Kate Baldwin

Associate Professor of Political Science and of Global Affairs

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Rosenkranz Hall

115 Prospect Street

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About

Kate Baldwin studies political accountability, state building, and the politics of development, with a regional focus on sub-Saharan Africa. She is the author of The Paradox of Traditional Chiefs in Democratic Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2016) and Faith in Democracy: The Logic of Church Advocacy for Liberal Democratic Institutions in Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2025). Her current research examines how non-state actors — including traditional leaders, churches, and NGOs — interact with the national state to affect development and democracy in weak states. Her work has received numerous awards, including the Gaddis Smith International Book Prize and the prize for best article published in the previous volume of the American Journal of Political Science.

Education

PhD in Political Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, 2010
MPhil in Political Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, 2007
MA in Political Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, May 2004
BA (Honors) in Political Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, May 2002

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Explore Kate Baldwin's work

Books

2025. Faith in Democracy: The Logic of Church Advocacy for Liberal Democratic Institutions in Africa. Cambridge University Press. Available for purchase via Cambridge University Press and Amazon.

2016. The Paradox of Traditional Leaders in Democratic Africa. Cambridge University Press. Available for purchase via Cambridge University Press and Amazon.

Review by Nicolas van de Walle for Foreign Affairs
Review [gated] by Michael Schatzberg for Political Science Quarterly
Review [gated] by Sarah Lockwood for Political Studies Review
Review [gated] by Dominika Koter for Journal of Modern African Studies
Review [gated] by Jeremy Speight for African Studies Review
Review by Petr Skalnik for Modern Africa
Review [gated] by Robert I. Rotberg for Choice Reviews
Critical Dialogue [gated] with Philip Roessler for Perspectives on Politics

Journal articles

Traditional Leaders and Democracy

2025. Traditional Authorities Around the World: Toward a Better Understanding of Their De Facto Power, Downward Accountability and State Recognition Annual Review of Political Science 28. <Non-Gated Copy>

2025. Is Authority Fungible? Legitimacy, Domain Congruence and the Limits of Power in Africa (with Kristen Kao and Ellen Lust) American Journal of Political Science 69 (1).<Non-Gated Copy>

2023. Does Land Quality Increase the Power of Traditional Leaders in Contemporary Africa? (with Joan Ricart-Huguet) The Journal of Politics 85 (1). <Pre-Print> <Gated Copy>

2022. Accountability and Inclusion in Customary Institutions: Evidence from a Village-Level Experiment in Zimbabwe (with Shylock Muyengwa and Eric Mvukiyehe) Quarterly Journal of Political Science 17 (2). <Pre-Print> <Gated Copy> <Online Appendix> <Data>

2019. Traditional Political Institutions and Democracy: Reassessing their Compatibility and Accountability (with Katharina Holzinger) Comparative Political Studies 52 (12). <Pre-Print> <Gated Copy>

2019. Elected MPs, Traditional Chiefs and Local Public Goods: Evidence on the Role of Leaders in Co-Production from Rural Zambia. Comparative Political Studies 52 (12). <Pre-Print><Gated Copy > <Data>

2015. Elections and Collective Action: Evidence from Changes in Traditional Institutions in Liberia (with Eric Mvukiyehe) World Politics 67 (4). <Pre-Print> <Gated Copy> <On-line Appendix>

2013. Why Vote with the Chief? Political Connections and Public Goods Provision in Zambia, American Journal of Political Science 57 (4). <Non-Gated Copy> <Gated Copy> <Data>

International Aid and Political Development

2023. Foreign Aid and Political Support: How Politicians’ Aid Oversight Capacity and Voter Information Condition Credit Giving (with Matthew Winters), World Politics 75 (1). <Pre-Print>

2020. How Do Different Forms of Aid Affect Government Legitimacy? Evidence from an Informational Experiment in Uganda (with Matthew Winters), Studies in Comparative International Development 55. <Non-Gated Copy> <On-line Appendix>

Ethnic Politics, Inequality and Public Policy

2023. Risk and Demand for Social Protection in an Era of Populism (with Isabela Mares), Political Science Research and Methods. <Pre-Print> <On-line Appendix>

2014. When Politicians Cede Control of Resources: Chiefs, Land and Coalition-Building in Africa, Comparative Politics 46 (3). <Pre-Print> <Gated Copy> <Supplementary Information> <Data>

2010. Economic Versus Cultural Differences: Forms of Ethnic Diversity and Public Goods Provision (with John Huber) American Political Science Review 104 (4). <Non-Gated Copy > <Gated Copy > <Data>

Experimental Methods

2015. Ancillary Studies of Experiments: Opportunities and Challenges (with Rikhil Bhavnani) Journal of Globalization and Development 6 (1). <Non-Gated Copy> <Data>

Book chapters and other writing

2023. Democracy’s Devout Defenders. Journal of Democracy 34 (4): 51-65.

2020. Chiefs, Democracy, and Development in Contemporary Africa. Current History 119 (817). <Non-Gated Copy>

2019. Traditional Leaders, Service Delivery and Electoral Accountability (with Pia Raffler), Decentralized Governance and Accountability: Academic Research and the Future of Donor Programming, Cambridge University Press.

2018. Critical Dialogue: Ethnic Politics and State Power in Africa: The Logic of the Coup-Civil War Trap & The Paradox of Traditional Chiefs in Democratic Africa. Perspectives on Politics 16 (1). <Gated Copy>

2016. Hereditary Rule in Democratic Africa: Reconciling Citizens and Chiefs, Growing Democracy in Africa: Elections, Accountable Governance and Political Economy, Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

2011. Secondary Analyses of Experiments: Opportunities and Challenges (with Rikhil Bhavnani), APSA-CD: The Newsletter of the Comparative Democratization Section of the American Political Science Association, October.

2010. African Political Economy, Encyclopedia of Political Science, CQ Press.

2010. Zambia: One Party in Perpetuity? Democratization in Africa: Progress and Retreat, John Hopkins University Press.