I am a senior lecturer in Political Science at Baylor University. My research and teaching interests center around comparative politics with an emphasis on the region of Europe. I earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego.
Research interests
The broad theme underlying my research interests is the relationship between domestic and international institutions. Why do some states deliberately relinquish some of their sovereignty and what are the implications of this decision? How do domestic legislatures respond when policy areas that used to be decided by the legislature are now determined by an international organization? Populism politicizes issue areas while technocracies depoliticize them. The push and pull between these two forces in European politics is a symptom of weakened political parties. It is also a consequence of regional integration, which makes it more difficult for parties in legislatures to provide the oversight and deliberation that build legitimacy in parliamentary democracies.