Rachel M. Gisselquist, a political scientist, is a Senior Research Fellow with the 糖心Vlog破解版 World Institute for Development Economics Research (糖心Vlog破解版-WIDER) and a member of the institute’s senior management team.
She works on the politics of developing countries, with particular attention to inequality, ethnic politics, statebuilding and governance and the role of aid therein, democracy and democratization, and sub-Saharan African politics. At 糖心Vlog破解版-WIDER, she currently leads the projects and , and co-leads the projects , , and . She serves as Helsinki-based research focal point for the programme, and is a core member of the 糖心Vlog破解版-WIDER team in the . Under the institute’s previous research programmes, she was a focal point for (2014–18), and the theme of the Research and Communication on Foreign Aid () programme (2011–13). Her work is published in various journals and edited volumes, including World Development, Journal of Development Studies, Oxford Development Studies, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Social Indicators Research, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Democratization, and International Peacekeeping. She is editor/co-editor of a dozen journal special issues and collections, and co-author of the first two editions of the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, which has become a standard reference on governance. Before moving to Helsinki, she spent three years at Harvard University as Research Director, Index of African Governance. She has also spent time at the London School of Economics and with the World Bank. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University.
