BIDS Faculty Affiliate Alison Post offers this project (#2) through UC Berkeley's Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP).
What are the main types of concerns that citizens bring to mayors and city councilors in Latin America? What sorts of incentives do public officials have to address these concerns? And how do these dynamics vary between cities of different sizes? In this project, we will investigate local-level politics in Argentina and Brazil, paying special attention to how the texture of citizen-state relation differs with city size.
The URAP apprentice will work closely with Professor Alison Post to examine interactions between city council members, mayors, and citizens using several types of media. The URAP apprentice will systematically evaluate a variety of types of data, including facebook and youtube channels with recordings of city council meetings, and facebook and twitter posts by government officials (and citizen comments on these posts).
Participating URAP apprentices should have prior experience with conducting research online, and fluency in either Spanish or Portuguese (and ideally both!). Prior political science coursework is highly desirable. The URAP apprentice should also be comfortable with excel. A command of R is desirable, but not required.
Fall 2022 BIDS Undergraduate Internships - Apply August 17-29
