Elizabeth Nugent

Assistant Professor of Political Science

Elizabeth Nugent’s research interests include political behavior in authoritarian contexts and religion and politics, with a regional focus on the Middle East and North Africa. Her work has been published in Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Conflict Resolution, and Political Science Research and Methods. Her dissertation, titled “The Political Psychology of Repression and Polarization in Authoritarian Regimes,” develops and tests an original theory of state repression and its effects on processes of polarization in authoritarian contexts. The project employs a mixed methods approach, including lab experimental tests of the theory’s micro-foundational psychological mechanism and case studies of repression and polarization in Egypt and Tunisia based on in-depth fieldwork in both countries. Nugent received her Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University in June of 2017. She also holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Arab Studies, both from Georgetown University.