Welcome to my personal academic website!
I am a political scientist specializing in Comparative Politics and Quantitative Methodology. I study regime legacies, and do so through the lens of comparative democratization, contentious politics, and public opinion, with a regional focus on Latin American politics. In particular, my research explores whether and how historical experiences with democracy and dictatorship shape the prospects of successful democratization and the peaceful resolution of domestic political conflict. You can find out more about my research here or by accessing my CV.
My substantive research interests also inform my teaching, and have added additional depth to the broad range of course topics that I have taught so far. To see how, you can take a look at my teaching portfolio, which includes several graduate and undergraduate course syllabi as well as the official end-of-semester course evaluations.
I received my PhD in Political Science from Indiana University Bloomington (2019). Not that long ago, I taught at the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine (AY 2019-2020) and at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (2021-2023). I currently serve as a senior policy officer at Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap.
If you have any questions or comments about my work, or if you want to share your research, please do send me a note. You can reach me through e-mail via wkastart [at] wynandkastart [dot] com, or any of the other venues listed on my contact page.
Thank you for visiting my website!
Yours Truly,
