Blair Read
Policy and Practitioner Engagement

Stanford Internet Observatory
The New Copyright Trolls: How a Twitter Network Used Copyright Complaints to Harass Tanzanian Activists
In this report, co-authored with Shelby Grossman, Chris Giles, Cynthia N.M. and Miles McCain, we document how Twitter users strategically worked to get Tanzanian activists banned from Twitter.
Read the full report here.

MIT GOV/LAB
Why Do Politicians Support Private Schools? Exploring Political Incentives
In this blog post for MIT GOV/LAB, I report on qualitative research I conducted in India on politician support for private schooling.
Read the full blog post here.

Transparency and Accountability Initiative
Taxation and accountability in developing countries
Is there a fiscal contract between tax-paying citizens and their government? Is the presence of this contract linked to tax compliance or evasion? In this report, coauthored with Lily Tsai, Guillermo Toral, and Varja Lipovsek, we evaluate the evidence on the fiscal contract.
Read the full report here.

Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project
Election Administration Challenges in North Carolina
To understand the challenges of general election administration amidst a global pandemic, we looked to the primary elections to provide insight. I document changing voter patterns in North Carolina to help policymakers better prepare for the 2020 General Election.

Twaweza and MIT GOV/LAB
Voting and Citizen Engagement in Uganda
With MIT GOV/LAB and Twaweza, a civil society organization active throughout East Africa, we sought to understand how citizens engagement with politicians and voting in the lead-up to the 2016 Ugandan Presidential Election.
Read the blog post here.

Twaweza and MIT GOV/LAB
Youth Engagement and Political Participation in Uganda
In partnership with the Youth Coalition for Electoral Democracy, Twaweza sought to increase youth engagement in electoral politics by organizing issue debates with politicians and party representatives. I documented these debates.
Read the blog post here.