Overview
Alexandra Blackman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Government. Her research interests include the relationship between political regimes and religious institutions, as well as the role of religious identities in the political sphere. Alexandra’s research is motivated by a broader interest in the politics of the Middle East, including gender, political party development, the evolution of authoritarian institutions, and the role of foreign and transnational forces in the region. Her current book project examines the role of French colonization in the formation of Tunisian political identities and in the development of the Tunisian state’s relationship to religious institutions.
Alexandra was a Post-Doctoral Associate at New York University - Abu Dhabi (2019-2020) and a Pre-Doctoral Fellow at Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (2018-2019) prior to joining Cornell. She holds a PhD in Political Science from Stanford University. Before attending Stanford, Alexandra was a Center for Arabic Study Abroad Fellow in Cairo, Egypt (2010-2011) and Junior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (2011-2012).
Research Focus
- Relationship between political regimes and religious institutions
- Role of religious identities in the political sphere
- Politics of the Middle East including:
- gender
- political party development
- the evolution of authoritarian institutions
- the role of foreign and transnational forces in the region