This article series covers the Mortara Research Seminar, our flagship forum where guest scholars present their works-in-progress to our international affairs research community. Each week, a member of the Mortara community contributes an article summarizing the seminar’s discussions and key insights. For this piece, undergraduate research fellow Ophelia Bentley attended the seminar and spoke with the guest speaker. She reports on a compelling discussion with Professor Alicia Cooperman of the George Washington University.
On Monday, March 31st, the Mortara Center welcomed Dr. Alicia Cooperman of The George Washington University as a distinguished guest for the weekly Mortara Research Seminar. Dr. Cooperman used the seminar to present and engage with other scholars on an unpublished book manuscript entitled “Grassroots Politics: Bloc Voting and Demand-Making by Neighborhood Associations in Brazil.”
Dr. Cooperman’s work focuses on the political economy of drought, collective action, and the management of common-pool resources. Her book looks at strategic voting behavior in rural Brazil and its implications for community water procurement. She leverages her field work to challenge the previous literature’s assertion that bloc voting is inherently coercive, highlighting how it can be a powerful tool to hold politicians accountable. Dr. Cooperman’s presentation at Mortara included stories from her field research, insights into pressing issues for democracy and climate action, and engaged discussion about the challenges of collective action, the mechanisms at play in organizations, and the possibility of generalizing her theory.
Before the talk, I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Cooperman about her work and decision to present at the Mortara Research Seminar. She discussed how she hoped participating in the seminar would enable her to understand what areas of her work were of particular interest or uncertainty while connecting with other scholars in the DC area on interdisciplinary research. We discussed how her research fits into the broader scholarly conversation around climate change and democracy, deeply pressing issues for our current moment.