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The Gabriel A. Almond Award is for the best doctoral dissertation in the field of comparative politics.

Award Committee: M. Anne Pitcher, Chair, Colgate University; Nancy Bermeo, Oxford University; Gerardo Munck, University of Southern California

Recipient: Rafaela Mirjam Dancygier, Yale University

Dissertation Title: “Immigration and Conflict”

Dissertation Director: Frances Rosenbluth, Yale University

Citation: We are extremely pleased to present the 2008 Gabriel A. Almond award for the best dissertation in comparative politics completed in 2006 or 2007 to Rafaela Mirjam Dancygier for “Immigration and Conflict”.  The dissertation is an elegantly crafted, comparative study of the conditions under which conflict occurs among immigrant groups in Great Britain and Germany. It explains not only variation in the incidence of conflict, but also whether such confrontations takes place between immigrants and the state or between native and immigrant populations.   Under conditions of economic scarcity where goods are desired by both native and immigrant populations, conflict is more likely to arise argues Dancygier.  National institutions, however, influence the nature of conflict because they shape the responses of immigrants and natives to shortages of economic resources.  Where the state, rather than the market, is responsible for allocating goods such as housing, employment, and public services, and immigrants lack political leverage, they are likely to direct their grievances regarding shortages against the state. Alternatively, where immigrants can influence politically the state’s distribution of goods, anti-immigrant conflicts by native populations are likely to occur, contributing to a pattern of violence between natives and immigrants rather than immigrants and the state.

The thesis makes an original contribution to an extensive scholarly literature on institutions as well as on ethnic conflict.  It skillfully combines multiple methodological approaches including quantitative analysis, fieldwork, and archival research in order to engage in rigorous subnational and cross-national comparisons of immigrant regimes, incidences, and characteristics of conflict in Great Britain and Germany from the 1950s to the contemporary period.  The theoretical framework has cross-national applicability as well as significant policy implications. The dissertation exemplifies both the versatility and vitality of comparative politics and we are honored to present Rafaela Dancygier with the Gabriel A. Almond award for 2008.