Olga Shvetsova, PhD

Professor Shvetsova’s research focuses on determinants of political strategy in the political process. Broadly stated, these include political institutions that define the “rules of the game” and societal characteristics that shape goals and opportunities of the participant players. Her work belongs in the fields of constitutional political economy and institutional design. She published in The American Journal of Political Science, The Journal of Democracy, Journal of Theoretical Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Electoral Studies, Law and Society Review, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Constitutional Political Economy, Journal of Modern African Studies, and other peer-reviewed journals. She wrote Designing Federalism, co-authored with Mikhail Filippov and Peter Ordeshook (2004, Cambridge University Press) and Party System Change in Legislatures Worldwide (2013, Cambridge University Press) and Formal Modeling in Social Science, both co-authored with Carol Mershon (2019, University of Michigan Press). Professor Shvetsova teaches courses on Constitutional political economy, Comparative Constitutions, Comparative Government, Political Parties, Democratic Institutional Design, Formal Theory, and Political Economy of Health.