Victor Menaldo, PhD

Victor Menaldo (Ph.D., Stanford University, 2009) is a professor of Political Science and is affiliated with the Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences (CSSS), Near and Middle Eastern Studies, and the Center for Environmental Politics. He co-founded and co-leads the UW Political Economy Forum (along with James Long and Rachel Heath).

He specializes in comparative politics and political economy.

Menaldo has published articles in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, Annual Review of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, World Politics, Comparative Politics, International Studies Quarterly, Economics & Politics, Political Science Quarterly, Policy Sciences, Business & Politics, among several other places.

His first book, “The Institutions Curse,” is published by Cambridge University Press (2016). Menaldo's second book, "Authoritarianism and the Elite Origins of Democracy" (with Mike Albertus), is also with Cambridge University Press (2018).

Menaldo is interested in the political economy of property rights, industrialization, innovation, liberal democracy, and development and enjoys sharing his insights with policymakers, pundits, and the general public; he has published numerous Op-eds in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post (Monkey Cage), USA Today, Seattle Times, Forbes, Foreign Policy, Areo, and Inside Higher Ed.  

He is currently writing a book on the political economy of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.