Welcome! I am currently an Associate Professor in Political Science at Michigan State University (MSU).  I study authoritarian politics, with a focus on democratization, backsliding, conflict, and development.  I am particularly interested in the security and policy implications of autocratic rule.  In 2020, I won the MSU College of Social Science Outstanding Teacher Award.  

From 2011 to 2015, I was an Assistant Professor in Political Science at Bridgewater State University.  Prior to this, I worked as an analyst at the Institute for Physical Sciences in the DC area.  I received my PhD in Political Science from UCLA in 2008.

My latest book is The Origins of Elected Strongmen: How Personalist Parties Destroy Democracy from Within (Oxford University Press, 2024). You can reach me here.