- Phone:
- (812) 855-1460
- Email:
- brassj@indiana.edu
- Room Number:
- 457
- Areas of Interest:
- African Politics ,
- Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) ,
- Energy and International Development ,
- Comparative Public Administration ,
- Governance ,
- Civil Society ,
- Political Economy of Development
Education
- Ph.D., Political Science, University of California at Berkeley, 2010
- M.A., Political Science, University of California at Berkeley, 2004
- B.S. (magna cum laude), Foreign Service, Georgetown University, 1999
Courses
- Approaches to Development
- National & International Policy
- NGO Management for International Development
- Research Methods
- Honors Thesis Workshop
Biography
Dr. Jennifer N. Brass is an expert on service provision, governance, and state development, with a primary geographic focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Her book, Allies or Adversaries? NGOs and the State in Africa (Cambridge University Press; winner of the 2018 ARNOVA Outstanding Book Award), examines the role that nongovernmental organizations play in service provision, state-society relations, and state development in Kenya. Related to her monograph, Brass’s newest research agenda aims to synthesize collective knowledge about the effects and effectiveness of NGOs using systematic review techniques. A second, collaborative project examines the politics and governance of renewable and small-scale electricity provision in developing countries, with a focus on Africa.
Brass has conducted extensive field research in Senegal, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda. She holds a Ph.D. and masters in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.
Brass's articles have appeared in Governance, World Development, Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Political Geography, Journal of Development Studies, Journal of Modern African Studies, Annual Review of Environment & Resources, WIREs: Energy & Environment, and Journal of Public Affairs Education, among others.
Brass has conducted extensive field research in Senegal, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda. She holds a Ph.D. and masters in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.
Highlights
- 2018 ARNOVA Outstanding Book Award for "Allies or Adversaries? NGOs and the State in Africa"
- 2017 Trustees Teaching Award
- 2016 SPEA Teaching Award for excellence in undergraduate instruction, Indiana University
- Recipient of one of five Outstanding Junior Faculty Awards at Indiana University in 2016
- 2014 SPEA Teaching Award for excellence in graduate instruction, Indiana University
- 2013 Award for Best Comparative Paper presented at the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM)
- Graduate Research Fellowship ($120,000), National Science Foundation
- Emerging Scholar Award of Merit (2012), International Society for Third-Sector Research (ISTR).
In the News
- “How to be a Dictator for Life in Africa” - The Citizen (Tanzania), November 4, 2021
- "In sub-Saharan Africa, electrification is associated with less political engagement" - The Economist, November 2, 2021
- “Field Research and Covid-19 in East Africa: Ethical and Pragmatic Challenges for Research Design, Data Collection, and Equity,” (with C. Gore, E. Baldwin, A. Porisky) - Digital Fieldwork, January 30, 2021
- “How Ghanaian Civil Servants South to Resist Political Pressure,” (with J. Schon, E. Baldwin, L.M. MacLean) - The Conversation, November 19, 2019.
- “A few NGOs are getting a lot of bad press. What’s the overall track record?” (with A. Schnable, R.S. Robinson) - Washington Post, December 4, 2018
- “NGOs and International Development: What Have We Learned, How Did We Learn It, and Where Should NGO Research Go Next?” (with A. Schnable, R.S. Robinson) - HistPhil, October 17, 2018.
- “Cape Town Still Has Water – For Now. This May Take Political Solutions As Well As Technical Fixes,” (with L.M. MacLean, E. Baldwin, C. Gore) - Washington Post, April 23, 2018
Selected Works
- "The Multi-method Comprehensive Review: Synthesis and Analysis when Scholarship is International, Interdisciplinary, and Immense," (with A. Schnable, A.J. DeMattee, R.Sullivan Robinson, W. Longhofer), VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations (2021)
- Allies or Adversaries? NGOs and the State in Africa. New York: Cambridge University Press (August 2016)
- Winner of the 2018 ARNOVA Outstanding Book in Nonprofit and Voluntary Action Award
- Dissertation version of the book won the Lynne Reinner Best Dissertation on African Politics Award from the African Politics Conference Group section of APSA
- “Do Service Provision NGOs Perform Civil Society Functions? Evidence of NGOs’ Positive Effect on Democratic Participation,”Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, (2021)
- “International Development Buzzwords: Understanding Their Use Among Donors, NGOs, and Academics,” (with A. Schnable, A. DeMattee, R. Sullivan Robinson), Journal of Development Studies, 57 (1) 26-44 (2020)
- “Spatial Analysis of Bureaucrats’ Attempts to Resist Political Capture in a Developing Democracy: The Distribution of Solar Panels in Ghana,” (with J. Schon, E. Baldwin and L. M. MacLean), Political Geography, 76 (2020)
- "Political Autonomy and Resistance in Electricity Sector Liberalization in Africa," (with C. Gore, E. Baldwin, and L.M. MacLean), World Development (2018)
- "NGOs and International Development: A Review of Thirty-five Years of Scholarship," (with W. Longhofer, R.S. Robinson, A. Schnable), World Development, v112, 136-149 (2018)