{"id":19,"date":"2012-09-05T11:22:25","date_gmt":"2012-09-05T15:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/template\/?page_id=19"},"modified":"2026-03-19T09:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T13:00:14","slug":"articles","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/articles\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing &#038; Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<section class=\"fullwidth-text-block\">\r\n\t<div class=\"container px-0 pt-5\">\r\n\t\t<div class=\"row align-items-start\">\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-12\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Writing &#038; Research<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Books<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conor O\u2019Dwyer, Coming Out of Communism: The Emergence of LGBT Activism in Eastern Europe (New York: New York University Press, 2018).<\/h4>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"size-full alignright is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/files\/COOC_Cover.jpg\" alt=\"Coming Out of Communism Cover\" class=\"wp-image-192\" style=\"width:200px;height:auto\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>In my most recent book, I examine how homophobic backlash unexpectedly strengthened mobilization for LGBT political rights in post-communist Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/content-removed\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-224\">Reviewed<\/a> in <em>Perspectives on Politics<\/em>, June 2019, Vol. 17\/No. 2, pp. 609-610. (<a href=\"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/content-removed\/\">link<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/content-removed\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-227\">Reviewed<\/a> in the <em>Slavic Review<\/em>, Winter 2019, Vol. 78\/No. 4, pp. 1078-1079. (<a href=\"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/content-removed\/\">link<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/notchesblog.com\/2019\/10\/31\/coming-out-of-communism-the-emergence-of-lgbt-activism-in-eastern-europe\/\">Profiled<\/a> on the blog <em>Notches<\/em>, October 2019. (<a href=\"https:\/\/notchesblog.com\/2019\/10\/31\/coming-out-of-communism-the-emergence-of-lgbt-activism-in-eastern-europe\/\">link<\/a>)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conor O\u2019Dwyer, Runaway State-Building: Patronage Politics and Democratic Development (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006).<\/h4>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"size-full alignright is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/files\/RSB_Cover.jpg\" alt=\"Runaway State-Building Cover\" class=\"wp-image-192\" style=\"width:200px;height:auto\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Based on a comparison of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, my first book argues that the critical factor in postcommunist state-building is the robustness of party competition. The legacy of communism creates strong pressures for patronage politics, which swells the administration, but it is party competition that determines whether the predisposition to patronage politics in fact becomes the practice of patronage politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Articles &amp; Book Chapters<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Matthew Stenberg and Conor O\u2019Dwyer. 2025. \u201cWhen Do Local Governments Discriminate? Lessons from the Diffusion of \u2018LGBT Free Zones\u2019 in Poland.\u201d <em>Urban Affairs Review<\/em>. (<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/10780874251382453\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/10780874251382453<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<span lang=\"X-NONE\">Conor O\u2019Dwyer, Lenka Bu\u0161t\u00edkov\u00e1, and Zden\u011bk Sloboda. 2025. \u00a0<\/span>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFrom Damage Control to Lockdown? Slovakia\u2019s Path to (and from) Sexual Citizenship,\u201d In<\/p>\n\n\n\n<i>Civic and Uncivic Values in Slovakia: Culture, Media, Gender, and Ethnic Minorities<\/i>\n\n\n\n<p>, edited by Sabrina Ramet, Christine Marie Hassenstab, Vladimir \u00d0or\u0111evi\u0107. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, pp. 193-222. (<\/p>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/978-3-031-93574-9_8\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/978-3-031-93574-9_8<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer. 2024. \u201cBacksliding versus Backlash: Do Challenges to Democracy in East Central Europe Threaten LGBTQIAP Empowerment?\u201d <em>East European Politics and Societies. <\/em>(<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/08883254231182999\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/08883254231182999<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Dong-Joon\u00a0Jung\u00a0&amp;\u00a0Conor\u00a0O\u2019Dwyer. 2024.\u00a0\u201cThe demography of intolerance: communist legacy, demographic threat, and attitudes toward homosexuality,\u201d\u00a0<em>East European Politics<\/em>,\u00a0(<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/21599165.2024.2331504\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/21599165.2024.2331504<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/government-and-opposition\/article\/locallevel-democratic-backsliding-the-consolidation-of-aspiring-dominantparty-regimes-in-hungary-and-poland\/7ECFDED9602D143D7433646802A38329\">Conor O\u2019Dwyer and Matthew Stenberg. 2022. \u201cLocal-Level Democratic Backsliding? The Consolidation of Aspiring Dominant-Party Regimes in Hungary and Poland.\u201d <em>Government and Opposition<\/em>, 57, pp. 508-531<\/a>.<br>\ndoi:10.1017\/gov.2021.12<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer. 2021. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/content-removed\/\">What is to be Done? Framings of Urban Populism in Prague and Warsaw<\/a>.\u201d <em>Urban<\/em>a<em>: Urban Affairs and Public Policy<\/em>, 22: 40-62.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer. 2020. \u201cRussian and Eastern European LGBT Movements and Interest Groups.\u201d In\u00a0<em>Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics<\/em>. Oxford University Press.<br>\ndoi:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/urldefense.proofpoint.com\/v2\/url?u=https-3A__doi.org_10.1093_acrefore_9780190228637.013.1276&amp;d=DwQFAg&amp;c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&amp;r=2eE6yLNqTPR6ckDdOrCWAA&amp;m=IlBqQl1UWMdWK2xZGSxOSj2c-RJn9VpJjbtROP_NeLY&amp;s=VeJyohP13BCZ9V6LeJom8DSIDZmLjWfYpzLolJO2wIk&amp;e=\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/acrefore\/9780190228637.013.1276<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer. 2019. \u201cThe Democratization of Urban Planning in Prague?\u201d In Neboj\u0161a \u010camprag and Anshika Suri (eds.),\u00a0<em>Three Decades of Post-socialist Transition<\/em>. Conference Proceedings. Darmstadt, tuprints, pp. 501-508. \u201d (<a title=\"https:\/\/tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de\/id\/eprint\/9222\" href=\"https:\/\/tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de\/id\/eprint\/9222\">https:\/\/tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de\/id\/eprint\/9222<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer. 2018. \u201cThe Benefits of Backlash: EU Accession and the Organization of LGBT Activism in Postcommunist Poland and the Czech Republic,\u201d\u00a0<em>East European Politics and Societies<\/em><br>\n(<a title=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full\/10.1177\/0888325418762051\" href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full\/10.1177\/0888325418762051\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0888325418762051<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer. 2017. \u201cThe Struggle for LGBT Rights.\u201d In Adam Fagan and Petr Kopeck\u00fd (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of East European Politics. London &amp; New York: Routledge, 245-254.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer and Peter Vermeersch. 2016. \u201cFrom Pride to Politics: Niche-Party Politics and LGBT Rights in Poland,\u201d In Koen Slootmaeckers, Heleen Touquet, and Peter Vermeersch (eds.), The EU Enlargement and Gay Politics: The Impact of Eastern Enlargement on Rights, Activism and Prejudice (London: Palgrave Macmillan): 123-146.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer, \u201cRemembering, Not Commemorating, 1989: The 20-Year Anniversary of the Velvet Revolution in the Czech Republic,\u201d In Michael Bernhard and Jan Kubik (eds.),\u00a0<em>Twenty Years After Communism: The Politics of Memory and Commemoration<\/em> (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014): 171-192.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer, \u201cWhat Accounts for Party System Stability? Comparing the Dimensions of Party Competition in Postcommunist Europe,\u201d\u00a0<em>Europe-Asia Studies<\/em>\u00a066:4 (2014): 511-535. (<a title=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/eprint\/gT7dBpZVgWR5cHMNk8n9\/full\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/eprint\/gT7dBpZVgWR5cHMNk8n9\/full\">Article here<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer, \u201cDoes the EU Help or Hinder Gay-Rights Movements in Postcommunist Europe? The Case of Poland,\u201d\u00a0<em>East European Politics<\/em>\u00a028:4 (2012): 332-352. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/eprint\/FNE5vMC35njMX5MExQCg\/full\">Article here<\/a>;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/content-removed\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-266\">Article proofs\u00a0here<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer, \u201cGay Rights and Political Homophobia in Postcommunist Europe: Is there an \u2018EU Effect\u2019?\u201d, In Meredith L. Weiss and Michael J. Bosia (eds.),\u00a0<em>Homophobia Goes Global: States, Movements, and the Politics of Oppression<\/em>\u00a0(University of Illinois Press, 2013): 103-126.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer, \u201cFrom NGOs to Naught: The Rise and Fall of the Czech Gay-Rights Movement,\u201d In Kerstin Jacobsson and Steven Saxonberg (eds).,\u00a0<em>Beyond NGO-ization: The Development of Social Movements in Central and Eastern Europe<\/em>\u00a0(Ashgate, 2013): 117-138.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer and Katrina Z.S. Schwartz, &#8220;Minority Rights After EU Enlargement: A Comparison of Antigay Politics in Poland and Latvia,&#8221;\u00a0<em>Comparative European Politics<\/em>\u00a08:2 (2010): 220-243. (<a href=\"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/content-removed\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-264\">Article here<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer, &#8220;From Conditionality to Persuasion? Europeanization and the Rights of Sexual Minorities in Postaccession Poland,&#8221;\u00a0<em>Journal of European Integration<\/em>\u00a032:3 (2010): 229-247. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1080\/07036331003646819\">Article here<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer and Branislav Koval\u010d\u00edk, &#8220;And the Last Shall be First: Party System Institutionalization and Second-Generation Economic Reform in Postcommunist Europe,&#8221;\u00a0<em>Studies in Comparative International Development<\/em>\u00a041 (March 2007): 3-26.\u00a0 (<a href=\"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/content-removed\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-262\">Article\u00a0here<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer, &#8220;Runaway State-Building: How Political Parties Shape States in Postcommunist Eastern Europe,&#8221;\u00a0<em>World Politics<\/em>\u00a056 (July 2004): 520-53.\u00a0 (<a href=\"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/content-removed\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-260\">Article Here<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer, &#8220;Reforming Regional Governance in East Central Europe: Europeanization or Domestic Politics as Usual?&#8221;\u00a0<em>East European Politics and Societies<\/em>\u00a020:2 (2006): 219-253.\u00a0 (<a href=\"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/content-removed\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-257\">Article here<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer, &#8220;Re-stating Party Development in Central and Eastern Europe: A Response,\u201d Czech Sociological Review, 44\/6 (December 2008): 1181-1188.\u00a0 (<a href=\"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/content-removed\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-254\">Article here<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer and Daniel Ziblatt, &#8220;Does Decentralisation Make Government More Efficient and Effective?&#8221;\u00a0<em>Commonwealth\u00a0and Comparative Politics<\/em>\u00a044:3 (November, 2006): 326-343.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Christopher Ansell, Vanna Gonzales, and Conor O\u2019Dwyer, &#8220;The Variable Geometry of European Regional Economic Development,&#8221; In Steve Weber, ed.,\u00a0<em>Globalization and the European Political Economy<\/em> (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Other<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Matthew Stenberg and Conor O\u2019Dwyer. 2025. \u201cWhen Do Local Governments Discriminate?\u201d <em>Urban Affairs Review<\/em>\u2019s Blog. 17 October. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.urbanaffairsreview.com\/uar-archive\/when-do-local-governments-discriminate\">https:\/\/www.urbanaffairsreview.com\/uar-archive\/when-do-local-governments-discriminate<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer and Matthew Stenberg, \u201c<a title=\"http:\/\/jordanrussiacenter.org\/news\/local-elections-and-the-durability-of-illiberal-regimes-in-hungary-and-poland\/#.XrVqJC-ZNPU\" href=\"http:\/\/jordanrussiacenter.org\/news\/local-elections-and-the-durability-of-illiberal-regimes-in-hungary-and-poland\/#.XrVqJC-ZNPU\">Local Elections and the Durability of Illiberal Regimes in Hungary and Poland<\/a>,\u201d<em>All the Russias\u2019 Blog<\/em>, Jordan Center, New York University. (May 6, 2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Conor O\u2019Dwyer, \u201c<a title=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2019\/04\/26\/how-polands-attacks-lgbt-rights-strengthened-polish-lgbt-movement\/?utm_term=.66adda0c7a57\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2019\/04\/26\/how-polands-attacks-lgbt-rights-strengthened-polish-lgbt-movement\/?utm_term=.66adda0c7a57\">How Poland\u2019s attacks on LGBT rights strengthened the Polish LGBT movement<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0<em>The Washington Post<\/em>, Monkey Cage. (August 26, 2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c<a title=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/12Ssx8G\" href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/12Ssx8G\">The Poland case shows that the EU should not be inhibited from putting pressure on member states over gay rights<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0<em>EUROPP: European Politics and Policy Blog<\/em>. London School of Economics (July 26, 2013).<\/p>\n\n\n\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/section>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1209,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"featured_post":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-19","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":321,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19\/revisions\/321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/codwyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}