Lindsay Benstead

Former Public Policy Fellow

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Professional Affiliation

Associate Professor of Political Science, Mark O. Hatfield School of Government, Portland State University & Director, Middle East Studies Center (MESC), Portland State University

Expert Bio

Lindsay J. Benstead is Associate Professor of Political Science in the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government and Director of the Middle East Studies Center (MESC) at Portland State University. Previously, she served as Fellow in the Middle East Program and the Women’s Global Leadership Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC (2018-2019) and Kuwait Visiting Professor at SciencesPo in Paris (fall 2016). Benstead has conducted surveys in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Jordan, Malawi, and Kenya. Her research on women and politics, public opinion, and survey methodology has appeared in Perspectives on Politics, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Governance, and Foreign Affairs. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Political Science from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and served as a doctoral fellow at Yale University and a post-doctoral fellow at Princeton University. For more on her research, see https://pdx.academia.edu/LindsayBenstead.

Expertise

Conflict Resolution

Democracy

Education

Gender

Governance

Human Rights

Wilson Center Project

The Private Roots of Public Agency: Waste, Gender and Political Participation in Authoritarian Regime

Project Summary

Why after decades of universal suffrage in most Arab countries are women less politically engaged and empowered than men? Importantly, why does the gender gap in voting—while being large in some countries—all but disappear or reverse in some conservative states such as Jordan and Morocco? This book leverages the concept of linking capital within an authoritarian, clientelistic context to explain why personal connections drive political participation among not only women but also men. Drawing on extensive field research and original survey data, I argue and show empirically that when women enjoy shared gender, tribal connections, or personal relationships with candidates (that is, linking capital), they are more likely to vote and the gender gap in electoral participation narrows. This book has important insights for the study of electoral politics in authoritarian regimes and policy efforts to empower women in clientelistic contexts.

Major Publications

Lindsay J. Benstead. 2016. “Why Quotas Are Needed to Improve Women’s Access to Services in Clientelistic Regimes.” Governance 29(2): 185-205. doi:10.1111/gove.12162. First published online 2015. doi: 10.1080/21565503.2015.1084338.
Benstead, Lindsay J., and Dan Van Lehman. Forthcoming. “Two Classes of ‘Marriage’: Race and Sexual Slavery in Al-Shabaab-Controlled Southern Somalia.” The Journal of the Middle East and Africa. Published online June 18, 2021. https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/NENIVX763BZXGWDSNGTZ/full?target=10.1080/21520844.2021.1923998 https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/NENIVX763BZXGWDSNGTZ/full?target=10.1080/21520844.2021.1923998
Lindsay J. Benstead. 2018. “Survey Research in the Arab World: Challenges and Opportunities.” PS: Political Science and Politics 51(3): 535-542.