Greta Schenke is a fourth-year PhD student in Comparative Politics in the Department of Government. Her research examines the political economy of state-building, nationalism, and democratic representation, combining historical and contemporary perspectives.

Her dissertation investigates the political origins of state building in late nineteenth-century Prussia. It explores how international economic competition shaped labor-market and migration policies, asking why political elites pursued policies that imposed substantial economic costs.

In another line of her research, Schenke studies questions related to democratic representation and the origins of elite accountability. Across her work, she combines quasi-experimental and mixed-methods research designs, drawing on quantitative text analysis, statistical methods, and archival research.