I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Politics at the University of York , and for Winter-Spring 2023 I am the Korea-Pacific Program Fellow at UCSD’s School of Global Policy and Strategy . I study authoritarian politics, mainly from a global comparative perspective, and have a particular interest in North Korea.
My book manuscript, Purges: How Dictators Fight to Survive , examines the causes of elite purges and their effects on autocratic survival. I argue that dictators purge elites to consolidate power, punish them for insubordination, and scapegoat them to alleviate popular threats. Further, rather than fomenting instability, purges help dictators survive.
My work has been published or is forthcoming in journals including British Journal of Political Science , Comparative Political Studies , International Studies Quarterly , Journal of Peace Research , and Democratization .