Welcome!
I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science. I study and teach comparative politics, political behavior, political economy, and research methods.
My research focuses on identity politics and political participation and draws on field, survey, and natural experiments and qualitative fieldwork in Latin America and Europe. My previous work has appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Political Analysis, World Development, Political Science Research and Methods, and the Journal of Experimental Political Science.
My book Creating Partisans: The Organizational Roots of New Parties in Latin America (forthcoming, Cambridge University Press) examines why some political parties in new democracies are successful in creating mass partisanship and engendering stable electoral support, while most fail to take root in society and disappear quickly.
My second stream of research explores the role of ethnic, religious, and gender identities in the context of immigration. Through a series of papers and another book (with Danny Choi and Nicholas Sambanis), Native Bias: Overcoming Discrimination Against Immigrants (2022, Princeton University Press), I study the causes of discrimination towards immigrants and explore how shared norms can forge common identities that reduce inter-group conflict between immigrants and natives.
My other projects further explore issues of identity politics and democratic participation and representation. In particular, I study the role of interest organizations in shaping political behavior and distributional outcomes in developing countries, the dynamics of ethnic and class identity construction, the growth and institutionalization of new political parties, and the unintended consequences of anti-corruption measures on political attitudes and engagement. Please take a look here to learn more about these and my other projects.
My work has won a series of awards, including the Gregory Luebbert Prize for the best article in comparative politics (2022), the Best Book Award from the Experimental Research section of the the American Political Science Association, the Sage Best Paper Award for the best paper in comparative politics presented at APSA (2022), the Jack Walker Award for an outstanding contribution to research and scholarship on political organizations and parties (2021), the Rebecca Morton Award for the best article published in the Journal of Experimental Political Science (2022), Best Paper Awards by the APSA Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior section (2021) and the European Politics and Society section (2021). In 2023, I also received the Emerging Scholar Award from the Political Organizations and Parties section of APSA.
My research has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Education, the Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) network, the University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States (UC MEXUS), the Tinker Foundation, and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University as well as the Institute of International Studies (IIS), the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE), the Center on the Politics of Development (CPD), and the Graduate Division at the University of California, Berkeley.
Before joining the LSE, I held positions at Texas A&M University and the Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) network and I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley. Also, I am a Faculty Affiliate with the University of Pennsylvania's Identity & Conflict Lab and a Research Associate with the Center on the Politics of Development (CPD) at the University of California, Berkeley.
I have also served as an International Election Observer for the Organization of American States (OAS) and worked on evaluations of governance of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES).
You can find my CV here.
I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science. I study and teach comparative politics, political behavior, political economy, and research methods.
My research focuses on identity politics and political participation and draws on field, survey, and natural experiments and qualitative fieldwork in Latin America and Europe. My previous work has appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Political Analysis, World Development, Political Science Research and Methods, and the Journal of Experimental Political Science.
My book Creating Partisans: The Organizational Roots of New Parties in Latin America (forthcoming, Cambridge University Press) examines why some political parties in new democracies are successful in creating mass partisanship and engendering stable electoral support, while most fail to take root in society and disappear quickly.
My second stream of research explores the role of ethnic, religious, and gender identities in the context of immigration. Through a series of papers and another book (with Danny Choi and Nicholas Sambanis), Native Bias: Overcoming Discrimination Against Immigrants (2022, Princeton University Press), I study the causes of discrimination towards immigrants and explore how shared norms can forge common identities that reduce inter-group conflict between immigrants and natives.
My other projects further explore issues of identity politics and democratic participation and representation. In particular, I study the role of interest organizations in shaping political behavior and distributional outcomes in developing countries, the dynamics of ethnic and class identity construction, the growth and institutionalization of new political parties, and the unintended consequences of anti-corruption measures on political attitudes and engagement. Please take a look here to learn more about these and my other projects.
My work has won a series of awards, including the Gregory Luebbert Prize for the best article in comparative politics (2022), the Best Book Award from the Experimental Research section of the the American Political Science Association, the Sage Best Paper Award for the best paper in comparative politics presented at APSA (2022), the Jack Walker Award for an outstanding contribution to research and scholarship on political organizations and parties (2021), the Rebecca Morton Award for the best article published in the Journal of Experimental Political Science (2022), Best Paper Awards by the APSA Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior section (2021) and the European Politics and Society section (2021). In 2023, I also received the Emerging Scholar Award from the Political Organizations and Parties section of APSA.
My research has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Education, the Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) network, the University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States (UC MEXUS), the Tinker Foundation, and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University as well as the Institute of International Studies (IIS), the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE), the Center on the Politics of Development (CPD), and the Graduate Division at the University of California, Berkeley.
Before joining the LSE, I held positions at Texas A&M University and the Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) network and I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley. Also, I am a Faculty Affiliate with the University of Pennsylvania's Identity & Conflict Lab and a Research Associate with the Center on the Politics of Development (CPD) at the University of California, Berkeley.
I have also served as an International Election Observer for the Organization of American States (OAS) and worked on evaluations of governance of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES).
You can find my CV here.