Political Science

Eva Rios is currently a seventh year Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Politics at Brown University.  Her research focuses on religion and politics with and includes topics such as education, security, public opinion, federalism and subnationalism, and Latin American politics. Eva’s dissertation broadly examines the consequences of expanding Evangelicalism in Brazil and looks at two policy issue areas in particular: security and education. The project asks questions like How does variation in Evangelicalism explain variation in public opinion on important issues, like security policy? Once Evangelical politicians are elected, what strategies do they use to pursue the policies that Evangelicals support? Are these strategies successful? And, when these strategies fail, how do Evangelical citizens continue the pursuit of these policy changes? Eva’s dissertation employs a mixed-method strategy that combines causal inference, surveys, and expert interviews conducted during several months of fieldwork in Brazil in 2022. Eva has continuously sought out the most updated quantitative training through courses in Political Science and Economics at Brown, workshops on causal inference and survey research, and other training sessions. Eva’s research has been published in Publius: The Journal of Federalism and Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law. She was previously a fellow for the Graduate Program in Development at Brown University during the 2019-2020 academic year.

Job Market Paper Title

Faith Based Policy: Evangelicals and Education in Brazil

Job Market Paper Abstract

Evangelicalism is a global religious movement on the rise – in Brazil, Evangelicals have grown from 5 percent of the population in 1970 to over 30 percent in 2021. As Evangelicalism spreads, so does its political relevance, with Evangelicals gaining representation through elected politicians. This article advances the study of Evangelical politics by examining what happens after elections. Do Evangelical politicians enact changes aligned with their religion? And if not, how do Evangelicals respond in order to achieve policy changes in line with their faith? In Brazil, Evangelicals seek to protect children from early sexualization and leftist 'indoctrination' by banning references to gender and sexuality in classrooms. This study uses a mixed methods design, including a politician characteristic regression discontinuity design (PCRDD) and a shift-share instrumental variables analysis, to explore Evangelicalism's impact on education. Results indicate that municipalities narrowly electing Evangelical mayors are 14 percent more likely to propose restrictive education laws, though few succeed due to judicial intervention. Instead, Evangelicals are changing education through the formation of informal institutions by reporting and harassing teachers, leading to self-censorship and teacher attrition. A 1% increase in a municipality's Evangelical population corresponds to nearly one additional report against a teacher to the Ministry of Women, Family, and Human Rights. This article contributes to the literature on religion and politics, subnational politics, and education policy by exploring Evangelical influence in Brazil.