I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Nazarbayev University. I hold a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto.

My research examines the imposition of state power over populations or aspects of their lives previously outside government control. My current research agenda comprises two projects, which address the extension of government control on the geographic and digital frontiers of state power, respectively.

The first project explores projection of state power in political peripheries and incorporation of their populations by the state. To date it has yielded journal articles that delve into the formation and role of subordinate political elites, elite responses to opportunities for personal enrichment, political mobilization of ethnic identities, the state-making effects of electoral accountability, and investments in the administrative and coercive capacity of local government apparatuses in the wake of such incorporation. In the second project I investigate government deployment of digital surveillance technologies and societal responses it engenders.

I provide more information about my research here. Copies of my publications can be found here.

My teaching specializations are comparative politics, African politics, international development, state capacity and state-building, and research design and methods. More information about my teaching, along with course syllabi, class slides, and other teaching materials, is available here.

My CV is here.