Legislative Development in Africa: Politics and Postcolonial Legacies, Cambridge University Press (2019). You can download the introduction to the book here.

• Co-Recipient of the 2020 African Politics Conference Group (APCG) Best Book Award.
• Reviewed in Foreign Affairs (Nicolas van de Walle), Perspectives on Politics (Adrienne LeBas), Commonwealth & Comparative Politics (Moses Khisa), Journal of Modern African Studies (Michaela Collord), Democracy and Autocracy Newsletter, University of Michigan (with Anne Meng), Washington Post’s Monkey Cage Blog (Kim Yi Dionne), African Studies Review (Ana Lucia Sa).
• Podcast Appearances: Scope Conditions with Alan Jacobs and Yang-Yang Zhou, New Books Network with Esperanza Brizuela-Garcia, CSIS Into Africa, with Judd Devermont, Ufahamu Africa with Rachel Riedl, Rocking Our Priors with Alice Evans, In Pursuit of Development with Dan Banik.

Published Papers & Book Chapters

1. Opalo, Ken Ochieng. 2022. “Formalizing clientelism in Kenya: From Harambee to the Constituency Development Fund,” World Development. Vol. 152
2. Opalo, Ken Ochieng’. 2022. “Colonialism and Institutional Persistence: Mixed Legacies in Ghana and Kenya,” Journal of Historical Political Economy
3. Herman, Biz, Amma Panin, Elizabenth Lams Wellman, Graeme Blair, Lindsey D. Pruett, Ken Ochieng’ Opalo, Hannah M. Alarian, Allison N. Grossman, Yvonne Tan, Alex P. Dyzenhaus, and Nicholas Owsley. Accepted. “Field Experiments in the Global South: Assessing Risks, Localizing Benefits, and Addressing Positionality,” PS: Political Science and Politics
4. Opalo, Ken Ochieng’. Forthcoming. “Leveraging Legislative Power: Distributive Politics and Committee Work in Kenya’s National Assembly,” Journal of Legislative Studies
5. Opalo, Ken Ochieng’ and Lahra Smith. 2021. “Ideology and Succession Politics in Ethiopia: Autocratic Leadership Turnover and Political Instability,” Democratization 
6. Opalo, Ken Ochieng’. 2021. “Partisanship and Public Opinion on Cash Transfers: Survey Evidence from Kenya,” Commonwealth & Comparative Politics
7. Opalo, Ken Ochieng’. 2020. Citizen Political Knowledge and Accountability: Survey Evidence on Devolution in Kenya, ” Governance, Vol. 33, No. 4, p. 849-869
8. Opalo, Ken Ochieng’. 2020. “Constrained Presidential Power in Africa? The Politics of Executive Rule-Making in Kenya, 1963-2013 ” British Journal of Political Science, Vol. 50, No. 4 p. 1341- 1358 (Data available at Harvard Dataverse. Here is a primer on statutory instruments)
9. Opalo, Ken Ochieng’. 2014. “The Long Road to Institutionalization: The Kenyan Legislature and The 2013 Elections,” Journal of Eastern African Studies, Vol. 8, No. 1 p. 63-77
10. Opalo, Ken Ochieng’. 2012. “African Elections: Two Divergent Trends,” Journal of Democracy, Vol. 23, No. 3
11. Opalo, Ken Ochieng’. 2020. “The Rise and Fall of the Legislature“, in Nic Cheeseman, Karuti Kanyinga, and Gabriel Lynch (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Kenyan Politics, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. Opalo, Ken Ochieng’. 2019. “The Rise of the African Legislature?” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. Oxford University Press
13. Opalo, Ken Ochieng’. 2019. “The politics of Legislative Development,” in Gabrielle Lynch and Peter VonDoepp (eds) Routledge Handbook of Democratization in Africa, 1st Edition

Working Papers

1. What do Kenyans Know About Devolution? Evidence on Political Knowledge and Public Opinion (Revise and Resubmit, Publius)
2. The Effect of Political Campaigns in Multi-ethnicSocieties: Evidence from a Natural Experiment (with Leonardo Arriola, Danny Choi, and Matthew Gichohi)
3. The Cyclical Electoral Effects of Programmatic Policies: Evidence from Education Reform in Tanzania (with James Habyarimana and Youdi Schipper) – Revise and Resubmit, World Politics
4. What is the Point of Schooling: Education Access and Policy in Tanzania Since 1961 (Working Paper)
5. Hustlers versus Dynasties? The Elusive Quest for Issue-Based Politics in Kenya
6. Electricity Provision and Tax Mobilization in Africa — with Moussa Blimpo, Justice Mensah and Ruifan Shi (World Bank Policy Research Working Paper)
7. Who Pays for Development? Economic Geography and Distributive Politics in Africa (Working Paper)
8. Ethnicity and Elite Coalitions: The Origins of Political Instability in Africa (Working Paper)

Other Writings

2019: The power of demonstration: To increase resilience, democracy must be shown to work, Brookings Institution

2019: Why are Kenyans protesting their government? Washington Post (Monkey Cage Blog)

2018: Institutions and the 2017 Elections in Kenya, Current History, Vol. 117, No. 799

2017. Making Sense of Kenyan Supreme Court’s Annulment of Presidential Election, Washington Post (Monkey Cage Blog)

2017. “The Contingent Role of Political Parties in Transitional Justice Processes,” in Duthie, Roger and Paul Seils (eds) JUSTICE MOSAICS: How Context Shapes Transitional Justice in Fractured Societies

2015. Five Things You Need to Know About the Political Crisis in Burundi, Washington Post (Monkey Cage Blog)

2014. The Politics of Term Limits in Africa, Washington Post (Monkey Cage Blog)

2014. Silver Lining in Burkina Faso Coup, Foreign Policy

2014. Kenya’s Contentious Factional Politics, Foreign Policy (with Ngala Chome)

2013. Kenyan Candidate Turns to Court to Challenge Defeat in Presidential Election, Christian Science Monitor

2010. The Ogaden Region: A Fragile Path to Peace, Africa Portal