I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia. In Spring 2020 I will be a visiting scholar at NYU. 

My research centers on authoritarian politics and institutions, and game-theoretic approaches to the study of dictatorship. My forthcoming book, Constraining Dictatorship, examines how executive constraints become established in dictatorships, particularly within constitutions and presidential cabinets. My new book project focuses on autocratic backsliding and executive aggrandizement in non-democracies. I have other work on leadership succession, autocratic parties, and electoral authoritarianism. I have a regional focus on Sub-Saharan Africa and am interested in finding new and creative ways to collect data on authoritarian institutions.

My work has been published or is forthcoming in the British Journal of Political Science, The Journal of Theoretical Politics, Columbia Law Review, and Studies in Comparative International Development. I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley and also hold a M.A. in Economics from UC Berkeley.

Contact:
ameng@virginia.edu
​
Office: S284 Gibson Hall
University of Virginia
Department of Politics
1540 Jefferson Park Ave
Charlottesville, VA 22903
On leave 2019-2020