Nic Cheeseman is Professor of Democracy and International Development at Birmingham University and was formerly the Director of the African Studies Centre at Oxford University. 
A political scientist by training, Nic works on democracy, elections, and development, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa where he has conducted in-country research.
His research addresses a range of questions such as whether populism is an effective strategy of political mobilization in Africa, how paying tax changes citizens' attitudes towards democracy and corruption, and the conditions under which ruling parties lose power.
Author or editor of more than ten books, his most notable is probably How to Rig an Election (with Brian Klaas) analysing the pseudo-democratic methods employed by despots around the world to retain control. A new edition appears in 2024.
He is a former editor of the journal African Affairs, and the founding editor of the Oxford Encyclopaedia of African Politics and the Oxford Dictionary of African Politics. Nic is a columnist for The Africa Report, and for South Africa's Mail and Guardian. He is the editor of the website Democracy in Africa.
Nic's articles have won several prizes and, in 2021, he was awarded a British Academy Fellowship to research the history and impact of African political thought. Since 2017, he has served on the board of Oxfam GB.