Kao, Kristen, Ellen Lust, Marwa Shalaby, and Chagai Weiss. “Group Gender Composition and Perceptions of Legitimacy.” Conditional Accept at American Political Science Review. Available here.
Kao, Kristen. With Kate Baldwin and Ellen Lust. “Is Authority Fungible? Legitimacy, Domain Congruence, and the Limits of Power in Africa.” Draft available upon request. Conditional Accept at the American Journal of Political Science
With Ferree, Karen, Boniface Dulani, Adam S. Harris, Ellen Lust, Cecilia Ahsan Jansson, and Erica Metheney. 2023. “Symptoms and Stereotypes: Perceptions and Responses to Covid-19 in Malawi and Zambia.” Comparative Political Studies. Available here.
Kao, Kristen. 2022. “Electoral Institutions and Social-Identity Based Clientelism in Jordan.” Political Research Quarterly. Available here.
With Ferree, Karen, Boniface Dulani, Adam S. Harris, Ellen Lust, Cecilia Ahsan Jansson, and Erica Metheney. Accepted for Publication at Comparative Political Studies. “Disease Threat, Stereotypes, and Covid–19: An Early View from Malawi and Zambia.” 2022. The Program on Governance and Local Development Working Paper Series, No. 36, University of Gothenburg. Available here.
With Ellen Lust, and Lise Rakner. 2022. “Vote-Buying, Anti-Corruption Campaigns, and Identity in African Elections?” World Development. Available here.
Kao, Kristen. With Mara Revkin. In Press. “No Peace Without Punishment? Reintegrating Islamic State Collaborators in Iraq.” The American Journal of Comparative Law. Draft here.
Kao, Kristen and Mara R. Revkin. 2021. “Retribution or Reconciliation? Attitudes Towards Rebel Collaborators After Conflict.”American Journal of Political Science. Winner of the Franklin L. Burdette/Pi Sigma Alpha Best Paper Award for APSA 2019. Available here.
Kao, Kristen. With Adam Harris, Karen Ferree, Boniface Dulani, Ellen Lust, Erica Metheney, and Cecilia Ahsan. 2021. “Elections in the Time of Covid-19: The Triple Crises Around Malawi’s 2020 Presidential Elections.” Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties.
Kao, Kristen. With Ellen Lust and Gibran Okar. 2021. ‘Voting for Islamists: Mapping the Role of Religion’, in Melani Cammett, and Pauline Jones (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Politics in Muslim Societies. Available here.
Kao, Kristen. With Adam Harris, Karen Ferree, Boniface Dulani, Ellen Lust, Erica Metheney, and Cecilia Ahsan. 2021. “Stigma, Trust, and Procedural Integrity: Covid-19 Testing in Malawi.” World Development.
Kao, Kristen. With Lindsay Benstead. 2020. “Female Electability in the Arab World: The Advantages of Intersectionality.” Comparative Politics. Available here.
Kao, Kristen. With Ellen Lust, Boniface Dulani, Karen Ferree, Adam Harris, and Erica Metheney. 2020. “The ABCs of Covid-19 Prevention in Malawi: Authority, Benefits and, Costs of Compliance.” World Development. 137: 105167. Available here.
Kao, Kristen. 2020. With Lindsay Benstead and Ellen Lust. “Does it Matter What Observers Say? The Impact of International Election Monitoring on Legitimacy”. Mediterranean Politics. 1-22. Available here.
Kao Kristen. 2020. With Ferree, Karen, Boniface Dulani, Adam S. Harris, Ellen Lust, Cecilia Ahsan Jansson, and Erica Metheney. “Disease Threat, Stereotypes, and Covid–19: An Early View from Malawi and Zambia,” The Program on Governance and Local Development Working Paper Series, No. 36, University of Gothenburg, Available here.
Kao, Kristen. 2019-2020. Freedom in the World Report: Jordan. Freedom House.
Kao, Kristen, Ellen Lust, and Lise Rakner. Under Review. “Poverty and Clientelism: Do the Poor Demand Clientelism?” The Program on Governance and Local Development Working Paper Series. Available here.
Kao, Kristen. 2019. Freedom in the World Report: Jordan. Freedom House. Available here.
Kao, Kristen and Mara Revkin. 2019. “How the Iraqi crackdown on the Islamic State may actually increase support for the Islamic State.” Washington Post/Monkey Cage. Available here.
Kao, Kristen. 2017. “Electoral Institutions and Ethnic Clientelism.” American Political Science Association Comparative Politics Newsletter. 17(2): 44–50. Available here.
Kao, Kristen. 2017. “Review: The Arab Spring: Pathways of and Reform. By Jason Brownlee, Tarek Masoud, and Andrew Reynolds. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.” Perspectives on Politics. Available here.
Kao, Kristen, Lauren Baker, Ellen Lust, and Marc Lynch. 2017. “Islam in a Changing Middle East: Local Politics and Islamist Movements.” Project on Middle East Political Science Studies. Available here.
Kao, Kristen and Ellen Lust. 2017. “Why Did the Arab Uprisings Turn Out as They Did? A Survey of the Literature.” Project on Middle East Democracy. Available here.
Kao, Kristen, Ruth Carlitz, Pierre Landry, Ellen Lust, and Lise Rakner. 2017. “Beyond the State: Measuring Governance at the Community Level.” APSA Comparative Democratization Newsletter. 17(2): 26–29. Available here.
Kao, Kristen, Adam Harris, Ellen Lust, Jens Ewald, and Peter Holmgren. 2017. “Governance in Service Delivery in the MENA.” World Bank. Available here.
Kao, Kristen. 2017. “Jordan: Negotiating Political, Economic, and Social Minefields.” IEMed Mediterranean Yearbook. 2017. European Institute of the Mediterranean. Available here.
Kao, Kristen, Lindsay J. Benstead, Pierre F. Landry, Ellen M. Lust, and Dhafer Malouche. 2017. “Using Tablet Computers to Implement Surveys in Challenging Environments.” Survey Practice. Available here.
Kao, Kristen. 2016. “How Jordan’s Election Revealed Enduring Weaknesses in its Political System.” Washington Post/Monkey Cage. Available here.
Kao, Kristen. 2015. “Do Jordan’s Tribes Challenge or Strengthen the State?” Washington Post/Monkey Cage. Available here.
Kao, Kristen. 2012. “Jordan’s Ongoing Election Law Battle.” Sada. Washington, DC:Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Available here.
Kao, Kristen. 2012. “Jordan.” Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Working Papers
With Ferree, Karen, Boniface Dulani, Adam S. Harris, Ellen Lust, Cecilia Ahsan Jansson, and Erica Metheney. Accepted for Publication at Comparative Political Studies. “Disease Threat, Stereotypes, and Covid–19: An Early View from Malawi and Zambia.” 2021. The Program on Governance and Local Development Working Paper Series, No. 36, University of Gothenburg. Available here.
Kao, Kristen. Under Review. “Legal Pluralism and Fragmented Sovereignty: A Survey Experiment in Iraq.” 2022. Quality of Government Institute Working Paper Series, 2022:5. Available here. Presented at ISA 2022, MPSA 2022, and EuroWeps 2022.
With Kristin Fabbe and Michael Bang Petersen. “The Power of the Past: The Power of the Past: Determinants of Reconciliation and Revenge in Post-Conflict Settings.” Draft available upon request.
Abstract: In the aftermath of violent conflict, citizens may worry that internally displaced persons (IDPs) have contributed to the conflict in some way. In many post-conflict settings, identifying former enemy collaborators versus innocent bystanders forced to flee violence is extremely difficult. All IDPs risk becoming stigmatized and face difficulties reintegrating into society. This work considers the role of moral disapproval and future social value in processes of post-conflict reconciliation with stigmatized IDPs. We run experiments embedded within a large-N survey across three areas of Iraq (n=4,500) that are experiencing the return of stigmatized IDPs, many of whom are suspected of having collaborated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). We find that immutable factors related to a stigmatized IDP’s past behavior, namely the severity of a transgression and the volition behind it, are the strongest predictors of both reconciliation and revenge. Mediation analysis using cognitive and emotional mediators further demonstrates that past behavior shapes justice intuitions so strongly because it simultaneously activates a past-oriented moral condemnation and a future-oriented heuristic assessment of the value and risks of associating with the stigmatized individual. With respect to emotional pathways, sympathy mediates the relationship between a transgressor’s past behavior and support for reconciliation, while fear – albeit to a lesser extent – mediates the relationship between a transgressor’s past behavior and the desire for revenge. Anger mediates the relationship between past behavior and both reconciliation and revenge.
With Ellen Lust. Local Governance in the Middle East and North Africa. Edited volume. Under review. Draft available upon request.
With Ellen Lust. “Do List Experiments Run as Expected? Examining Implementation Failure in Kenya, Zambia, and Malawi.” The Program on Governance and Local Development Working Paper Series, No. 57, University of Gothenburg. Available here. Presented at the European Political Science Association 2021.