Dr Alexander Hudson is a Senior Adviser in the Democracy Assessment Unit of International IDEA’s Global Programmes in Stockholm. As part of the team that produces the Global State of Democracy Indices and Global State of Democracy Report, Hudson contributes to our data collection, analysis and visualization work.

Prior to joining International IDEA on 1 March 2021, Hudson was a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Göttingen, Germany. He also brings skills gained through work at the University of Texas at Austin, the Comparative Constitutions Project, and the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

Hudson’s recent blog posts include:

• Pandemic states of emergency: Changing approaches over the course of the pandemic, Democracy Notes, International IDEA, March 2022.
• Protests, Emergency Powers, and Democracy: Hard Choices in Canada, Democracy Notes, International IDEA, February 2022.
• Democratic backsliding: Different causes, divergent trajectories, Democracy Notes, International IDEA, December 2021.
• A snap vote in the pandemic shows Canada as one of a kind, Democracy Notes, International IDEA, September 2021.
• Does Popular Participation in Constitution-Making Matter?, I•CONnect: Blog of the International Journal of Constitutional Law, November 2020.
• The Constitutional Reform Referendum in Chile: Balancing Democracy and Elite Accommodation, I•CONnect: Blog of the International Journal of Constitutional Law, September 2020.
• Constitutions, Science, and COVID: Does Constitutional Protection of Science and Health Predict Pandemic Outcomes?, I•CONnect: Blog of the International Journal of Constitutional Law, July 2020.
• Governments of National Unity: A Potential Solution to Legitimacy Crises Caused by the Pandemic, I•CONnect: Blog of the International Journal of Constitutional Law, May 2020.
• A Constitutional Crisis of a Different Kind: Canada’s Slow March Back to Mega-Constitutional Politics, I•CONnect: Blog of the International Journal of Constitutional Law, March 2020.
• High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Surprising Rarity of the US Impeachment Standard, I•CONnect: Blog of the International Journal of Constitutional Law, January 2020.

Hudson’s academic publications include:

• Costs and benefits of accepting presidential term limits: “should I stay or should I go?” Democratization 29 (1), 2022. DOI:10.1080/13510347.2021.1960314. (with Anna Fruhstorfer)
• Reverse mortgages and aircraft parts: The arcane referendum and the limits of citizen competence, Electoral Studies 74, 2021. DOI: 10.1016/j.electstud.2021.102408. (with Joseph Cozza and Zachary Elkins)
• The Veil of Participation: Citizens and Political Parties in Constitution-Making Processes, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021.
• Majorities for Minorities: Participatory Constitution Making Processes and Rights Protection, Political Research Quarterly, 2021. DOI:10.1177/1065912920984246. (with Anna Fruhstorfer)
• Political Parties and Public Participation in Constitution Making: Legitimation, Distraction, or Real Impact?, Comparative Politics 53 (3), 2021. DOI: 10.5129/001041521X15966512980176
• When Does Public Participation Make a Difference? Evidence From Iceland’s Crowdsourced Constitution, Policy & Internet 10 (2), 2018. DOI:10.1002/poi3.167.

Hudson is on Twitter @a2hudson.