In the academic year 2018-2019 I will be a Faculty Fellow at NYU's Center for European and Mediterranean Studies. Currently, I am a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Political Science Department at Tel Aviv University, and an Associate Research Scholar at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University. I received my Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University in May 2017. I earned an M.A. from Columbia, an M.Sc and a B.Sc from Tel Aviv University.
I research populism, nationalism, international security, and social and ethnic cleavages with a regional focus on Eastern Europe, the United States and Israel. My book project, An Ethno-Nation Deeply Divided- The Center Periphery Cleavage and the Rise of Right Wing Populism in East Central Europe, explains variation in populism and its transformative effect on political systems. Based on interviews and extensive archival work I show how failure to integrate deep center-periphery cleavages created two separate national groups within the same ethno-nation. In such cases, radical nationalist leaders can mobilize support against mainstream politicians by presenting the mainstream elite as betraying the “true” nation.
In addition to my scholarship, I participate in policy debates in my blog, as well as other publications such as Duck of Minerva, the LSE USA blog, and Newsweek.
I was a Senior LEAD Teaching Fellow at the Columbia University Center for Teaching and Learning (2015-2017) designing and leading workshops on inclusive teaching and reflective teaching practices. Among the courses I taught are an originally designed course on social movements, and intensive International Relation summer course based on active learning assignments. I was also a teaching assistant at Columbia in multiple courses including the graduate seminar, International Relations Theories; Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe; Introduction to International Relations; Introduction to Comparative Politics; and Scope and Methods in Political Science.
I conducted field research in Central Europe and Israel and was a visiting scholar at the Central European University and The Hungarian Academy of Science (Fall 2014). My research was supported by The Harriman Institute for Russian Eurasia and East European Studies, Academic Exchange, and the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies.