Megan
Reif

Megan Reif is a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science at the University of Michigan completing a dissertation in comparative politics on election violence and intimidation and a certificate in Spatial Analysis and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Minoring in world politics with a cognate field in Middle East and Islamic Studies, her research addresses relationships between institutions, democratization, electoral corruption, crime, political violence, and terrorism. She has spent 14 months conducting dissertation fieldwork in Algeria and Pakistan, in addition to ongoing research on municipal elections in Newark, New Jersey. As part of her dissertation research, Reif assisted Pakistan’s Free and Fair Election Network in data collection and analysis for its election violence media monitoring and Parallel Vote Tabulation during the 2008 National Assembly General and By-elections. Reif also authored The Asia Foundation’s Voter Education Pre-Election Survey and Report leading up to the 2008 General Elections in Pakistan.

Previously, Reif was the 2005 Charles Manatt Democracy Studies Fellow at the International Foundation for Election Systems, working with the Election Violence Education and Resolution Program. Earlier, she observed both rounds of Indonesia’s 2004 presidential election as part of The Carter Center’s Election Observation Mission.

Reif has co-taught survey methodology courses in Algeria and Oman and co-edited a volume on Islam and Democracy in Algeria. Previously, Reif conducted field research on the interaction of the Taliban, the humanitarian aid community, and Islamist political parties in Afghanistan and Pakistan as a U.S. Fulbright Fellow and as an associate at the Afghanistan Foundation. As Associate Director of Development for Health at The Carter Center, Reif handled proposal writing, grant reporting, and foundation and bilateral donor relationships for international disease eradication and agriculture programs in Sudan, North Korea, sub-Saharan Africa, and South America.

Reif is a Truman Scholar, holds an MA in Political Science from the University of Michigan, and a BA from Wake Forest University, where she was a research assistant for three years under the director of the American Institute of Pakistan Studies.