PRFDHR Seminar: Ethics in Field Experiments on Migration: Pushing the Frontiers, Professor Jeremy Weinstein

In this talk, Professor Jeremy Weinstein will discuss of the ethical dilemmas related to field experiments that are currently unaddressed by the model of institutional review boards in the social sciences. These are particularly important in the context of field experiments on migration and other risky behaviors. Drawing on lessons from the health sciences, he proposes new strategies and institutional approaches for addressing issues of risk and harm to participants and describe the implementation of one such approach in a real-world context in Niger.

Jeremy M. Weinstein is a professor in Stanford’s Department of Political Science, Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Sakurako and William Fisher Family Director of the Stanford Global Studies Division, and Ford-Dorsey Director of African Studies at Stanford University. He is also a non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, D.C.

His research focuses on civil wars and political violence; ethnic politics and the political economy of development; and democracy, accountability, and political change. He is the author of Inside Rebellion: The Politics of Insurgent Violence (Cambridge University Press), which received the William Riker Prize for the best book on political economy. He is also the co-author of Coethnicity: Diversity and the Dilemmas of Collective Action (Russell Sage Foundation), which received the Gregory Luebbert Award for the best book in comparative politics. He has published articles in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Annual Review of Political Science, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Journal of Democracy, World Policy Journal, and the SAIS Review.

This event is co-sponsored by the Program on Refugees, Forced Displacement, and Humanitarian Responses (PRFDHR) and the Georg Walter Leitner Program in International and Comparative Political Economy (The Leitner Program) at Yale MacMillan Center.