Matthew Charles Wilson
Associate Professor of Political Science
University of South Carolina
Image: Mexico City, Mexico (2013)
Academic Appointments
2021- Associate Professor, Political Science
University of South Carolina
2015-2018 Assistant Professor, Political Science
West Virginia University
Education
Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University, May 2015.
Dissertation: ''Castling the King: Institutional Sequencing and Regime Change.''
Advisor: Gretchen Casper
Committee: Joseph Wright, James Piazza, Melissa Hardy
M.A., Pennsylvania State University, 2011.
Thesis: ''A Discreet Critique of Discrete Regime Type Data.''
B.S., Clemson University, 2009, Summa cum Laude, Honors in Global Politics
Honors thesis: ''Determinants of Household Migration from an Ethnic Perspective.''
Publications
Journal Articles
Forth. "Episodes of Liberalization in Autocracies: A New Approach to Quantitatively Studying Democratization."
Political Science Research and Methods, (with Juraj Medzihorsky, Seraphine F. Maerz, Anna Lührmann,
Patrik Lindenfors, Amanda Edgell, Vanessa Boese, and Staffan Lindberg).
2020 "Geographical Coverage in Political Science Research." Perspectives on Politics,
(with Carl Henrik Knutsen).
2020 "The Matthew effect in political science: head start and key reforms important for democratization."
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 7(106) (with Staffan Lindberg and Patrik Lindenfors).
2019 "A Closer Look at the Limits of Consociationalism." Comparative Political Studies.
2018 ''State of the world 2017: autocratization and exclusion?'' Democratization, 2018 "Successful and Failed Episodes of Democratization: Conceptualization, Identification, and Description." University of Gothenburg, Varieties of Democracy Institute: Working Paper No. 79 (with Staffan I. Lindberg, Patrik Lindenfors, Anna Lührmann, Laura Maxwell, Juraj Medzihorsky, and Richard Morgan). 2018 ''Stairways to Denmark: Does the Sequence of State-building and Democratization Matter for Economic Media Mentions 2018 John Oliver, Last Week Tonight. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ximgPmJ9A5s). 2018 Jeffrey Sachs, "Trump is taking US down the path to tyranny." CNN, 24 July 2018.
Last upated July 2021.
Test
(with Anna Lührmann, Valeriya Mechkova, Sirianne Dahlum, Laura Maxwell, Moa Olin,
Constanza Sanhueza Petrarca, Rachel Sigman, and Staffan I. Lindberg).
2018 ''Crowdsourcing and Self-Instruction: Turning the Production of Teaching Materials into a Learning Objective.''
Journal of Political Science Education, 14(3): 400-408.
2018 ''Militarism and Dual-Conflict Capacity.''
International Interactions, 44(1): 156-172 (with Carla Martinez-Machain).
2017 ''Trends in Political Science Research and the Progress of Comparative Politics.''
PS: Political Science & Politics, 50(4): 979-984.
2017 ''Understanding the experiences, attitudes, and behaviors of sexual orientation and gender identity
minority employees.''
Journal of Vocational Behavior, 103: 1-6 (with Larry R. Martinez and Katina B. Sawyer).
2017 ''Autocratic Legislatures and Expropriation Risk.''
British Journal of Political Science, 47(1): 1-17 (with Joseph Wright).
2015 ''Using Sequences to Model Crises.''
Political Science Research and Methods, 3(2): 381-397 (with Gretchen Casper).
2014 ''A Discreet Critique of Discrete Regime Type Data.''
Comparative Political Studies, 47(5): 689-714.
2013 ''Dictatorships and Terrorism: Conditioning Effects of Regime Type on Terrorism.''
American Journal of Political Science, 57(4): 941–955 (with James Piazza).
Books
Forth. One road to riches? How state building and democratization affect economic development.
Cambridge Elements Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
(with Carl Henrik Knutsen, Tore Wig, and Haakon Gjerløw).
Book Chapters
2019 ''Time and Regime Change.'' In The Oxford Handbook of Time and Politics, Klaus Goetz (Ed.).
Oxford,
UK: Oxford University Press.
2014 ''Governance Built Step-by-Step: Analyzing Sequences to Explain Democratization.''
In Advances in Sequence Analysis: Methods, Theories and Applications, Philippe Blanchard, Jacques-Antione,
Gauthier and Felix Bühlmann (Eds.). New York: Springer.
Working Papers
2021 "A Framework for Understanding Regime Transformation: Introducing the ERT Dataset."
University of Gothenburg, Varieties of Democracy Institute: Working Paper No. 113
(with Seraphine F. Maerz, Amanda B. Edgell, Sebastian Hellmeier, and Staffan I. Lindberg).
2020 "Empirical Dimensions of Electoral Democracy."
University of Gothenburg, Varieties of Democracy Institute: Working Paper No. 109
(with Vanessa A. Boese).
2020 "Democratic Legacies: Using Democratic Stock to Assess Norms, Growth, and Regime Trajectories."
University of Gothenburg, Varieties of Democracy Institute: Working Paper No. 100
(with Amanda B. Edgell, Vanessa A. Boese, and Sandra Grahn).
2018 "Strengthening the Rubber Stamp: Comparing Legislative Powers across Regimes."
University of Gothenburg, Varieties of Democracy Institute: Working Paper No. 82 (with Josef Woldense).
Development?'' University of Gothenburg, Varieties of Democracy Institute: Working Paper No.72
(with Haakon Gjerlow, Carl Henrik Knutsen, and Tore Wig).
2017 ''Autocratic Legislatures and Party Institutionalization.''
University of Gothenburg, Varieties of Democracy Institute: Working Paper No. 7.
2016 ''Beyond First Elections: The Importance of Consistency in the Timing of Recurrent Elections.''
University of Gothenburg, Varieties of Democracy Institute: Working Paper No. 32
(with Staffan Lindberg).
Media Contributions
2018 One-third of the world's population lives in a declining democracy. That includes the United States.
The Monkey Cage, Washington Post, 04 July (with Anna Lührmann).
2017 Is democracy on the decline? Not as much as some pundits want you to believe.
The Monkey Cage, Washington Post, 26 June (with Anna Lührmann and Valeriya Mechkova).
Other Contributions
2021 ''Episodes of Regime Transformation: Assessing Democratization and Autocratization since 1900.''
The American Political Science Association Comparative Politics Democratization Newsletter, 31(1): 5-14
(with Amanda Edgell and Seraphine F. Maerz).
2020 ''Geographical Coverage in Political Science Research.'' Midwest Political Science Association, 07 October
(with Carl Henrik Knutsen).
2020 ''Democracy and Freedom during Covid-19.'' Codebook v.1.1.
2020 ''Teaching Tactics: A Simple Hack for Maintaining Personal Connections to Students.''
Incubator for Teaching Innovation, College of Arts & Sciences at the University of South Carolina, 13 April.
Re-published by the Midwest Political Science Association, 17 June.
2018 ''Comparative Trends.''
2018 ''Crowd-Sourcing and Self-Instruction.'' Active Learning in Political Science,
13 August.
2018 ''The Value of Descriptive Sequences in Historical Institutionalist Research.''
The American Political Science Association (APSA-CD) Comparative Democratization Newsletter, 16(2): 9-13.
2018 ''United States: Liberal Democracy Under Stress.'' V-Dem Annual Democracy Report.
Convention Activities
Panel Activity
American Political Science Association meetings: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020.
Midwest Political Science Association meetings: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 2019, 2021.
Southern Political Science Association meetings: 2015, 2016, 2017.
European Consortium for Political Research meetings: 2011, 2019.
International Political Science Association meetings: 2011, 2021.
Latin American Studies Association: 2014, 2015.
Peace Science Society: 2009, 2010, 2011.
Society for Political Methodology: 2012.
Grants and Awards
2021 McCausland Faculty Fellowship, College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Carolina, $20000.
2020 College of Arts and Sciences Innovative Teaching Associate, University of South Carolina, $10000.
2014 Alumni Association Dissertation Award, PSU, $5000.
2013 Outstanding Graduate Student Award, Department of Political Science, PSU, $1500.
2013 Career Development Award, Center for Global Studies, PSU, $2000.
2013 Comparative Initiative, Department of Political Science, PSU, $2000.
2013 Research Grant on Democratic Innovation, Penn State Democracy Institute, PSU, $2000.
2012 RGSO College Dissertation Support Competition, College of Liberal Arts, PSU, $2000.
2011 Nordic Research Opportunity (NRO), $12,000.
2011 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP), $30,000 per year for 3 years.
2011 Conference Travel Award, University of Lausanne, $2000.
2009 Graduate Fellowship, Phi Theta Kappa, $4000.
2009- Conference Travel Awards, Department of Political Science, PSU, $8000.
2009 Award for Most Outstanding Undergraduate Research, College of Business and Behavioral Science,
Clemson University, $500.
2009 Faculty Scholarship Award, Clemson University.
2009 James F. Byrnes Award, Department of Political Science, Clemson University.
Professional Experience
Temporary and other Appointments
2018 Research Fellow, Varieties of Democracy Project, University of Gothenburg.
2014 Visiting Scholar, Vanderbilt University.
2013 Visiting Scholar, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económica (CIDE),
Mexico City, Mexico (Fall).
2012 Visiting Scholar, Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO), Oslo, Norway (Summer).
Invited Talks and Conferences
2019 Workshop on Autocratic Legislatures, London, United Kingdom, December.
2019 Varieties of Democracy Internal Research Conference, Gothenburg, Sweden, May.
2018 Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark, December.
2018 University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, November.
2018 Varieties of Democracy Internal Research Conference, Gothenburg, Sweden, May.
2018 Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom, April.
2017 University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany, November.
2017 Varieties of Democracy Internal Research Conference, Gothenburg, Sweden, May.
2017 The New Politics of Authoritarianism, Oxford, United Kingdom, March.
2016 University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden, January.
2014 University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom, December.
2013 Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económica (CIDE), Mexico City, Mexico, October.
2012 Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO), Norway, June.
2012 Conference on Sequence Analysis, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, June.
2011 University of North Carolina Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina, September.
Fieldwork Experience
2013 Field research in Mexico City, Mexico, August-November.
2007 Field research in Otavalo, Ecuador, May-July.
Research Interests
Comparative Politics: Democratization; Autocracy; Comparative institutions, Civil Conflict.
International Relations: Civil Conflict, Democratic Diffusion, Autocracy.
Political Methodology: Quantitative methods; Time dependence; Sequence analysis.
Teaching Interests
Comparative Politics: Political Institutions; Democratization and Authoritarianism; Latin American Politics.
International Relations: Civil Conflict.
Political Methodology: Research Design and Methods; Linear Regression, Maximum Likelihood Estimation.
Teaching Experience
2021 Introduction to Global Politics (U), Advanced Methods of Political Analysis (G),
American National Government (U).
2020 Introduction to Global Politics (U), Advanced Methods of Political Analysis (G),
American National Government (U).
2019 Governments of Latin America (U), Dictatorship and Democracy (G), American National Government (U).
2017 Dictatorship and Democratization (U), Dictatorship and Democracy (G).
2016 Governments of Latin America (U), Introduction to Comparative Politics (U), Advanced Quantitative Analysis (G).
2015 Democracy and Dictatorship (U), Comparative Politics Core Seminar (G).
2014 Invited lecturer,
United Kingdom, December.
2014 Instructor, Dictators and their Demise (PL SC 414)—Spring, Pennsylvania State University.
2011 Cosponsor, short course on Sequence Analysis, American Political Science Association—Fall
(with Philippe Blanchard).
Ph.D. Dissertation Chair
Current Sanghoon Park
Current Kelsey Martin-Morales
Ph.D. Dissertation Committees
Current Madison Shanks
Current Emily Harmon
2021 Shaoshuang Wen (Visiting Assistant Professor, Colgate University)
Professional Service Activities
Department Service
2021 Committee service, University of South Carolina:
Comprehensive exam chair, Graduate committee.
Judge, Internal Graduate Research Competition, University of South Carolina.
2020 Committee service, University of South Carolina:
Comprehensive exam grader, Graduate committee.
2019 Committee service, University of South Carolina:
Graduate committee, Undergraduate scholarships committee,
Comprehensive exams committee,
Task force on B.S. degree in political analysis.
2019 Judge, Internal Graduate Research Competition, University of South Carolina.
2017 Head of Graduate Professionalization Colloquia, West Virginia University.
2017 Workshop Organizer, Consortium for Faculty and Course Development in International Studies.
2015-2017 Committee service, West Virginia University:
Comprehensive exams committee, Graduate professionalization committee,
Search committee, Undergraduate scholarships committee.
University Service
2021 Walker Institute Internal Search Committee, University of South Carolina.
2020, 2021 Carolina Judicial Council, University of South Carolina.
2020, 2021 Truman Committee, University of South Carolina.
Past or Present Membership in Professional Associations
American Political Science Association (APSA), European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR),
International Studies Association (ISA), International Political Science Association (IPSA),
Latin American Studies Association (LASA), Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA),
Peace Science Society (International) (PSS), Society for Political Methodology (PolMeth),
Southern Political Science Association (SPSA).
Reviewing
American Journal of Political Science, Bulletin of Latin American Research, Comparative Political Studies,
Conflict Management and Peace Science, Contemporary Politics, Economics of Governance,
International Interactions, International Migration, International Studies Quarterly,
Journal of African and Asian Studies, Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research,
Journal of Comparative Politics, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Defense and Peace Economics,
Journal of Peace Research, Journal of Political Science Education, Journal of Politics,
Latin American Politics and Society, Polity, PS: Politics & Political Science, Research and Politics,
Revista de Ciencia Politica, Terrorism and Political Violence.
Other Activities
2021 Discussant and Chair, Conference of the Taiwan and Asia Program.
Gamecock Teaching Days, College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Carolina.
2020- MPSA mentor.
2020 MPSA virtual panel on online education, 05 June.
2020 Conversations About Teaching (CAT Corner), University of South Carolina, 04 March.
2019- Faculty Associate, Walker Institute of International Studies, University of South Carolina.
2019 Participant, INCUBATE Design Challenge, College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Carolina.
2019 Participant, APSA Preprints Panel.
2017- Faculty Chaperone and Translator, Global Brigades trip to Nicaragua.
2015- Faculty Associate, Latin American Studies Program, WVU.
2013 Volunteer, Ralph Bunche workshop on CV writing.
2011 President, the Graduate Association for Political Science, PSU.
2011 Assistant to the Executive Director, Peace Science Society—Glenn Palmer, Department of Political Science,
Pennsylvania State University: managed subscriptions for Conflict Management and Peace Science,
the Journal of Peace Research, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, and International Interactions.
Managed memberships to the Peace Science Society, organized annual meetings of the Peace Science Society;
and scheduled departmental presentations as part of a department series.
Professional Skills
Languages
English: native. Spanish: fluent. French: elementary comprehension.
Programming
R, STATA, LaTeX, Perl, Python.