I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. I study democratic governance and public opinion with a focus on managing immigration and ethnic tensions in high-income countries. I specialize in computational and experimental methods, drawing on diverse data sources from surveys to historical records. My upcoming book In Our Interest: How Democracies Can Make Immigration Popular (Columbia University Press) examines under what conditions most people would accept more open immigration policies despite their biases.

My work has been published in American Political Science Review, British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Politics, Perspectives on Politics, and World Politics. It has been recognized by leading grants and awards, including from the Russell Sage Foundation, American Political Science Association, and Department of Defense Army Research Office. I have also written for and been featured in popular outlets such as the New York Times, Atlantic, Economist, Financial Times, and Washington Post, and think tanks such as the Bipartisan Policy Center, Center for Global Development, and Niskanen Center.

Currently, I am a contributing fellow at Good Authority. Prior to my appointment at UNC Charlotte, I was a Postdoctoral Associate in the Jackson School of Global Affairs at Yale University. I received my joint Ph.D. in Politics and Social Policy from Princeton University. I can be reached at akustov [at] charlotte [dot] edu. You can find my CV here.

Select Publications

Kustov, Alexander. 2024. Beyond Changing Minds: Raising the Issue Importance of Expanding Legal Immigration. Perspectives on Politics.

Pardelli, Giuliana, and Alexander Kustov. 2024. Beyond Diversity: The Role of State Capacity in Fostering Social Cohesion in Brazil. World Development. 180: 106625.

Kustov, Alexander. 2023. Do Anti-immigration Voters Care More? Documenting the Issue Importance Asymmetry of Immigration Attitudes. British Journal of Political Science. 53 (2): 796-805.

Pardelli, Giuliana, and Alexander Kustov. 2022. When Coethnicity Fails. World Politics. 74 (2): 249-284.

Kustov, Alexander, Dillon Laaker, and Cassidy Reller. 2021. The Stability of Immigration Attitudes: Evidence and Implications. Journal of Politics. 83 (4): 1478-1494.

Kustov, Alexander. 2021. Borders of Compassion: Immigration Preferences and Parochial Altruism. Comparative Political Studies. 54 (3-4): 445–481.”