Research expertise: African politics, identity, religion, political behavior, social norms, political economy of development, program evaluation 

Constantine Manda, UCI assistant professor of political science, studies religiosity in Africa and its political and economic implications. Using surveys and other methodologies, he’s uncovering the level of importance African citizens place on religion and the introduction and evolution of these beliefs. While political economic explanations and secularization theory argue that politically-centralized ethnic groups in the ancient period in Africa are more likely to have high incomes today and these incomes translate into less religiosity, Manda has found the opposite to be true across the 19 African countries he’s studied. Specifically, Africans who today descend from politically-centralized ethnicities are more likely to be religious. Professor Manda explains that this is due to ancient politically-centralized rulers claiming a divine right to their rule enabling the co-evolution of both religious and political institutions in Africa. This is contrary to Africans who descend from ethnicities whose political authority was more diffused across several individuals or clans.

 

 

His work has been supported by the Network of Impact Evaluation Researchers in Africa, Social Sciences Research Council, Partnership for Economic Policy Network, Hewlett Foundation, International Development Research Centre, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, and several institutional grants. Findings are published in The Quarterly Journal of Economics and Health Education & Behavior, with forthcoming publications in The Journal of Politics and Comparative Political Studies. In 2022, he was named among the "30 Most Influential Young Economists" in Sub-Saharan Africa, a recognition bestowed by the Institute of Certified Chartered Economists based in the United Kingdom. Professor Manda also sits on various advisory boards including at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and IDInsight as well as faculty affiliate or invited researcher with the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) based at MIT as well as the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) based at the University of California, Berkeley.

Manda earned his bachelor’s in economics at Xavier University, his master’s in public policy at University of Chicago, and his master’s and Ph.D. in political science at Yale University. He is coming to UCI from Tanzania where he co-founded and served as inaugural director of the Impact Evaluation (IE) Lab at Tanzania's Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF). He’s excited to join the UCI School of Social Sciences which celebrates a rich history of interdisciplinarity, and he’s looking forward to collaborating with colleagues across the school and university.