I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science at the University of Chicago, specializing in comparative politics and quantitative methods. I study comparative political behavior, redistributive politics, and democratic backsliding, with a regional focus on Latin America.
My dissertation examines the determinants of anti-establishment attitudes and protest behavior among voters in the developing world, employing survey experiments, text-as-data analysis of campaign speeches, semi-structured interviews, and case studies. I identify the conditions that lead voters to develop anti-establishment attitudes, the types of appeals employed by outsiders, and the broader consequences for democracy. In other projects, I investigate the rhetorical strategies of anti-democratic politicians, support for LGBT candidates, and the relationship between conflict and pro-indigenous policies.
My research has received support from the Center for International Social Science Research, the Center for Latin American Studies, the Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression, and the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts. From 2024 to 2025, I will be a Graduate Fellow at the Social Sciences Research Center.
I hold a B.A. in Political Science from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella (UTDT), Argentina.
My CV is available here. You can contact me by e-mail at lcella@uchicago.edu.
My CV is available here. You can contact me by e-mail at lcella@uchicago.edu.