Marcus Kreuzer

I have been teaching at Villanova University located on the outskirts of Philadelphia. I offer courses on populism, globalization, democratization, as well as a wide range of methods courses. I enjoy fostering students' curiosity, developing their research skills, and showing them how their training serves them to better understand the ever more complex world they face. In short, I try to keep the gifts of a liberal arts education alive and contribute to Villanova's commitment offering a holistic education. I also regularly offer graduate modules on comparative historical analysis (CHA) at the IQMR, ECPR, and MethodsNet methods schools.

My research is motivated by intersecting methodological and substantive interests. Methodologically, I am working process tracing, description, theorizing and above all comparative historical analysis. I am particularly interested in how our conceptualization of time and history shapes our theoretical and methodological choices. Substantively, I have worked on the historical origins of electoral systems, parliamentarism,  and party systems in Western and Eastern Europe. More recently, I have become interested in how economic inequalities generated by free market economies and political equalities promised by democracy have contribute to repeated populist surges since the late 19th century.