Lee, Helen
Helen Lee started her PhD at Michigan State in the fall of 2007. Originally from Seoul, Korea, she graduated from Yonsei University with master’s degree in international studies. She graduated from Ewha woman’s university with bachelor’s degree in German language and literature. Her primary academic interests lie in comparative politics and methodology. She is interested in the relationship between formal and informal institutions. The research questions on her current research agenda include to what extent party system change is attributable to changing parameters in patronage politics. In particular, she focuses on three main questions: (i) Why do ruling elites defect from established party and form a new one? What is the role of patronage in new party formation? (ii) Does elite competition over patronage resources leads to differentiation or convergence in party’s policy position? (iii) How does patronage practice affect party nationalization? Her Dissertation Committee chair is Professor Eric Chang.
Fellowships and Assistantship
APSA Travel Grant, 2011
Graduate Office, Conference Travel Grant, Spring, Fall 2011
Graduate Office Fellowship, Summer Methodological Training, 2008, 2010
Graduate School Summer Fellowship, 2009
Michigan State University, Graduate Assistantship, 2007-present
GSIS Yonsei University, Graduate Assistantship, Spring 2005
DAAD (German Academic Exchange Program), Scholarship, 2002
Academic Excellence Scholarship, Ewha Women’s University, Seoul, 2001
Conference Presentations
“Patronage Politics and Their Impacts on Party Nationalization.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, New Orleans, LA, January 2012.
“Patronage Politics and New Party Formation.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Seattle, WA, September 2011.
“Centrifugal Forces of Patronage Politics and Their Impacts on New Party Emergence.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, April 2011
