Pauline Jones

Pauline Jones is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan (UM) and the Edie N. Goldenberg Endowed Director for the Michigan in Washington Program. She is also the Founder and Director of the Digital Islamic Studies Curriculum (DISC). Previously, she served as the Director of UM’s Islamic Studies Program (2011-14) and International Institute (2014-20). Her past work has contributed broadly to the study of institutional origin, change, and impact in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan). She is currently engaged in multiple research projects: exploring how state regulation of religion in Muslim-majority states affects citizens’ political attitudes and behavior; identifying the factors that affect compliance with health mitigation policies to combat the COVID-19 pandemic; examining the influence that evoking historical memory has on public support for foreign assistance; and developing a toolkit to assess the impact of mass protest on policy change in authoritarian regimes. She has published articles in several leading academic and policy journals, including the American Political Science Review, Annual Review of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Current History, Foreign Affairs, and the International Journal of Public Health and Resources Policy. She is author of five books: Institutional Change and Political Continuity in Post-Soviet Central Asia: Power, Perceptions, and Pacts (Cambridge 2002); The Transformation of Central Asia: States and Societies from Soviet Rule to Independence (Cornell 2003); Oil is not a Curse: Ownership Structure and Institutions in the Soviet Successor States (Cambridge 2010), Islam, Society, and Politics in Central Asia (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2016), and most recently The Oxford Handbook on Politics in Muslim Societies (Oxford 2021).

Courses Taught

• Roots of Radical Political Islam (undergraduate lecture course)
• Islam, Society, and Politics in Central Asia (undergraduate seminar)
• Qualitative Methods (graduate seminar)
• Introduction to Research Design (undergraduate lecture course)
• COVID-19 in Comparative Perspective: Pandemics, Government Responses, and Societal Impact (undergraduate seminar) 

Affiliation(s)

• Global Islamic Studies Center 
• International Institute
• Islamic Studies Program
• Center for Political Studies
• Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
• Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies

Field(s) of Study

• Religion and Politics 
• Regime Stability & Change 
• Political Economy
• Research Methods

Selected Publications

• The Oxford Handbook on Politics in Muslim Societies. forthcoming 2021. Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ. Press. (with Melani Cammett, Harvard Univ.) 
• “The International System after Trump and the Pandemic.” Current History. Global Trends Issue. January 2021. 120 (822): 3-8. (with Allen Hicken and Anil Menon) 
• “The Evolution of Religious Regulation in Central Asia, 1991-2018.” Central Asian Survey. December 2020. DOI: 10.1080/02634937.2020.1836477. (with Dustin Gamza) 
• “COVID-19 Response in Central Asia: A Cautionary Tale.” (forthcoming 2021) In Scott Greer, et al editors. Coronavirus Politics. University of Michigan Press. (with Elizabeth King)