Professor Lise Storm

We know that women are the most negatively impacted by climate change, particularly in the Global South. Yet, women are under-represented in climate governance at all levels. My most recent research project, due to be published with Cambridge University Press in 2026,  explores how women’s political representation at the national level affects women’s climate agency, focusing on (1) barriers and opportunities in terms of standing for election and (2) the consequences of the essentialist view of women as a homogenous group, which obscures the reality that not all women are equally represented, with women whose identities intersect more than one marginalized community particularly disadvantaged.

In line with my previous work, my research on gender, representation and the global climate crisis centres on authoritarian regimes in the Global South and affords particular attention to the role of political parties. Over the past two decades, I have published widely on different aspects of party politics, including the role of political parties in facilitating authoritarian survival (Party Politics and the Prospects for Democracy in North Africa, Democratization in Morocco, and ‘The Fragile Tunisian Democracy’), the rise and demise of different types of parties, including Islamist parties and former rebel movements ( 'Exploring post-rebel parties in power: Political space and implications for Islamist inclusion and moderation', ‘The Persistence of Authoritarianism as a Source of Radicalization in North Africa’ and ‘The Dilemma of the Islamists’), as well as international party assistance in authoritarian settings (‘New Perspectives on International Party Assistance’ and ‘Problems of Party Assistance in Hybrid Regimes’ with Nicole Bolleyer).

Most of my work is on political parties in the Middle East and North Africa (see, for instance, ‘Post-Election Elite Bargaining and Coalition Formation in the MENA: Lessons from Iraq and Morocco’ with Dylan O’Driscoll, Political Parties in the Arab World: Continuity and Change with Francesco Cavatorta and Routledge Handbook on Political Parties in the Middle East and North Africa with Francesco Cavatorta and Valeria Resta), but I also increasingly cover Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. At present, I am finalizing a manuscript on Political Parties in the Global South and another on Gender, Representation and the Global Climate Crisis which is due out with deGruyter/Brill in December 2025.

For office hours and research leave, please see here.

Links to publications can be found on the 'Publications' tab.

Biography:

CAREER HISTORY: PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2025-present: Professor of Political Science and International Studies, University of Exeter (UK), Department of Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy and Anthropology.

2024-2025: Professor of Political Science and International Studies, University of Exeter (UK), Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies.

2021-2024: Associate Professor of Party Politics. University of Exeter (UK), Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies.

2010-2021: Senior Lecturer in Middle East Politics. University of Exeter (UK), Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies.

2009-2010: Lecturer in Middle East Politics. University of Exeter (UK), Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies.

2007-2009: Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in Comparative Politics. University of Exeter (UK), Department of Politics.

2006-2007: Lecturer in Middle East Politics. University of Exeter (UK), Department of Politics.

EDUCATION

2002-2006: PhD, Political Science. University of Exeter (UK), Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies.

Thesis: The Limits and Opportunities of Democratization from Above: Moroccan Political ‘Games’, 1956-2005.

Supervisor: Prof. Tim Niblock; external examiner: Dr Michael Willis (Oxford).

2000-2002: MA, Political Science. University of Copenhagen (DK), Institute of Political Science.

The first year of the degree was spent at Leiden University (NL), Department of Public Administration.

Dissertation: Theories of Conflict Resolution and Turkey’s Kurdish Question.

Supervisor: Prof. Dietrich Jung.

1997-2000: BA, Political Science. University of Copenhagen (DK), Institute of Political Science.

Other information:

In addition to teaching and research, I am heavily engaged in administrative and managerial roles. I have previously held the roles of Deputy Head of Department (IAIS), Director of Research (DoR) and Director of Education (DoE) (IAIS) as well as Chair of the Ethics Committee (College of Social Sciences and International Studies) and member of the Ethical Review Group (University of Exeter). In recent years, I have focused more on sustainability as Global Environmental Futures lead in the QUEX Partnership and Sustainability Advocate for Research (University-level). 

Outside of the University, but related to my field of study, I am a founding member of REPRESENT, which is a research center for the study of parties and democracy, bringing together academics and practitioners. For more information, please see the REPRESENT website. I am a Fellow of the HEA.

In my spare time, I cook, bake and run, whittle spoons, and make things out of wood and clay. 

Research supervision:

I am happy to supervise students working on democracy, democratization, authoritarianism, political parties, and party system institutionalization as well as international aid and development relating to SDG16. The cases studied do not necessarily have to be located in the Global South, although that is my main expertise.

I expect my students to reside in the UK and/or to travel to Exeter on a regular basis (at least once every two months).

Students supervised by me must have a firm grounding in political science or have good work experience in a relevant field.