Albana Shehaj

Biography

Albana Shehaj is a research fellow at the University of Michigan from where she also holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and Methodology. Her research focuses broadly on comparative and international political economy with an emphasis on distributive politics, democratization, International Organizations, and the interactions between voters and political elites.

At the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES), Shehaj will work on her book manuscript, Purchasing Power: Distributive Politics and Corruption in New Democracies. The book engages with diverse methods to examine electoral strategies and political survival using fiscal resources. It examines: (1) The types of funds and distributive strategies that corrupt governing parties use to counter an electoral backlash; and (2) The impact that fiscal inflows originating from International Organizations have on patterns of accountability, political survival, and the democratic trajectories of recipient transitioning states.

This information is accurate for the time period that the visiting scholar is affiliated with CES.

Affiliations

• Research Fellow, University of Michigan
• Visiting Scholar 2019-2021, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University