SALOMON E. ORELLANA

Email: orellan6@msu.edu
osalomon@gmail.com
Fields: Comparative Politics, Political Methodology
Dissertation:  The Effects of Electoral Institutions on Information Diversity, Public Opinion, and Public Policy
Expected Dissertation Defense: Spring 2008
Committee: Carlos Pereira (Chair), Brian Silver, Eric Chang, and Yeow Thum (College of Education)

Salomon Orellana’s research and teaching interests include comparative politics, electoral institutions, modernization theory, political information, political psychology, comparative public opinion, comparative public policy, the quality of governance, and political methodology.  His research also focuses on advanced democracies and Latin America.  Salomon is a recipient of the Competitive Doctoral Enrichment Fellowship (2003-2008) awarded by Michigan State University.  He plans to complete his dissertation in the Spring of 2008.  He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Science Studies at Calvin College in 1997. 

His dissertation argues that countries with electoral institutions that permit a more diverse political discourse (parliamentary proportional electoral systems) tend to have media that cover a broader range of political issues.  Sensitive issues (such as homosexuality and environmental protection) receive greater attention under consensual institutions than under majoritarian institutions, and this helps to explain why countries with parliamentary proportional representation systems tend to have citizens with higher levels of tolerance for sensitive issues and why these countries tend to act earlier on these kinds of issues. 

Salomon has presented several papers on these topics at the MPSA and APSA conferences.  He also intends to extend this line of research to other areas of public opinion, public policy, economic development, and to the question of governance.  

Salomon is currently teaching a course on Third World politics, and he is scheduled to teach a course on public opinion in the Spring of 2008.  He has also led discussion sections for Introduction to Political Science and Introduction to the Methodology of Political Analysis, both with Professor Charles Ostrom.  His other teaching interests include: comparative politics, electoral institutions, and comparative public policy.