Research

I am interested in the sources of authoritarian resilience and patterns of political representation in an age when democratic institutions are under threat.  In addition to my published work, I am working on the following research projects:

Digital Authoritarianism

Digital Campaigning and democracy. I am developing a typology to study the regulatory approaches of AI and social media use during elections, and their effects on electoral integrity. Some of my recent work are available here:

  • 2025. “Regulating Digital Campaigning.” In The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Integrity, edited by Holly Ann Garnett and Toby S. James. Oxford University Press.
  • 2025. “Bots, Buzzers and AI-Driven Campaigning Distort Democracy.” East Asia Forum Quarterly, June.
  • 2025. “Digital Authoritarianism in Southeast Asia.” In Routledge Handbook of Autocratization in Southeast Asia, 56-71. 1st ed. Routledge.

Electoral Politics in Singapore

Gerrymandering. I am collating spatial and electoral data on Singapore’s general elections and changes in electoral boundaries. Some of my recent work on electoral boundary changes are below:

Ethnic Quotas and Political Representation

Quotas and Representation. This is a multi-year SSHRC funded project to study how ethnic quotas, reserved seats, and other mechanisms guarantee the political representation of ethnic minorities and their substantive effects. This project aims to understand how ethnic quota systems relate to meaningful inclusion, modes of political representation, patterns of electoral competition, and chains of political responsiveness and accountability.

Substantive Representation of Elected Ethnic Minority and Women MPs. Do elected representatives advance the interests of their constituencies? How do we know? Using both qualitative and quantitative data, I am exploring ways to study the substantive representation of elected ethnic minority and female leaders in Singapore and Taiwan.