Jason Lakin is a professor, researcher, writer, and manager with fifteen years of experience in international development, teaching, and research. He is currently an Associate Professor at Zayed University’s College of Inter-Disciplinary Studies. Previously, he served as a Senior Research Fellow at the International Budget Partnership (IBP), where he was also the Head of Research between 2017 and 2019. His work focuses on public finances, democratization, and decentralization. Lakin previously started, built, and led IBP’s Kenya office (2011-2017), where he was responsible for research, advocacy, and capacity building efforts around public finance at national and county level. He joined IBP in 2009, immediately after completing his PhD in Government and Social Policy and post-doctoral fellowship in Global Health at Harvard University. He is the co-author, with the late Dr. Seymour Martin Lipset, of The Democratic Century (2004).