Profile
Brigitte Zimmerman is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. Her research focuses on the relationship between citizens and political officials, with a particular emphasis on accountability mechanisms in consolidating democracies. Her dissertation examines the strategic responses of political officials to anti-corruption interventions that increase transparency and accountability. Other current research addresses incumbency advantage under diverse institutional contexts, the political economy of FDI and foreign aid, and the ethics and methods of field research. She typically works in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on Malawi and Zambia. Her research is supported by the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DDIG), and the Center for Effective Global Action at the University of California, Berkeley. Before her studies at UCSD, Brigitte worked in for-profit and non-profit consulting in the US, Europe and Africa. She contributes as an ongoing volunteer and board member to several non-profit organizations in the US and Africa.
