Background

I am a Senior Lecturer in Comparative Politics focused on comparative political behaviour, survey, and experimental research. I am also the Politics Postgraduate Research co-Director (with Dr. Nick Randall).

I have been involved in large survey projects like the Mexican National Elections Study that is part of the Comparative Studies of Electoral Systems. I am a member of the Revista Latinoamericana de Opinión Pública's editorial board. I have served as  Associate Editor of the Journal of Experimental Political Science and Research and Politics. I am a member of the Evidence and Governance in Politics network (EGAP) 

I am interested in supervising postgraduate research students in the area of political psychology focused on electoral behaviour, campaign communication, electoral polls, emotions, prejudice. 

Qualifications

PhD University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Previous Appointments

Associate professor, Political Science, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) (1/12/2016 -31/7/2019)

Visiting Scholar, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (01/03/2017-31/12/2018)

Visiting Scholar, Central European University (CEU) (01/01/2018-31/12/2018)

Research in Excellence Fellow, Central European University (CEU) (24/01/2017-31/07/2017)

Assistant professor, Political Science, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) (1/7/2010 - 31/12/2017)

Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for US-Mexican Studies, University of California, San Diego (01/09/2009-30/06/2010)

Research

My research looks at the interaction of prejudice and context on people’s political behaviour. For example, using experimental methods I have looked at the influence of candidates and voters' racial appearance (phenotypes) as well as gender on voters' preferences in Brazil, Mexico, and the U.S.A. I have also looked at the effect of party labels in Mexico and Uganda. I have analyzed the role of emotions as moderators of political judgment in Hungary.

I am also working in  projects related to survey and experimental methods. I am interested in investigated the factors that affect the level of accuracy in pre-electoral polls across different contexts. Currently I am developing a project on motivated reasoning in the UK with Dr Michael Traugott. 

Teaching

I also enjoy teaching. I have previously taught different courses: 1) Introduction to Comparative Politics; 2) Psychological Processes of Racial Prejudice in the U.S.A.; 3) Construction of Mexico's National Identity and Racial Ideology; 4) Public Opinion and Political Behavior; and 5) Political Psychology and Experimental Methods.

Newcastle University

POL3124 : Mexican Politics: Authoritarianism & Democracy

Publications

• Articles

  • Aguilar R, Hughes DA, Gell-Redman M. Phenotypic Preference in Mexican Migrants: Evidence from a Random Household Survey. Political Behavior 2019, 41(1), 187-207.
  • Aguilar R, Carlin R. Ideational Populism in Chile? A Case Study. Swiss Political Science Review 2017, 23(4), 404-422.
  • Conroy-Krutz J, Moehler D, Aguilar R. Partisan Cues and Vote Choice in New Multiparty Systems. Comparative Political Studies 2016, 49(1), 3-35.
  • Aguilar R, Cunow S, Desposato S. Choice Sets, Gender, and Candidate Choice in Brazil. Electoral Studies 2015, 39, 230-242.
  • Aguilar R, Cunow S, Desposato S, Barone L. Ballot Structure, Candidate Race, and Vote Choice in Brazil. Latin American Research Review 2015, 50, 176-201.

• Book Chapters

  • Aguilar R, Conroy-Krutz J. Electoral Persuasion in the New Democracies: Challenges and Opportunities. In: Suhay, L; Grofman, B; Trechsel, AH, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Persuasion. Oxford University Press, 2019.
  • Aguilar R, Carlin R. Populist Voters: The Role of Voter Authoritarianism and Ideology. In: Hawkins,KA;Carlin,RE;Littvay,L; Rovira Kaltwasser,C, ed. The Ideational Approach to Populism: Concept, Theory and Method. New York, NY, USA: Routledge, 2018, pp.396-418.
  • Aguilar R. Mexico: Ethical Perspectives in Countries without IRB. In: Desposato S, ed. Ethics and Experiments Problems and Solutions for Social Scientists and Policy Professionals. New York: Routledge, 2016, pp.139-148.