Biography

Alejandro López Peceño is a researcher and teaching assistant in the Department of Politics at New York University, where he is expected to defend his PhD. Before enrolling at NYU, he earned an MA in Social Sciences from the Carlos III-Juan March Institute and a BA in Economics from Carlos III University of Madrid.

Alejandro uses tools from causal inference to study a range of issues in political economy, focusing on the factors that explain the rise of mass politics and its implications for political modernisation. In his dissertation, the canonical case of 19th-century France serves as a historical laboratory to examine the role of two such factors: primary education and voting rights.

As a Max Weber Fellow, Alejandro aims to continue investigating the factors that shaped the rise of mass politics, including conflicts between the state and other powerful actors, nationalism and ethnic conflict, and the expansion of education systems. He is particularly interested in understanding how a country’s history of mass mobilisation influences democratic outcomes.

Mentor

• Elias, Dinas