Welcome! I’m a Senior Lecturer in Political Science (Comparative Politics) at the University of Melbourne. I research authoritarian politics, globally and specifically on North Korea, with my main ongoing work focusing on purges and succession under autocracy.
My first book, Purges: How Dictators Fight to Survive, was published with Cornell University Press in 2026.
Related work has been published by Cambridge University Press and in journals including the British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Perspectives on Politics, and World Politics. The World Politics article won the 2025 Best Article Award from the Democracy and Autocracy Section of the American Political Science Association.
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
“The Purge Paradox: How Military Purges Invite, Yet Hinder, Coups in Autocracies” (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.