Projects per year
Personal profile
Personal Statement
Born and educated in the United States, I spent 25 years researching and teaching in South Africa, before moving to Strathclyde in 2016. My research focuses on issues and challenges of sustaining democracy, by studying voting, public opinion, and elected legislatures, in the developing world in general, and Africa and South Africa in particular.
Research Interests
I work on issues of democratization primarlily through the tools of survey research but also employ other methods of institutional analysis. I am co-founder and Senior Adviser of Afrobarometer, a regular survey of public opinion in 35 African countries (www.afrobarometer.org). I am also co-founder and co-Principal Investigator of the African Legislatures Project, a study of legislatures and legislators in 17 countries(www.cssr.uct.ac.za/alp). Finally, I am the founder and Principal Investigator of the South African National Election Study, a longitudinal series of post-election surveys dating back to South AFrica's first democratic election of 1994 (www.cssr.uct.ac.za/daru/sanes). These studies are also carried out in association with the Comparative National Elections Project, and Comparative Study of Electoral Systems project.
Expertise & Capabilities
Survey Research
Comparative Politics
African Politics
South African Politics
United States Politics
Education/Academic qualification
Doctor of Philosophy, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Award Date: 15 Feb 1992
Master of Arts, University of Delaware
Award Date: 14 Jun 1986
Bachelor of Arts, Youngstown State University
Award Date: 16 Jun 1984
External positions
Honorary Professor, University of Cape Town
1 Jan 2017 → …Fingerprint
- 8 Similar Profiles
Network
Projects
- 5 Active
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Global Barometer Surveys
Chu, Y., Mattes, R., Lagos, M., Haerpfer, C., Tessler, M. & Shastri, S.
1/06/00 → …
Project: Research
Research Output
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A lost decade for third-wave democracies?
Chu, Y., Huang, K-P., Lagos, M. & Mattes, R., 15 Apr 2020, In: Journal of Democracy. 31, 2, p. 166-181 16 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Open AccessFile2 Citations (Scopus)23 Downloads (Pure) -
The consequences of partisanship in Africa
Mattes, R. & Kroenke, M., 31 May 2020, Research Handbook on Political Partisanship. Oscarsson, H. & Holmberg, S. (eds.). Cheltenham, UK, p. 368-380 12 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Open AccessFile3 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
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2014 South African National Election Study
Mattes, R. (Creator), Shulz-Herzenberg, C. (Contributor) & Seekings, J. (Contributor), 3 Feb 2020
https://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/dataportal/index.php/catalog/603 and one more link, https://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/ (show fewer)
Dataset
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2009 South African National Election Study
Mattes, R. (Creator) & Shulz-Herzenberg, C. (Contributor), 3 Feb 2020
https://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/dataportal/index.php/catalog/606 and one more link, https://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/ (show fewer)
Dataset
Prizes
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Academy of Science of South Africa
Mattes, Robert (Recipient), 2014
Prize: Election to learned society
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Liphart/Przeworski/Verba Data Set Award
Mattes, Robert (Recipient), Michael Bratton (Recipient) & E. Gyimah-Boadi (Recipient), 2004
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities
- 12 Journal peer review
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World Politics (Journal)
Robert Mattes (Peer reviewer)
15 Apr 2020Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work types › Journal peer review
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International Political Science Review (Journal)
Robert Mattes (Peer reviewer)
2019Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work types › Journal peer review