategic interaction African governments, who make political decisions in anticipation of
their effects on the providers of foreign finance, and the investment decisions of providers of foreign finance who respond
to the political decisions of those African governments. In the empirical chapters he tests the implications of the model
using cross national, time series data, with both political outcomes and investment decisions as dependent variables. The
tests include the use of an original data set to operationalize the economic strategy of governments as capitalist or
statist.
Research Interests:
Teaching Interests:
Comparative Political Economy, International Political Economy, International Relations, International Organization, African Political Economy, Politics of Economic Development, and Game Theory.