Africa Initiative

Donghyun Danny Choi is the Stephen Robert Assistant Professor of Political Science at Brown University. His research bridges the study of political institutions and intergroup relations to study the twin challenges of representation and inclusion in diverse societies, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa. His book project, Severed Connections, reframes our understanding of democratic dysfunction by tracing how politics inside parties shape the degree to which elected officials are attentive to the needs of their constituents, well before voters cast a ballot. Through a multi-method study of Kenya, alongside shadow cases from elsewhere in the world, the book uncovers how party leaders use control over candidate selection to balance competing objectives: winning elections and consolidating power within the party. It shows how leaders resolve this trade-off by strategically nominating voter-oriented candidates in competitive districts and loyalists in party strongholds. These choices structure the incentives that legislators carry into office, producing spatially uneven patterns of representation.