Facebook Pixel

Jennifer Bussell

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Political Science

Photo of Jennifer Bussell

Jennifer Bussell is a political scientist with an interest in comparative politics and the political economy of development and governance, principally in South Asia and Africa. Her research considers the effects of formal and informal institutions—such as corruption, coalition politics, and federalism—on policy outcomes. Her newest book, Clients and Constituents: Political Responsiveness in Patronage Democracies (Modern South Asia Series, Oxford University Press), considers the provision of constituency service by high-level elected officials in India and elsewhere, using elite and citizen surveys, interviews, qualitative shadowing, and experiments to explore the implications of citizen-state relations for public service delivery. Her first book, Corruption and Reform in India: Public Services in the Digital Age (Cambridge University Press) examines the role of corrupt practices in shaping government adoption of information technology across sub-national regions and is based on fieldwork in sixteen Indian states, as well as parts of South Africa and Brazil. She also studies the politics of disaster preparedness policies in developing countries. Her work has been published in Political Analysis, Governance, Comparative Political Studies, International Studies Quarterly, Perspectives on Politics, and Economic and Political Weekly. Prior to joining the Goldman School, she taught in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin. She received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Contact

Phone 510-642-4670

Email Email Jennifer Bussell

Website Personal Website

Office Office 770 Barrows

About

Areas of Expertise

  • Information Technology
  • Public Management
  • Politics
  • Comparative Public Policy
  • Corruption and Governance
  • India

Curriculum Vitae

Research

Working Papers

eGovernment, Corruption, and the Quality of Public Services: Evidence from India (under review)

Working Paper (December 2013)

Constituency Service, Decentralization, and Citizen Behavior in India

Working Paper (December 2013)

Varieties of Corruption: The Organization of Rent-Seeking in India

Working Paper (April 2013)

Babu, Barrister, Fixer, or Friend: Intermediaries and Citizen-State Relations in India

Working Paper (September 2012)

Selected Publications

eGovernment and Corruption in the States: Can technology serve the aam aadmi?

Bussell, Jennifer. eGovernment and Corruption in the States: Can technology serve the aam aadmi? 2012 in Economic and Political Weekly XLVII(25): 77-85.

Institutional Capacity for Natural Disasters: Methodology for Case Studies in Africa

Bussell, Jennifer and Adam Colligan. Institutional Capacity for Natural Disasters: Methodology for Case Studies in Africa, 2013, Climate Change and African Political Stability program Research Brief #9.

Institutional Capacity for Natural Disasters: Findings from Case Studies in Africa

Bussell, Jennifer. Institutional Capacity for Natural Disasters: Findings from Case Studies in Africa, 2013, Climate Change and African Political Stability program Research Brief #10.

Corruption, Technology, and Reform: A Mixed View from the States

Bussell, Jennifer. Corruption, Technology, and Reform: A Mixed View from the States, India in Transition Series, Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania, May 7, 2012.

Corruption and Reform in India: Public Services in the Digital Age

Bussell, Jennifer. Corruption and Reform in India: Public Services in the Digital Age. New York: Cambridge UP, 2012.

In the News

Webcasts

On the Same Page with Katherine Boo

On the Same Page with Katherine Boo

Katherine Boo, Jason Corburn, Tapan Parikh, Isha Ray,

Event: Beyond the Beautiful Forevers: What Works for Tackling Poverty?

Date: September 25, 2015 Duration: 76 minutes

Last updated on 07/07/2021