I am an Associate Professor at the Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University.  

I study democracy and political violence. I am the author of Elections in Hard Times: Building Stronger Democracies in the 21st Century (2016, Cambridge University Press, with Irfan Nooruddin).  My research has also appeared in the Journal of Politics, Journal of Conflict Resolution, and Review of International Organizations, among other peer-reviewed journals.  In 2017, I was a Democracy Fellow in the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

In addition to my scholarly work, I teach courses on research methods, democracy, and global conflict. I've advised  of students with a wide array of interests, from the historical origins of development assistance in the United States to the role of hope in building peace to election violence in Ghana.

I've been Director of Graduate Programs at the Carter School, as well as Chair of our Faculty Board.

I hold a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan (2008) and a BA in Government from Harvard University.

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Blue Sky

Recent News

• My  co-author Audrey Williams and I presented our new work on how conservatives' views of democracy have shifted at the two conferences!