Jenna Bednar

Jenna Bednar is a Professor at the University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, affiliated with the Philosophy, Politics & Economics program. Her research focuses on institutional analysis, federalism, and constitutional design. She is associated with the Center for Political Studies and Institute for Social Research.

• Ph.D., Political Science - Stanford University
• M.A., Political Science - Stanford University
• B.A., Political Science (Honors College) - University of Michigan

Professor Bednar's work examines the stability of federal states, complementary institutions in constitutional design, and the role of cultural capacity in governance. She employs formal modeling and comparative politics frameworks to analyze institutional incongruity, behavioral spillovers, and the paradoxes of democratic collapse. Recent research explores public engagement with local governance, transboundary compacts, and polarization's impact on federal systems.

Key trends in her publications include institutional resilience, path dependence, game theory applications to federalism, and civic capacity dynamics. Her 2025 articles investigate data-driven governance and institutional incongruity models.

Professor Bednar's academic contributions span federalism theory, judicial review, and policy diffusion mechanisms. Her work has been published in top-tier political science journals, with a focus on the robustness of federations and the interplay between institutions and culture.

She contributes to the Center for Political Studies (University of Michigan) and has served as an advisor in institutional analysis. Her research often integrates behavioral economics, formal modeling, and complex adaptive systems approaches.