DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

“Imagine a kid who's 9 or 10 years old and goes in there, and maybe that's not the world view that their parents have told them about, and they feel like, ‘Oh, OK, well, I guess I don't really belong here. I guess I'm not really part of this community,’” said Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, a Northwestern University professor of political science and professor and chair of religious studies.

Actors gushing “I’ve always wanted to direct” has become a cliché. But Whitney White’s arc has been different. Her ambitions for the stage were long focused on performing. It wasn’t until she was nearly 30 that she leaned into directing. What followed was a quick rise to the A list. Less than a decade into a career on the other side of the footlights, the Chicago native scored a 2024 Tony nomination for her Broadway debut, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Now Chicago Shakespeare Theater remounts the slice-of-life comedy, opening a three-week run January 14. The cast will be new, but White returns, along with her Tony-winning design team. “I can’t say enough how important it is to me that this show is coming to Chicago Shakes,” she says. “It really feels like a homecoming. One of the first theater classes I ever took was with [CST artistic associate] Bob Mason.”

"Short Summary: His research examines how different types of criticism affect judicial legitimacy - the public's enduring trust in courts as institutions. Through careful survey experiments in the Czech Republic, he finds cautious but encouraging evidence that negative portrayals of court decisions - whether as partisan tools or elite institutions disconnected from the public - do not significantly reduce public perceptions of legitimacy in the short term, even in relatively newer democracies. The findings suggest that undermining courts may require more than isolated rhetorical attacks - perhaps sustained campaigns against judicial authority or a pattern of partisan decisions by the courts themselves.

Matej Jungwirth is a PhD candidate in Political Science in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. His research explores the impacts of territorial loss and displacement, aiming to illuminate the experiences of displaced communities and guide the development of policy solutions. Matej’s work spans global contexts, including a current project on Ukrainian refugees in the Czech Republic. He is the recipient of many awards including the Buffett Institute Graduate Research Fellowship.

Can norm-based information campaigns reduce corruption? Such campaigns use messaging about how people typically behave (descriptive norms) or ought to behave (injunctive norms). Drawing on survey and lab experiments in Ukraine, we unpack and evaluate the distinct effects of these two types of social norms. Four findings emerge: First, injunctive-norm messaging produces consistent but relatively small and temporary effects. These may serve as moderately effective, low-cost anti-corruption tools but are unlikely to inspire large-scale norm transformations. Second, contrary to recent studies, we find no evidence that either type of norm-based messaging “backfires” by inadvertently encouraging corruption. Third, descriptive-norm messages emphasizing corruption's decline produce relatively large and long-lasting effects—but only among subjects who find messages credible.

Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie today announced the six staffers on his communications and community relations team, four of whom worked side-by-side with Lurie during his successful mayoral campaign.

Tai Brown is a PhD student in Northwestern's Political Science Department. His research interests are situated within the fields of international relations, international law, and comparative politics, with a regional focus in Southeast and East Asia. Currently, he is developing a research project investigating transitional justice in South Korea and Taiwan. Prior to beginning his graduate studies at Northwestern University he completed two bachelor's degrees in Asian and Asian American Studies and Political Science at the University of Connecticut, and a Master's Degree in International Affairs from Ming Chuan University in Taiwan. In his free time he loves reading manga, watching anime, skateboarding, and playing video games. Tai can be reached at: tarifbrown2029@u.northwestern.edu