“All the analysis of infinite reality which the finite human mind can conduct rests on the tacit assumption that only a finite portion of this reality constitutes the object of scientific investigation, and that only it is ‘important’ in the sense of being ‘worthy of being known.’” — Max Weber

“… it is not our job to make the complicated simplistic, but instead to render complex phenomena comprehensible.” — Sidney Verba

ACADEMIC PROFILE

I’m a comparative political scientist who studies political development, institutional change, and the long-run consequences of colonialism, with a primary empirical focus on Africa. My research is fundamentally concerned with theory building and the explanation of historical, cross-national, and macro-level outcomes. Employing comparative-historical methods, small-N research designs, and qualitative evidence, I examine how political institutions and social structures emerge, become institutionalized, and change over time, and how they in turn shape various outcomes of social scientific interest. Across my work on political change, colonial legacies, and institutional development, I develop historically informed, theoretically rigorous, and contextually grounded explanations of how specific institutional configurations get established at specific junctures, endure and gradually change, and thereby shape political, social, and human development outcomes. Alongside this substantive research, I also seek to contribute to social theory through ongoing work on path dependence, rapid and gradual change, and feedback dynamics in politics, as well as advance qualitative methodology through research on abductive analysis, small-N research, and the comparative method.

RESEARCH AGENDA

My research lies at the intersection of political science, sociology, and comparative history. I pursue big questions to gain insight into macro-level processes and outcomes, using cross-disciplinary theories, concepts, and methods. I have an interdisciplinary research agenda organized around three empirical clusters, alongside a complementary concern with research methods. The first, centered on my book project on the legacies of liberation in Southern Africa, studies political regimes, democracy, and political development in Africa. The second investigates colonialism and long-run development, with particular attention to colonial institutions, settler states, and their postcolonial developmental legacies. The third seeks to theorize institutions and institutional change in the historical institutionalism and historical sociology.

Revolutions, Democracy, and Political Development

  1. The Legacies of Liberation: Path Dependence, Institutional Change, and Political Development in Southern Africa (book project).
  2. “Path Dependence and Institutional Change: Explaining the Legacies of Liberation in Southern Africa,” Studies in Comparative International Development, Aug. 2026, doi.org/10.1007/s12116-026-09513-6.
  3. “Critical Junctures and Political Development: The Legacies of Liberation in Southern Africa,” Dec. 2025, doi: 10.33774/apsa-2025-dxm36.
  4. “Critical Junctures, Independence Movements, and Democracy in Africa: A Comparative-Historical Perspective,” working paper.
  5. “Third Wave Democratization in Africa: The Rise of Illiberal Democracy in Comparative Perspective,” CEU Political Science Journal, 10 (2016): 51-83.
  6. “Eritrea’s Foreign Policy Explained in Light of the ‘Democratic Peace’ Proposition,” International Journal of Peace & Development Studies, 4(2013): 76-89.

Colonialism & Long-Run Development

  1. “Late Colonialism and Postcolonial Development in Africa: A Comparative-Historical Analysis of Former Italian Africa,” International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 66, 2 (2024): 286-319 https://doi.org/10.1177/00207152241269033.
  2. “The Political Economy of Settler States in Africa,” with Alex Dyzenhaus, in preparation for submission.
  3. “The Colonial Origins of Political Development: Italian Africa in Comparative Perspective,” working paper. 
  4. “Colonial ‘Indirect Rule’ and Long-Run Development in Africa: Concept Precision for Valid Causal Inference,” work in progress.
  5. “Colonialism, Marginality, and Path Dependence in Cabo Delgado,” Clio: A Newsletter of Politics & History (APSA),30 (2), 2021.

Institutional Persistence and Change

  1. “Path Dependence and Institutional Change in Historical Explanation,” working paper.
  2. “Informal Institutions, Institutional Change, and Comparative Politics in Africa: A Research Agenda,” working paper.
  3. “Toward a Theory of Rapid Change: Historical Antecedents, Temporal Dynamics, and Outcomes,” work in progress.

Research Methods

  1. “Strategies of Abductive Analysis in Qualitative Research,” in preparation for submission.
  2. “Abductive Analysis in Qualitative and Multi-Method Political Science,” Qualitative and Multi-Method Research, 22, 2 (Fall 2024): 58-63.
  3. “The Comparative Method as a Structured Strategy for Causal Explanation: A Review Essay,” work in progress.
  4. “Historical Experiments in Social Science Explanation,” work in progress.
  5. “Insights and Strategies in Small-N Analysis,” work in progress.
BOOK CHAPTERS
  • Jean Clipperton, E. Ochoa, Z. Ruan, J. Lee, P. Manzi, J. Zimmerman, I. Kwon, S. Gubitz, S. Noor, and M. Weylandt. Empirical methods in political science: An introduction (Evanston: Northwestern University, 2022).
  • A. Nayr, S. Noor, and A. Almedom, “Community Organizing to End Displacement in Eritrea: A Narrative of Community and Institutional Resilience,” with in Wade Rathke, ed., Global Grassroots: An Organizing Perspective (New Orleans: Social Policy Press, 2011): 81-91.
BOOK REVIEW
  • “Legacies of British Rule: Colonialism, Statehood, and Nationalist Civil War by Matthew Lange,” Social Forces, forthcoming.
  • “Theorizing in Comparative Politics: Democratization in Africa by Goran Hyden,” Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 63(3): 274–276.
  • “Democracy in Africa: Successes, Failures, and the Struggle for Political Reform by Nic Cheeseman,” The Journal of Politics, 80 (2018): 19-20.
  • “Democratic Trajectories in Africa: Unravelling the Impact of Foreign Aid by D. Resnick and N. van de Walle,” African Affairs, 114 (2015): 663-665.
  • “The African Garrison State: Human Rights and Political Development in Eritrea, by K. Tronvoll & D. R. Mekonnen, & Eritrea at a Crossroads: A Narrative of Triumph, Betrayal and Hope, by A. W. Giorgis,” Africa Spectrum, 1 (2015): 99-103.
  • “The African Garrison State: Human Rights and Political Development in Eritrea, by K. Tronvoll & D. R. Mekonnen,” African Studies Quarterly, 15 (2014): 136-138.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
  • “Free Access to Information and a Vibrant Civil Society as Cornerstones for Sustainable Development” (with Frida Andersson). Report for the EU Commission, Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, 2016.
  • “From SAPs to PRSPs: The Annals of Neoliberal Ideological Dogmatism in Governance & Development Policy,” Critique (Fall 2015): 67-104.
PUBLIC WRITING (SELECT)
  • “South Africa’s 2024 Elections: Political Change and Democratic Uncertainty,” Democracy in Africa, May 29, 2025.
  • “Eritrea: Why Change Abroad Doesn’t Mean Change at Home,” African Arguments, Sep. 12, 2018.
  • “Exile and Exodus from Eritrea: A Personal Testimony and Reflections on Political Repression,” Awate, August 29, 2014.
  • “How Can Lasting Peace Between Eritrea and Ethiopia be Achieved?” Think Africa Press, April 9, 2013.

Find my published research in Google Scholar or ResearchGate.

Find my research and other professional activities in ORCID.