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Ryan Kennedy Assistant Professor Department of Political Science Founding Director Center for International and Comparative Studies (CICS) University of Houston |
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Ryan
Kennedy is an assistant professor in the Department
of Political Science at the University of Houston and founding director
of the Center for
International and Comparative Studies.
He is also a research associate at the Hobby Center for Public Policy and
a contributing analyst for Oxford Analytica.
Kennedy’s work has spanned a number of areas in comparative politics,
primarily dealing with stability and change in political institutions. His research has been published in the American Political Science Review, the
Journal of Politics, International Studies Quarterly, and European Union Politics among others.
For more information, see his bio and curriculum vitae. Kennedy’s
main research areas include: (For
more details see curriculum vitae, publications, and working
papers) ·
Democratization, Authoritarian Institutions, and
State Failure – Includes analyses of the factors that contribute to the
stability/instability of authoritarian regimes, issues affecting the outcome
of regime transitions and the probability of democratization, prediction of
state failure (civil war and regime collapse), and the impact of various
authoritarian institutions on the survival of leaders. ·
East European Politics – Includes analyses of
economic reform, political reform, and foreign policy in Eastern European
countries (including the former Soviet Union and Turkey). This research also includes analyses of
“frozen conflicts” in the former Soviet Union and developments in Turkish
foreign policy. ·
Oil Politics – Looks at how oil development
affects politics and society in oil exporting states. In particular, this research has challenged
common perceptions of the causes of civil conflicts, institutional weakness,
and resource nationalism in petro-states. ·
Diffusion of Institutions – Challenges the primacy
of domestic explanations of democracy on the stat-level, and provides
individual-level theory and data to support a reference society explanation
of pro-democracy attitudes. ·
Research Methods – Utilizes advanced statistical
models and computer simulations for improving our understanding of
comparative politics and public policy. Kennedy
teaches courses at the University of Houston dealing with: (For
more details see the teaching) ·
International Energy Politics (Undergraduate) –
Focuses on the history and future of energy development and its effect on
domestic politics and international relations. [Sample Syllabus] ·
Political Terrorism (Undergraduate) – Deals with
the history of terrorism, theories of terrorist violence, and policy
responses to terrorist acts. [Sample
Syllabus] ·
Statistics for Political Scientists
(Undergraduate) – Teaches students the use of basic statistics for political
analysis, and introduces students to the process of carrying out quantitative
political science research. [Sample
Syllabus] ·
Democratization (Graduate) – Supplies an overview
of classic and contemporary theories on the causes and consequences of transitions
to democracy. [Sample
Syllabus] |
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University of Houston,
Department of Political Science