David Altman

I am Professor of Political Science at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. My research and teaching lie in the field of comparative politics with an emphasis on democracy: its quality, its institutions, and its innovations. I am particularly interested in mechanisms of direct democracy and my current research extends my previous work on the subject [Direct Democracy Worldwide (Cambridge University Press, 2011)] by looking at the policy consequences of citizen participation through popular initiatives and referendums. In this regard, I am also involved in two other, related, research projects: Varieties of Democracy and the Millennium Nucleus for the Study of Stateness and Democracy in Latin America.