I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University. I am also a non-resident fellow at the Stratbase-Alberto Del Rosario Institute (ADRi) in the Philippines and the Paramadina Institute for Public Policy (PIPP) in Indonesia. From Spring to Summer 2019, I was a Global China Initiative Fellow at the Global Development Policy Center (GDPC) at Boston University.
I bridge the fields of comparative political economy, sociology of elites, and development studies. Using mixed-methods approaches, I investigate the relationship between capital inflows and elite collective action. Focusing on the Philippines and maritime Southeast Asia more broadly, my research explores three interrelated themes: (1) elite conflict or consolidation around new capital, (2) illicit capital and offshore financial centers, and (3) the political economy of natural resources.
My dissertation, “Contentious Capital: The Political Economy of Chinese investments in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia,” examines how the developing world’s political and economic elites are reacting to changes in the global political economy, particularly the surge of Chinese capital. Specifically, I examine how democratic and would-be authoritarian leaders use Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI), aid, and other financial inflows to deal with the problems of popular legitimacy and elite power-sharing. Since 2017, I have done extensive fieldwork in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, conducting long-term visits in provinces and project sites and over 180 interviews with politicians, oligarchs, civil society organizations, and representatives of Chinese firms. I have also generated an original dataset on elite conflict and firm-level data on Chinese FDI. The project has been funded by the Southeast Asia Research Group, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, The Smith Richardson Foundation, the National Endowment of Democracy, and a number of other academic networks.
My research has been awarded multiple best graduate research paper awards by sections of the American Sociological Association (ASA), published in academic journals (e.g. Development and Change, Environmental Policy and Governance, and Journal of Agrarian Change), and consulted by Southeast Asian politicians and technocrats. Apart from academic publishing, I also contribute to popular outlets and think tank reports. I have been cited and/or interviewed by The Financial Times, Bloomberg, the South China Morning Post, the Wall Street Journal, Nikkei Asian Review, NPR, and other news outlets. I have been invited to speak at universities, think tanks, international organizations, state institutions, and political risk firms (e.g. World Bank, US Embassy Manila, and AidData).
For general inquiries, please email me at acamba1@jhu.edu or aacamba@gmail.com
Follow me on twitter @alvincamba
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Department of Sociology, 533 Mergenthaler Hall, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland, 21218