Welcome! I am Goodrich C. White Professor (Emeritus) of Political Science at Emory University. I have written a number of books and articles, including The Returns to Power: A Political Theory of Economic Inequality (Oxford University Press, 2023); Presidential Decrees in Russia: A Comparative Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2014); and The Politics of Inequality in Russia (Cambridge University Press, 2011). I have research interests in the political sources of economic inequality in the United States, Russia, China and Germany, as well as issues related to education, skill formation, and workforce development. In September 2026 my book on the role of the new competition law regime established in Europe after World War II helped lay the foundation for the lasting peace and prosperity of the European Union will be published: Beyond Wars and Cartels: Competition Law and the Reconstruction of Europe (Routledge, 2027).
I retired in 2017 from a career at Emory University in Atlanta teaching comparative politics with a particular emphasis on Russia. From 2017 to 2025 I was a visiting professor in the Government Department at Harvard where I taught a seminar called “the politics of economic inequality.” In addition to studying economic inequality in comparative perspective, I also write about ways of improving the linkage between schooling and careers. I have research interests in the politics of competition law and in the relationship between ideology and political power.