“When I began graduate school, the issue of states losing control over their central functions piqued my interest,” says Blair Read, a sixth-year doctoral candidate in political science. To tackle such a broad agenda, she zeroed in on the case of private schooling. “It has exploded worldwide, especially in lower- and middle-income countries, and I’m trying to explain the phenomenon — the politics behind what is happening and how it might change the political landscape,” she says. With survey and field work skills sharpened by on-the-ground research in East Africa,…
