Rachel Beatty Riedl

Overview

Rachel Beatty Riedl is the Einaudi Center's director and John S. Knight Professor of International Studies and professor in the Department of Government and Brooks School of Public Policy.

Her research interests include institutions in democracies and autocracies, local governance and decentralization policy, authoritarian regime legacies, democratic resilience, and religion and politics, with a regional focus in Africa.  Previously, she was an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, Faculty Fellow in the Institute for Policy Research, and Director of the Program of African Studies at Northwestern University.  She has also been a visiting fellow at the Yale Program on Democracy, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at Notre Dame, and the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies. She is a full member of the Council on Foreign Relations and served as Chair of the Democracy and Autocracy section of the American Political Science Association.  Riedl is co-host of the podcast Ufahamu Africa, featuring weekly episodes of news highlights and interviews about life and politics on the African continent.  PhD Princeton University.

Research Focus

• Research Interest(s): Comparative Democratization; Political Party Systems and Democratic Institutions; Decentralization and Local Governance; Authoritarian Legacies; Religion and Politics
• Program Area(s): Comparative Politics
• Regional Specialization(s): Africa
• Subfield Specialties: Comparative Historical Analysis; Political Parties

Publications

• Authoritarian-Led Democratization (Annual Review of Political Science, Volume 23, 2020)

• From Pews to Politics, Religious Sermons and Political Participation in Africa (Cambridge University Press, October 2019)

• Authoritarian Origins of Democratic Party Systems in Africa (Cambridge University Press, March 2014)

In the news

• Einaudi Center welcomes new and returning program directors
• Sudan’s return to peace hinges on re-empowering civilian government
• High stakes and high risk in Nigeria landmark election 
• Cornell, global partners discuss the next ‘grand challenge’
• Iceland president: ‘Turn smallness into strength’
• Polarization research in Ecuador underscores risks to U.S. democracy
• Einaudi awards fund global research and activities
• Experts: Ukraine war puts world in ‘uncharted territory’
• Nicaraguan cartoonist finds refuge at Einaudi Center
• Einaudi welcomes new program directors and opportunities
• Nobel laureate Sen to lecture on protecting democracy
• Nyabola to speak at Race and Racism Across Borders event
• President Clinton: U.S. in ‘dogfight’ for democracy
• President Clinton to speak on the future of U.S. democracy
• Search committee set for policy school’s founding dean
• Indian MP Rahul Gandhi to speak on democracy March 2
• Some GOP members didn’t accept Biden’s win. What happens when an anti-democratic faction rocks a democracy?
• Migrations initiative wins $5M Mellon grant for racial justice
• Students’ summers saved with global virtual internships
• Migrations: Understanding the Implications of a World on the Move (video)
• Cornell experts probe threats to democracy from COVID-19
• Global democratic challenges due to pandemic examined in webinar
• COVID-19 impact: Rachel Beatty Riedl on Africa’s response
• Einaudi Center awards eight faculty grants
• Vice provost illuminates Cornell’s global role and impact
• New Einaudi Center director launches book in Zambia