Aksel Sundström

Welcome! I am a Professor in Political Science at the University of Gothenburg. I have previously held visiting positions at Harvard University and the University of Oxford.

I am the PI for Quality of Government (QoG) Data, where I work with a fantastic team to provide data on corruption and societal indicators to the public sphere.

Currently, I have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant to build a research group that studies how natural disasters and environmental shocks affect political outcomes (we are hiring two postdocs the fall of 2025).

My comparative politics research agenda has two focuses: 1) the study of environmental politics, especially in low-income countries, and 2) the study of political representation, focusing on the absence of women and youth in politics.

For news coverage of my research, see this piece in Wall Street Journal, here in the Guardian or here (for Swedes) in Dagens Nyheter or commentary in radio or the TV show Utrikesbyrån.

My work is published in a range of outlets. Examples of recent outputs are:

• Dawson, S., F. Haass, C. Müller-Crepon, A. Sundström (2025) The Ethnic Politics of Nature Protection in Africa the Journal of Politics.
• Michaelsen, P., A. Sundström and S. C. Jagers (2025) Mass support for conserving 30% of the Earth by 2030: Experimental evidence from five continents PNAS, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
• Sundström, A. (2024) “Environmental disasters and ecomodernist beliefs: Insights from a quasi-natural experiment”, Policy Studies Journal.
• Ahlerup, P., A. Sundström, S. Jagers and M. Sjöstedt (2024) “Climate Shocks, Regional Favoritism and Trust in Leaders: Insights from Droughts in Africa”, World Development.

Examples of output in progress includes, for instance:

• Elia, E., A. Sundström, S. Dawson. Climate Shocks, Gender and Incumbency Punishment. QoG Working Paper 2025:6.
• Sundström, A., C. McClean, D. Stockemer. When Elders Rule: Age Composition in Decision-Making and Legitimacy Perceptions. QoG Working Paper 2024:6.

You can contact me at aksel.sundstrom@pol.gu.se

See my CV for more details, or visit my Google Scholar profile.