Paul A. Atwell

Researching the psychology and politics of accountability in developing democracies

 Post-doctoral Researcher at the Juan March Inst. 

Universidad Carlos III - Madrid

My work focuses mostly on the Global South, exploring the intersection of identity and social psychology to understand electoral politics, public opinion, and social change. 

I am currently a post doctoral researcher at the Juan March Institute and will be starting as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at The Ohio State University starting Fall of 2025. I completed my B.Sc. in Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked as a Research Assistant at the Navarra Center for International Development (Spain) before completing my PhD in Public Policy & Political Science at the University of Michigan

By joining methods and insights from across disciplines, I enjoy finding answers to thorny, but important questions about how state and party organizations interact with social institutions to shape individual thinking and behavior around political and economic decisions. My research has been published in the American Economic Review and the American Journal of Political Science.

My broader interests include electoral accountability, development policy, collective action dynamics, political geography, social network analysis, and more.