I am an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of South Carolina, specializing in democratic theory.
The core aim of my research is to reimagine democratic ideals and practices in light of realistic assumptions about social inequality and political power, bridging quantitative, qualitative, and humanistic modes of inquiry.
In earlier work I elaborated this distinctive approach to political theory, and applied it to perennial questions of democratic theory. This culminated in my first book (The Dispersion of Power), advancing a “critical realist” theory of democracy.
More recently I have applied these theoretical insights to more concrete questions of institutional design and organizational structure, as well as the political ethics of identity, discourse, mobilization, and party competition.
