International Forum for Democratic Studies Research Council Member

Nicolas Van de Walle

Cornell University

Nicolas van de Walle (Ph.D. Princeton University, 1990) is the Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Government, and Chairman of the Department of Government at Cornell University in Ithaca New York. He taught at Michigan State University from 1990-2004. He was a non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development in 2001–2012, and a fellow at the Overseas Development Council from 1994–2000. In addition, Dr. Van de Walle has worked extensively as a consultant for a variety of international and multilateral organizations, including the World Bank, USAID, and UNDP.

He has published widely on democratization issues as well as on the politics of economic reform and on the effectiveness of foreign aid, with a special focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. His books include Democratic Trajectories in Africa: Unraveling the Impact of Foreign Aid (Forthcoming, 2013, with Danielle Resnick), Overcoming Stagnation in Aid-Dependent Countries (2005), African Economies and The Politics of Permanent Crisis, 1979-1999 (2001), and Democratic Experiments in Africa: Regime Transitions in Comparative Perspectives (1997, with Michael Bratton). He is also the author of over a hundred journal articles, reports, and book chapters. He is currently engaged in a book project on the practice of democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa that focuses on electoral dynamics and party systems in the region since 1990.


Forum Publications

“Democratization by Elections? Opposition Weakness in Africa,” Journal of Democracy (Jul. 2009)

Share