The Mortara Center for International Studies had the pleasure of welcoming Professor Ellen Lust of Cornell University on Monday, November 3rd, 2025. The Mortara Research Seminar is a weekly conference that welcomes premier scholars of Global Affairs across the country to present their work for Georgetown faculty and PhD students. Professor Lust, the John S. Knight Professor of International Studies in Cornell’s Department of Government, gave an inspiring lecture on how local leaders’ varying degrees of encompassing authority shape their ability to mobilize citizens during election campaigns. Professor Lust presented her paper for the first time at the Mortara Center, “Encompassing Authority in Election Campaign Mobility”, for an hour of discussion and feedback.
Professor Lust is a renowned scholar of International Affairs, having spent her career in academia between Sweden and the United States. She described her educational path as “unconventional”, having begun her undergraduate career studying Psychology, then transitioning to a self-designed degree. She took her first course in political science the second semester of her senior year. Afterward, Lust attended the University of Michigan for graduate school. She continued with her PhD at Michigan, eventually ending up as a Professor at elite universities such as Rice, Yale, and the University of Gothenburg. At present, Professor Lust directs Cornell’s Einaudi Center for International Studies. Her research, spanning countries across Africa and the Middle East, investigates how social institutions and local authorities shape governance. She has advised major international organizations, including the UNDP, USAID, and the World Bank, and her work appears in top journals such as the American Political Science Review and the American Journal of Political Science.
Professor Lust’s work on “Encompassing Authority” focuses on the qualities of certain local leaders that enable them to influence a larger scope of civilian life than other leaders. She uses a mixed-methods approach, combining case-study analysis with a survey experiment to gauge whether citizens in Zambia would be more or less likely to campaign for a candidate based on different qualities, such as shared identity with the voter or social centrality. Lust’s research demonstrates that qualities of a leader have an impact on encompassing authority – furthermore, said encompassing authority has a direct link to a leader’s perceived legitimacy, ability to mobilize, and susceptibility to sanctions. The research shifts focus from looking at different types of leaders to examining the mutual dynamic between civilian and leader qualities that can impact the extent of authority the leader holds.
The seminar concluded with one-on-one chats between Professor Lust and Georgetown faculty members and PhD students. I also sat down with Professor Lust to discuss her paper and her time at Georgetown. Though she had just arrived in D.C. the night before, Lust spoke highly of her time in the Georgetown neighborhood and on the Hilltop. Professor Lust expressed her deep respect for Georgetown and the scholars who present at the Mortara Seminar, noting that a great source of benefit comes from the international nature of the Georgetown community. By hosting academics from all corners of the globe, Georgetown’s unique diversity of thought and experience allows for a rich intellectual environment that fosters cross-cultural dialogue. Professor Lust and I concluded by discussing the broader implications of her research; she expressed hope that this paper would encourage scholars to examine the underlying factors shaping political behavior, and inspire policymakers and practitioners to reconsider how they identify and engage with potential partners.