International Forum for Democratic Studies Research Council Member

Peter Lewis

Johns Hopkins University

Peter Lewis is director of African Studies and associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work focuses on economic reform and political transition in developing countries, with particular emphasis on governance and development in Sub-Saharan Africa. He has written extensively on questions of economic adjustment, democratization, and civil society in Africa; democratic reform and political economy in Nigeria; public attitudes toward reform and democracy in West Africa; and the comparative politics of economic change in Africa and Southeast Asia. His most recent book, Growing Apart: Politics and Economic Change in Indonesia and Nigeria is concerned with the institutional basis of economic development, drawing upon a comparative study. Dr. Lewis has published other co-authored and edited books, in addition to articles in World Politics, World Development, the Journal of Democracy, the Journal of Modern African Studies, African Affairs and others, and numerous book chapters. He is a member of Council on Foreign Relations and a Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He has consulted for the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Carter Center, the Council on Foreign Relations, Freedom House, USAID, and the World Bank. He received a BA degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and MA and PhD degrees from Princeton University.


Forum Events

“Democracy Promotion and the Democracy Recession,” International Forum for Democratic Studies (Sept. 18, 2015)

“The Role of Economics in Democratic Transitions: Kenya,” International Forum for Democratic Studies in partnership with the Legatum Institute, World Affairs, and Foreign Policy’s Democracy Lab (Oct. 17, 2013)

“Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy,” International Forum for Democratic Studies (Feb. 23, 2012)

“Corruption in Angola: An Impediment to Democracy,” International Form for Democratic Studies (May 12, 2011)

“Democratization in Africa,” International Forum for Democratic Studies (Mar. 11, 2010)

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