I am an Associate Professor of Political Science at Duke University.

My research examines popular challenges to self-government and the value of imperfect, unequal, representative institutions.

A Theory of Militant Democracy (Yale), my first book, considers how democracies should respond to antidemocratic movements and investigates the moral claims of antidemocratic citizens.

My second book, Legitimate Opposition (In press-Yale), explores the history and value of that practice. Overturning traditional, Cold-War era views of opposition, I outline a novel defense of the practice’s value. Using that account, I reconsider pressing challenges like populism and electoral autocracy.

I am also interested in the normative questions raised by non-democratic regimes.

I teach introductory courses on the history of political philosophy, as well as graduate courses on democratic and constitutional theory.