Research

Books

Simmons, Erica S. and Nicholas Rush Smith (eds.). 2021. Rethinking Comparison: Innovative Methods for Qualitative Political Inquiry. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Smith, Nicholas Rush. 2019. Contradictions of Democracy: Vigilantism and Rights in Post-Apartheid South Africa. New York: Oxford University Press. (Oxford Studies in Culture and Politics Series)

Articles and Book Chapters

Smith, Nicholas Rush. 2022. “The State as Golem: Police Violence in Democratic South Africa.” Everyday State and Democracy in Africa: Ethnographic Encounters, Wale Adebanwi (ed.). Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.

Blake, Jonathan S. and Nicholas Rush Smith. 2022. “Identifying Violence: Ethics, Representation, and Politics in Lee Ann Fujii’s Showtime.” Violence: An International Journal 3 (1): 109-113.

Smith, Nicholas Rush. 2021. “Seen Like a State.” Polity 53 (3): 485-491.

Simmons, Erica and Nicholas Rush Smith. 2021. “Comparisons with an Ethnographic Sensibility: Studies of Protest and Vigilantism.” In Rethinking Comparison: Innovative Methods for Qualitative Political Research, Erica S. Simmons and Nicholas Rush Smith (eds.). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Simmons, Erica and Nicholas Rush Smith with Lisa Wedeen. 2021. “Theory and Imagination in Comparative Politics: An Interview with Lisa Wedeen.” In Rethinking Comparison: Innovative Methods for Qualitative Political Research, Erica S. Simmons and Nicholas Rush Smith (eds.). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Alan M. Jacobs and Tim Büthe with 48 others. 2021. “Transparency in Qualitative Research: An Overview of Key Findings and Recommendations.” Perspectives on Politics 19 (1): 171-208.

Schwedler, Jillian, Erica S. Simmons and Nicholas Rush Smith. 2021. “Ethnography and Participant Observation: Summary of the Final Report of QTD Working Group III.3.” Perspectives on Politics.

Smith, Nicholas Rush. 2020. “Member Checking: Lessons from the Dead.” Qualitative and Multi-Method Research 17-18 (1): 60-65.

Simmons, Erica S. and Nicholas Rush Smith. 2019. “The Case for Comparative Ethnography.” Comparative Politics 51 (3): 341-359.

Simmons, Erica S., Nicholas Rush Smith, and Rachel Schwartz. 2018. “Rethinking Comparison in the Social Sciences.” Qualitative and Multi-Method Research 16 (1): 1-7. (Co-Organizer of symposium on “Rethinking Comparisons”)

Smith, Nicholas Rush. 2017. “The Rule of Rights: Comparative Lessons from Twenty Years of South African Democracy.” Comparative Politics 50 (1): 123-141.

Smith, Nicholas Rush. 2017. “New Situations Demand Old Magic: Necklacing Past and Present.” In Global Lynching and Collective Violence: Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Michael Pfeifer, Ed. Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois Press.

Simmons, Erica S. and Nicholas Rush Smith. 2017. “Comparison with an Ethnographic Sensibility.” PS: Political Science and Politics 50 (1): 126-130.

Slater, Dan and Nicholas Rush Smith. 2016. “The Power of Counterrevolution: Elitist Origins of Political Order in Postcolonial Asia and Africa.” American Journal of Sociology 121 (5): 1472-1516.

Smith, Nicholas Rush. 2015. “Rejecting Rights: Vigilantism and Violence in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” African Affairs 114 (456): 341-360. (Lead Article)

Book Reviews

Smith, Nicholas Rush. 2021. “’The Terrorist Album: Apartheid’s Insurgents, Collaborators, and the Security Police’ by Jacob Dlamini.” Africa Spectrum 0 (0): 1-3.

Smith, Nicholas Rush. 2020. “’Township Violence and the End of Apartheid: War on the Reef’ by Gary Kynoch.” International Journal of African Historical Studies 52 (3): 485-86.

Smith, Nicholas Rush. 2018. “’Bodies of Truth: Law, Memory, and Emancipation in Post-Apartheid South Africa’ by Rita Kesselring.” Anthropological Quarterly 91 (2): 841-845.

Smith, Nicholas Rush. 2017. “’Electoral Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa’ by Stephanie M. Burchard and ‘The Limits of Democratic Governance in South Africa’ by Louis A. Picard and Thomas Mogale.” Perspectives on Politics 15 (1): 261-262.

Other Publications

Sinwell, Luke and Nicholas Rush Smith. 2022. “Killing the Collective.” Africa Is a Country. July 20. https://www.africasacountry.com/2022/07/killing-the-collective

Smith, Nicholas Rush. 2020. “What Thirty Percent Unemployment Looks Like.” Boston Review. May 14. http://bostonreview.net/class-inequality-global-justice/nicholas-rush-what-30-percent-unemployment-looks.

Smith, Nicholas Rush. 2019. “Contradictions of Democracy: Vigilantism and Rights in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” Democracy in Africa. 20 May. http://democracyinafrica.org/contradictions-democracy-vigilantism-rights-post-apartheid-south-africa/. (Invited)

Schwedler, Jillian M., Erica S. Simmons and Nicholas Rush Smith. 2019. “Ethnography and Participant Observation.” American Political Science Association Organized Section for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research, Qualitative Transparency Deliberations, Working Group Final Reports, Report III.3 (August 2018). https://ssrn.com/abstract=3333465

Smith, Nicholas Rush. 2018. “Apartheid.” In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Surveillance, Security, and Privacy. Bruce Arrigo, Ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Smith, Nicholas Rush. 2018. “South Africa.” In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Surveillance, Security, and Privacy. Bruce Arrigo, Ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Simmons, Erica S. and Nicholas Rush Smith. 2015. “The Case for Comparative Ethnography.” Qualitative and Multi-Method Research: Newsletter of the American Political Science Association Organized Section for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research 13 (2): 13-18. (Invited)

Smith, Nicholas Rush. “Beyond Pistorius: The Politics of South African Justice.” African Arguments. September 12, 2014. http://africanarguments.org/2014/09/12/beyond-pistorius-the-politics-of-south-african-justice-by-nicholas-rush-smith/

Smith, Nicholas Rush. “The Struggle Continues: Mandela and His Legacies.” Five Rupees. July 1, 2013. http://fiverupees.com/2013/07/01/guest-post-the-struggle-continues-mandela-and-his-legacies/ (Invited)

Smith, Nicholas Rush. “The Wonga Coup: Transparency and Conspiracy in Equatorial Guinea.” CSIS Online Africa Policy Forum. January 23, 2008: http://forums.csis.org/africa. (Invited)