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I am an Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University and the Faculty Director of Northwestern’s Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies (REEES) Program.  My ongoing research focuses on corruption, the rule of law, property rights, and political and economic transitions.  I am the author of Property Rights in Post-Soviet Russia: Violence, Corruption, and Demand for Law (Cambridge University Press). Other publications have appeared in leading journals, including the  American Journal of Political Science, the American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, the Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization, the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, and World Development. My commentaries have been published in the Chicago TribuneThe Hill, The Moscow TimesUS News & World Report, and The Washington Post: The Monkey Cage. I received my Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 2011. During the 2016-2017 academic year, I served as a Fulbright Scholar teaching and conducting research in Ukraine.

Current projects include research on the effectiveness of anti-corruption information campaigns; the factors that affect citizens’ willingness to give bribes; the effects of international exchange programs on attitudes toward democracy, corruption, and related political issues; and the potential of transparency initiatives to contribute to the development of the rule of law.