I am Professor of Comparative & Judicial Politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations, and a Professorial Fellow of Nuffield College.
My primary research agenda is in the field of comparative judicial politics. I am particularly interested in the determinants of judicial and prosecutorial behaviour in high-stakes cases of macro-criminality, including human rights violations and grand corruption. I've published four books on these topics: Shifting Legal Visions: Judicial Change and Human Rights Trials in Latin America (Cambridge University Press, 2016), which won the Herman Pritchett Best Book Award from APSA's Law and Courts Section, the best book award from ISA's Human Rights Section, and the Donna Lee Van Cott Best Book Award from LASA's Political Institutions Section; The Politics of Transitional Justice in Latin America: Power, Norms and Capability Building (Cambridge University Press, 2020); Prosecutors, Voters, and the Criminalisation of Corruption in Latin America (w/ Paula Muñoz, Nara Pavao & Viviana Baraybar; Cambridge University Press, 2023), which won the Charles Levine Memorial Book Prize from IPSA and received an honourable mention from LASA's Donna Lee Van Cott Best Book Award committee; and The Limits of Judicialization: From Progress to Backlash in Latin America (co-edited w/ Sandra Botero & Daniel Brinks; Cambridge University Press, 2022).
I've also published on judicial dialogue and backlash in the Inter-American System of Human Rights; the relationship between courts and public opinion in Latin America and Europe; the political economy of vote buying and electoral intimidation; and qualitative methods. My peer-reviewed articles have appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, European Journal of Political Research, International Studies Quarterly, Latin American Research Review, Law & Policy, Law & Society Review, Law & Social Inquiry, Journal of Peace Research, Sociological Methods & Research, The International Journal of Constitutional Law and The International Journal of Human Rights.
Since 2021 I co-edit Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research, the flagship publication of APSA's Qualitative and Multi-Methods Research Section.
I received a PhD in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame in 2012. My doctoral thesis won APSA's 2013 Edward S. Corwin Award for the best dissertation in the field of Public Law. In 2018 I won the Philip Leverhulme Prize in Politics and International Relations, which recognises "the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising."
Research
- Comparative Judicial Politics
- International Courts, Transitional Justice & Human Rights
- Corruption
- Comparative Politics of Latin America
- Qualitative Methods in Political Science
Teaching
- Research Design in Comparative Political Science (MPhil/DPhil, MT)
- Qualitative Methods (MPhil/DPhil)
- Comparative Government (PPE/MPhil)
- I am happy to supervise students interested in comparative judicial politics, international courts and law, transitional justice, human rights, corruption, qualitative methods and Latin American politics
