Sarah Thompson

Graduate Student Research Funding | 2021 - 2022 Academic Year

Modern Traditions: Compliance and Legitimacy in Tribal Communities of Pakistan

In Pakistan, quality governance remains elusive. This is particularly true in the tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that face concomitant problems of refugee influxes, insurgencies and counter-insurgencies, and violent extremism, and for the women that reside there. Given institutional constraints of endemic cartel violence, corruption, and political marginalization of indigenous groups, can existing institutions fill this governance gap? In this study, I use a survey experiment and interviews to examine how state and “traditional” institutions in Pakistan differ in modes of securing citizen compliance with policies. My results will inform policymakers seeking to improve the efficacy of these policies, ensure inclusive growth, and support the rights of tribal peoples and women.

Sarah Thompson, Department of Political Science

Sarah Thompson is a sixth-year PhD Candidate in political science at Stanford. Her dissertation work focuses on the politics of those excluded from state-based political systems. She researches how women and other marginalized groups participate in state and indigenous governance systems, primarily in South Asia. Her work combines rigorous field experiments and qualitative insights from fieldwork to produce novel data and understandings of those "left behind" by state governance.

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