Karrie J. Koesel is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Oregon where she specializes in the study of contemporary 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 her work has appeared in Perspectives on Politics, The China Quarterly, and Post-Soviet Affairs. Her research has been supported by grants from the John Templeton Foundation, the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), the Fulbright program, the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX), the Einaudi Center and East Asia Program at Cornell University, and the University of Oregon. Koesel is also an Associate Scholar of the Religious Freedom Project (RFP) at the Berkley Center for Religion Peace and World Affairs, Georgetown University and a member of the International Diffusion and Cooperation of Authoritarian Regimes (IDCAR) research network.