Carlos Garcia-Rivero is an associate professor in Political Science at Valencia University, Spain, and research associate at the Centre for International and Comparative Politics, at Stellenbosch University, South Africa; previously, he was a lecturer at Burgos University and Saint Louis University. His research has focused on political culture, democratization, and electoral behavior at both elite and mass levels, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and in Islamic parties and democracy in North Africa and Middle East.