Kimberly Cowell-Meyers

Kimberly Cowell-Meyers is an Associate Professor of Government in the School of Public Affairs at American University, Washington DC, and is simultaneously affiliated with the university’s Women & Politics Institute. She conducts comparative research on how representative democracies channel political identities through parties, legislatures and social movements.

Education

• Ph.D. in Political Science – American University
• M.A. in Political Science – American University
• B.A. – Smith College

Research Interests

Cowell-Meyers centers her scholarship on two intersecting areas of identity politics: the political participation and representation of women, and ethnic/sectarian politics with a regional focus on Northern Ireland. Her work explores how institutional arrangements, electoral systems and party gatekeeping shape the inclusion or exclusion of marginalized identities. Methodologically, she combines quantitative analysis of large-N datasets with in-depth comparative case studies.

Recent projects include an original dataset of more than 50 women’s political parties across Europe, comparative case studies of women’s parties in Northern Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland, and collaborative analyses of power-sharing and sectarian dynamics in post-conflict Northern Ireland.

Scholarly Output

Her research has appeared in leading journals such as Politics & Gender, Perspectives on Politics, Political Studies, Scandinavian Political Studies, Foreign Affairs, The Journal of Women, Politics & Public Policy, Irish Political Studies and Nationalism and Ethnic Studies. Together these publications trace a decade-long trajectory from institutional design and ethnic accommodation to the emergence and impact of women’s political parties.

Advising & Mentoring

At American University she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in comparative politics, research methodology and Northern Ireland politics. She founded and continues to advise Clocks & Clouds, the university’s undergraduate research journal in politics and public affairs, mentoring students through all stages of the scholarly publication process.

Professional Affiliations & Fieldwork

Cowell-Meyers has held visiting appointments at the Centre for the Advancement of Women into Politics, Queen’s University Belfast, and at the University of Zürich. She has practical policy experience from the British Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the United States Institute of Peace. She also co-authors regular commentary on Northern Irish politics for The Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog.