Sarah Bush

Sarah Bush an associate professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania.

Her research examines how international actors try to aid democracy, promote women’s representation, and influence elections globally. A more recent interest is the politics of climate change. She is the author or coauthor of three books with Cambridge University Press: The Taming of Democracy Assistance: Why Democracy Promotion Does Not Confront Dictators (2015), Monitors and Meddlers: How Foreign Actors Influence Local Trust in Elections (2022), and Crowded Out: The Competitive Landscape of Contemporary International NGOs. Her work has also appeared in leading journals such as the American Political Science Review and International Organization and been covered in outlets including the Economist and Washington Post.

She received a Ph.D. from Princeton University. Prior to coming to Penn, she held faculty positions at Yale University and Temple University and fellowships at Perry World House and the Harvard Kennedy School.