Graduate Students Awarded Boren Fellowships

Two Government graduate students, Daniel Nogueira Budny and Matt Buehler, have each been awarded $24,000 Boren Fellowships to support their dissertation research.

Daniel Nogueira Budny's research focuses on political representation and party politics in Latin America. His dissertation explains the conditions under which leftist parties in Latin American democracies transform from radical, niche parties into professional, catch-all political parties focused on electability. Using the Boren Fellowship, he will travel to Brazil for advanced Portuguese language study and field research on the growth, development, and transformation of Brazil’s Workers' Party. In São Paulo and Brasilia, Budny will conduct archival research and structured interviews with elected officials and party members.

Matt Buehler's dissertation studies political parties in North African authoritarian states, examining their socio-economic constituencies and role in managing conflict among elites. Through the Boren Fellowship, Buehler will spend seven months in Algeria and five in Morocco conducting research, interviewing party leaders, and studying Darija Arabic (a North African dialect).

The National Security Education Program, designed to serve U.S. national security and competitiveness, awards Boren Fellowships through a national merit-based process to support study and research in areas of the world critical to U.S. interests.