Overview
I am the Walter F. LaFeber Professor of Government and Public Policy, and Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brooking Institution. I study comparative politics and political economy, with a special focus on Southeast Asia. I received my Ph.D. in political science from Yale University in May 2007, and joined the Cornell faculty in 2008.
Research Focus
I study the interaction of political and economic systems around the world. Recently, I have been thinking about how social categories interact with these systems. I am also interested in how we construct explanations and make inferences in the social sciences. My current research interests involve the politics and political economy of democratic backsliding in Southeast Asia and Europe, and the evolution of ethnicity and other social categories in the Malay world.
Publications
Recent selected publications. See my list of published work for more.
- Forthcoming. “The Ukrainian Refugee Crisis and the Politics of Public Opinion: Evidence from Hungary” (with Ádám Reiff and Krisztina Szabó). Perspectives on Politics.
- 2024. “Demographic Structure and Voting Behaviour during Democratization: Evidence from Malaysia’s 2022 Election” (with Sebastian Dettman). Democratization 31, no. 1 (January), 1–22.
- 2024. “Modeling Spatial Heterogeneity and Historical Persistence: Nazi Concentration Camps and Contemporary Intolerance” (with Sara Wallace Goodman and Conrad Ziller). American Political Science Review 118, no. 1 (January), 519–528.
- 2022. “Historical Persistence” (with Alexandra Cirone). Annual Review of Political Science 25, 241–259.
- 2022. “On Whorfian Socioeconomics.” Language 98, no. 1 (January), e44–e79.
- 2021. “The Exclusionary Foundations of Embedded Liberalism” (with Sara Wallace Goodman). International Organization 75, no. 2 (Spring), 411–439.
- 2021. “Learning from Biased Research Designs” (with Andrew T. Little). Journal of Politics 83, no. 2 (April), 602–616.
- 2020. “Migrants, Minorities, and Populism in Southeast Asia.” Pacific Affairs 93, no. 3 (September), 593–610.
In the news
- Conference on African political economy honors van de Walle
- Three A.D. White Professors-at-Large on campus this spring
- Trump administration’s shift from European allies could be ‘devastating’
- Cornell democracy experts provide insight on South Korea martial law episode
- Global experts look abroad for lessons in super election year
- U.S. strikes deal for military bases with Philippines
- ‘LaFeber Posse’ Gears up to Honor Legendary Professor
- Klarman Fellow: How do past events affect political present?
- Book: Partisanship led to disastrous response to COVID-19
- Study: Language may not shape social outcomes
- Russia is about to plunge into financial crisis. How will citizens react?
- A&S announces third cohort of Klarman Fellows
- Einaudi welcomes new program directors and opportunities
- New professorship honors Walter LaFeber
- Search committee set for policy school’s founding dean
- Americans primed to believe 2020 election is rigged
- Democracy 20/20 webinar to examine U.S. polarization
- 30 Arts & Sciences faculty honored with endowed professorships
- American Democracy Collaborative launches webinar series
- A&S faculty paving way for policy school, superdepartments
- Center advances social sciences research with spring grants
- Cornell experts probe threats to democracy from COVID-19
- Social sciences center awards COVID-19 grants
- COVID-19 impact: Tom Pepinsky on the partisan divide
- Global democratic challenges due to pandemic examined in webinar
- Southeast Asia Program grad conference goes remote
- Arts & Sciences faculty approve new curriculum
- A&S faculty to consider new revised curriculum proposal
- Conference to examine health of American democracy
- A&S curriculum report recommends focus on exploration, simplified requirements
- Grants fund 22 Cornell teams, community partners
- Atkinson's Academic Venture Fund awards $1.8M to 15 projects
- A&S holds student forum on new curriculum proposal
- The Federal budget's threat to foreign policy
- Faculty discuss curriculum changes in Arts & Sciences
- Op-Ed: Americans have overly dramatic view of authoritarianism
- A&S govt. prof. named international faculty fellow
