I am a PhD Candidate in the Politics Department at the University of Virginia. My research examines the influential role played by powerful businesspeople in emerging democracies. Through field research and surveys of businesspeople in North Africa, I show how businesspeople’s engagement with emerging democracies is especially problematic when business is united against democracy. This outcome is much more likely to occur if a powerful state actor, such as the Egyptian military, is able to force businesspeople to work together to undermine democratization. You can access my CV from this link.

I also incorporate advanced quantitative techniques in my analysis, including Bayesian modeling, time-series econometrics and psychometric measurement models. For more information about my projects using the R statistical software package, including my forthcoming R package idealstan, please visit my Github site.

For a summary of my dissertation research, please view the presentation below that I gave as a finalist in the University of Virginia’s 3-Minute Thesis competition:

• idealstan: A Package for Bayesian Ideal-Point Modeling with Stan

  Thu, Jan 11, 2018, StanCon 2018 Conference

• Islamist-Secularist Polarization during the Arab Uprisings

  Fri, Sep 1, 2017, American Political Science Association Annual Conferece

• Making Democracy Safe for Business: Business Collective Action in Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia

  Fri, Sep 1, 2017, American Political Science Association Annual Conferece

• rmk7xy@virginia.edu
• bobkubinec1