Assistant Professor of Practice; Director of Early College and Faculty Community Engagement Strategy
Kirstie Dobb’s research analyzes various modes of youth political participation such as voter behavior, involvement in political parties, and civic engagement through protests and civil society. Her dissertation specifically explores the global phenomenon of youth voter abstention. Her work utilizes the world’s newest democracy, Tunisia, as a case study for exploring this pervasive global pattern. In a quantitative analysis, Dr. Dobb’s finds that the strongest explanation of youth abstention does not go beyond the fact that this cohort is young. Thus, shifting young people’s orientation towards politics and/or increasing youth mobilization efforts unlikely lead to greater turnout. Instead, we need to search for alternative methods for boosting youth voter participation that go beyond traditional “Get out the Vote” tactics employed in many western democracies.
Doherty, David, Schraeder, Peter, and Dobbs, Kirstie L. (2019) “Do Democratic Revolutions
‘Activate’ Participants? The Case of Tunisia.” Forthcoming in Politics.
Dobbs, Kirstie L, and Schraeder, Peter. (2018). “Evolving Role of Civil Society Actors in the Foreign Policy Making Process: Human Rights, Women’s, Legal, Labor, and Youth Groups.” The Journal of North African Studies. 24(4), 661-681.
Schraeder, Peter, Endless, Brian, Dobbs, Kirstie L, and Schumacher, Micheal. (2018). “Revolutionary Diplomats? Impacts of the Arab Spring on the Formulation and Implementation of North African Foreign Policies.” The Journal of North African Studies. 24(4), 540-557
Dobbs, Kirstie L, and JeongWoo, Lee. (2017). “Puzzling Policy Shifts: Fickle Western Support
of Democracy Promotion in Economically Salient Countries.” Politikon: The IAPSS Journal of Political Science. 32, 42-59.
This year’s edition of the American Cancer Society fundraising event at Merrimack will be held in part to honor the late Kevin Salemme ’95.
