I am Professor of Political Science at The University of Texas at El Paso. My research areas include political institutions, legislative politics, presidential and legislative coalitions, elections, governance and accountability, democratization, political instability, health politics, and development. My research seeks to shed light into the important questions in these areas by examining how various formal and informal political institutions and economic structures create different incentives and constraints for political actors, and how these differing conditions affect policy and generate varying social, economic, and political outcomes.