Nic Cheeseman

Biography

Nic Cheeseman is professor of democracy at the University of Birmingham and former director of the African Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. He mainly works on democracy, elections, and development and has published research on Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Professor Cheeseman is the author or editor of 10 books, including Democracy in Africa (2015), Institutions and Democracy in Africa (2017), How to Rig an Election (2018), Coalitional Presidentialism in Comparative Perspective (2018), and Authoritarian Africa (2020).

In recognition of his academic and public contributions, the Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom awarded him the Joni Lovenduski Prize for outstanding professional achievement by a mid-career scholar in 2019. The same year, his efforts to promote better understanding of democracy and how it can be protected and strengthened around the world won the prestigious Celebrating Impact Prize of the Economic and Social Research Council. A frequent commentator on African and global events, Professor Cheeseman’s analysis regularly appears on the BBC and in the Economist, Financial Times, Le Monde, Guardian, and Washington Post, and he writes columns for the Africa Report and the Mail & Guardian. Many of his interviews and insights can be found on the website that he founded and co-edits, www.democracyinafrica.org.