People

Eric Kramon is an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California (USC). Eric’s research is motivated by the challenges facing contemporary democracies with his research agenda spanning three main areas: clientelism and distributive politics; democratic accountability, resilience, and renewal; and democracy and the judiciary. He has conducted field research in Benin, Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi, and has expanded his comparative focus to include cases in the Americas, including Honduras and the United States.

He is the author of Money for Votes: The Causes and Consequences of Electoral Clientelism in Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2018), which received the African Politics Conference Group award for best book. His research has appeared in leading journals including the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, World Politics, and the British Journal of Political Science, among other outlets, and has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the International Growth Centre, and the EGAP Metaketa initiative.

Eric received his PhD from UCLA and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University. Prior to joining USC, he was on the faculty at George Washington University.

Matt Stevens is the Associate Director of the Center for International Studies. In this role, he manages the center’s activities in support of the director’s strategic vision. Prior to joining CIS, he served as the senior managing editor at the USC Rossier School of Education, where he edited publications and served as the dean’s speechwriter. He has also worked as an editor for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; as production editor at Stanford University Press; and as managing editor at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, where he collaborated closely with the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute and the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West. Matt earned a master’s degree in African history from UCLA and a doctorate in Educational leadership at USC Rossier.

Linda Kim is the Sr. Program Specialist of the Center for International Studies. Linda helps plan CIS events (workshops, academic conferences, lectures, receptions) and works with funding support, communication endeavors, business transactions, and student staff team management. She has worked with faculty, PhD students and undergraduates at UC Irvine, and previously at the USC Dornsife Korean Studies Institute. Linda studied English as an undergraduate at UC Irvine and is currently pursuing her Master of Management in Library and Information Science (MMLIS) at USC.