CLAS Speaker Series: Out of Power but Not Powerless

CLAS Speaker Series: Out of Power but Not Powerless

Feb
23
12:30 pm
Event Status
As Scheduled
Presenter
Fernando Tormos-Aponte, University of Pittsburgh (Sociology)

Fernando Tormos-Aponte is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh and a Kendall Fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from Purdue University and a BA from the Universidad de Puerto Rico—Río Piedras. Dr. Tormos-Aponte specializes in social movements, environmental and racial justice, intersectional solidarity, identity politics, social policy, and transnational politics. Dr. Tormos-Aponte’s research on social movements focuses on how social movements cope with internal divisions and gain political influence. Tormos-Aponte also investigates civil society claims about the uneven government response across communities. His work in this area examines the causes and consequences of government neglect of socially vulnerable communities during disaster recoveries.

Presentation summary:

Emerging scholarship assesses the electoral consequences of climate disasters. This study contributes to this literature by evaluating the extent to which communities underserved by disaster recovery efforts punish political incumbents. Using power restoration in the US territory of Puerto Rico after Hurricane María in 2017 as a measure of government responsiveness, the study examines how government responsiveness to disasters affects subnational electoral outcomes during the 2020 elections in Puerto Rico.

In-Person event
Location
4217 Posvar Hall
Event Type
Lecture Series / Brown Bag
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