Welcome! My name is Nicole Wilson, and I am a College Fellow and incoming Assistant Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. I received my PhD from MIT in May 2024. My research focuses on citizen-state relations and political behavior in urban contexts, primarily in the Global South. In my work, I seek to further our understanding of the politics of cities by bringing in and improving our more general theories of state capacity and political accountability. My dissertation interrogates the political implications of the trend toward private service delivery in cities around the world, drawing on the case of private gated communities in Lagos, Nigeria. I highlight property managers as understudied political actors and explore their role as intermediaries between citizens and the state.

Methodologically, I am interested in innovative field methods to access difficult-to-reach populations, primarily using surveys and administrative data.

I also value pursuing collaborations across subfields and have worked on several projects in American Politics on topics related to public opinion and housing.