Daniel P. Aldrich

Daniel P. Aldrich (born 1974) is an academic in the fields of political science, public policy and Asian studies. He is currently full professor of political science and public policy at Northeastern University. Aldrich has held several Fulbright fellowships, including a Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Applied Public Policy (Democratic Resilience) at Flinders University in Australia in 2023, a Fulbright Specialist in Trinidad-Tobago in 2018, a Fulbright research fellowship at the University of Tokyo's Economic's Department for the 2012–2013 academic year, and a IIE Fulbright Dissertation Fellowship in Tokyo in 2002–2003. His research, prompted in part by his own family's experience of Hurricane Katrina, explores how communities around the world respond to and recover from disaster.

Much of Aldrich's research has explored the interaction between social networks, public policy, and the environment. His research interests include comparative politics, nuclear power, disaster recovery, and countering violent extremism. One of his main contributions has been the argument that social capital serves as the critical engine for post-disaster recovery and that these ties are more important than factors such as damage from the event, wealth, or investment in physical infrastructure. His work has been cited by organizations such as Facebook, the Red Cross, NYC Emergency Management, the Legal Services Corporation, and the City Club of Portland in their focus on the role of social ties during disaster. He has also worked extensively on interactions between civil society, social networks, and the state, especially in the siting of controversial facilities.

Aldrich's earlier research focused on Japan's nuclear power program. He has been interviewed extensively in the press as an expert on this subject. Aldrich's ongoing work includes a focus on social infrastructure, that is, the facilities and places that help people meet, build trust and create and maintain social capital Provided by Wikipedia