Lindsay Benstead, Ph.D.
benstead@pdx.edu
Portland State University
About Me:
Lindsay J. Benstead is Associate Professor of Political Science in the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government and Director of the Middle East Studies Center (MESC) at Portland State University. She is a Fellow in the Middle East Program and the Women’s Global Leadership Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC (2018-2019). She is also a Research Fellow in the Center on Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California, Affiliated Scholar in the Program on Governance and Local Development (GLD) at the University of Gothenburg and Yale University, and Contributing Scholar in the Women’s Rights in the Middle East Program at Rice University. She served as Kuwait Visiting Professor at SciencesPo in Paris (fall 2016). Benstead has conducted surveys in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Jordan and contributes to the Transitional Governance Project. Her research on women and politics, public opinion, and survey methodology has appeared in Perspectives on Politics, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Governance, and Foreign Affairs. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Political Science from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and served as a doctoral fellow at Yale University and a post-doctoral fellow at Princeton University. For more on her research, see https://pdx.academia.edu/LindsayBenstead.
Research Interests
Comparative Political Institutions
Public Opinion
Political Participation
Gender and Politics
Legislative Politics
Non-Democratic Regimes
Representation and Electoral Systems
Public Opinion
Women And Politics
Electoral Politics
Clientelism
Middle East Studies
Survey Research
Countries of Interest
Algeria
Malawi
Jordan
Morocco
Tunisia
My Research:
Lindsay J. Benstead, Ellen Lust, and Jakob Wichmann. “It’s Morning in Libya: Why Democracy Marches On.” Foreign Affairs. August 6, 2013. Lindsay J. Benstead, Ellen Lust, Dhafer Malouche, Gamal Soltan, and Jakob Wichmann. “Islamists Aren’t the Obstacle: How to Build Democracy in Egypt and Tunisia.” Foreign Affairs. February 14, 2013.Lindsay J. Benstead. “Plus Ҫa Change? Why True Change in Algeria Will Be Difficult.” The Geopolitics, https://thegeopolitics.com/plus-%D2%ABa-change-why-true-change-in-algeria-will-be-difficult/. April 6, 2019. Lindsay J. Benstead. “Why Are Algerians Protesting? It’s Not Against Bouteflika.” The Geopolitics, https://thegeopolitics.com/why-are-algerians-protesting-its-not-against-bouteflika/. March 10, 2019. Daniel Van Lehman and Lindsay J. Benstead “Protecting Minorities is Good Military Strategy.” LobeLog. June 19, 2019. https://lobelog.com/protecting-somali-minorities-is-good-military-strategy/. Lindsay J. Benstead. “Why True Change in Algeria Will be Difficult.” April 25, 2019. Center on Public Diplomacy (CPD), https://www.uscpublicdiplomacy.org/blog/why-true-change-algeria-will-be-difficult. Lindsay J. Benstead. “Why Quotas are Needed to Achieve Gender Equality.” The Washington Post, Monkey Cage, November 10, 2015. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/11/10/why-quotas-are-needed-to-achieve-gender-equality/ Lindsay J. Benstead. “Why Some Arabs Don’t Want Democracy.” The Washington Post, Monkey Cage, September 30, 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/09/30/why-some-arabs-dont-want-democracy/ Raghnhild Louise Muriaas, Vibeke Wang, Lindsay J. Benstead, Boniface Dulani, and Lise Rakner. “Why Campaigns to Stop Child Marriage Can Backfire.” The Washington Post Monkey Cage, December 13, 2018. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/12/13/why-campaigns-to-stop-child-marriage-can-backfire/?utm_term=.ed196e312d14 Lindsay J. Benstead, Raghnhild Louise Muriaas, and Vibeke Wang. “Do Donor Endorsements Help or Hurt? June 14, 2018. Center on Public Diplomacy (CPD), https://www.uscpublicdiplomacy.org/blog/do-donor-endorsements-help-or-hurt. Lindsay J. Benstead and Miecczslaw Boduszynski. “Public Opinion & the Demise of U.S. Public Diplomacy in Libya.” December 14, 2017. Center on Public Diplomacy (CPD), https://www.uscpublicdiplomacy.org/blog/public-opinion-demise-us-public-diplomacy-libya. Lindsay J. Benstead and Ellen Lust. September 24, 2015. “Women’s Political Participation in North Africa: Lessons from Recent Research.” Civil Society and Political Transitions in the MENA and Southeast Asia. Middle East-Asia Project (MAP). Middle East Institute. http://www.mei.edu/content/map/gender-gap-political-participation-north-africaLindsay J. Benstead, Amaney A. Jamal, and Ellen Lust. “Why Tunisians (Don’t) Vote for Women.” The Washington Post, Monkey Cage, May 4, 2015.http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/05/04/why-tunisians-dont-vote-for-women/ Lindsay J. Benstead, Ellen Lust, Dhafer Malouche, and Jakob Wichmann. “Tunisian Elections Bring Hope in Uncertain Times.” The Washington Post, Monkey Cage, October 27, 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/10/27/tunisian-elections-bring-hope-in-uncertain-times/ Lindsay J. Benstead, Alexander Kjærum, Ellen Lust, and Jakob Wichmann. “Libya’s Security Dilemma.” The Washington Post, Monkey Cage, April 7, 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/04/07/libyas-security-dilemma/ Lindsay J. Benstead, Ellen Lust, Dhafer Malouche, Gamal Soltan, and Jakob Wichmann. “Winners and Losers after the Arab Spring.” Yale Global Online, August 27, 2013. http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/winners-and-losers-after-arab-spring Lindsay J. Benstead, Ellen Lust, and Dhafer Malouche. “Tunisians Frustrated but Engaged.” Foreign Policy, December 11, 2012. http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/12/11/tunisians_frustrated_but_engaged Lindsay J. Benstead, Ellen Lust, and Dhafer Malouche. “Tunisian Revolution is Work in Progress.” Yale Global Online, December 19, 2012. http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/tunisian-revolution-work-progress
Publications:
Journal Articles:
Tunisia’s 2018 municipal elections, in which a legislated quota was implemented and women won 47 percent of seats, raises questions about whether electing female councilors improves women’s representation in clientelistic settings. Using data from the Local Governance Performance Index (LGPI), an original survey of 3,600 Tunisians conducted in 2015 by the Program on Governance and Local Development (GLD), this article investigates the relationship between local councilors’ gender and women’s access to help with personal or community issues. Three findings emerge. First, male citizens are thirteen percentage points more likely than female citizens to know a local councilor and six percentage points more likely to have contacted a councilor for help. This offers evidence of greater network homosociality for club goods than personal requests. Second, citizens of both genders are twice as likely to contact a councilor of the same gender when asking for help with community problems. Finally, electing females increases women’s access to councilors, due to network homosociality— that is, denser personal networks with others of the same gender—but has a limited impact on men’s access because female councilors have more heterosocial networks. By showing that electing and appointing women improves service and allocation responsiveness to females, the results call attention to the need to address gender equity issues when drafting electoral laws and implementing decentralization laws.
Survey research has expanded in the Arab world since the 1980s. The Arab spring marked a watershed when surveying became possible in Tunisia and Libya, and questionnaires included previously censored questions. Almost every Arab country is now included in the Arab Barometer or World Values Survey and researchers have assembled numerous datasets to help answer theoretical and policy questions. Yet some scholars express the view that the Arab survey context is more challenging than other regions or that respondents will not answer honestly. I argue that this position reflects biases that assume “Arab exceptionalism” more than it does fair and objective assessments of data quality. Based on cross-national data analysis, I find evidence of systematically missing data in all regions and political regimes globally. These challenges and the increasing openness of some countries to survey research should spur studies on the data collection process in the Arab world and beyond.
Using data from a survey of 200 Moroccan and Algerian parliamentarians, this article assesses the relationship between parliamentarian gender, quotas, and constituency service provision to females. The findings suggest that while electing women increases service provision to females, quotas are needed to create mandates in clientelistic, patriarchal settings, where serving women is a less effective electoral strategy than serving men. Deputies elected through quotas are more responsive to women than members of either sex elected without quotas. The article extends a theory of homosocial capital to explain gender gaps in parliamentarians’ supply of and citizens’ demand for services. By demonstrating a novel mandate effect and framing mandates in a positive light, the article extends the literature on gender, representation, and clientelism; urges scholars to examine service representation; and supports quotas to promote women’s access to services, political participation, and electability.
Media Appearances:
Other:
Presentation on local governance in Tunisia