Fall 2026 Murphy Brown Bag Series: Mel Pavlik

Sharing Ideas and Building Community Over Lunch

Assistant Professor of Political Science and Murphy Core Faculty

Caroline Richardson Building
Sponsored by:
The Murphy Institute

More Information

Join fellow Murphy affiliates for our Fall Brown Bag Series, featuring informal research presentations and discussions by Murphy scholars. This is a first-hand opportunity for Murphy faculty and affiliates to receive input on new or ongoing projects, collaborate and info-share with peers, and enhance connection among our multidisciplinary community. 

The October Brown Bag Lunch will be led by Mel Pavlik, Murphy Core Faculty and Assistant Professor of Political Science.

Professor Pavlik will be presenting on a book project, "Why do states fail to enforce policies governing the poor and vulnerable?" Focused on informality, unions as political brokers, and coercion in urban Nigeria, the project zeros in on policies regulating the Lagos informal transport industry and analyzes the case with a combination of multiple original datasets, including highly disaggregated geospatial and social network data. Insights from these are combined with extensive qualitative work in the field, stakeholder interviews, and archival data. Together, these suggest the state can engage in policy non-enforcement (or ''forbearance'') not to benefit informal populations, but to appease non-state groups who both exploit informal populations and serve as entrepreneurs of political violence for the state.

The Murphy-Verse Brown Bag Lunch Fall 2026 Series will take place on the first Tuesday of the month from 12 pm -1 pm (unless otherwise noted). 

SAVE THE DATE!

Open to all Murphy affiliates. If you are interested in sharing your work as part of the Brown Bag Series or have any questions, reach out to Erika Cooperman at ecooperman@tulane.edu. 

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