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Kristen Kao
Senior Lecturer
Department of Political ScienceAbout Kristen Kao
Kristen Kao is an Associate Professor with the Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles. Kristen is an affiliated scholar with the Global Scholars Network on Identity and Conflict (GSNIC) at Harvard University and Queens University Belfast as well as the Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) network.
Kristen has published work on post-conflict reconciliation, non-state authorities, ethnic politics, and forced migration in the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, and World Development, among others. Her edited volume Decentralization, Local Governance, and Inequality in the Middle East and North Africa with Ellen Lust was published with the University of Michigan Press in 2025.
In 2019, her research on post-conflict reconciliation in Iraq won the Franklin L. Burdette Pi Sigma Alpha award for the best paper presented at the American Political Science Association annual meeting.
She has been conducting fieldwork-based studies since 2006 across countries as varied as Jordan, Syria, Kuwait, Lebanon, Tunisia, Oman, Iraq, Turkey, Malawi, Kenya, Zambia, and Egypt. She has served as an advisor to the Carter Center, the National Democratic Institute, and the World Bank, and is a country expert for the Freedom House and the Varieties of Democracy Institute. Kristen is a former Fulbright Scholar in Egypt and Boren Fellow in Jordan and Kuwait.
You can read more about Kristen’s research at www.kristenkao.com.
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Introduction: Decentralization and local governance: Lessons from the
MENA
Ellen Lust, Kristen Kao
Decentralization, Local Governance, and Inequality in the Middle East and North Africa - 2025 -
Conclusion: Decentralization in the Middle East and North Africa: Findings and
implications
Ellen Lust, Kristen Kao
Decentralization, Local Governance, and Inequality in the Middle East and North Africa - 2025 -
Is authority fungible? Legitimacy, domain congruence, and the limits of power in
Africa
Kate Baldwin, Kristen Kao, Ellen Lust
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE - 2025 -
Decentralization, local governance, and inequality in the Middle East and North
Africa
Kristen Kao, Ellen Lust
2025 -
Female Representation and Legitimacy: Evidence from a Harmonized Experiment in Jordan, Morocco, and
Tunisia
Kristen Kao, Ellen Lust, Marwa Shalaby, Chagai Weiss
American Political Science Review - 2024 -
No Peace Without Punishment? Reintegrating Islamic State "Collaborators" in
Iraq
Mara R. Revkin, Kristen Kao
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE LAW - 2023 -
Electoral Institutions and Identity Based Clientelism in
Jordan
Kristen Kao
Political Research Quarterly - 2023 -
Retribution or Reconciliation? Post-Conflict Attitudes Toward Enemy
Collaborators
Kristen Kao, Mara Revkin
American Journal of Political Science - 2023 -
Symptoms and Stereotypes: Perceptions and Responses to Covid-19 in Malawi and
Zambia
K. E. Ferree, B. Dulani, A. S. Harris, Kristen Kao, Ellen Lust, Cecilia Ahsan Jansson, Erica Metheney
Comparative Political Studies - 2023 -
Vote-Buying, Anti-Corruption Campaigns, and Identity in African
Elections
Kristen Kao, Ellen Lust, Lise Rakner
World Development - 2022 -
Does it matter what observers say? The impact of international election monitoring on
legitimacy
Lindsay Benstead, Kristen Kao, Ellen Lust
Mediterranean Politics - 2022 -
Voting for Islamists: Mapping the Role of
Religion
Ellen Lust, Kristen Kao, Gibran Okar
The Oxford Handbook of Politics in Muslim Societies - 2022 -
Elections in the time of covid-19: the triple crises around Malawi’s 2020 presidential
elections
B. Dulani, A. Harris, Ellen Lust, K. Ferree, Kristen Kao, Cecilia Ahsan Jansson, Erica Metheney
Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties - 2021 -
The ABCs of Covid-19 prevention in Malawi: Authority, benefits, and costs of
compliance
Kristen Kao, Ellen Lust, B. Dulani, K. E. Ferree, A. S. Harris, Erica Metheney
World Development - 2021 -
Retribution or Reconciliation? Post-Conflict Attitudes Toward Enemy
Collaborators
Kristen Kao, Mara Revkin
2021 -
Disease Threat, Stereotypes, and Covid–19: An Early View from Malawi and
Zambia
Karen Ferree, Kristen Kao, Boniface Dulani, Adam Harris, Ellen Lust, Cecilia Ahsan Jansson, Erica Metheney
2021 -
Stigma, Trust, and Procedural Integrity: Covid-19 Testing in
Malawi
K. E. Ferree, A. S. Harris, B. Dulani, Kristen Kao, Ellen Lust, Erica Metheney
World Development - 2021 -
Female Electability in the Arab World: The Advantages of
Intersectionality
Kristen Kao, Lindsay Benstead
Comparative politics - 2021 -
Historical Legacies, Social Cleavages, and Support for Political
Islam
Ellen Lust, Kristen Kao, Gibran Okar
The Oxford Handbook of Politics in Muslim Societies - 2021 -
How Does Punishment Affect Reintegration of Former Offenders? Evidence from
Iraq
Mara Revkin, Kristen Kao
2020 -
Disease Threat, Stereotypes, and Covid–19: An Early View from Malawi and
Zambia
Karen Ferree, Kristen Kao, Boniface Dulani, Adam S. Harris, Ellen Lust, Cecilia Ahsan Jansson, Erica Metheney
2020 -
What do Jordan’s Election Results
Mean?
Kristen Kao, E.J. Karmel
The Washington Post Monkey Cage - 2020 -
How the Iraqi crackdown on the Islamic State may actually increase support for the Islamic
State
Kristen Kao, Mara Revkin
The Washington Post Monkey Cage - 2019 -
Using Tablet Computers to Implement Surveys in Challenging
Environments
Lindsay Benstead, Kristen Kao, Pierre Landry, Ellen Lust, Dhafer Malouche
Survey Practice - 2017 -
Electoral Institutions and Ethnic
Clientelism
Kristen Kao
American Political Science Association Comparative Politics Newsletter - 2017 -
Governance and Service Delivery in the Middle East and North
Africa
Adam Harris, Kristen Kao, Ellen Lust, Jens Ewald, Petter Holmgren
2017 -
Money Machine: Do the Poor Demand
Clientelism?
Kristen Kao, Ellen Lust, Lise Rakner
2017 -
Are Islamists Making A Comeback in the Middle East? Here’s Why They Succeed - and
Fail
Kristen Kao, Ellen Lust, Marc Lynch
The Washington Post - 2017 -
Why Did the Arab Uprisings Turn Out as They Did? A Survey of the
Literature
Kristen Kao, Ellen Lust
POMED Snapshot Series - 2017 -
Use of Tablet Computers to Implement the Local Governance Performance Index (LGPI) in Tunisia. Working Paper No. 6, November
2015
Lindsay Benstead, Kristen Kao, Pierre Landry, Ellen Lust, Dhafer Malouche
2015