Welcome! I am a Visiting Professor of Government at Harvard University and Goodrich C. White Professor (Emeritus) of Political Science at Emory University. I am the author of a number of books and articles. Among my books are 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). My current research concerns 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.
I retired in 2017 from a career teaching comparative politics with a particular emphasis on Russia at Emory University in Atlanta. Since 2017 I have been a visiting professor in the Government Department at Harvard. There I teach a course called “the politics of economic inequality,” which asks why economic inequality is so high in the United States and many other countries. In my research and teaching, I try to understand the political factors that intersect with market forces to shape the distribution of income and wealth.
I also work with several organizations in the state of Maine on issues concerning education, skill formation, and workforce development.
Academic Interests
- Comparative political institutions
- Comparative political economy and development
- Comparative education and workforce development
Education
- Ph.D., Political Science, Yale University, 1978
- M.A., Russian and East European Studies, Yale University, 1974
- A.B., Government, Oberlin College, 1970