Jacob Turner

PhD Political Science

Department of Political Science, University of Notre Dame

Jacob Turner is a researcher investigating the police and public security policies in the context of democratic regimes. His main interests are how the police influence public policies and how contact with violent agents of the state constructs ideas of citizenship. He is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Dove Institute at the Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel).

His dissertation, "War in Words: Law, Order, and Iron Fist Politics in Brazil", investigates the participation of police officers in electoral politics in Brazil. Using a combination of survey experimental methods, semi-automated text analysis of electoral platforms, and qualitative interviews with dozens of candidates and public security professionals, the dissertation argues that the emergence of "security sector candidacies" represents a qualitative shift in the ways that police engage with the political system. Because of lingering, unaddressed professional grievances, a perceived inevitability of reform, and active threats to the status quo, police increasingly feel the need to make policy themselves, not simply block unwelcome reforms from outside, as is traditionally the case.

While his main focus is Brazil, Jacob has also published research focused on El Salvador and the United States.

Jacob's research has been generously funded by the NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) and a Fulbright Study/Research Grant, as well as internal grants from the Hellen Kellogg Institute for International Studies and The Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts. His work has appeared in Party Politics, Political Research Quarterly, Urban Affairs Review, Latin American Politics and Society, and Teoría e Pesquisa.

Education

• PhD, Political Science (Expected 2024)
  University of Notre Dame

• MS, Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics
  University of Notre Dame

• MA, Political Science
  University of Notre Dame

• BA, International Studies
  Rhodes College