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Modern Architecture

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Melissa Rogers

Associate Professor of Political Science

Co-Director, Inequality and Policy Research Center

About

​

I am an Associate Professor of Political Science and Co-Director of the Inequality and Policy Research Center at Claremont Graduate University. I am an elected member of the APSA Council. My research examines how spatial inequalities impact politics, focused on developing nations and Native American voting rights. I publish in the fields of comparative politics, American politics, political geography, comparative political economy, political institutions, and political methodology. I earned my PhD and MA from the University of California, San Diego, and BA from Brown University.

Education & Experience

Education

2005-2010
Ph.D. in Political Science
University of California, San Diego
2003-2005
MA in Political Science
University of California, San Diego
1997-2001
BA in Political Science and International Relations
Brown University

Academic Positions

2019-Present
Associate Professor
Claremont Graduate University
2019-2022
Associate Dean
School of Social Science, Policy, and Evaluation
Claremont Graduate University
2018-Present
Co-Director
Inequality and Policy Research Center
2019-2021
Chair
Division of Politics and Economics
Department of International Studies
2011-2018
Assistant Professor
Claremont Graduate University
2010-2011
Visiting Assistant Professor
Claremont Graduate University

Books

Geography, Capacity, and Inequality II: Redistribution

Cambridge University Press, 2025. (w/ Pablo Beramendi).

Geography, Capacity and Inequality I: Spatial Inequality

Cambridge University Press, 2022. (w/ Pablo Beramendi).

The Politics of Place and Limits to Redistribution

Routledge Press, 2015. 

Recent Journal Articles

Comparative Political Economy​

Decentralization and the Spatial Distribution of Infant Mortality in Less Developed Nations. Regional Studies, Forthcoming. (w/Pablo Beramendi and Soomin Oh.
Does Democracy Matter for Lifespan Inequalities? Regime Type and Premature Mortality by Sex. Studies in Comparative International Development. (w/ Ana Salazar, Javier Rodriguez, and Rena Salayeva.
The Political Origins of Urban Deconcentration: Evidence from 50 Years of Nightlight Data. Regional Studies, Regional Science, forthcoming. (w/ Soha Hammam)
Inter-regional Inequality and the Dynamics of Government Spending, Journal of Politics (2019) 81(2): 487-504. (w/ Dong Wook Lee).
Fiscal Decentralization and the Distributive Incidence of the Great Recession, Regional Studies (2020) 54(7): 881-896 (w/ Pablo Beramendi).
Intra-elite Competition and Long-run Fiscal Development, Journal of Politics (2019) 81(1): 49-65. (w/ Pablo Beramendi and Mark Dincecco).
Federalism and the Welfare State in Latin America, Regional and Federal Studies (2021) 31(1): 163-184.
Federalism and Inequality in Risk-Taking: Evidence from Location Tracking in Mexico during COVID 19, Frontiers in Political Science (2021) (w/ Yuzhu Zeng, Andrew Marx, Mia Poynor, Morgan Lu).
Disparate Geography and the Origins of Tax Capacity, Review of International Organizations (2018) 16(1):213-327 (w/ Pablo Beramendi).
When Militant Organizations Lose Militarily but Win Politically, Cooperation and Conflict (2020) 55(3): 365-387 (w/ Benjamin Acosta).
Barriers Against the Egalitarian Turn. Latin American Research Review, (2017) 52(4): 529-551 (with Pablo Beramendi and Alberto Diaz-Cayeros).
What’s Left to Tax? Partisan Reallocation of Trade Taxation in Less Developed Countries, Political Research Quarterly (2017) 70(3): 495-508 (w/ Eunyoung Ha).
Taxing with Dictators and Democrats: Regime Effects, Transfers, and Revenue in Argentina’s Provinces. Journal of Politics in Latin America (2014) 6(1): 3-44.
Liberal and Illiberal Democracy in Latin America. Latin American Politics and Society (2008) 50(1): 31-57 (w/ Peter Smith).

Political Methodology

The Modifiable Areal Unit Problem in Political Science. Forthcoming, Political Analysis. Dataverse
Measuring the Rural Continuum in Political Science, Political Analysis (2021) 29(3): 267-286 (w/ Zoe Nemerever). Dataverse
Measuring Geographic Distribution for Political Research, Political Analysis (2019) 27, no. 3: 263-280 (w/Dong Wook Lee).
Analysis of Panamanian DMSP/OLS Nightlights Corroborates Suspicions of Inaccurate Fiscal Data, Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment (2017) (November, v8): 99-104 (w/ Andrew Marx).
Income Taxation and the Validity of State Capacity Indicators. Journal of Public Policy (2013). 34(1): 1-24 (w/ Nicholas Weller).

Native American Politics

Federal Incarceration and Native American Felon Disenfranchisement in the US West Forthcoming, Journal of Political Institutions and Political Economy. (w/ Jean Schroedel, Joseph Dietrich)
Revisiting the Origins of Felony Disenfranchisement in the United States. Forthcoming, Studies in American Political Development. (w/ Jean Schroedel, Joseph Dietrich, Blake Garcia) 
Achieving Electoral Equity After Brnovich: A Case Study in Native Activism. Forthcoming Social Science Quarterly. (w/ Jean Schroedel, Joseph Dietrich, David Lindgren)
Structural Racism, the USPS and Voting by Mail On-and Off-Reservation in Arizona Studies in American Political Development (2023). (w/ Jean Schroedel and Joseph Dietrich).
Inequalities in Vote by Mail for Native Americans in the West: The Historical Political Economy of Postal Service in Northeastern Arizona, Journal of Historical Political Economy (2023) 2(4) (w/ Jean Schroedel, Joseph Dietrich).
Assessing the Efficacy of Early Voting Access on Indian Reservations, Politics, Groups, and Identities (2020) 10(1): 81-99 (w/ Jean Schroedel, Joseph Dietrich, Savannah Johnston, Aaron Berg).
Research
Leadership

Leadership Positions

Associate Dean, School of Social Science Policy and Evaluation (2019-2022)

Co-Director, Inequality and Policy Research Center (2018-Present)

Council Member, American Political Science Association (2024-Present)

Chair, Division of Politics and Economics (2021, 2025)

Chair, Department of International Studies (2019-2020)

Diversity Committee Chair, Political Methodology Society (2021-Present)

Chair, Faculty Research Committee, CGU (2020-Present)

Chair, APSA Political Economy Best Book Award (2022-Present)

Student Placement

Academic

Dissertation Chair

Shawnika Johnson

Assistant Professor, Pitzer College

Government

Dissertation Chair

Glenn-Iain Steinback

Department of Defense

Private and Non-Profit

Dissertation Chair

Carlos Evecharria-Estrada

National Opinion Research Center

Alma Bezares

Assistant Professor, Whittier College

Zeyad Elkelani

Assistant Professor, Cairo University

Jake Campbell

Chief Data Officer, Santa Barbara Co

Giacomo DiPasquale

Assistant Professor, Wagner College

Roger Chin

State of Washington

Amy Nantkes

Assistant Professor, Point Loma Nazarene

Noemi Alexander

Riverside Unified School Board

Lily Rowen

Assistant Professor, Laramie Co Community College

Brian Jewett

Laguna Beach Water District

Noemi Alexander

Assistant Professor, Cal Baptist Univ

Christopher Freeland

City Manager, Indian Wells

Rena Salayeva

Coordinator, Rose Institute, Claremont McKenna

Zaid Alkdidi

Government of Saudi Arabia

Committee Member

Soha Hammam

Fellow, Harvard University

Post Doc, Inequality and Policy Research Center

Tim Milosch

Biola University

Gary Hawk

Copper Mountain College

Committee Member

Dong Wook Lee

Assistant Professor, Adelphi University

Ichsan Zulkarnaean

Government of Indonesia

Morgan Stockman

CDC

Miriam Sierra Aguilar

City of Seattle

Rainita Narender

Riverside County Prosecutors Office

Abdulaziz Albinali

Government of Bahrain

Byron Ramirez

BPM

Lara Steele

Biogen

Lisa Jene

U.S. Overseas Cooperative Development Council

Committee Member

Maryah Garner

Coleridge Initiative

Yunie Lee

Coleridge Initiative

Kristoffer Wikstrom

Neilson

Sara Kazemian

Acumen

Jingjin An

Acumen

Kerstin Fisk

Associate Professor, Loyola Marymount

Benjamin Acosta

Assistant Professor, Louisiana State Univ

Rachelle Walker

Associate Professor, Vanguard University

Linda Alvarez

Associate Professor, CSU Northridge

Charupol Ruangsuwan

Assistant Professor, Thammasat University

Sumaia Alkohlani

Assistant Professor, UAE University

Chungeon Koo

Post Doc, Inequality Center South Korea

Minjae Yun

UCLA Law School

Joseph Dietrich

Cal Poly Pomona

Teaching

Claremont Graduate University

Wealth, Poverty, and Inequality
Parties and Elections
Comparative Political Economy
Theories and Issues in Comparative Politics
Democracy and Development
Comparative Political Institutions
Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research
Politics of Non-Democratic Countries
Foreign Policy of Latin America
Politics of Developing Countries
Political and Economic Developing in Latin America

Pitzer College

Democracy and Development
Wealth Poverty and Inequality

Scripps College

Wealth, Poverty, and Inequality

University of California, San Diego

The US Congress
Politics of the Southern Cone
Latin American Politics
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