Michael Baum

Michael Baum is an Invited Professor of Political Science at ISCTE-IUL in Lisbon. Previously, he was Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth (UMD). While on extended leave from UMD and at the invitation of the US Embassy in Portugal, from 2014-19 he served as a member of the Executive Board of the private non-profit Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD), a major funding agency in Portugal. Among other projects he managed at the Foundation, Baum created the Study in Portugal Network (SiPN), a multi-university consortium of Portuguese universities that collaborate with the Foundation to attract students and faculty from North America to Portugal on various types of study abroad programs. This program grew recruitment by 1100% during its first 3 years and now accounts for one-third of all US students in Portugal. Baum’s research interests have focused on Southern European politics, political participation and voting behaviour, gender quotas, democratisation studies, and regional political economy. He has published in West European Politics, the European Journal of Political Research, South European Society & Politics and in various edited volumes. Baum served as an Affiliate of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University and was co-chair of its Iberian Studies Group from 2002-14. A two-time Fulbright grantee to Portugal, Baum has also been invited by the US State Department to brief incoming US Ambassadors to Portugal on various aspects of Portuguese society and politics.