Scholars
Todd A. Eisenstadt
American University
Based in
United States
North America
Todd A. Eisenstadt has worked on six continents, publishing multiple award-winning books and dozens of articles on climate change and environmental policy, and political development. He recently co-authored Climate Change, Science, and the Politics of Shared Sacrifice (Oxford University Press 2022) and has written extensively on climate finance and adaptation in the developing world (conducting national surveys in Bangladesh and Ecuador and in Guatemala with colleagues in 2022) as a principal investigator of World Bank and the National Science Foundation grants. In 2019, he published Who Speaks for Nature? Indigenous Environmental Movements, Public Opinion, and Ecuador’s Petro-State, studying rural, indigenous communities to understand how they experience climate vulnerability, especially in areas of heavy oil extraction in Ecuador’s Amazon region. Published by the Oxford University Press, the book stems in part from an earlier book, Politics, Identity, and Mexico’s Indigenous Rights Movements (Cambridge University Press, 2011). His research also looks at the relationship between constitution-making processes and democratization across scores of nations, and the implementation of judicial reforms in Mexico and Latin America.
Publications
Peer-reviewed monographs
“Who Speaks for Nature: Indigenous Rights Movements, Public Opinion, and the Petro-State in Ecuador.” (with Karleen West). 2019. New York: Oxford University Press.
“Constituents Before Assembly: Participation, Deliberation, and Representation in the Crafting of New Constitutions.” With Carl LeVan and Tofigh Maboudi. 2017 (paperback 2018). New York: Cambridge University Press.
“Democracia, derechos humanos y derechos indigenas en municipios de usos y costumbres.” With Moisés Jaime Bailón Corres, and Carlos Sorroza. 2016. Oaxaca, Mexico: Instituto Estatal Electoral y de Participacion Ciudadana de Oaxaca.
“Politics, Identity, and Mexico’s Indigenous Rights Movements.” With American University. 2011. New York: Cambridge University Press. Contentious Politics Series. Kindle version also published.
“Courting Democracy in Mexico: Party Strategies and Electoral Institutions.” 2004. New York: Cambridge University Press. Paperback version also published.
“Cortejando a la Democrácia en México.” 2004. Mexico City: El Colegio de México Press.
Peer-reviewed journal articles
Eisenstadt, Todd A., Tawfique Haque, Michael Toman, and Matthew Wright. 2022. “The ‘Adaptation Paradox’ and Citizen Ambiguity over Government Climate Policies: Survey Findings from Bangladesh.” in Sustainability 14 (8623).
Eisenstadt, Todd A., Olawole, Ifeoluwa; Toman, Michael A. 2021 “Climate Adaptation Finance in World Bank Economic Development Programs: The Challenges of Systemic Transformation via “Scaling Up.” in Sustainability, 13 (19), 10553.
“Render unto Caesar Just a Little Bit Longer: The Relationship Between Constitutional Reforms and Executive Survival.” With Tofigh Maboudi and Ghazal Nadi. 2021. Government and Opposition, 1–22.
“Being There is Half the Battle: Group Inclusion, Constitution-Writing, and Democracy.” With Tofigh Maboudi. 2019. In Comparative Political Studies.
“National Environmental Policies as Shelter from the Storm: Specifying the Relationship Between Extreme Weather Vulnerability and National Environmental Performance.” With Dan Fiorino and Daniela Stevens. 2019. In Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences 9:1, 96-107.
“Environmentalism in a Climate-Vulnerable State: Rainforests, Oil, and Political Attitudes along Ecuador’s Extractive Frontier.” With Karleen West. 2017. In Journal of Comparative Politics 49:1, 231-251.
“Indigenous Belief Systems, Science, and Resource Extraction: Climate Change Attitudes in Ecuador and the Global South.” With Karleen West. 2016. In Global Environmental Politics 17:1:40-58.
“When Talk Trumps Text: The Democratizing Effects of Deliberation on Constitution-Writing, 1974-2011.” With Carl LeVan and Tofigh Maboudi. (August 2015). American Political Science Review 109, 3: 592-612.
“Multicultural Institutions, Distributional Politics, and Post-Electoral Mobilization in Indigenous Mexico.” With Viridiana Ríos Contreras. 2014. Latin American Politics and Society, vol. 56, no. 2, 70-92.
“Ethnic Identity, Informal Institutions, and the Failure to Elect Women in Indigenous Southern Mexico.” With Michael S. Danielson and Jennifer Yelle. 2013. Journal of Politics in Latin America, 3-33.
“Walking Together, but in Which Direction? Gender Discrimination and Multicultural Practices in Oaxaca, Mexico.” With Michael S. Danielson. 2009. Politics & Gender 5, 153-184.
“Agrarian Tenure Institution Conflict Frames, and Communitarian Identities: The Case of Indigenous Southern Mexico.” 2009. Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 42 (1), 82-113.
“Usos y Costumbres and Post-Electoral Conflicts in Oaxaca, Mexico, 1995-2004: An Empirical and Normative Assessment.” 2007. Latin American Research Review: 52-77.
“The Origins and Rationality of the ‘Legal versus Legitimate’ Dichotomy Invoked in Mexico’s 2006 Post-Electoral Conflict.” 2007. PS: Political Science and Politics 40: 39-43.
“Indigenous Attitudes and Ethnic Identity Construction in Mexico.” 2006. Estudios Mexicanos/Mexican Studies Vol 22 (1): 107-129.
“Catching the State Off Guard: Electoral Courts, Campaign Finance, and Mexico’s Separation of State and Ruling Party.” 2004. Party Politics 10, 6 : 723-745.
“Introduction: Comparative Party Finance, What is to be Done?” With Justin Fisher. 2004. Party Politics 10, 6 : 619-626.
“Settling Election Disputes: What the U.S. Can Learn from Mexico.” 2004. The Election Law Journal 3, 3 (summer): 530-536.
“Thinking Outside the (Ballot) Box: Informal Electoral Institutions and Mexico’s Political Opening.” 2003. Latin American Politics and Society 45, 1 (spring), 25-54. Published in Spanish in the journal Derecho y Cultura, spring 2003.
“Measuring Electoral Court Failure in Democratizing Mexico.” 2002. International Political Science Review 23, 1 (winter), 47-68.
“The Neglected Democrats: Protracted Transitions from Authoritarianism.” 2000. Democratization, 7, 3 (fall), 3-25.
“Judicial Institutions in a Democratizing Regime: Legal Versus Extra-Legal Settlement of Mexico’s Post-Electoral Conflicts [in Spanish].” 1999. Foro Internacional, 156-157.
“Observation of Legal Norms by Opposition Parties and Electoral Court Autonomy in Mexico’s Democratic Transition [in Spanish].” 1998. Foro Internacional, 152-153.
Textbook
“Climate Change, Science, and the Politics of Shared Sacrifice.” With Stephen MacAvoy. 2022. Textbook for undergraduates published by Oxford University Press.
Research: edited volumes
“Latin America’s Multicultural Movements and the Struggle Between Communitarianism, Autonomy, and Human Rights.” Co-edited with Mike Danielson, Moisés Jaime Bailón Corres, and Carlos Sorroza. 2013. New York: Oxford University Press.
“Democracy Observed: Local Electoral Institutions in Mexico.” Co-edited with Luís Miguel Rionda. 2002. Guanajuato: University of Guanajuato Press.
“Subnational Politics and Democratization in Mexico.” Co-edited with Wayne Cornelius and Jane Hindley. 1999. La Jolla: Center for US-Mexican Studies, University of California, San Diego.
“Caring Capacity versus Carrying Capacity – Community Responses to Mexican Immigration in San Diego’s North County.” Co-authored with Cathryn L. Thorup. 1994. La Jolla: Center for US-Mexican Studies, University of California, San Diego.
Research: book chapters
“Introduction: Reconciling Liberal Pluralism and Group Rights: A Comparative Perspective on Oaxaca, Mexico’s Experiment in Multiculturalism,” in Eisenstadt, Todd A., Michael S. Danielson, Moisés Jaime Bailón Corres, and Carlos Sorroza, eds. 2013. Latin America’s Multicultural Movements and the Struggle Between Communitarianism, Autonomy, and Human Rights. New York: Oxford University Press.
“Conclusion: Balancing Tensions between Communitarianism and Individual Rights and the Challenges They Present for Multicultural States,” With Willibald Sonnleitner, in Eisenstadt, Todd A., Michael S. Danielson, Moisés Jaime Bailón Corres, and Carlos Sorroza, eds. 2013. Latin America’s Multicultural Movements and the Struggle Between Communitarianism, Autonomy, and Human Rights. New York: Oxford University Press.
“Participation and Representation in Oaxaca, Mexico’s Customary Law Elections: Normative Debates and Lessons for Latin American Multiculturalism.” With Jennifer Yelle. 2014. Spanish version in Nuevas Instituciones de Democracia Participativa en América Latina: La voz y sus consecuencias. México, D.F.: Facultad Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales, Sede México.
“Participation and Representation in Oaxaca, Mexico’s Customary Law Elections: Normative Debates and Lessons for Latin American Multiculturalism.” With Jennifer Yelle, in Cameron, Maxwell A., Eric Hershberg, and Kenneth E. Sharpe, eds. 2012. New Institutions for Participatory Democracy in Latin America: Voice and Consequence. New York: Palgrave McMillan.
“Ulysses, the Sirens, and Mexico’s Judiciary: Increasing Commitments to Strengthen the Rule of Law.” With Jennifer Yelle. 2012. In Roderic Ai Camp, ed. Oxford Handbook of Mexican Politics. New York: Oxford University Press.
Singer, Martha, ed. 2007. “Ambiguities in the application of usos y costumbres in Oaxaca [Spanish].” With Viridiana Ríos Contreras. In Indigenous Organization and Political Participation [in Spanish]. Mexico City: Nacional Autonomous University (UNAM) Press and Gernika.
“Mexico’s Concertacesiones: The Rise and Fall of a Substitutive Informal Institution.” 2006. Helmke, Gretchen and Steven Levitsky, eds. Informal Institutions and Politics in Latin America. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 227-248.
“Off the Streets and Into the Courtrooms: Resolving Postelectoral Conflicts in Mexico.” 1999. Andreas Schedler, Larry Diamond, and Marc Plattner, eds. The Self-Restraining State: Power and Accountability in New Democracies. Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder. 83-104.
“Electoral Federalism or Abdication of Presidential Authority? Gubernatorial Elections in Tabasco.” In Subnational Politics and Democratization in Mexico. 1999. Edited with Wayne Cornelius and Jane Hindley. Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, University of California, San Diego. 269-293.
“The Rise of the Mexico Lobby in Washington: Even Further from Heaven and Closer to the United States.” 1997. In Rudolfo de la Garza and Jesus Velasco, eds., Bridging the Border: Mexico’s New Foreign Policy. Roman and Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, Maryland.
“Colombia: Negotiations in a Shifting Pattern of Insurgency.” 1995. With Daniel Garcia, in I. William Zartman, ed., Elusive Peace: Negotiating an End to Civil Wars. Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C. 265-298.