Jonathan Hanson | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Jonathan Hanson
Download Image
Core faculty

Jonathan K. Hanson

MPP/MPA Program Director; Lecturer in Statistics for Public Policy
(734) 615-1496 [email protected]

Jonathan Hanson is a political scientist and lecturer in statistics at the Ford School. He is also director of the school's MPP/MPA program. His research explores the roles of democracy and state capacity in human development, why authoritarian regimes vary in economic and social outcomes, how the spatial distribution of ethnic group populations interacts with political institutions to affect public service delivery, and how to measure state capacity. Hanson holds an MA in economics and a PhD in political science from the University of Michigan. Prior to entering academia, he served as a legislative assistant in Congress for several years and worked on political campaigns. He continues to follow American electoral politics closely.

View Hanson's CV (personal site).

Educational background

  • PhD in political science, University of Michigan
  • MA in economics, University of Michigan
  • BA in government, Harvard College

Recent publications

  • "Leviathan's Latent Dimensions: Measuring State Capacity for Comparative Political Research." Journal of Politics (2021)
  • "The Current Developing State." In De-Centering State Making: Comparative and International Perspectives (2018)
  • "State Capacity and the Resilience of Electoral Authoritarianism: Conceptualizing and Measuring the Institutional Underpinnings of Autocratic Power." International Political Science Review (2018)