My first research project centered on state-building and state reform in the new democracies of postcommunist Europe, linking patterns of political patronage to the character of party competition.  My current research explores how and when European  integration shapes domestic politics in Eastern Europe.  As part of this research I have looked, on the one hand, at the spread of flat-tax reforms in the region and, on the other, at the rise of gay-rights movements and backlashes against them.