My research falls broadly into the following six areas:

1. The impact of historical legacies - especially of communist regimes - on political attitudes and institutions.

2. The politics of democratization and democratic backsliding

3. Explaining the electoral success of ex-communist and populist political parties in Eastern Europe 

4. The politics of IMF programs in Eastern Europe and Latin America

5. Explaining political attitude formation and change in authoritarian and post-authoritarian regimes (particularly in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union) 

6. Understanding attitudinal and behavioral responses to political crises such as protests and repression in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union

1. Historical legacies

• “Dictators and Their Subjects: Authoritarian Attitudinal Effects and Legacies” (with Anja Neundorf) – Forthcoming at Comparative Political Studies
• “Communist Legacies and Left-Authoritarianism” (with Joshua Tucker) Comparative Political Studies 2019
• "Communism’s Shadow: Historical Legacies and Contemporary Political Attitudes (with Joshua Tucker)." Princeton University Press 2017
•  “Pre-communist and Communist Developmental Legacies” East European Politics and Societies and Cultures 2015
• “Communist Socialization and Post-Communist Economic and Political Attitudes” (with Joshua Tucker)" Electoral Studies 2014
• “Associated with the Past? Communist Legacies and Civic Participation in Post-Communist Countries” (with Joshua Tucker). East European Politics & Societies 2014
• “Romania Twenty Years after 1989: The Bizarre Echoes of a Contested Revolution.” In Michael Bernhard and Jan Kubik (eds) Twenty Years After: The Commemoration of the End of Communism 2014
• “Communist Development and the Post-Communist Democratic Deficit.” In Mark Beissinger and Stephen Kotkin (eds.) The Historical Legacies of Communism in Russia and Eastern Europe. 2014
• “Communist Legacies, and Political Values and Behavior: A Theoretical Framework with an Application to Political Party Trust” (with Joshua Tucker). Comparative Politics 2011
• “Historical Legacies and Post-Communist Regime Change.” The Journal of Politics 2007
• “Between Historical Legacies and the Promise of Western Integration: Democratic Conditionality after Communism.” East European Politics and Societies 2007
• “Transition to What? Legacies and Reform Trajectories after Communism.” In Marc Morjé Howard, Vladimir Tismaneanu and Rudra Sil (eds.). World Order After Leninism 2006

2. Democratization and democratic backsliding

• “Anti-Corruption Efforts and Electoral Manipulation in ‘Dirty’ Democracies” (with Marko Klasnja)
• “Information, Elections and Political Change” (with Graeme Robertson) Comparative Politics 2015
• “Waiting for a Fourth Wave: Structural Conditions and the Future of Democratization” (with Graeme Robertson) Journal of Democracy 2015
• “After the Revolution: Long-term Effects of Electoral Revolutions” (with Graeme Robertson) Problems of Post-Communism 2014
• “Authoritarian Backsliding in Eastern Europe - “Achievements” and Limitations” APSA-Comparative Politics Newsletter 2014
• “Learning from Mistakes: Romanian Democracy and the Hungarian Precedent” APSA European Politics and Society Newsletter 2013
• “Monitoring, Money, and Migrants: Countering Post-Accession Backsliding in Bulgaria and Romania” (with Philip Levitz). Europe-Asia Studies 2010
• “Why No Backsliding? The EU's Impact on Democracy and Governance Before and After Accession” (with Philip Levitz). Comparative Political Studies 2010

3. Political parties and elections

• “Shaping Competition: Allies' Party Licensing and the Extreme Right in Germany” (with Giovanni Capoccia) Working paper
• “Changing Patterns of Ideology and Partisanship in Latin America” forthcoming in Diana Kapiszewski Steven R. Levitsky Deborah J. Yashar (eds.) The Inclusionary Turn in Contemporary Latin America 2020
• “Targeted Government Spending and Political Preferences” (with Cristian Pop-Eleches). Quarterly Journal of Political Science 2012
• “Throwing Out the Bums: Protest Voting and Anti-Establishment Parties after Communism”, World Politics 2010
• “The presidential election in Romania in 2009” (with Aurelian Muntean and Marina Popescu) Electoral Studies 2010
• “Disenchanted or Discerning: Voter Turnout in Post-Communist Countries” (With Alexander Pacek and Joshua Tucker). The Journal of Politics 2009
• “A Party for All Seasons: Electoral Adaptation of Romanian Communist Successor Parties.” Communist and Post-Communist Studies 2008
• “Romania’s Politics of Dejection.” Journal of Democracy 2001
• “Separated at Birth or Separated by Birth? The Communist Successor Parties in Romania and Hungary.” East European Politics and Societies 1999

4. Politics of IMF programs in Eastern Europe and Latin America

• “Between Economic Necessity and Partisanship: IMF Programs Before and During the Global Financial Crisis.” Working paper
• From Economic Crisis to Reform: IMF Programs in Latin America and Eastern Europe Princeton University Press 2009
• “Public Goods or Political Pandering: Evidence from IMF Programs in Latin America and Eastern Europe.” International Studies Quarterly 2009
• “Crisis in the Eye of the Beholder: Economic Crisis and Partisan Politics in Latin American and East European IMF Programs.” Comparative Political Studies 2008

5. Political attitude formation and change in authoritarian and post-authoritarian regimes (particularly in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union) 

• “Dictators and Their Subjects: Authoritarian Attitudinal Effects and Legacies” (with Anja Neundorf) –  Comparative Political Studies 2020
• “Authoritarian Institutional Infiltration: Causes and Consequences” (with Monika Nalepa) Journal of Politics (forthcoming)
• “Censorship and the Impact of Repression on Dissent” (with Lucan Way) American Journal of Political Science 2021
• “Democracy and Retribution: Transitional Justice and Regime Support in Postwar West Germany” (with Giovanni Capoccia) Comparative Political Studies 2020

6. Attitudinal and behavioral responses to political crises and reforms in the former Soviet Union

• "Anxiety and Information Seeking in an Autocracy: Lessons from the COVID Pandemic in Russia" (with Graeme Robertson and Bryn Rosenfeld) Working paper 2023
• “The microdynamics of spatial polarization: A model and an application to survey data from Ukraine”  (with Olivia Chu, Jonathan Donges, and Graeme Robertson) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• “Protest Participation and Attitude Change in Ukraine's Euromaidan Revolution” (with Graeme Robertson and Bryn Rosenfeld) Journal of Politics (forthcoming)
• “Censorship and the Impact of Repression on Dissent” (with Lucan Way) American Journal of Political Science 2021
• “Do Reforms Reduce Corruption Perceptions? Evidence from Police Reform in Ukraine” (with Graeme Robertson) Working paper
•  “Identity and Political Preferences in Ukraine – Before and After the Euromaidan” (with Graeme Robertson) Post-Soviet Affairs 2018
• Revolution and Reform in Ukraine: Evaluating Four Years of Reform (with Silviya Nitsova and Graeme Robertson) Ponars Eurasia 2018