Colin Brown
Assistant Teaching Professor of Political Science
Colin Brown’s current research is focused on the effects of electoral rules and laws on the descriptive representation of first-, second- and third-generation immigrants, particularly in Western Europe. His recent work has identified conditions under which the same rules may offer advantages to immigrant minorities while compounding women’s under-representation (or vice-versa), looking at variations in German, Dutch and French local election laws.
Prior to Northeastern, Colin was a college fellow and coordinator of the JFK Memorial Policy Fellows Program at Harvard University. There, he taught courses on comparative political parties and on the politics of citizenship and naturalization. He was also actively involved in the development of Harvard’s GovWrites, a tool to teach writing skills and concepts of academic integrity to undergraduate government concentrators. He maintains an active interest in the scholarship of teaching and learning, including ongoing research projects studying the effectiveness of rubrics and peer review in teaching writing for the social sciences.
- “From “Good” to “Effective”: Teaching Writing Skills Explicitly in Political Science,” in Pedagogy Through the Research Process, Julia Hellwege, Eric Loepp and Daniel Mallinson, eds. Palgrave Macmillan: Forthcoming.
- (with Sarah E. James and George Soroka) “Explicit Content: Two Experiments on Bringing Writing Instruction into the Political Science Classroom.” Forthcoming. Journal of Political Science Education.
- Book Review: “Dilemmas of Inclusion: Muslims in European Politics” by Rafaela Dancygier, 2017. EuropeNow, July 2018
- “Feedback Loop: Reflections form a Peer Review-Intensive Seminar,” American Political Science Association Teaching and Learning Conference, Albuquerque, February 2020
- “Representing Women and Immigrant Minorities in French Communes: Differential Effects of Electoral Rules,” Northeastern Political Science Association, Philadelphia, November 2017.
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Education
PhD, Harvard University, 2015
BA, University of Rochester, 2007 -
Contact
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Address
905 Renaissance Park
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Office Hours
Wednesdays 10:30am to 12:00pm (make an appointment)
Thursdays 3:00 to 4:00pm (drop-in)
All office hours can be in-person or via Zoom -
Dialogues
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Associations
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Introduction to Comparative Politics
POLS 1155
Presents a comparative study of political organization and behavior in a range of countries beyond the United States. Topics includes political culture, political economy, governing institutions, leadership, and political participation.
Immigration Politics
POLS 2359
Offers an overview of immigration politics from a comparative perspective. Examines the history of immigration to the United States and Europe, focusing on migration, naturalization, assimilation, and integration policies. Details the political processes that have led to different policies over time and across countries.
