Curriculum
Karel Kouba is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the Center for Ibero-American Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague. He holds an M.A. from Miami University (2006) and a Ph.D. from Palacký University in Olomouc (2011). Karel’s research centers on comparative politics of Latin America and Central Europe, with a particular focus on the origins and effects of political institutions — especially electoral rules. He also studies unconventional forms of political behavior, such as election boycotts or invalid voting. His broader concern is the health of democracy. He has examined the collapse of democracy in Nicaragua, democratic stability in Latin America, the challenges to democracy in Central Europe and the trade-offs involved in sustaining robust local democracy. He was a visiting scholar at several universities around the world, including the position of Fernand Braudel Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. His work has appeared in leading political science journals including Government and Opposition, European Political Science Review, Democratization, and Electoral Studies, as well as in area studies journals such as Latin American Politics and Society, Journal of Politics in Latin America and East European Politics and Societies.