Political Science Faculty

Lauren Honig

Associate Professor

Biography

Lauren Honig researches and teaches聽on comparative politics and the political economy of development in African countries, with a focus on property rights, citizen-state linkages, customary聽authority, and informal institutions.聽


Her聽book,聽Land Politics: 聽(Cambridge聽University Press), examines the struggle to control land in Africa through the聽lens of land titling. Based on extensive fieldwork, it shows how customary institutions impact the contemporary expansion of state property rights, in an聽era of increasing land scarcity and booming global land markets. Her research聽has been awarded grants from the National Science Foundation, the Social聽Sciences Research Council, and Fulbright, among others.聽It has been published in journals including African Affairs, the American Political Science Review, Comparative Politics, Democratization, the Journal of Politics, Perspectives on Politics, and World Development.

She is a聽Research Associate at the Governance Local Development Institute at the University of Gothenburg. In addition, she聽has been a聽visiting Researcher at the Institute聽for Advanced Study in Toulouse and the Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame.聽She completed her B.A.聽at Northwestern University and her Ph.D. in Government at Cornell University.

Book

2022.聽Land聽Politics: How Customary Institutions Shape State Building in Zambia and Senegal. Cambridge聽University Press.

Publications

2023. 鈥淟and and Legibility: When Do Citizens Expect Secure聽Property Rights in Weak States?鈥 (with Karen E. Ferree, Ellen Lust and Melanie聽Phillips).聽American Political Science Review, 117 (1), pp. 42-58.聽

2023. 鈥淢utual Dependence and Expectations of Cooperation鈥 (with Adam Harris).聽Journal of Politics, 85 (1), pp. 192-208.聽

2022. 鈥淭he Power of the Pen: Informal Property Rights聽Documents in Zambia.鈥澛African Affairs,聽121 (482), 81-107.

2021. 鈥淲hat Stymies Action on Climate Change? Religious聽Institutions, Marginalization, and Efficacy in Kenya.鈥 (with Amy Erica Smith聽and Jaimie Bleck).聽Perspectives on Politics, 1-18.

2019. 鈥淭raditional Leaders and Development in Africa.鈥澛Oxford聽Research Encyclopedia of Politics.聽2019.

2019. 鈥淓lite Defection and Grassroots Democracy Under聽Competitive Authoritarianism: Evidence from Burkina Faso.鈥澛顿别尘辞肠谤补迟颈锄补迟颈辞苍听26 (4), 626-644. (with Sarah Andrews).

2017. 鈥淪electing the State or Choosing the Chief? The聽Political Determinants of Smallholder Land Titling.鈥澛World Development聽100, 94-107.