Lotem Bassan-Nygate

Lotem Bassan-Nygate is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Her research lies at the intersection of international relations, political psychology, and experimental methods. Bassan-Nygate studies the impact of international dynamics, such as human rights criticism and diplomacy, on political attitudes and behaviors.

In her book project, Who is Watching? The Consequences of Foreign Criticism, Bassan-Nygate develops a multi-audience theory of “naming and shaming” that sheds light on the motives, outcomes, and unintended consequences of foreign criticism. This project is based on her doctoral dissertation, which won the 2024 Merze Tate Award (formerly Helen Dwight Reid Award) for the best international relations, law, and politics dissertation from the American Political Science Association.

Bassan-Nygate’s broader research agenda can be grouped into three topics: domestic politics of international relations, political behavior, and experimental research methods. Her work has appeared in or been accepted into several leading journals including the American Journal of Political Science, the British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, and Journal of Experimental Political Science.

Bassan-Nygate received her PhD in Political Science in 2023 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and hold a B.A. (cum laude) in International Relations from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. She was previously a postdoctoral research associate at the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeton University and a predoctoral research fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative.