Amanda Kennard

Amanda Kennard is an assistant professor of political science at Stanford University. She studies the politics of climate change and global governance, employing game theory and a range of quantitative methods. She received her PhD from the department of politics at Princeton University, an MS from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and a BA from New York University.

King Center Supported Research

2022 - 2023 Academic Year | Global Development Research Funding

Can Redistributive Policy Moderate Climate Induced Conflict?

Social and behavioral scientists are only just beginning to understand the implications of climate change for political systems. A small but growing body of work suggests that climate change undermines citizen trust in government; creates new demands for political accountability; and promotes the emergence of deadly violent conflict. Yet, we know little about the role of policy in shaping or moderating these political forces. This knowledge gap limits the practical value of current social scientific research for policy makers, non-governmental organizations, and citizen-activists who seek to prepare vulnerable communities and nations for the emerging threat of climate change. To shed light on these issues, this project will build a new, high resolution dataset of redistributive government policies and analyze their impacts—in combination with remote sensing data on economic development and climate shocks—on existing measures of trust in political institutions and elected leaders; non-violent political behavior such as voting and protest; and violent conflict. The research team will develop specific, evidence-based policy recommendations and disseminate these via targeted briefings with political leaders, international organizations, and the international development community.