Michael Ross

Michael L. Ross is professor of political science in the UCLA College and director of the UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies. Ross is known as one of the world’s foremost authorities in the burgeoning field of natural resource politics. He is an expert on issues that concern the developing world, including the the political and economic problems of resource-rich countries, civil war, democratization and gender rights. Ross has a special interest in political economy, natural resource issues and democratization.

In “The Oil Curse: How Petroleum Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations” (Princeton University Press, 2012) Ross wrote about how political reforms can take the edge off the so-called “oil curse.”