Research
I am a problem-driven researcher with a broad methodological toolkit. My published and ongoing work uses in-depth interviewing, participant observation, process tracing, experiments, and large-N analysis of survey data.
My research focuses on violence and politics, as well as problems of democracy. My current projects examine how support for illiberalism spreads transnationally, how crime and insecurity undermine support for human rights, and connections between gender-based violence and political violence. I am also starting a new collaborative project on vital records as a source of state power.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Bateson, Regina. 2026. “Victims as Political Actors.” in Research Handbook on Victims, Rights, and Justice, Eds. Robyn Holder, Alice Bosma, and Verónica Michel. Edward Elgar Publishing. (in press)
Bateson, Regina and Christine Cheng. 2024. “Research Ethics and State Power: Access vs. Integrity in the Study of Armed Actors.” Conflict, Security & Development 24 (6): 645-671. Process vs. Practice.”
Bateson, Regina. 2024. “Finding Meaning in Politics: When Victims Become Activists.” Perspectives on Politics (FirstView): 1-20.
Honorable mention for the 2023 Kendra Koivu Paper Award from the APSA Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Section.
Bateson, Regina. 2023. “Perceptions of Pandemic Resume Gaps: Survey Experimental Evidence from the United States.” PLoS ONE 18(3): e0281449.
Bateson, Regina and Michael Weintraub. 2022. “The 2016 Election and America’s Standing Abroad: Quasi-Experimental Evidence of a Trump Effect.” The Journal of Politics 84(4): 2300-2304.
Bateson, Regina. 2022. “Voting for a Killer: Efraín Ríos Montt’s Return to Politics in Democratic Guatemala.” Comparative Politics 54(2): 203-228.
Bateson, Regina. 2021. “The Politics of Vigilantism.” Comparative Political Studies 54(6): 923-955.
Bateson, Regina. 2020. “Strategic Discrimination.” Perspectives on Politics 18(4): 1068-1087.
Full text available for free download here.
Honorable mention for the 2019 Carrie Chapman Catt Prize for Research on Women and Politics.
See related columns and coverage in Ms. Magazine, Forbes, Politico, The Monkey Cage @ Washington Post, Nautilus, The Conversation (US), The Conversation (Canada), and Men Yell at Me by Lyz Lenz.
Replication files available here.
Bateson, Regina. 2017. “The Socialization of Civilians and Militia Members: Evidence from Guatemala.” Journal of Peace Research 54(5): 634-647.
Bateson, Regina. 2012. “Crime Victimization and Political Participation.” American Political Science Review 106(3): 570-587.
Awarded the 2013 Heinz Eulau Award for the best article published in the APSR in the previous year.
Replication instructions and do-files are available here, here, and here.
Working papers & research in progress
“Human Rights or Criminals’ Rights? How Crime and Insecurity Undermine Support for Human Rights in Latin America.” (with Joséphine Lechartre) Under review.
“Transnational Dynamics of Democratic Backsliding: Nayib Bukele and Illiberal Diffusion in Latin America.” (with Natalie Chaudhuri and Joséphine Lechartre) Paper available upon request.
“Wartime Violence and Political Participation in Guatemala and El Salvador.”
“The Ethics of Research with Victims of Violence.”
“Gender-based Violence and Political Violence.”
Beyond Security: Vigilantism as Contentious Politics (book manuscript)
