Democracy and Governance Studies

Hans Noel's research is concerned with political coalitions, political parties and ideology, with a focus on the United States. He teaches on parties, elections, political history and political methodology, including the department's Ph.D. methods sequence. Noel is the co-author (with Marty Cohen, David Karol and John Zaller) of Beating Reform: The Resurgence of Parties in Presidential Nominations, 1980-2004 (under contract, University of Chicago Press), which argues that the party leaders maintain control of the nomination process, even though the system is open to ordinary voters through primaries. Noel is also working on a policy-centered general theory of political parties and on the application of social network analysis to political coalitions and coordination. His dissertation, "The Coalition Merchants: How Ideologues Shape Parties in America Politics," seeks to explain the source of ideology and how it influences politics. The dissertation treats ideology and party as alternative and often conflicting ways of organizing politics. These alternatives influence each other, but ideologues can be the stronger influence, both indirectly, by defining the political landscape in which parties compete, and directly, by capturing control of various party organs. Before coming to Georgetown, Noel was a fellow in the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. From 1994 to 1997, Noel worked for a daily newspaper in Virginia. He is the co-director/co-producer of the award-winning feature film "The Rest of Your Life."