Lisa Mueller

Lisa Mueller serves as Associate Professor and Chair of Political Science at Macalester College. Her academic career spans research, teaching, and policy consultation with significant contributions to understanding social movements and African politics.

Her educational background includes a BA from Pomona College and a PhD from UCLA, where she specialized in political economy of development, empirical research methods, and social movements.

Mueller's research focuses on why protests succeed or fail globally, with particular expertise in African political dynamics. Her work bridges academic scholarship and practical activism, examining how class politics drives protests, the effectiveness of cohesive demands in social movements, and the intersection of behavioral economics with political mobilization. She has conducted extensive fieldwork across multiple African nations including Niger, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Malawi, and Mauritius.

Her publication record shows consistent scholarly output with two major books and numerous articles in top political science journals. The trajectory of her work demonstrates an evolution from academic analysis of African protests to practical applications for activists worldwide.

• Honorable mention for Best Book of 2018 from the African Politics Conference Group (for Political Protest in Contemporary Africa)

Mueller actively applies her expertise through consulting engagements with USAID, the U.S. State Department, the World Bank, and other policy organizations. She has held prestigious fellowships including a Fulbright Scholarship at Sciences Po Bordeaux and a Residential Fellowship at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study. Her work has gained significant media attention with features in Nature, New York Times, New Yorker, Washington Post, BBC, The Guardian, and Teen Vogue.