Welcome!

Hi, I’m Tara. I’m a Ph.D. student and Presidential Scholar in the Department of Government at Harvard University. My research examines citizen–state relations in Latin America, focusing on how perceptions of state failure shape democratic attitudes and political behavior. I’m particularly interested in the causes and consequences of waning support for democracy in contexts with historically high-performing institutions, like Chile, Costa Rica, and Uruguay.

You can find a copy of my CV here.

I received my B.A. in Political Science with Distinction and Interdisciplinary Honors in Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law from Stanford University. My honors thesis, “Seeing Like a Citizen: Fragmented Citizenship in Santiago de Chile,” examines how socioeconomically vulnerable individuals conceptualize and exercise their citizenship and was awarded the Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research .

I am currently a research affiliate at the Poverty, Violence, and Governance Lab and the Democracy Action Lab, both at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. I am also a graduate student affiliate at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, both at Harvard University.

I am from Monteverde, a small village in the Costa Rican cloud forest—one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. I grew up outdoors, riding horses, and attended a small bilingual Quaker school from the age of three until graduating from high school.

Before graduate school, I was the Democracy Impact Coordinator at the Latin American philanthropic organization VélezReyes+, where I developed a network of political leadership incubators across seven countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, and Uruguay.

You can reach me at tarahein@g.harvard.edu.