Research

Research Interests

My research reflects interlocking domains. First, it investigates the conditions under which citizens desire democracy for their country and are satisfied with the democracy that their country has. For a democracy to persist, it must have a reserve of public satisfaction and commitment that will sustain the system through electoral defeat and economic downtown. All losers — political, economic, and social — can try to overturn the election or the government. Using surveys from multiple countries, I consider the role citizens' attitudes and identities play in democratic satisfaction and democratic commitment.

Second, it addresses religion/secularism politics, a necessarily recurring debate in democracies and MENA politics. While the connection between religion and the state has featured prominently in scholarship of the Middle East, a resurgence of literature has recognized that "secular" democracies are not immune from religious influence or a desire to influence religions or religious communities. I am particularly concerned the impact of secularist orientation on support for election-based government and in the connection between religion and ethnicity.

Additionally, my research considers questions of measurement.  How does the public understand central constructs in political science? How do researchers accurately identify and measure constructs for research (e.g., state capacity, democratic commitment, religiosity)?

A Jewish State?: Religious Nationalism in Israel

Judaism is fundamental to Israel’s self-conception, but Israelis disagree about whether this is a religious, ethnic, or cultural claim. Drawing on more than a decade of existing and original public opinion surveys, this book analyzes the implications of religious nationalist sentiment for public support in domains like democracy, war, social cohesion, family law, and immigration. 

Despite the non-Jewish minority and the large hiloni (secular) population, a large segment of the Israeli population subscribes to the Jewish nationalist ideology. This extensive support is demonstrable in more than fifty years of surveys. Jewish nationalists are more conservative, seek Jewish-homogeneous social groups, and pursue more aggressive foreign policies. In the face of a sizable secular and non-Jewish population, Jewish nationalism thus threatens democratization and stability in Israel.

Palgrave MacMillon, 2026
Palgrave Studies in Religion, Politics, and Policy (PSRPP) 

Contours of Israeli Politics: Jewish Ethnicity, Religious Nationalism, and Democracy

Israel was formed to be a Jewish state and a democracy. Within that ethno-religious national state framework, intra-Jewish differences are also culturally salient.  This book examines the differences in opinions between the prototypical Jewish Israel (secular Ashkenazi Israelis) and non-prototypical Jewish Israelis (Mizrahi/Sephardi Jewish Israelis). Building on recent work on marginal group membership and race/ethnic politics, this study argues that non-prototypical Jewish Israelis hold different attitudes towards the ethno-religious character of the state, liberal democracy, and the peace process.

The manuscript employs original and extant survey data (e.g. European Social Survey, Pew Research Center) to examine the role of marginal group membership on Jewish nationalist and democratic attitudes in Israel. Marginal group members are more aware of discrimination against non-prototypical Jewish Israelis. They place more value on maintaining the Jewish majority, are more likely to believe Israel is necessary for survival, and express greater interest in excluding non-Jewish Arabs from the state. They are also less invested in maintaining a liberal democratic government in Israel but are more likely to believe the state can be both a Jewish state and a democracy. Ultimately while they are not less interested in peace, they have different views towards the peace process, including the one/two state solution and evaluating the performance of the Israeli and Palestinian leadership in the process. These findings demonstrate that ethnicity continues to play a role in shaping Israeli political attitudes. 

Temple University Press, 2025

Defining Democracy: Democratic Commitment in the Arab World

The Middle East is one of the least democratic regions of the world. At the same time, researchers regularly report the region has robust support from democracy. This is sometimes referred to as the Democracy Paradox. The book argues that the democracy paradox is ultimately not paradoxical. By equating dimuqratiyya and democracy, we have systematically over-estimated support for democracy in the Middle East. 

In the Middle East, half of people understand dimuqratiyya (the Arabic word usually supplied for democracy) primarily as a system of socio-economic outcomes, rather than political processes. The book examines the causes and consequences of this diversity of meanings. Using original surveys from Egypt and Morocco and Arab Barometer surveys, the book shows that these citizens are less supportive of electoral democracy than they are of dimuqratiyya, helping explain the Middle East’s “democracy paradox.” They are also less likely to be politically active. The manuscript contributes to our understanding of how pro-dimuqratiyya protest movements, like the Arab Uprisings, do not lead to democratization; they are not inherently pro-democracy movements. These findings call the global understanding of democracy into question, particularly for authoritarian regimes that purport to uphold the popular will. They also have implications for other important political science concepts that may pose similar challenges to comparative analysis, including secularism, nationalism, and race.

Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2023