For best experience please turn on javascript and use a modern browser!
You are using a browser that is no longer supported by Microsoft. Please upgrade your browser. The site may not present itself correctly if you continue browsing.

Dr. R.D. (Ruth) Carlitz

Associate Professor
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Programme group: Political Economy and Transnational Governance
Photographer: Jeroen Doomernik

Visiting address
  • Nieuwe Achtergracht 166
  • Room number: 8.06
Postal address
  • Profile

    I am an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam, where I am part of the Political Economy and Transnational Governance (PETGOV) program group. My research focuses on the politics of public goods provision in low-income countries, from the perspectives of both governments and citizens. My regional expertise lies primarily in East Africa. I have conducted extensive fieldwork in Tanzania, and have also been involved in research activities in Kenya, Malawi, and South Africa.

    I recently launched a 5-year project, "ClimateFiGS: Understanding the Allocation of Climate Finance in the Global South.” The project is funded by a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC).

    Research expertise

    • African Politics
    • Comparative Politics
    • Environmental Politics
    • Foreign Aid Effectiveness
    • Public Administration
    • Political Economy of Development
  • Research

    Research methods

    • Budget Analysis
    • GIS
    • Mixed Methods
    • Quantitative Methods

    Current research projects

    Using Natural Language Processing to Understand How Politics Conditions Foreign Aid Effectiveness
    With Jelke Bloem I am using  AI-based techniques to investigate the downstream consequences of politicization on the effectiveness of USAID projects.

    Budgeting for the Future: Understanding the Allocation of Climate Finance in the Global South (ClimateFiGS)
    This project examines the allocation and spending of climate finance, centering the perspectives of governments and citizens in Africa.

    Individual Grants

    • European Research Council Starting Grant, 2024-2029.
    • Boren Fellowship, U.S. National Security Education Program, 2013
    • Development Research Challenge, Center for the Evaluation of Global Action, UC-Berkeley, 2011.

    Collaborative Grants

    • UvA ENLENS (Energy Transition Through the Lens of SDGs) cross-faculty grant.
    • Swedish Expert Group for Aid Studies, 2023-2024.
    • EGAP Climate Change Governance Case Study Grant, 2023.
    • UvA Social & Behavioural Data Science Centre Valorization Grant, 2023.
    • Research Project Grant, Swedish Research Council, 2019-2023.

    RPA

    • ENLENS
  • Teaching
    • African Politics (MA elective)
    • Political Economy of International Development (MARP)
  • Publications

    2024

    • Bauhr, M., Carlitz, R., & Kovacikova, L. (2024). Beyond Buildings: Social Bargaining and Effective Access to Public Services. Public Organization Review, 24, 389-406. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-023-00741-1 [details]
    • Boräng, F., & Carlitz, R. (2024). The Double Democratic Bind: Challenges to Enacting Mandates and Combating Misinformation. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 49(1), 189-215. https://doi.org/10.1215/03616878-10910233 [details]
    • Carlitz, R. D., & Ziaja, S. (2024). Harmony or Cacophony? A Disaggregated Analysis of Aid Fragmentation. Studies in Comparative International Development, 59(1), 176–198. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-023-09386-z [details]
    • Cookson, T. P., Carlitz, R. D., Berryhill, A., & Fuentes, L. (2024). Gender-transformative action, social norms and economic empowerment. European Journal of Politics and Gender. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1332/25151088Y2024D000000022
    • Wang, S., Eggers, G., de Roode Torres Georgiadis, A., Đo, T. A., Gontard, L., Carlitz, R., & Bloem, J. (2024). Towards quantifying politicization in foreign aid project reports. In H. Afli, H. Bouamor, C. Blasi Casagran, & S. Ghannay (Eds.), The Second Workshop on Natural Language Processing for Political Sciences (PoliticalNLP 2024): proceedings : LREC-COLING 2024 : 21 May, 2024, Torino, Italy (pp. 85–90). (COLING), (LREC). ELRA Language Resources Association. https://aclanthology.org/2024.politicalnlp-1.9 [details]

    2023

    2021

    • Bauhr, M., & Carlitz, R. (2021). When does transparency improve public services? Street-level discretion, information, and targeting. Public Administration, 99(3), 500-516. https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12693
    • Carlitz, R. D., & Lust, E. (2021). Governance Beyond the State: Social Institutions and Service Delivery. In A. Bågenholm, M. Bauhr, M. Grimes, & B. Rothstein (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Quality of Government Oxford Handbooks.
    • Carlitz, R. D., & Makhura, M. N. (2021). Life under lockdown: Illustrating tradeoffs in South Africa's response to COVID-19. World Development, 137, Article 105168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105168
    • Carlitz, R. D., & McLellan, R. (2021). Open data from authoritarian regimes: New opportunities, new challenges. Perspectives on Politics, 19(1), 160-170. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592720001346
    • Carlitz, R. D., & Povitkina, M. (2021). Local interest group activity and environmental degradation in authoritarian regimes. World Development, 142, Article 105425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105425
    • Carlitz, R., Yamanis, T., & Mollel, H. (2021). Coping with denialism: How street-level bureaucrats adapted and responded to COVID-19 in Tanzania. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 46(6), 989-1017. https://doi.org/10.1215/03616878-9349128
    • Mechkova, V., & Carlitz, R. (2021). Gendered accountability: When and why do women's policy priorities get implemented? European Political Science Review, 13(1), 3-21. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755773920000272
    • Yamanis, T., Carlitz, R. D., & Mollel, H. (2021). Adapting COVID-19 containment in Africa: Lessons from Tanzania. In S. L. Greer, E. J. King, E. Massard da Fonseca, & A. Peralta-Santos (Eds.), Coronavirus Politics: The Comparative Politics and Policy of COVID-19 University of Michigan Press. https://www.press.umich.edu/11927713/coronavirus_politics/?s=look_inside

    2019

    2017

    2013

    • Carlitz, R. (2013). Improving transparency and accountability in the budget process: An assessment of recent initiatives. Development Policy Review, 31(S1), 49-67. https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12019
    • Seifert, J., Carlitz, R., & Mondo, E. (2013). The Open Budget Index (OBI) as a Comparative Statistical Tool. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 15(1), 87-101. https://doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2012.748586

    2009

    • Carlitz, R. D., de Renzio, P., Krafchik, W., & Ramkumar, V. (2009). Budget transparency around the World: Results from the 2008 open budget survey. OECD Journal on Budgeting, 9(2), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1787/budget-v9-art19-en

    2023

    2022

    2020

    • Cookson, T., Carlitz, R. D., Fuentes, L., & Berryhill, A. (2020). A gender data snapshot of life during COVID-19: Survey on Gender Equality at Home Report. Facebook.

    2017

    • Carlitz, R. D. (2017). Identifying and overcoming binding constraints to rural water services for the B40 in Tanzania: WASH Poverty Diagnostic Report.
    • Carlitz, R. D., & Boex, J. (2017). Decentralization and the delivery of water and sanitation services in Tanzania.

    2013

    • Carlitz, R. D., & McGee, R. (2013). Raising The Stakes: The Impact of HakiElimu’s Advocacy Work on Education Policy and Budget in Tanzania. International Budget Partnership (IBP).
    • Carlitz, R. D., & McGee, R. (2013). `The Users' in Technology-for-Transparency-and-Accountability Initiatives: Assumptions and Realities. http://www.ruthcarlitz.com/pdf/IDS-UserLearningStudyonT4T&AIs.pdf

    2024

    2022

    • Carlitz, R., Morjaria, A., & Mueller, J. M. (2022). State-Building in a Diverse Society. (NBER Working paper series; No. 30731). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w30731 [details]

    2021

    • Carlitz, R. D. (2021). Assessing the Costs and Benefits of COVID-19 Containment Strategies in Africa. (V-Dem Users’ Working Papers). V-Dem Institute. https://www.v-dem.net/media/publications/uwp_40.pdf
    • Cookson, T., Carlitz, R. D., Fuentes, L., & Berryhill, A. (2021). Who cares during crisis? New global gender data on time poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ladysmith Collective.
    This list of publications is extracted from the UvA-Current Research Information System. Questions? Ask the library or the Pure staff of your faculty / institute. Log in to Pure to edit your publications. Log in to Personal Page Publication Selection tool to manage the visibility of your publications on this list.
  • Ancillary activities
    • UN Women
      Consultant, Studies on Finance for Sustaining Peace