Dr Rubén Ruiz-Rufino

Dr Rubén Ruiz-Rufino is a reader in comparative politics in the Department of Political Economy. His research deals with measuring the functioning of political institutions, the effect of political representation in regime stability and the relationship between globalisation and political change. Rubén holds a PhD from the Juan March Institute and an MSc in Social and Political Theory from the University of Edinburgh.

Before joining the department, he held several postdoctoral positions. Between 2007 and 2008, he was a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence; from 2008 to 2011 he was a Juan de la Cierva Fellow at the Institute of Politics and Public Goods (IPP-CSIC) in Madrid, and from 2011 to 2013 he was a García Pelayo Fellow at the Center for Political and Constitutional Studies (CEPC) also in Madrid.

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Research

• Drivers and consequences of Electoral fraud and electoral violence.
• The political economy of electoral monitoring
• Globalisation and political change
• Origins and change of political representation institutions
• Quantitative and quasi-experimental methods.

Rubén's research agenda spans various issues related to political representation and political institutions both in developing and industrialised democracies. His research is conducted using quantitative and quasi-experimental methods.

Rubén pursues two related agendas centred on political representation. Focusing on democratising regimes, his agenda covers how electoral rules accommodate heterogenous preferences particularly in multi-ethnic countries; the institutional conditions that favour the use of electoral misconduct and electoral violence, and the effect of international electoral observations missions on political competition and economic development. Rubén´s agenda on industrialised democracies aims to understand how globalisation is altering political competition and in particular the effects on financial bailouts on citizens and parties.

Teaching

Rubén teaches a variety of modules related to his research both at UG and PG levels:

Undergraduate

• 4SSPP111 – Statistics for Political Science I
• 5SSPP211 – Institutions, Economics and Change
• 6SSPP331 – Failed regimes, elections and fraud.

Postgraduate

• 7SSPP107 – Quantitative Methods for Political Economy
• 7SSPP039 – Economic globalisation and political change

PhD Supervision

Rubén is interested in supervising students focusing on various questions related to political institutions, political representation and regime stability using quantitative, quasi-experimental and qualitative methods. The use of formal modelling is also welcome. Rubén is interested in supervising projects on questions related to:

• Electoral violence and political stability.
• Drivers and political consequences of electoral fraud.
• Determinants and consequences of international electoral monitoring.
• Economic crises and political change.
• The electoral consequences of globalisation.
• The collapse of establishment parties in industrialised democracies.