David Altman joins Sampol as a guest researcher
Professor David Altman, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, is Scholar-in-Residence at the department throughout January
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David Altman, a native of Montevideo, Uruguay, holds the position of full professor at the Political Science Institute at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He earned his Ph.D. in 2001 from the University of Notre Dame and completed his undergraduate studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Altman's primary focus in both research and teaching centers on comparative politics, with a particular emphasis on democracy. His work delves into the quality, institutions, performance, and innovations associated with democratic systems.
Altman has authored two significant works: "Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy" (Cambridge University Press, 2019) and "Direct Democracy Worldwide" (Cambridge University Press, 2011). His scholarly contributions encompass over sixty articles published in leading social science journals, along with chapters in edited volumes.
Throughout his career, Altman has held visiting professor positions at renowned institutions, including Harvard University, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at Notre Dame University, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), FLACSO (Ecuador), the Universidad de la República (Uruguay), the University of Hradec Králové (Czech Republic), the Institute of Developing Economies (Japan), and the Scuola Normale Superiore (Florence, Italy).
Beyond his academic roles, Altman serves as the Project Manager overseeing the direct democracy section for the "Varieties of Democracy" research collaborative and holds the position of director at V-Dem’s Latin America Regional Center.
Throughout his month-long stay in Bergen in January, Altman will be fully engrossed in his ongoing research, supported by the Chilean National Science Foundation (FONDECYT). His research is dedicated to investigating how various topics, institutional designs, and contextual factors influence the probabilities of referendums being approved. For inquiries, he can be contacted via email at daltman@uc.cl
