About Me
I am a professor of political science at the University of Chicago. I study how countries allocate opportunity and well-being among their citizens and the consequences this has for society, why some countries are democratic and others aren't, and why some societies fall into civil conflict.
My newest book in progress, Land Power: Who Has It, Who Doesn't, and How That Determines the Fate of Societies (Basic Books, 2025), examines how land became power, how it shapes power, and how who holds that power determines the fundamental social problems that societies grapple with. I am also the author of Property without Rights: Origins and Consequences of the Property Rights Gap (2021), Authoritarianism and the Elite Origins of Democracy (2018), Coercive Distribution (2018), and Autocracy and Redistribution: The Politics of Land Reform (2015), all published with Cambridge University Press. Autocracy and Redistribution and Property without Rights both won several book awards.
My research has also been published in the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, World Politics, British Journal of Political Science, Quarterly Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Annual Review of Political Science, Comparative Politics, International Studies Quarterly, Political Science Research and Methods, Journal of Democracy, Economics & Politics, World Development, and Latin American Research Review.
I write regularly for public audiences as well. Recent op-eds include the consequences of Chile's referendum to write a new constitution, polarization in Chile's presidential election, and the effects of the coronavirus on Latin America.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Michael Albertus
Department of Political Science
University of Chicago
5828 S. University Avenue, Pick Hall 417
Chicago, IL 60637
E-mail: albertus[at]uchicago.edu
Phone: (773) 702-8056
I am a professor of political science at the University of Chicago. I study how countries allocate opportunity and well-being among their citizens and the consequences this has for society, why some countries are democratic and others aren't, and why some societies fall into civil conflict.
My newest book in progress, Land Power: Who Has It, Who Doesn't, and How That Determines the Fate of Societies (Basic Books, 2025), examines how land became power, how it shapes power, and how who holds that power determines the fundamental social problems that societies grapple with. I am also the author of Property without Rights: Origins and Consequences of the Property Rights Gap (2021), Authoritarianism and the Elite Origins of Democracy (2018), Coercive Distribution (2018), and Autocracy and Redistribution: The Politics of Land Reform (2015), all published with Cambridge University Press. Autocracy and Redistribution and Property without Rights both won several book awards.
My research has also been published in the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, World Politics, British Journal of Political Science, Quarterly Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Annual Review of Political Science, Comparative Politics, International Studies Quarterly, Political Science Research and Methods, Journal of Democracy, Economics & Politics, World Development, and Latin American Research Review.
I write regularly for public audiences as well. Recent op-eds include the consequences of Chile's referendum to write a new constitution, polarization in Chile's presidential election, and the effects of the coronavirus on Latin America.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Michael Albertus
Department of Political Science
University of Chicago
5828 S. University Avenue, Pick Hall 417
Chicago, IL 60637
E-mail: albertus[at]uchicago.edu
Phone: (773) 702-8056