The motivating force behind my
research is to explore and explain the social and historical foundations of
political order and accountability. My
primary project – a book entitled Ordering Power: Contentious Politics and
Authoritarian Leviathans in Southeast Asia – will be published in summer
2010 by Cambridge University Press in their Cambridge Studies in Comparative
Politics series. A work of comparative-historical analysis covering seven
Southeast Asian countries, the book proposes a unified theoretical framework
tracing contemporary divergence in state strength and authoritarian durability
to variation in the type and timing of contentious politics in the period
following World War II. I am also a co-editor (with Erik Kuhonta
and Tuong Vu) of Southeast
Asia in Political Science: Theory, Region, and Qualitative Analysis
(Stanford University Press, 2008), which explores and assesses the
contributions of Southeast Asian political studies to theoretical knowledge in
comparative politics. My second individual book project, tentatively titled Democracy Without
Accountability: Party Cartels and Presidential Power in Indonesia, will
examine the challenges of imposing effective accountability on political elites
in new democracies. Details on articles I have published or have forthcoming in
journals such as the American Journal of
Political Science, American Journal
of Sociology, Comparative Politics,
Comparative Political Studies, International Organization, and Studies in Comparative International
Development can be found below.
Forthcoming Work
Ordering Power: Contentious Politics and Authoritarian
Leviathans in
“Revolutions, Crackdowns, and Quiescence: Communal
Elites and Democratic Mobilization in
“Informative Regress: Critical
Antecedents in Comparative Politics” (with Erica Simmons). Comparative
Political Studies 43:9 (September 2010).
“Altering
Authoritarianism: Institutional Complexity and Autocratic Agency in
Published Work
“Can Leviathan be a
Democrat? Competitive Elections, Robust Mass Politics, and State
Infrastructural Power.” Studies in
Comparative International Development 43:4 (December 2008), pp. 252-272.
"Democracies
and Dictatorships Do Not Float Freely: Structural Sources of Political Regimes
in
"Introduction: The Contributions of Southeast Asian Political
Studies." (with Kuhonta
and Vu). Chapter in Kuhonta,
Slater and Vu.
"Concluding
Remarks." (with
Kuhonta and Vu). Chapter in Kuhonta, Slater and Vu.
"The Architecture of Authoritarianism: Southeast
Asia and the Regeneration of Democratization Theory."
"The Ironies of Instability in
Indonesia." Social Analysis 50:1 (Spring 2006), pp. 208-213.
"Institutions of the Offensive: Domestic Sources of
Dispute Initiation in Authoritarian Regimes, 1950-1992." (with Brian Lai). American Journal of Political
Science 50:1 (January 2006), pp. 113-126.
"Systematic Vulnerability and the Origins of
Developmental States: Northeast and Southeast Asia in Comparative
Perspective." (with Richard Doner and Bryan Ritchie). International
Organization 59:2 (Spring 2005), pp. 327-361.
"Indonesia's Accountability Trap: Party Cartels and
Presidential Power after Democratic Transition."
"Democracy Takes a Thumping: Islamist and Democratic
Opposition in Malaysia's Electoral Authoritarian Regime."
"Iron Cage in an Iron Fist: Authoritarian
Institutions and Personalization of Power in Malaysia." Comparative
Politics 36:1 (October 2003), pp. 81-101.
Unpublished
Work
"Ordering Power: Contentious
Politics, State-Building, and Authoritarian Durability in Southeast Asia."
Ph.D. Dissertation,
“State
Power and Staying Power: Institutional Origins and Durable Authoritarianism in
“The Worst Kind of War: Regional Rebellions and
Political Militarization in the Post-Colonial World” (with Christopher Haid). Under review.
“Political
Rules and Real Politics: Opposition and Accountability in Democratic
“Economic Origins of Democratic Breakdown? Contrary Evidence from
“Revitalizing the Controlled Comparison: Extreme
Variation and External Validity in Qualitative Research” (with Daniel Ziblatt).