Karrie Koesel

Biography & Research

Karrie J. Koesel is associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame and a concurrent faculty member in the Keough School of Global Affairs. She specializes in the study of Chinese and Russian politics, authoritarianism, and religion and politics. She is the author of "Religion and Authoritarianism: Cooperation, Conflict and the Consequences" (Cambridge University Press, 2014) and co-editor of "Citizens & the State in Authoritarian Regimes: Comparing China & Russia" (Oxford University Press, 2021). Her work has appeared in "World Politics, Perspectives on Politics, The China Quarterly, Post-Soviet Affairs, Politics and Religion, Economics and Politics, Demokratizatsiya, and the Review of Religion and Chinese Society. She has testified before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

Koessel's research has been supported by the Minerva Research Initiative, the John Templeton Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Wilson Center, the Social Science Research Council, the Fulbright program, the International Research & Exchanges Board, the Einaudi Center and East Asia Program at Cornell University, the Keough School's Kellogg Institute, Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, Nanovic Institute for European Studies, Notre Dame's Franco Family Institute for Liberal Arts and the Public Good and the University of Oregon.

Koesel is a fellow in the Public Intellectual Program for the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. She served as a member of the International Diffusion and Cooperation of Authoritarian Regimes research network, a Wilson China Fellow, an associate scholar of the Religious Freedom Project at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University, and a researcher for the Under Caesar’s Sword Project at the University of Notre Dame.

Before joining the Notre Dame faculty, she taught at the University of Oregon. She earned her Ph.D. from Cornell University and won the 2010 American Political Science Association Aaron Wildavsky Award for the best dissertation on religion and politics.

Koesel is currently working on a book, "Learning to Be Loyal: Political Education in Authoritarian Regimes," which explores how authoritarian leaders cultivate popular legitimacy and loyalty among youth; how they socialize citizens and future elite to be patriotic and supportive; and whether these strategies free authoritarian rulers from the need to rely so heavily on coercion to stay in power.

Koesel teaches courses on contemporary China, comparative authoritarianism, the politics of religion, and democracy and dictatorship. She is a faculty fellow of the Keough School's Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion, Kellogg Institute for International Studies, Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies and Nanovic Institute for European Studies. She also is a faculuty affiliate of Notre Dame's O'Brien International Security Center and Institute for Educational Initiatives.