Profile:

PhD, Harvard, 2002. Comparative politics, political parties, political institutions, elite and mass political behavior. Current research focuses on the role of gender in party strategy (especially with regards to populist radical right parties), the impact of relative polarization on voter turnout, whether and how niche parties are strategic, and the origins and effects of political institutions, including decentralization. Her book, Party Competition Between Unequals (Cambridge University Press, 2008), examines how mainstream party behavior shapes the electoral trajectories of niche parties (e.g., green, radical right, and ethnoterritorial parties). The book received the 2009 Riker Prize, awarded by the Political Economy Section of the APSA; the 2009 Best Book Award by the European Politics and Society Section of the APSA; and the 2010 Council for European Studies Best Book Award. She has published articles in the American Political Science Review, Electoral Studies and Comparative Politics. She currently is chair of the Political Economy Section of the American Political Science Association. Teaches courses on comparative politics, political parties, voting and elections, and ethnicity and nationalism.