Sean Rao
Researcher, analyst, and instructor of comparative politics and international relations
Sean Rao is a doctoral candidate in government and politics at the University of Maryland. His three-article dissertation studies religion and other strong ideologies as signals of political commitment, rather than signals only of identity or instrumental means of seeking power, at the organizational level and the individual level. His other research interests include the spread of religious commitment signals on social media, American public opinion on foreign policy, particularly related to religious and national identity, and how social ties, often formed over religious activity, can condition the behavior of rebel organizations. He is a Fulbright alumnus who carried out fieldwork in summer 2021 to study the Arab parties of Israel.
CV
Works in Progress
Religion and Ideology as Signals of Commitment (Dissertation)
Three articles studying religion and secular ideologies as signals of commitment to political goals at the organizational level and the individual level, as an immediate effect and as a process, with evidence from an original cross-national dataset, survey experiment, and in-depth interviews of the Arab parties of Israel.
Exclusive and Inclusive Religious and National Values: The Case of American Views on Israel
Designed original survey questions on American identity and views of Israel
Rebel Group Origins and Civilian Victimization
Co-authored with Jessica Maves Braithwaite, Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham, and Margaret McWeeney