Congratulations to Trina Vella who successfully defended her doctoral thesis

Trina’s dissertation analyses the role of courts in the US and Canada in responding to campaign finance legislation. She argues that the scope of corporate constitutional rights, the commodification of political speech, and the distribution of electoral participatory power are best understood through an analysis that utilizes and modifies insights from historical institutionalism, power resources models, neopluralism, and dialogue theory literature. Her dissertation contributes to our understanding of the politics and laws governing the role of money in elections.

Trina’s committee included Dr. Tony Porter, Dr. Stephen McBride and Dr. Michelle Dion. Thank you goes out to Dr. Peter Kruse for serving as chair and to Dr. Andrea Lawlor for serving as the external examiner.