I am currently working on three projects, the first of which employs as a case study a little-known (outside of the FSU) Soviet-era organized criminal group, the vory-v-zakone, to broaden the theoretical conception of organized crime typified by scholars such as Gambetta, Varese, and Volkov. I'll be presenting this paper at the 2008 graduate student retreat of the Society for Comparative Research.

The second project, recently presented at the meeting of the Midwestern Political Science Association, explores the correlates of electoral volatility in postcommunist elections betweeen 1991 and 2006. It demonstrates that economic factors are unhelpful in explaining the phenomenon, arguing instead that institutional and structural features are critical, and that, when other variables are controlled for, time has been of little import.

The final project, being conducted with one of my advisors, is in the beginning stages of development. It surveys current research on the rule of law, identifying two large gaps in our understanding, and attempts to provide some preliminary answers.