Donghyun Danny Choi

Assistant Professor of Political Science

University of Pittsburgh

I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh. My research focuses on two broad themes: democratic representation and identity politics.

My first book project, which won APSA’s Juan Linz Prize for Best Dissertation in the Comparative Study of Democracy in 2020, investigates how political parties and the nature of candidate selection institutions influence the relationship between elected representatives and their constituents in new democracies. My coauthored second book project examines the extent to which common norms, identities, and ideas can reduce prejudice and discrimination against immigrants and ultimately facilitate their inclusion in democratic polities. I also have a series of papers and projects on these two themes.

I received my PhD in Political Science from UC Berkeley in 2018 and was previously a pre/postdoctoral fellow at the Identity & Conflict Lab, University of Pennsylvania.

You can reach me at dannychoi[at]pitt.edu

Interests

Democratic Representation
Political Parties
Identity Politics
Political Methodology

Education

PhD in Political Science, 2018

University of California, Berkeley
MA in Political Science, 2012

University of California, Berkeley
BA in Economics, 2007

Korea University

Book Projects

Donghyun Danny Choi, Mathias Poertner, Nicholas Sambanis

Jul 10, 2020 10:33 PM

Norms, Ideas, and Identities: Overcoming Discrimination Against Immigrants (Under Contract at Princeton University Press)

This book argues that inter-group conflict between natives and immigrants can be decreased through shared social norms that define a common ingroup identity. Anti-immigrant bias is a form of ethnic conflict driven mainly by cultural differences.

Donghyun Danny Choi

Jul 10, 2020 10:33 PM

Severed Connections: Intraparty Politics and Representation in Democratic Africa (In Progress)

This book project explores the conditions under which political parties can undermine the representation of citizen interests in new democracies. Conventional wisdom has emphasized the centrality of parties in mediating the relationship between voters and politicians, attributing the representational deficit observed across the developing world to the lack of stable partisan attachments or the ephemeral nature of political parties.

Publications

Donghyun Danny Choi, Mathias Poertner, Nicholas Sambanis (2020). Linguistic Assimilation Does Not Reduce Discrimination Against Immigrants: Evidence from Germany. Forthcoming at Journal of Experimental Political Science.

PDF DOI

Donghyun Danny Choi, Mathias Poertner, Nicholas Sambanis (2019). Parochialism, Social Norms, and Discrimination against Immigrants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116(33), 16274-16279.

PDF Video DOI

Chris Krogslund, Donghyun Danny Choi, Mathias Poertner (2015). Fuzzy Sets on Shaky Ground: Parameter Sensitivity and Confirmation Bias in fsQCA. Political Analysis 23(1), 21-41.

PDF DOI