Benjamin Chemouni

Dr Chemouni is a Assistant Professor at Université Catholique de Louvain, and a Leverhulme early career fellow at the University of Cambridge. He is the country researcher for ESID’s Public Sector Reform project in Rwanda and works on the politics of health coverage in Rwanda for the project The political economy of social protection expansion in Africa.

Benjamin is interested in the origins of effective states and the relationship between elites, their perception of their environment and the origins of institutions. His PhD research is seeking to explain the variation of state effectiveness (i.e. capacity to implement policies) between Burundi and Rwanda through the lens of the health and agriculture sectors. Elite vulnerability and their strategy to seek legitimacy are used as explanatory factors. Benjamin is the country researcher for Rwanda in ESID’s project on comparative public sector reform in Ghana, Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda. This project is centered on the political economy of reform in the sectors of public sector planning, civil service management, public finance, auditing, and anti-corruption.

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) London School of Economics and Political Science (2011 — 2016)
• Master of Science (MSc) The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) (2008 — 2009)
• Diploma of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques (equivalent Master's degree) Institut d'Etudes Politiques d'Aix-en-Provence (2004 — 2008)

Companies

• Assistant Professor Université catholique de Louvain (2020)
• Leverhulme Early Career Fellow University of Cambridge (2018 — 2020)
• Researcher for the Effective States and Inclusive Development Research Centre (ESID) The University of Manchester (2014 — 2020)
• Teaching Fellow The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) (2016 — 2018)
• Graduate Teaching Assistant The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) (2015 — 2016)
• Manager Neovian Partners (2009 — 2011)
• French Teacher Southwest University of Political Science and Law, Chongqing, China (2006 — 2007)