Book Project – Ethnic War and Peace in Post-Soviet Eurasia – answers why some Soviet successor states experienced secessionist violence after the collapse of the Soviet Union. I use structured comparison to detail social-political histories of Russia, Moldova, and Ukraine and fuzzy sets to assess twenty-one explanations of secessionist violence across the full range of former Soviet cases. I find that the relative coherence between the ethnic group dominating the state and an ethnic minority opposition immediately after the collapse of Soviet power determined the state’s ability to establish stability and a minority group’s ability to violently secede. 

Publications and working-articles:
"Politics of Secession and Stability: Inter-Group Dynamics in Early post-Soviet Eurasia."

“The Breakdown of Authoritarian Regimes and Buildup of Economic Growth Theories.”

"The Violent Thaw of Frozen Conflicts: Why Separatist Movements in Former-Soviet States Return to Violent Conflict after Periods of Peace"

2014. Book Review: Russian Politics: The Paradox of a Weak State, written by Marie Mendras (2012) Columbia
University Press." The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review. 41(1) 85-89

2011. (with Nicole D’Errico). “Kenyan Immigrants.” Multicultural America: An Encyclopedia of the Newest Americans. Edited by Ronald H. Bayor. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. Named a "Best Reference" by the American Library Association's magazine Booklist.


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