Research
Dr. López-Santana’s research and teaching interests are threefold:
(1) the politics and governance of welfare states, and employment and social policy in Western Europe and the United States; (2) the governance, politics, and policies of multilevel systems (i.e., federalism, decentralization, devolution); and (3) States’ reactions to a variety of social problems and crises, including labor market exclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic, debt crises, and gang activity. She has also published work on the influence of European soft law on member states. These pieces focus on European non-binding employment policy, namely the European Employment Strategy and the Open Method of Coordination. Currently, she is spending her time trying to better understand the governance of financial crises, particularly the Puerto Rican case. |
Work in Progress:
* From Statecraft to Debt: Understanding the Puerto Rican Debt Crisis (Book Project) *Comparative Policy Analysis, Subnational Research, and Research Design:Lessons from the Literature on the Comparative Method (co-author: Dersu Tanca) * Solidarity and Responses to Crises in Federations” (under review; chapter in the Handbook of Federations and Federal Studies, Edward Elgar Publishers) |