FIELDS:
Comparative Politics, International Relations, Social Science Methodology
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
The political economy of transitions to market (Eastern Europe, Russia, and China), wealthy elites in postcommunism, unrecognized states in Eurasia, democratization and social media, US-China relations, and authoritarian legacies.
ARTICLES:
Nostalgic Voting? Explaining the Political Support for the Political Left in Post-Soviet Moldova, Eurasian Geography and Economics (online), 1-29, April 2021.
"Taming the Oligarchs? Democratization and State Capture: The Case of Moldova." Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization 29, no. 1, 63-89, 2021.
The Political Economy of the Post-Soviet De Facto States: A Paired Comparison of Transnistria (Moldova) and the People’s Republic of Donetsk (Ukraine) with Alexandru Leșanu, Problems of Post-Communism, July 2020.
Multiethnic Parastates and Nation-Building: the Case of the Transnistrian
Imagined Community, Nationalities Papers 48, 61-82, 2020.
The ‘China Threat’ Theory: Political Discourse and Public Perceptions of China in the United States (under review)
WORKING PAPERS:
Lessons from your neighbor? What Ukraine can learn from Moldova’s conflict resolution plans for Transnistria
Neoimperial Ambitions? Prospect Theory and Russia’s Annexation of Crimea
Flexible Authoritarians? Explaining Ideological Change in Russia and China
The Post-Soviet Oligarchs and State Capture
Comparing Populisms: Strategies of Othering in American and German Populist Discourses
Leadership Succession, Oil Prices, and Foreign Policy Crises: The Case of Russia
CONFERENCE PAPERS:
"Wealthy Elites and the Party-State in the People's Republic of China: a
Permanent Nexus?", Visiting Scholars Working Papers, Center for Chinese
Studies, National Central Library, 2016.
"The Oligarchic Intermezzo: A New-Old Form of State Capture in
Postcommunism?", APSA Convention, San Francisco, September 2015 (Panel)
“Post-Soviet Oligarchs and the Nomenklatura Capitalism Hypothesis”, APSA
Convention, Washington DC, August 2014 (Poster session)
“An unfinished transition: oligarchs and anti-oligarchic discourses in Moldova (2009-2012)”, The Organization for the Advancement of Eurasian Studies, Graduate Student Conference, Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia, NYU, April 2013
“CPC and the Chinese wealthy elites: cooperation or growing tensions?”, Graduate Student Conference, 2014.
“What is and What is Not a Twitter Revolution? Insights Based on the Moldovan Case”, International Studies Association Convention, San Diego, April 2012
“Social Media and Democratization: Lessons from Eastern Europe and the Middle East”, co-authored with Teflah Alajmi, International Studies Association Convention, San Diego, April 2012
“The Moldovan-Romanian Twitter Revolution: New Media and Post-electoral Mobilization” Association for the Study of Nationalities Convention, April 2011.
“Factors leading to the rise, consolidation, and fall of the Communists’ Party in Moldova” Midwestern Political Science Association Convention, April 2010.
CHAPTERS IN EDITED VOLUMES:
•“Making it in China: The Determinants of Economic Success in a Socialist Market System” in Peter Duncan and Elisabeth Schimpfössl (eds), Socialism, Capitalism and Alternatives: Area Studies and Global Theories, London, UK: UCL Press, 2019.
• “The State without Autonomy: a Success Story at the Periphery of the European Union?” (in Romanian) in Petru Negură and Vitalie Sprânceană (eds), Republica Moldova la 25 de Ani, Chișinău: Cartier, 2016.
• “Die Europäische Öffentlichkeit braucht mehr Integration” in Christian Weitzel et al., Partner, Nachbarn, Konkurrenten: Dynamik und Wandel an den Grenzen in Osteuropa, DGAP-Schriften zur Internationalen Politik, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2009.
• Vom Statisten zum Akteur? Die Europäische Nachbarschaftspolitik und die Rolle der Ukraine im Transnistrien-Konflikt. In B. Rill (Ed.), Ukraine - Partner der EU? 79-90. München: Akademie für Politik und Zeitgeschehen, 2008 (with Aron Buzogany).
• “Moldova’s neutrality: what is at stake?”, chapter in “Quo Vadis Moldova?” published by the Lithuanian Center for European Studies, April 2007.
• Co-author, “100 – most pressing problems of Moldova” published by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Moldova, November 2007.
BOOK REVIEWS:
Fiona Hill & Clifford G Gaddy, Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2015. 534 pp.
Journal: Journal of Peace Research (June 2017)
Akos Rona-Tas & Alya Guseva, Plastic Money: Constructing Markets for Credit Cards in Eight Postcommunist Countries. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press, 2014. Journal: Europe-Asia Studies (Spring 2015)
Jie Chen, A Middle Class Without Democracy. Economic Growth and the Prospects for Democratization in China. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Journal: Europe-Asia Studies (August 2014)
Kimberly Kagan (Ed.), The Imperial Moment. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010.
Journal: AbImperio (December 2012)
Martin Gilman, No Precedent, No Plan: Inside Russia's 1998 Default, Cambridge MA & London: MIT Press, 2010.
Journal: Europe-Asia Studies (May 2012)
Thomas Ambrosio, Authoritarian Backlash: Russian Resistance to Democratization in the Former Soviet Union, Ashgate, 2009.
Journal: AbImperio (November - December 2011)
Stephen White (ed.), Politics and the Ruling Group in Putin’s Russia. Studies in Central and Eastern Europe. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
Journal: Europe-Asia Studies (October 2010)
Paul D. Aligica and Anthony Evans, The Neoliberal Revolution in Eastern Europe: Economic Ideas in the Transition from Communism, Northampton: Edward Elgar (with Vitalie Sprinceana)
Monthly magazine: Contrafort (November 2010).
POLICY BRIEFS:
Moldova Between Scylla and Charybdis: Foreign Threats and Domestic Issues, Foreign Policy Research Institute, April 20, 2017.
Remittances and Development in Moldova, Political and Security Statewatch, IDIS-Viitorul, July 2008.
Media Commentary:
Libya: A Country Up For Grabs? (co-authored with Farah Jan), The National Interest, September 30, 2020.
American Universities during the Pandemic, Obiectiv Comun, TVR Moldova, September 23, 2020.
How to Save the European Union from Post-Brexit Eurosclerosis, The Globe Post, February 3, 2020.
Medvedev's Resignation: The End of Tandemocracy in Russia? The Globe Post, January 20, 2020.
"We Are All Twitter Revolutionaries and Patriots" or the Transcript of a Revolution, Platzforma Forum, April 14, 2014.
Oligarchs: Origins, Influence, and Democracy, Platzforma Forum, January 21, 2014.
The Secret Election of Moldova's Unknown President, The Monkey Cage Blog, March 26, 2012.