J Bleck
Biographic Data
| ID | 65905 |
|---|---|
| NAME | J Bleck |
| GIVEN NAMES | J |
| FAMILY NAME | Bleck |
| SIGNATURE | BLECK J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Notre Dame |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8820-4491 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 215 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Can Student Body Diversity Foster Inter-ethnic Trust, Tolerance, and National Identification Prioritization? The Role of Friendship in Kenya
Education is thought to be an essential tool for building social cohesion in an ethnically diverse society. This paper evaluates the effect of exposure to a more diverse student body on trust, tolerance, and patriotism in one country where the government has made explicit efforts to use schooling to foster social cohesion: Kenya. In the wake of electoral violence in the 2007 elections, Kenya’s government expanded the number of ‘national schools’,…
Drinking Tea with the Neighbors: Informal Clubs, General Trust, and Trustworthiness in Mali
There has been scant empirical evidence linking associational membership to general trust and trustworthiness. This study explores urban youth clubs in Mali and asks: is membership in these groups associated with greater trust and trustworthiness toward society? It leverages 18 months of fieldwork, including 375 group surveys, 2,525 individual surveys, over 1,300 trust games, and transcripts from 66 focus groups. We use propensity score matching …
Youth in West and Central Africa: Quests for Inclusion and the Future of Governance
Youth aged twenty-four and under make up more than 64% of the population in West and Central Africa. They are the most educated and technologically connected cohort that the continent has ever seen. Contrary to their demographic weight, they are largely excluded from leadership roles within politics, the economy and the formal security sector. This part special issue highlights barriers to youth integration into the political and economic landsca…
Personality, community, and politics: Relating the five factor model to political behaviour in an African setting
Numerous studies demonstrate the impact of personality traits on political attitudes and behaviours, but these theories have not been tested in African contexts. Using a survey conducted in three indigenous languages of 1,516 respondents from northern Ghana, we demonstrate the salience of personality variables in predicting political attitudes and behaviours. These results are striking given the region's strong social hierarchies, low levels of e…
What Stymies Action on Climate Change? Religious Institutions, Marginalization, and Efficacy in Kenya
Addressing climate change requires coordinated policy responses that incorporate the needs of the most impacted populations. Yet even communities that are greatly concerned about climate change may remain on the sidelines. We examine what stymies some citizens’ mobilization in Kenya, a country with a long history of environmental activism and high vulnerability to climate change. We foreground efficacy—a belief that one’s actions can create chang…
Social interaction and technology adoption: Experimental evidence from improved cookstoves in Mali
Who leads? Village development committees and local governance in Southern Malawi
Since the 1980s, many developing countries have enacted policies of decentralization to create localized, representative forms of government. A highly under‐studied body of local governance are village development committees (VDCs). Utilizing a mixed‐method approach in three districts of Southern Malawi, we combine surveys, focus groups, and interviews to examine the role of VDCs in local politics. Selected by their peers, VDC members navigate a …
Migration aspirations from a youth perspective: Focus groups with returnees and youth in Mali
Mali has one of the highest migration rates in Africa, but we still know very little about the processes and drivers of migration - particularly in the context of the current political crisis. This article draws on 27 focus groups with 220 returnees and male youth respondents conducted in the summer of 2018. Respondents cite underemployment and the inability to provide for relatives as well as a feeling of hopelessness about a future life in Mali…
Beyond Ethnic Politics in Africa
To date, much of the literature on African politics has focused on the salience of ethnicity. Dominika Koter’s groundbreaking book highlights that there is tremendous variation in the role of ethni
Electoral Politics in Africa since 1990: Continuity in Change
Democratic transitions in the early 1990s introduced a sea change in Sub-Saharan African politics. Between 1990 and 2015, several hundred competitive legislative and presidential elections were held in all but a handful of the region's countries. This book is the first comprehensive comparative analysis of the key issues, actors, and trends in these elections over the last quarter century. The book asks: what motivates African citizens to vote? W…
Is women’s empowerment associated with political knowledge and opinions? Evidence from rural Mali
Weak states and uneven pluralism: Lessons from Mali and Kyrgyzstan
We argue that certain important democratic practices and elements of pluralism are lasting features of political systems in many poor countries. Because of state weakness, such arrangements work to the benefit of both elites and citizens. The broader citizenry and civil society enjoy significant political freedoms and greater access to foreign aid. Elites tolerate these limited civil liberties and regular elections because they produce few costly…
Making North–South Research Collaborations Work
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Capturing the Airwaves, Capturing the Nation? A Field Experiment on State-Run Media Effects in the Wake of a Coup
Investigating the media's effect on citizens immediately after a nondemocratic regime transition has thus far remained elusive to scholars, despite the frequency of such transitions. This study examines the effect of putschist-controlled broadcasting in the wake of Mali's 2012 coup and separatist insurgency. We leverage a field experiment of a radio (vs. flashlight) distribution program in an area where citizens' only form of mass media is state-…
Alice Kang. Bargaining for Women’s Rights: Activism in an Aspiring Muslim Democracy
Alice Kang. Bargaining for Women’s Rights: Activism in an Aspiring Muslim Democracy." International Feminist Journal of Politics, 18(3), pp. 511–512
The 2012 crisis in Mali: Ongoing empirical state failure
Journal Article The 2012 crisis in Mali: Ongoing empirical state failure Get access Jaimie Bleck, Jaimie Bleck Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Kristin Michelitch Kristin Michelitch * *Kristin Michelitch ([email protected]) is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and Littlejohn Faculty Fellow at Vanderbilt University. Jaimie Bleck ([email protected]) is a Ford Family Assistant Professor o…
National Science Foundation Political Science Program Awards
The political science program of the National Science Foundation (NSF) announces its awards for basic research support and dissertation improvement grants for fiscal year 2012. The program funded 68 new projects and 30 doctoral dissertation improvement awards. Additional program funds were spent on continuing grant increments, which result from awards that were made in previous fiscal years, but for which funds are being disbursed on a yearly bas…
Education for all, education for whom, education for what? Lessons from Mali
This article introduces new data from Mali, including surveys of 200 university students and 1, 000 citizens and interviews with 30 educational professionals, to emphasise Malian perceptions of the post-democratic educational expansion. It complements interviews with data on passage rates and curriculum from the Ministry of Education. Despite marked increases in enrolment, Malian respondents describe three major concerns about the “educational cr…
Valence Issues in African Elections: Navigating Uncertainty and the Weight of the Past
Previous analyses of African politics have mistaken parties’ dearth of position taking on issues as an absence of substantive electoral debate. The authors demonstrate that political parties tackle substantive issues during African elections, but generally voice them through valence appeals rather than by staking out distinct positions. The authors theorize that uncertainty, coupled with the single-party heritage and the elite dominance of Africa…
Do Francophone and Islamic schooling communities participate differently? Disaggregating parents' political behaviour in Mali
Despite strong empirical evidence of the influence of religious brokers on political mobilisation in Africa, we know very little about the individual-level relationship between religious association and political behaviour. Drawing upon an emerging comparative literature on the effect of social service provision on political participation, this article asks whether Malian consumers of Islamic schooling are as likely to seize new democratic opport…
Parties and issues in Francophone West Africa: Towards a Theory of Non-Mobilization
This contribution proposes a general framework to explain why political parties fail to mobilize citizens along substantive issues in West Africa. We argue that many political issues exist, which could potentially mobilize African voters, but that most political parties struggle to capture these issues. Due to the youth of the electoral process and inexperience of opposition parties, as well as the shared profile of the political elite, candidate…
Valence Issues in African Elections: Navigating Uncertainty and the Weight of the Past
Previous analyses of African politics have mistaken parties’ dearth of position taking on issues as an absence of substantive electoral debate. The authors demonstrate that political parties tackle substantive issues during African elections, but generally voice them through valence appeals rather than by staking out distinct positions. The authors theorize that uncertainty, coupled with the single-party heritage and the elite dominance of Africa…
Capturing the Airwaves, Capturing the Nation? A Field Experiment on State-Run Media Effects in the Wake of a Coup
Investigating the media's effect on citizens immediately after a nondemocratic regime transition has thus far remained elusive to scholars, despite the frequency of such transitions. This study examines the effect of putschist-controlled broadcasting in the wake of Mali's 2012 coup and separatist insurgency. We leverage a field experiment of a radio (vs. flashlight) distribution program in an area where citizens' only form of mass media is state-…
Parties and issues in Francophone West Africa: Towards a Theory of Non-Mobilization
This contribution proposes a general framework to explain why political parties fail to mobilize citizens along substantive issues in West Africa. We argue that many political issues exist, which could potentially mobilize African voters, but that most political parties struggle to capture these issues. Due to the youth of the electoral process and inexperience of opposition parties, as well as the shared profile of the political elite, candidate…
The 2012 crisis in Mali: Ongoing empirical state failure
Journal Article The 2012 crisis in Mali: Ongoing empirical state failure Get access Jaimie Bleck, Jaimie Bleck Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Kristin Michelitch Kristin Michelitch * *Kristin Michelitch ([email protected]) is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and Littlejohn Faculty Fellow at Vanderbilt University. Jaimie Bleck ([email protected]) is a Ford Family Assistant Professor o…
Is women’s empowerment associated with political knowledge and opinions? Evidence from rural Mali
Do Francophone and Islamic schooling communities participate differently? Disaggregating parents' political behaviour in Mali
Despite strong empirical evidence of the influence of religious brokers on political mobilisation in Africa, we know very little about the individual-level relationship between religious association and political behaviour. Drawing upon an emerging comparative literature on the effect of social service provision on political participation, this article asks whether Malian consumers of Islamic schooling are as likely to seize new democratic opport…
Social interaction and technology adoption: Experimental evidence from improved cookstoves in Mali
Who leads? Village development committees and local governance in Southern Malawi
Since the 1980s, many developing countries have enacted policies of decentralization to create localized, representative forms of government. A highly under‐studied body of local governance are village development committees (VDCs). Utilizing a mixed‐method approach in three districts of Southern Malawi, we combine surveys, focus groups, and interviews to examine the role of VDCs in local politics. Selected by their peers, VDC members navigate a …
Weak states and uneven pluralism: Lessons from Mali and Kyrgyzstan
We argue that certain important democratic practices and elements of pluralism are lasting features of political systems in many poor countries. Because of state weakness, such arrangements work to the benefit of both elites and citizens. The broader citizenry and civil society enjoy significant political freedoms and greater access to foreign aid. Elites tolerate these limited civil liberties and regular elections because they produce few costly…
Drinking Tea with the Neighbors: Informal Clubs, General Trust, and Trustworthiness in Mali
There has been scant empirical evidence linking associational membership to general trust and trustworthiness. This study explores urban youth clubs in Mali and asks: is membership in these groups associated with greater trust and trustworthiness toward society? It leverages 18 months of fieldwork, including 375 group surveys, 2,525 individual surveys, over 1,300 trust games, and transcripts from 66 focus groups. We use propensity score matching …
Migration aspirations from a youth perspective: Focus groups with returnees and youth in Mali
Mali has one of the highest migration rates in Africa, but we still know very little about the processes and drivers of migration - particularly in the context of the current political crisis. This article draws on 27 focus groups with 220 returnees and male youth respondents conducted in the summer of 2018. Respondents cite underemployment and the inability to provide for relatives as well as a feeling of hopelessness about a future life in Mali…
Making North–South Research Collaborations Work
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Education for all, education for whom, education for what? Lessons from Mali
This article introduces new data from Mali, including surveys of 200 university students and 1, 000 citizens and interviews with 30 educational professionals, to emphasise Malian perceptions of the post-democratic educational expansion. It complements interviews with data on passage rates and curriculum from the Ministry of Education. Despite marked increases in enrolment, Malian respondents describe three major concerns about the “educational cr…
Parties and issues in Francophone West Africa: Towards a Theory of Non-Mobilization
This contribution proposes a general framework to explain why political parties fail to mobilize citizens along substantive issues in West Africa. We argue that many political issues exist, which could potentially mobilize African voters, but that most political parties struggle to capture these issues. Due to the youth of the electoral process and inexperience of opposition parties, as well as the shared profile of the political elite, candidate…
National Science Foundation Political Science Program Awards
The political science program of the National Science Foundation (NSF) announces its awards for basic research support and dissertation improvement grants for fiscal year 2012. The program funded 68 new projects and 30 doctoral dissertation improvement awards. Additional program funds were spent on continuing grant increments, which result from awards that were made in previous fiscal years, but for which funds are being disbursed on a yearly bas…
Education for all, education for whom, education for what? Lessons from Mali
This article introduces new data from Mali, including surveys of 200 university students and 1, 000 citizens and interviews with 30 educational professionals, to emphasise Malian perceptions of the post-democratic educational expansion. It complements interviews with data on passage rates and curriculum from the Ministry of Education. Despite marked increases in enrolment, Malian respondents describe three major concerns about the “educational cr…
Valence Issues in African Elections: Navigating Uncertainty and the Weight of the Past
Previous analyses of African politics have mistaken parties’ dearth of position taking on issues as an absence of substantive electoral debate. The authors demonstrate that political parties tackle substantive issues during African elections, but generally voice them through valence appeals rather than by staking out distinct positions. The authors theorize that uncertainty, coupled with the single-party heritage and the elite dominance of Africa…
Do Francophone and Islamic schooling communities participate differently? Disaggregating parents' political behaviour in Mali
Despite strong empirical evidence of the influence of religious brokers on political mobilisation in Africa, we know very little about the individual-level relationship between religious association and political behaviour. Drawing upon an emerging comparative literature on the effect of social service provision on political participation, this article asks whether Malian consumers of Islamic schooling are as likely to seize new democratic opport…
The 2012 crisis in Mali: Ongoing empirical state failure
Journal Article The 2012 crisis in Mali: Ongoing empirical state failure Get access Jaimie Bleck, Jaimie Bleck Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Kristin Michelitch Kristin Michelitch * *Kristin Michelitch ([email protected]) is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and Littlejohn Faculty Fellow at Vanderbilt University. Jaimie Bleck ([email protected]) is a Ford Family Assistant Professor o…
Alice Kang. Bargaining for Women’s Rights: Activism in an Aspiring Muslim Democracy
Alice Kang. Bargaining for Women’s Rights: Activism in an Aspiring Muslim Democracy." International Feminist Journal of Politics, 18(3), pp. 511–512
Capturing the Airwaves, Capturing the Nation? A Field Experiment on State-Run Media Effects in the Wake of a Coup
Investigating the media's effect on citizens immediately after a nondemocratic regime transition has thus far remained elusive to scholars, despite the frequency of such transitions. This study examines the effect of putschist-controlled broadcasting in the wake of Mali's 2012 coup and separatist insurgency. We leverage a field experiment of a radio (vs. flashlight) distribution program in an area where citizens' only form of mass media is state-…
Electoral Politics in Africa since 1990: Continuity in Change
Democratic transitions in the early 1990s introduced a sea change in Sub-Saharan African politics. Between 1990 and 2015, several hundred competitive legislative and presidential elections were held in all but a handful of the region's countries. This book is the first comprehensive comparative analysis of the key issues, actors, and trends in these elections over the last quarter century. The book asks: what motivates African citizens to vote? W…
Is women’s empowerment associated with political knowledge and opinions? Evidence from rural Mali
Weak states and uneven pluralism: Lessons from Mali and Kyrgyzstan
We argue that certain important democratic practices and elements of pluralism are lasting features of political systems in many poor countries. Because of state weakness, such arrangements work to the benefit of both elites and citizens. The broader citizenry and civil society enjoy significant political freedoms and greater access to foreign aid. Elites tolerate these limited civil liberties and regular elections because they produce few costly…
Making North–South Research Collaborations Work
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Beyond Ethnic Politics in Africa
To date, much of the literature on African politics has focused on the salience of ethnicity. Dominika Koter’s groundbreaking book highlights that there is tremendous variation in the role of ethni
Migration aspirations from a youth perspective: Focus groups with returnees and youth in Mali
Mali has one of the highest migration rates in Africa, but we still know very little about the processes and drivers of migration - particularly in the context of the current political crisis. This article draws on 27 focus groups with 220 returnees and male youth respondents conducted in the summer of 2018. Respondents cite underemployment and the inability to provide for relatives as well as a feeling of hopelessness about a future life in Mali…
What Stymies Action on Climate Change? Religious Institutions, Marginalization, and Efficacy in Kenya
Addressing climate change requires coordinated policy responses that incorporate the needs of the most impacted populations. Yet even communities that are greatly concerned about climate change may remain on the sidelines. We examine what stymies some citizens’ mobilization in Kenya, a country with a long history of environmental activism and high vulnerability to climate change. We foreground efficacy—a belief that one’s actions can create chang…
Social interaction and technology adoption: Experimental evidence from improved cookstoves in Mali
Who leads? Village development committees and local governance in Southern Malawi
Since the 1980s, many developing countries have enacted policies of decentralization to create localized, representative forms of government. A highly under‐studied body of local governance are village development committees (VDCs). Utilizing a mixed‐method approach in three districts of Southern Malawi, we combine surveys, focus groups, and interviews to examine the role of VDCs in local politics. Selected by their peers, VDC members navigate a …
Personality, community, and politics: Relating the five factor model to political behaviour in an African setting
Numerous studies demonstrate the impact of personality traits on political attitudes and behaviours, but these theories have not been tested in African contexts. Using a survey conducted in three indigenous languages of 1,516 respondents from northern Ghana, we demonstrate the salience of personality variables in predicting political attitudes and behaviours. These results are striking given the region's strong social hierarchies, low levels of e…
Youth in West and Central Africa: Quests for Inclusion and the Future of Governance
Youth aged twenty-four and under make up more than 64% of the population in West and Central Africa. They are the most educated and technologically connected cohort that the continent has ever seen. Contrary to their demographic weight, they are largely excluded from leadership roles within politics, the economy and the formal security sector. This part special issue highlights barriers to youth integration into the political and economic landsca…
Drinking Tea with the Neighbors: Informal Clubs, General Trust, and Trustworthiness in Mali
There has been scant empirical evidence linking associational membership to general trust and trustworthiness. This study explores urban youth clubs in Mali and asks: is membership in these groups associated with greater trust and trustworthiness toward society? It leverages 18 months of fieldwork, including 375 group surveys, 2,525 individual surveys, over 1,300 trust games, and transcripts from 66 focus groups. We use propensity score matching …
Can Student Body Diversity Foster Inter-ethnic Trust, Tolerance, and National Identification Prioritization? The Role of Friendship in Kenya
Education is thought to be an essential tool for building social cohesion in an ethnically diverse society. This paper evaluates the effect of exposure to a more diverse student body on trust, tolerance, and patriotism in one country where the government has made explicit efforts to use schooling to foster social cohesion: Kenya. In the wake of electoral violence in the 2007 elections, Kenya’s government expanded the number of ‘national schools’,…
Political science (19 works) · Politics (15 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Law (11 works) · Economics (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Geography (7 works) · Democracy (6 works) · International Development and Aid (6 works) · Political Conflict and Governance (6 works)