simon.primus@fau.de

I studied political science at the LMU Munich (BA 2011, MA 2014, Dr. rer. soc. 2021) and the University of Ghana (MPhil 2015). I am broadly interested in the cross-national comparison of regimes and political behavior. My research revolves around democratization processes and linkages between individual orientations and regime stability and change. In my doctoral thesis, I compared voting behaviour across 16 African democracies to understand the circumstances under which people give up identitarian loyalties and hold governments to account for developmental outcomes. Sub-Saharan Africa generally represents a geographical focus in my work. The almost continent-wide introduction of democratic institutions since 1990, in conjunction with growing data availability, make the region particularly relevant to understand institutional transformation processes. In terms of methodology, I mainly rely on quantitative-statistical approaches with a special interest in the joint analysis of survey and macro data in multi-level and panel models. At the same time, I value qualitative and critical perspectives.

Ghana, Uganda, Democracy, Elections, Identity, Poverty, Conflict and Violence