Research Interests:
Comparative Politics, Political Economy of Development, State-Building, Natural Resource Governance

Contact
Department of Political Science
Boston College
McGuinn Hall, Room 324
140 Commonwealth Ave
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

 lauren.honig[at]bc[dot]edu

Welcome! I am an Associate Professor of Political Science at Boston College. My research and teaching focus on the political economy of development and comparative politics in African countries. I am particularly interested in the politics of property rights, the roles of informal and customary institutions, natural resource governance, and state-citizen linkages.

Several of my research projects examine land rights and political authority. This includes my book, Land Politics: How Customary Institutions Shape State Building in Zambia and Senegal (2022, Cambridge University Press). My research has been published in African Affairs, American Political Science Review, Comparative Politics, Democratization, the Journal of Politics, the Journal of Modern African Politics, Perspectives on Politics, and World Development. I am grateful to have received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Fulbright Council, and the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), among others. I received my Ph.D. from Cornell University.