Steven Schaaf

Major- Research Methods (currently listed as international relations)

Minor- International Relations

Steven is currently a Ph.D. candidate. His research explores topics of authoritarianism, judicial politics, contentious politics, and legal mobilization, with regional expertise in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Steven's dissertation project, Litigating the Authoritarian State: Legal Mobilization and Judicial Politics in the Middle East investigates the conditions under which citizens and advocacy organizations mobilize to hold authoritarian governments accountable to the law, and further when they succeed or fail in court. Steven's work also includes a completed book manuscript, Authoritarianism from the Inside: How State Institutions Realize Autonomy under Authoritarian Regimes, co-authored with colleagues at GWU. His research has appeared in Perspectives on Politics as well as an edited book volume forthcoming in Cambridge University Press.