Lotem Halevy
I study the political origins of exclusionary ideologies, how they take root in society, become embedded in state institutions, and shape the trajectories of both democracies and autocracies. |
Thank you for visiting my webpage, where you can find information about my research and teaching. I am a Visiting Assistant Professor at Providence College. Prior to that, I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Cluster of Excellence, The Politics of Inequality, at the University of Konstanz after completing my PhD in Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania in 2024. During my time in graduate school, I was fortunate to be the Queen Elizabeth Scholar at St. Catherine's College, Oxford University (2022-2023). Before that, I had the opportunity to experience the interdisciplinary approach of LSE's European Institute as a visiting PhD student.
My research uses a mixed-methods approach that relies on large-scale archival data reconstruction from hard-to-access archives (often in collaboration with digital historians). I use these originally (re)constructed administrative datasets to explain the underlying causes that shape regime change, party systems, and state-society relations during and after imperial rule.
I also work on contemporary issues related to extremism, populism, nationalism, and the decline of centrist parties across the traditional divide between Europe's Western "center" and Eastern "periphery," during the liberalization and diversification of electorates. Across both my historical and contemporary work, I analyze how political parties, amid the turbulence of changing party systems, shape distinct pathways of regime consolidation through contestation over who is included in the nation and, subsequently, who has access to the nation-state. My work, therefore, also examines how diversity shapes politics in (mostly) authoritarian regimes and the boundaries of national identity, including processes of racialization, access to citizenship, and civil rights and liberties.
I am currently completing work on my first book project, The Liberal Origins of Fascism: The Politics of Access in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The book explains why some countries tended towards national socialism, a secular form of fascism, while many other, comparatively understudied countries embraced religious fascism in the interwar period. I trace the divergence in fascist regimes to the ways in which political parties struggle over liberalization in ethnically, religiously, and nationally diverse societies. The book relies on several qualitative case studies of constitutional changes to voting rights and legal changes governing state-society relations, as well as statistical analyses of previously unavailable data from the constituent states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
In my free time, I climb mountains (with my legs, not my arms), paint, thrift, cook for friends and family, and write fiction and nonfiction short stories. I have also lived in more than 20 cities across seven countries and three continents, experiencing a wide range of institutional and social contexts. I draw on aspects of these experiences in both my teaching and research. If you are a graduate student who has experienced a medical emergency during graduate school, I am always here to listen. Thank you for visiting, and please do not hesitate to reach out.
My research uses a mixed-methods approach that relies on large-scale archival data reconstruction from hard-to-access archives (often in collaboration with digital historians). I use these originally (re)constructed administrative datasets to explain the underlying causes that shape regime change, party systems, and state-society relations during and after imperial rule.
I also work on contemporary issues related to extremism, populism, nationalism, and the decline of centrist parties across the traditional divide between Europe's Western "center" and Eastern "periphery," during the liberalization and diversification of electorates. Across both my historical and contemporary work, I analyze how political parties, amid the turbulence of changing party systems, shape distinct pathways of regime consolidation through contestation over who is included in the nation and, subsequently, who has access to the nation-state. My work, therefore, also examines how diversity shapes politics in (mostly) authoritarian regimes and the boundaries of national identity, including processes of racialization, access to citizenship, and civil rights and liberties.
I am currently completing work on my first book project, The Liberal Origins of Fascism: The Politics of Access in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The book explains why some countries tended towards national socialism, a secular form of fascism, while many other, comparatively understudied countries embraced religious fascism in the interwar period. I trace the divergence in fascist regimes to the ways in which political parties struggle over liberalization in ethnically, religiously, and nationally diverse societies. The book relies on several qualitative case studies of constitutional changes to voting rights and legal changes governing state-society relations, as well as statistical analyses of previously unavailable data from the constituent states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
In my free time, I climb mountains (with my legs, not my arms), paint, thrift, cook for friends and family, and write fiction and nonfiction short stories. I have also lived in more than 20 cities across seven countries and three continents, experiencing a wide range of institutional and social contexts. I draw on aspects of these experiences in both my teaching and research. If you are a graduate student who has experienced a medical emergency during graduate school, I am always here to listen. Thank you for visiting, and please do not hesitate to reach out.