Assistant Professor & Ad Astra Fellow
School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin
I study authoritarian politics, elite behaviour, and political communication, with a regional focus on Russia and the post-Soviet world. My work combines large-scale text-as-data methods with comparative political analysis to examine how autocrats and their allies speak—and why it matters.
My research sits at the intersection of comparative authoritarianism, political communication, and computational social science. I am particularly interested in how autocratic elites adapt their rhetoric in response to institutional pressures, audience demands, and political repression—and in the downstream effects of such communication on domestic and international audiences.
My work has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, the British Journal of Political Science, Political Communication, Post-Soviet Affairs, and Europe-Asia Studies, among other outlets. I am a recipient of the UCD Ad Astra Fellowship and have held a visiting position at Oxford.
"Everything for the Front, Everything for Victory"? Elite Incentives and Rhetorical Adaptation of Russia's Members of Parliament on Social Media
Political Communication
Autocratic Audiences and Linguistic Complexity
British Journal of Political Science, Vol. 55, e137
Playing the Sycophant Card: The Logic and Consequences of Professing Loyalty to the Autocrat
American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 69, No. 3, pp. 1180–1195
Destroying Opposition in Autocracy: The Case of Russia in 1991–2024
In Handbook on Opposition Politics, ed. E. O'Malley, F. Cavatorta and A. Baturo, pp. 308–323. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Personalization and Elite Rhetoric: How the Autocrat's Popularity and Political Repression Influence Policy Speech of Regime Officials
Politics and Policy, Vol. 53, No. 4
The Political Economy of the COVID-19 Response in Autocracies: Evidence from the Russian Regions
Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 77, No. 6, pp. 977–999
'We Don't Abandon Our Own People': Public Rhetoric of Russia's Governors during the Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine
Post-Soviet Affairs, Vol. 40, No. 4, pp. 278–295
Internet, Political Regime and Terrorism: A Quantitative Analysis
Cross-Cultural Research, Vol. 56, No. 4, pp. 385–418
Staying on Message: Credible Communication, Cooptation, and Autocratic Issue Attention
Under review
Mobilizing the Demobilized: Authoritarian Regime Inducements to Participation in Conflict
Under review
Dictator's Coattails, Personalization, and Coalition Dynamics: Evidence from the Soviet Party Congresses and Plenums, 1923–39
Spring 2025, Autumn 2024
Autumn 2024
POL36230 Authoritarian Politics
Spring 2024
POL36220 Political Communication and Propaganda
Spring 2024
Address
School of Politics and International Relations
University College Dublin
Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
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