Melodie Chika Ogawa

Ogawa studies the interaction between high levelpoliticians/bureaucrats and political actors whom thestate legally designates as criminals. She is particularlyinterested in the cases in which the boundaries betweenlegal and illegal activities are blurred; that is, situations in which governmental actors cooperate with or (covertly) employ "criminals" for political ends, such as maintaining order. Her other thematic interests include political parties, bureaucracies, political demography, and the relationship between formal and informal institutions.