My name is Emily VanMeter, and I am a 5th year Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY. I specialize in International Relations, Comparative Politics, and Methodology. If you wish to learn more about what I'm working on at the moment, head to my Research page.

My dissertation explores the persistent effects of domestic trade and migration policies in developing England, Scotland, Ireland and France. Specifically, I use a new (and large) data set on town charters dating back as early as 1000 AD into the pre-revolutionary period to capture urban policy provision at various stages in state formation and development within these countries. In my first paper, I show how divergent self-interest among elites led to a political bargain with long-standing ramifications to a given city's economic policy. In my second paper, I show that, as an unintended consequence of this bargain,  levels of internal state development varied, and created obstacles in  centralized governance and redistribution. In my third paper, I argue that these policies and their immediate developmental outcomes were motivating factors in contemporaneous distrust of the national government and greater regional pride. This change in attitudes has been seen in movements for greater autonomy in Scotland, Cornwall, Bretagne, and Occitan, among other regions.

If any of the topics below (or an intersection between them) interest you, feel free to send me an email! I love talking about my research, collaboration, and learning new things.

Research interests: political leadership and policy-making, migration, 
comparative political economy, state formation, identity politics, civil conflict, non-democratic regimes. 

Prior to my graduate studies, I earned a B.A. in Political Science and a B.A. in French from the University of Kentucky. Go Cats! 

Find me on: 
LinkedIn | Twitter |  Women Also Know Stuff | Google Scholar | ResearchGate  

Public appearances:  ​This is not the most serious academic take on my dissertation research, but a place I discuss some of the misfortunes and curiosities that befell medieval cities.  Here I overview my experience as an NSF=REU fellow at the Department of Political Science at the University of North Texas. 
From left to right: my dog Henry (the Great), solving formal theory problem sets with my cohort my first year at Rochester, a photo from the time I was snowed in during "The Beast of the East", and a picture of me laughing because my hair is in my face during a trip to Stonehenge.