Research

Books

The New Science of Social Change: A Modern Handbook for Activists. 2024. Boston: Beacon Press.

UK edition: Changemaker: A Data-Driven Guide to Being an Effective Activist

Booksellers’ description: “We are in the middle of a historic swell of activism taking place throughout the world. From Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring, to pro-democracy uprisings in China, Black Lives Matter, the Women’s March on Washington, and more recent pro-choice protests; folks everywhere are gathering to demand a more just world. Yet despite social engagement being at record highs, there is a divide between the activist community and the scientists—like Lisa Mueller, PhD—who study it.”

“…Mueller highlights what really works when it comes to group advocacy, to place proven tools in the hands of activists on the ground—in the U.S. and abroad. Drawing on both her decade-long career researching the science of protest and the work of other scholars, she stresses such things as the ingredients of collective action and how protests with cohesive demands are significantly more likely to win concessions than protests with mixed demands.”

Reviews:

Booklist

Political Protest in Contemporary Africa. 2018. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Honorable Mention for Best Book of 2018, African Politics Conference Group

Reviews:

Articles and Chapters

“Broker Rhetoric and Persuasion in Clientelist Systems” (with Moumouni Goungoubane). Forthcoming. Studies in Comparative International Development.

“Crowd Cohesion and Protest Outcomes.” 2024. American Journal of Political Science 68(1): 42-57. article | appendix | replication files

“Framing Police Violence: Repression, Resistance, and the Power of History in Chile” (with Eric Mosinger and Kai Thaler). 2023. Journal of Politics 85(4): 1198-1213. article | replication files

“Accidental Scientists: How Undergraduate Research in Political Science Can Help to Patch the ‘Leaky Pipeline’ in STEM Education.” 2023. PS: Political Science & Politics 56(4): 506-511.

“Echec ou succès? Les stratégies de subversion et la gouvernance municipale au Niger” (with Moumouni Goungoubane). 2023. Canadian Journal of African Studies 57(1): 27-49.

“Testing Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue for Better Local Governance in Niger: An Experiment. Can We Talk Our Way Out of Development Problems?” (with Ariel BenYishay, Katherine Nolan, and Philip Roessler). 2022. Development Policy Review 40(4): e12601.

“Do Americans Really Support Black Athletes Who Kneel During the National Anthem? Estimating the True Prevalence and Strength of Sensitive Racial Attitudes in the Context of Sport.” 2022. Communication & Sport 10(6): 1070-1091.

“Does Charisma Affect Survival in Office for Leaders Who Take Power via Military Coup?” (with Tyson Roberts). 2021. Studies in Comparative International Development 56(4): 485-510.

“United We Stand, Divided We Fall? How Signals of Activist Cohesion Affect Attraction to Advocacy Organizations.” 2021. Interest Groups & Advocacy 10(1): 1-18.

“What is African About African Protests?” 2021. SAIS Review of International Affairs 40(2): 65-75.

“Niger: Precarious Stability.” 2021. In Leonardo A. Villalón, ed. The Oxford Handbook of the African Sahel. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

“Nation-State or Nation-Family? Nationalism in Marginalised African Societies” (with Abhit Bhandari). 2019. Journal of Modern African Studies 57(2): 297-322.

“Niger Falls Back Off Track” (with Sebastian Elischer). 2019. African Affairs. 118(471): 392–406.

“Personal Politics without Clientelism? Interpreting Citizen-Politician Contact in Africa.” 2018. African Studies Review 61(2): 28-54.

“The National Elections in Niger, February–March 2016” (with Lukas Matthews). 2016. Electoral Studies 43: 203-206.