Professor of Political Science
Institute for Humanities & Social Sciences
Australian Catholic University
Institute for Humanities & Social Sciences
Australian Catholic University
I am a political scientist who specializes in comparative politics and political economy. My main interests concern the economic causes of political behavior and political order. My books show in different ways why populism can be best understood less a political ideology than as a cost-effective political strategy. My other research looks at the relationships between political parties and dictatorship, inequality and ethnic politics, and natural resources and corruption.
I am currently Professor of Political Science at IHSS at ACU and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University, where I worked from 2013 to 2020. I have a PhD in political science from Yale University, and degrees in economics and political economy from the London School of Economics and Trinity College Dublin. Born in Ireland, I live in Melbourne, Australia with my wife and two sons.
This book is about the economics of winning and keeping power. Instead of focusing on why people supposedly want populism—the demand side—this book examines the economic logic behind the choices voters face instead—the supply side. Populists win when they can mobilize votes more cheaply than their rivals. Why populism? is not a question o
This book is about the economics of winning and keeping power. Instead of focusing on why people supposedly want populism—the demand side—this book examines the economic logic behind the choices voters face instead—the supply side. Populists win when they can mobilize votes more cheaply than their rivals. Why populism? is not a question of ideology, but of a hidden strategic calculus.
Cambridge University Press (2023)
What does populism mean in the context of Southeast Asia? And what are the causes of populist success in the region? This short book argues that populism is best understood as a political strategy based on charismatic leadership, which thrives in the region because parties are so weak.
Cambridge University Press (2019)
Focusing on the crisis of Indian democracy in the 1970s, this award-winning book* shows that populists like Indira Gandhi overcome the breakdown in national patronage networks by connecting directly with the people through the media and mass rallies, often with detrimental consequences for democracy.
Oxford University Press (2017)
* Winner 2018 Robert A. Dahl Award
“Does Asylum Seeker Immigration Increase Support for the Far Right? Evidence from the United Kingdom, 2000-2015”, (with Charles Miller), Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies, 48(7) (2022): 1629-1646
“A New Penal Populism? Rodrigo Duterte, Public Opinion, and the War on Drugs in the Philippines." (with Ronald Holmes), Journal of East Asian Studies, 20(2) (2020): 187-205
““The Enemy of the People”: Populists and Press Freedom” Political Research Quarterly, 73(2) (2020): 261-275
“The structure of ethnic inequality and ethnic voting,” (with Christian Houle and Chunho Park), The Journal of Politics, 81(1) (2019): 187-200
“The political and economic consequences of populist rule,” (with Christian Houle) Government and Opposition, 53(2) (2018): 256-287
”The origins of patronage politics: State building, centrifugalism, and decolonization” British Journal of Political Science, 45(1) (2015): 141-171
”A mixed blessing: Karen resettlement to the United States” (with Kate Lockwood-Kenny), Journal of Refugee Studies, 24(2) (2011): 217-38
“Structural integrity and cohesion in insurgent organizations: Evidence from protracted conflicts in Ireland and Burma,” International Studies Review, 12 (2010): 533-555
"The meaning of torture." Polity, 42(2) (2009): 131-155
“The Strategic Approach to Populism” in Routledge Handbook of Populism in the Asia Pacific, in D. B. Subedi et al. (eds.), (London: Routledge, 2022)
“Inclusionary Populism and Democracy in India” in Routledge Handbook of Populism in the Asia Pacific, D. B. Subedi et al. (eds.), (London: Routledge, 2022)
“The Philippines: Penal Populism and Pandemic Response” in Populism and Democracy in the Times of the Pandemic, Nils Ringe and Lucio Rennó (eds.), (New York: Routledge, 2022)
“Populism in Southeast Asia” in The Palgrave Handbook of Populism, Michael T. Oswald (ed.),(Palgrave Macmillan, 2022)
“Why is there no political polarization in the Philippines?” in Political Polarization in South and Southeast Asia: Old Divisions, New Dangers, Thomas Carothers and Andrew O’Sullivan (eds.), (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2020)
“Civil Wars,” (with Stathis N. Kalyvas), in Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of International Studies, edited by Robert Denemark and Renée Marlin-Bennett, Oxford: Oxford University Press, (2017
[2010])
Populism: What Everyone Needs to Know, Oxford University Press (book under contract)
“Is there a populist personality? Populist Attitudes, Personality, and Voter Preference in Australian Public Opinion,” (with Boriz Bizumic), Revise & Resubmit, Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties
”Commodity booms, conflict, and organized crime: Logics of Violence in Indonesia’s Oil Palm Plantation Economy” (with Rashesh Shrestha and Edward Aspinall), HiCN Working Paper, no. 339; ACDE Working Papers in Trade and Development, paper no. 2020/23; for latest version, see:
https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.18287.66729, Revise & Resubmit, The Journal of Politics
“The origins of inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa” (with Christian Houle and Nicolas Bichay)
“Hidden profits: A theory and test of sector-specific corruption” (with Kathryn Baragwanath and Eve Warburton), APSA Pre-Prints, latest version: Sept. 2020, https://doi.org/10.33774/apsa-2020-nssz5
"Post-Populism: Transitions from Populist to Personalist Authoritarian Rule," (with Alexander Baturo and Evren Balta), in progress
“Lord, Peasant, and Democracy: Evidence from Twenty-First Century Indonesia” (with Edward Aspinall, Colum Graham, and Rashesh Shrestha), in progress
“Inequality and Group Decision Making” (with Kyle Peyton and Christian Houle), in progress.
“The Decline of Corruption: A Review,” (with Kevin Thow), in progress
The Tyranny of Rules: Stalin, Putin, and the Making of Dictatorship, (with Alexander Baturo and Sheila Fitzpatrick), book manuscript in progress
Killing Democracy: Rodrigo Duterte, Populism, and the War on Drugs in the Philippines (with Ronald Holmes and Steven Rood), book manuscript in progress
Economic Tribes: How Inequality Shapes Identity Politics (with Kyle Peyton and Christian Houle), book manuscript in progress
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