APSA-CD Newsletter

APSA-CD is the official newsletter of the American Political Science Association's Comparative Democratization section. Formerly known as CompDem, it has been published three times a year (October, January, and May) by the National Endowment for Democracy's International Forum for Democratic Studies since 2003. In October 2010, the newsletter was renamed APSA-CD and expanded to include substantive articles on democracy, as well as news and notes on the latest developments in the field. The newsletter is now jointly produced and edited by faculty members of the University of Florida's Department of Political Science and the International Forum.

The current issue of APSA-CD is available here. A complete archive of past issues is also available.

To inquire about submitting an article to APSA-CD, please contact Michael Bernhard or Melissa Aten.

Editorial Committee Members:

Executive Editor:

Michael H. Bernhard is the inaugural holder of the Raymond and Miriam Ehrlich Eminent Scholar Chair in Political Science at the University of Florida. His work centers on questions of democratization and development both globally and in the context of Europe. Among the issues that have figured prominently in his research agenda are the role of civil society in democratization, institutional choice in new democracies, the political economy of democratic survival, and the legacy of extreme forms of dictatorship.

Members:

Kate Baldwin is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Florida and a fellow at the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics at Princeton University. She studies state-building, clientelism, and the political economy of development with a regional focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Her current research projects seek to understand the political consequences of involving non-state actors, such as traditional chiefs and non-governmental organizations, in the provision of goods and services.

Petia Kostadinova is an assistant professor of political science and associate director of the Center for European Studies at the University of Florida. Her research interests include comparative politics, comparative political economy, East European Politics, and the European Union. Her current projects fall in two main categories: the impact of the European Union on applicant countries and member states and the role of public preferences, and media's transmission of these preferences, in shaping social and economic policies in postcommunist countries. She frequently participates in outreach activities aimed at educating teachers, business leaders, or the general public about recent developments in the European Union or its member states.

Staffan I. Lindberg is an associate professor of political science and the Center for African Studies at the University of Florida. He is also the research director of the World Values Survey Sweden, a research fellow at the Quality of Government Institute, and an associate professor of political science at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. His research focuses on state building, political clientelism, political parties, legislative-executive relations, women’s representation, voting behavior, elections, and democracy in Africa. He is the author of Democracy and Elections in Africa (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006) and the editor of Democratization by Elections: A New Mode of Transition? (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009).

Bryon Moraski is an associate professor of political science at the University of Florida. His research considers the politics of institutional choice, institutional development, and the influence of short-term electoral incentives on long-term political trajectories. Most of his published work focuses on the former Soviet Union and includes articles in the American Journal of Political Science, Europe-Asia Studies, Government and Opposition, the Journal of Politics, and elsewhere. His 2006 book, Elections by Design: Parties and Patronage in Russia's Regions (Northern Illinois University Press), examines the origins and consequences of electoral system design at the sub-national level in the Russian Federation.

Conor O’Dwyer is an associate professor of political science at the University of Florida. His book Runaway State-Building: Patronage Politics and Democratic Development (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006) examines the relationship between party-building and state-building in new democracies, looking specifically at the relationship between party competition and patronage politics in postcommunist Eastern Europe. His latest research explores how the expansion of the European Union is changing the terrain of domestic politics in the postcommunist member-states, especially with regard to the protection of minority rights.

Benjamin Smith is an associate professor of political science at the University of Florida. His research focuses on separatist conflicts, regime change, and democratization. His first book, Hard Times in the Land of Plenty: Oil Politics in Iran and Indonesia, was published in 2007 by Cornell University Press, and his articles have appeared in World Politics, the American Journal of Political Science, Studies in Comparative International Development, the Journal of International Affairs, and other journals and edited volumes. Mr. Smith is currently working on a book exploring the long-term factors that shape the success of separatist movements.

Philip Williams is the director of the Center for Latin American Studies and a professor of political science and Latin American Studies at the University of Florida. He also co-directs the Latin American Immigrants in the New South project. His research interests include religion and politics, transnational migration, democratization, social movements, and civil-military relations. His latest book, A Place to Be: Brazilian, Guatemalan, and Mexican Immigrants in Florida’s New Destinations, was published by Rutgers University Press in 2009 and his articles have appeared in numerous academic journals, including Comparative Politics, Latin American Perspectives, Latin Studies, and the Journal of Latin American Studies.

Leonardo A. Villalón is the director of the Center for African Studies and associate professor of political science at the University of Florida. His research has focused on Islam and politics and on democratization in West Africa, particularly Senegal, Mali, and Niger. He is the author of Islamic Society and State Power in Senegal (Cambridge University Press, 1995) and co-editor of The African State at a Critical Juncture: Between Disintegration and Reconfiguration (Lynne Rienner, 1998) and The Fate of Africa's Democratic Experiments: Elites and Institutions (Indiana University Press, 2005), as well as of numerous articles and book chapters on politics and religion in West Africa.

Melissa Aten-Becnel is the senior research and conferences officer at the National Endowment for Democracy’s International Forum for Democratic Studies and associate director of the Network of Democracy Research Institutes. She earned an M.A. from The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, where she focused on foreign policy and Central and Eastern Europe.

Editorial Assistant:

Tristan Vellinga received a B.S in political science from the University of Iowa and is now a political science Ph.D. student at the University of Florida, where he studies comparative and American politics. His interests include comparative EU studies, European enlargement, Turkish politics, and Turkey-EU relations. His current research focuses on the role that enlargement has on the party systems of new and existing member states and what this means for larger trajectories of party competition and state development.