Competitive authoritarian states, post-Soviet politics, democratisation, the EU and Eastern Partnership Programme
Background & Qualification
I am a PhD student at DCU School of Law and Government. I currently work at TCD as a research assistant and trainer of Gaming for Peace. I have worked in civil society sector, specialising in democratisation and reforms in Armenia, working with European Partnership for Democracy, Open Society Foundations and Analytical Centre on Globalisation and Regional Cooperation.
Research Overview
My PhD thesis studies the determinants of survival of regional governors in competitive authoritarian and authoritarian states. Scholarship has mostly focused on large non-democratic regimes such as Russia and China. However, less is known about smaller states or regimes with higher political competition. Drawing from the original data from Armenia between 2007 and 2018 when the country was governed by a competitive authoritarian regime, I study whether governors are rewarded based on their political or economic performance. My argument is that governors are rewarded based on regional election returns. Additionally, factors related to prime ministerial patronage and coalition governance have an effect on the rewards of governors.
The thesis develops knowledge about dominant parties and their strategies during elections, career path of regional governors, and their role during elections. The thesis serves as a contribution to the literature on dominant parties, coalition governance in competitive authoritarian regimes, regional governance, and post-Soviet and Armenian politics.