Reader in Comparative Politics

BA, Cum Laude, Political Science, University of Alabama at Birmingham (1996)
MA, Political Science, Louisiana State University (1998)
PhD, Political Science, Arizona State University (2003)

I work in the areas of comparative politics and international relations with a primary interest in the political economy of development. Recently this research focuses primarily on energy and natural resources, including how international oil and gas companies have shaped twentieth-century international relations and their role as pivotal actors in shaping the current energy transition. Geographically my research has mainly been focussed on sub-Saharan Africa, especially South Africa, and the post-colonial world more generally.

Having also taught an introductory course on American Politics for nearly 20 years, I am progressively integrating my interests in American politics into my wider research agenda by approaching the US case from a comparative perspective and in the wider context of American Political Development. Specific interests include political realignments in American history, race relations (e.g., comparative studies of Jim Crow and settler minority rule in Southern Africa) and US energy politics with a focus on the history of "Big Oil". 

My research at Queen's has been funded by the ESRC World Economy and Finance Research Programme, the British Academy, the Nuffield Foundation and the DfE Global Challenges Research Fund. Publications indicative of my key research interests have appeared in journals such as Political Studies, Political Geography, Business & Society, Third World Quarterly, Democratization, Energy Research & Social Science, The Extractive Industries and Society, Annual Review of Environment and Resources, Journal of Contemporary African Studies and Commonwealth & Comparative Politics. I am also the author of Africa’s Development Impasse: Rethinking the Political Economy of Transformation (Zed Books).

At the undergraduate level I convene and teach American Politics (PAI2018) and a final-year module entitled Global Political Economy of Energy (PAI3012). At MA level I have contributed primarily to Global Political Economy (PAI7030) and Approaches to Research Design (PAI7001).