I am a Senior Lecturer in Political Science (Comparative Politics) at the University of Melbourne. I study authoritarian politics, mainly from a global comparative perspective, but I also have a particular interest in North Korea.
My research primarily examines how autocratic leaders and regimes maintain power. My main ongoing projects are on purges and succession under autocracy.
My work on these topics, and on related areas of autocratic politics, has been published or is forthcoming in outlets including the British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Perspectives on Politics, World Politics, and with Cambridge and Cornell University Presses.
PhD in Political Science, 2020
University of Missouri
MA in Intelligence and International Security, 2013
King's College London
BSc in Politics, 2010
Bristol University
Purges: How Dictators Fight to Survive (book) - to be published in August 2026 with Cornell University Press
Teaching Autocracy and Autocratic Politics (editor for book) - to be published in July 2026 with Edward Elgar Publishing
“A Faustian Bargain: Military Purges and Coups in Dictatorships” (with Austin S. Matthews)
“How Autocrats Should Exit and Enter: Citizen Preferences over Succession in Authoritarian Regimes” (with Rebecca Tapscott)
“How Propaganda Affects an Autocratic Successor’s Popularity: The Case of Uganda’s Muhoozi Kainerugaba” (with Rebecca Tapscott)
“Rules to Live (and Die) By: Introducting the Global Succession Rules Dataset” (with Anne Meng)
Graduate
Asia Pacific: Zone of Conflict or Peace? | Melbourne | Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026
Comparative Politics | RUC International Summer School | Summer 2026
Geospatial Social Science Analysis | IPSA-NUS | Summer 2025
Comparative Institutions and Public Policy | York | Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023
Undergraduate
Authoritarian Politics | Melbourne | Spring 2025, Spring 2026
Comparative Politics | Melbourne | Fall 2024, Fall 2025, Fall 2026
Empirical Research Design | York | Fall 2023
Political Enquiry | York | Spring 2022
Introduction to Democratic Politics | York | Fall 2021, Fall 2022
Comparative Political Systems | Mizzou | Spring 2019
“The Kims Aren’t Just Looking at Things: What Leadership Events Can Tell Us About North Korean Politics.” The National Committee on North Korea and the Woodrow Wilson Center, September 2022.
“Before Categorising Autocracies, We Need to Count Them Accurately.” The Loop, August 12, 2022.
“The Logic of Autocratic Purges.” Political Violence at a Glance, January 10, 2022.
“Review of The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un.” Journal of Asian Studies 79(4): 1013-1014.
“How Would Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Handle North Korea?” The National Interest, August 20, 2020.
“Body Politic: Why Kim Jong Un’s Health Still Matters.” NK News, June 26, 2020.
“The Importance of Regime Similarity to Explain Democratic Diffusion.” Democratic Audit, June 26, 2019 (with Sheena Chestnut Greitens).
“North Korea is Marching with South Korea at the Olympics Opening Ceremony. Does This Mean a Diplomatic Thaw is Coming?” The Washington Post, February 9, 2018.
“Review of North Korea: Markets and Military Rule.” Democratization 25(1): 187-188.
“Will U.N. Sanctions Stop North Korean Missile tests? Don’t Count On It.” The Washington Post, August 9, 2017.