People.BrandonU.Ca » Allison McCulloch

Allison McCulloch

Professor & Chair (she/her)
B.A. (Hons) (Laurentian) M.A., Ph.D (Queen’s)

Research Interests

My research considers the politics of ethnically divided societies, peace processes and democratization in post-conflict states. Broadly, I’m interested in the processes and institutions that facilitate democracy, security and stability in post-conflict settings, with a focus on power-sharing arrangements. Specifically, I am interested in how power-sharing governments handle political crises, the incentive structures for ethnopolitical moderation and extremism that power-sharing offers, and how power-sharing arrangements can be made more inclusive of identities beyond the ethnonational divide.

I am currently working on three long-term projects:

1)  I am a principal investigator on a Open Research Area 7/SSHRC grant on Citizen Inclusion in Power-Sharing Settlements. Working with colleagues in the United Kingdom, Japan, and New Caledonia, the project offers a comparative and multi-methods research program that investigates how power-sharing settlements emerge, perform, and evolve. The project also considers what influences a citizen’s decision to endorse or reject a power-sharing settlement as well as the capacity citizens have to shape those agreements, e.g., through elections or referendums. We will employ qualitative techniques, including archival research, focus groups and elite interviews, and quantitative methods, including experiments and longitudinal public opinion surveys focusing on citizens, community leaders, and government policies.

2) I am the principal investigator on a SSHRC Insight Development Grant titled Power-Sharing Politics and Refugee Governance: Crafting Asylum Policy in Deeply Divided Societies. With Tamirace Fakhoury (Aalborg University), I am investigating how consociational governments craft and implement policy in the realm of asylum and refugee governance. We are particularly interested in whether consociational decision-making contributes to the ethnicization, procrastination, and fragmentation of asylum policy in divided settings.

3) I am a co-investigator on the collaborative project, Power-Sharing for Peace? Between Adoptability and Durability in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, funded by the Swiss Network for International Studies. Led by Swisspeace, the project brings together research team members from Switzerland, Canada, Lebanon, and Iraq to work with local civil society organizations to examine expectations of power-sharing and on-the-ground assessments of its durability in the case countries.

 

Selected Publications

Books

Power-Sharing in the Global South: Patterns, Practices and Potential. Co-edited with Eduardo Wassim Aboultaif and Soeren Keil. Federalism and Internal Conflict Series. Palgrave Macmillan (2024).

Power-Sharing Pacts and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda. Co-edited with Siobhan Byrne. Routledge (2022).

Power-Sharing in Europe: Past Practice, Present Cases, and Future Directions. Co-edited with Soeren Keil. Federalism and Internal Conflict Series. Palgrave Macmillan (2021).

Power-Sharing: Empirical and Normative Challenges. Co-edited with John McGarry. Routledge Studies on Challenges, Crises and Dissent in World Politics. Routledge  (2017).

Power-Sharing and Political Stability in Deeply Divided Societies. Security and Governance Series. Routledge  (2014).

Journal Articles

“How do Consociations Craft Asylum Policy? Lebanon’s Response to Conflict-Induced Displacement as an Exploratory Case,” with Tamirace Fakhoury. International Studies Quarterly 67, 3 (2023).

“Stories of Gender Inclusion, Power-Sharing and the Good Friday Agreement,” with Siobhan Byrne. Treatises and Documents: Journal of Ethnic Studies 90 (2023): 31-44.

“Veto Rights and Vital Interests: Formal and Informal Veto Rules for Minority Representation in Deeply Divided Societies.” with Aleksandra Zdeb. Representation 58, 3(2022): 427-442.

“Beyond the Core: Do Ethnic Parties ‘Reach Out’ in Power-Sharing Systems?” with Cera Murtagh. British Journal of Politics and International Relations 23, 3 (2021): 533-551.

“Understanding Power-Sharing Performance: A Lifecycle Approach.” with Joanne McEvoy. Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism 20, 2 (2020): 109-116.

“Power-Sharing: A Gender Intervention.” International Political Science Review 41, 1 (2020): 44-57.

“Veto Power and Power-Sharing: Insights from Burundi (2000-2018).” with Stef Vandeginste. Democratization 26, 7 (2019): 1176-1193.

“The Use and Abuse of Veto Rights in Power-Sharing Systems: Northern Ireland in Comparative Perspective.” Government and Opposition 53, 4 (2018): 735-756.
**Recipient of the Elizabeth Meehan Prize for Best Article published in Government and Opposition in 2018

“Others in Deeply Divided Societies: A Research Agenda.” with Timofey Agarin and Cera Murtagh. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 24, 3 (2018): 299-310.

“The International Mediation of Power-Sharing Settlements”. with Joanne McEvoy. Cooperation and Conflict 53, 4 (2018): 467-485.

 

Service

I am the editor-in-chief of Nationalism and Ethnic Politics. The journal, which publishes four issues a year, explores the varied political aspects of nationalism and ethnicity in order to develop more constructive inter-group relations, and to address the sources of both contemporary and historical identity-based conflicts. See here for more information on the journal and how to submit a manuscript.

Teaching Areas

A recipient of the Brandon University Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching award, I teach broadly in the areas of  Comparative Politics and International Politics, and the occasional course in Political Theory and Analysis.

In the Fall 2024 term, I am teaching Democracy & Democratization (78.392) and International Law (78.382)

In the Winter 2025 term, I am teaching Comparative Politics (78.272) and Issues in Comparative Politics (78.452)

Courses Regularly Taught