Jacob Kopas is a doctoral candidate in Comparative Politics and International Relations in the Political Science Department at Columbia University in New York. He has been the recipient of a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant in Political Science, and developed a successful EGAP Metaket grant for a field experiment measuring the impact of community-led forest monitoring on deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon.
Jacob’s research focuses on two fundamental topics. The first focus is on environmental politics and the political economy of environmental protection. Current research projects include studying the role of international human rights law in indigenous peoples’ movements, and uncovering how politics affect incentives for designating protected areas or permitting large energy projects.
The second focus examines the intersection of law and politics. His research pays special attention to the power of legal rights and international law to change political attitudes and mobilize social movements. Jacob’s doctoral dissertation studies these effects, as results of large land titling projects in the countryside of Peru and Colombia, including an ambitious land restitution project aimed at victims of forced displacement in Colombia.
Jacob’s work as an ISEP student fellow includes studies on the politics of energy infrastructure and policy, focusing on environmental licensing and the differential impact of pollution on vulnerable communities. He is now ISEP’s Program Lead for study of natural resources.