Professor Phillip Ayoub

Phillip wears a blue shirt and looks into the camera

Professor of International Relations (he/him)
Room: 2.01, 36-38 Gordon Square
Email: p.ayoub@ucl.ac.uk
Twitter
Website

Biography

I am a Professor in the Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy at UCL. I also serve as Co-editor of the European Journal of Politics & Gender. I received my PhD from the Department of Government at Cornell University in 2013, after obtaining a BA from the University of Washington and MA degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Cornell University. I also spent time as Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute, as Assistant and Associate Professor at Drexel University, and as Associate Professor at Occidental College.

My work has received various honours, including a Fulbright Schuman Fellowship, a Humboldt Chancellor Fellowship, a Cornell Sage Fellowship, a Mellon Writing Fellowship, three FLAS Fellowships, a Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellowship, an EUSA dissertation award, two APSA dissertation awards, a Cornell Esman Prize for Distinguished Scholarship, a Cornell Kahin Prize for IR-focused Research, a Council for European Studies Best Article Prize, and a Drexel Provost Award for Outstanding Early-Career Scholarly Achievement.

Research

My research bridges insights from international relations and comparative politics, engaging with literature on transnational politics, sexuality and gender, norm diffusion, and the study of social movements. I am particularly interested in how the transnational mobilisation of marginalised peoples and international channels of visibility influence socio-legal change across states.

My first book, titled When States Come Out: Europe’s Sexual Minorities and the Politics of Visibility, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2016. It uses a mixed-method approach, combining large-n quantitative analysis with in-depth qualitative analysis of key cases, to explore the domestic conditions under which international norms governing LGBT rights are most likely to spread.

Podcast: UCL Uncovering Politics

Hear Professor Ayoub speak about his research on the following podcast episode:
S7 Ep9 | LGBT+ Politics

Publications

Books

Ahrens, P., Ayoub, P. M. and Lang, S. (2022) (eds.) Leading from Behind: Gender Equality in Germany During the Merkel Era. New York: Routledge.
Ayoub, P. M. (2016) When States Come Out: Europe’s Sexual Minorities and the Politics of Visibility. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ayoub, P. and Paternotte, D. (eds.) (2014) LGBT Activism and the Making of Europe A Rainbow Europe?. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave MacMillan.

Book chapters

Ayoub, Phillip M. (2023) ‘LGBTI Issues in the 2021 German Election: Und das ist auch gut so!,’ in R. Campbell and L. Davidson-Schmich (eds.) The 2021 German Federal Election. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 405-425.
Ayoub, P. M. (2022) ‘Marriage Equality Campaigns (Europe)’, in D. A. Snow, D. della Porta, B. Klandermans and D. McAdam (eds.) Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.
Ayoub, P. M. (2022) ‘LGBTI Human Rights in Global Politics’, in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1–50.
Ayoub, P. M. (2019) ‘Tensions in Rights: Navigating Emerging Contradictions in the LGBT Rights Revolution’, in A. Brysk and M. Stohl (eds.) Contesting Human Rights: Norms, Institutions and Practice. Edward Elgar, pp. 43–58.
Ayoub, P. M. (2018) ‘Perils of Success: Backlash and Resistance to LGBT Rights in Domestic and International Politics’, in A. Brysk and M. Stohl (eds.) Contracting Human Rights: Crisis, Accountability, and Opportunity. Edward Elgar, pp. 89–104.
Ayoub, P. M. (2018) ‘Protean Power in Movement: Navigating Uncertainty in the LGBT Rights Revolution’, in P. J. Katzenstein and L. A. Seybert (eds.) Protean Power: Exploring the Uncertain and Unexpected in World Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 79–99.
Ayoub, P. M. (2017) ‘A Struggle for Recognition and Rights: Expanding LGBT Activism’, in A. Brysk and M. Stohl (eds.) Expanding Human Rights: 21st Century Norms and Governance. Edward Elgar, pp. 13–34.
Ayoub, P. M. and Brzezińska, O. (2016) ‘Caught in a Web? The Internet and Deterritorialization of LGBT Activism’, in D. Paternotte and M. Tremblay (eds.) The Ashgate Research Companion to Lesbian and Gay Activism. New York: Routledge, pp. 225–241.
Ayoub, P., Wallace, S. and Zepeda-Millan, C. (2014) ‘Triangulation in Social Movement Research’, in D. della Porta (ed.) Methodological Practices in Social Movement Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 67–96.
Ayoub, P. M. and Paternotte, D. (2014) ‘Challenging Borders, Imagining Europe: Transnational LGBT Activism in a New Europe’, in N. A. Naples and J. B. Mendez (eds.) Border Politics. New York: New York University Press, pp. 230–260.

Journal articles

2024

Ayoub, Phillip M., and Kristina Stöckl. ‘The Double-Helix Entanglements of Transnational Advocacy: Moral Conservative Resistance to LGBTI Rights,’ Review of International Studies, online first. doi:10.1017/S0260210523000530
Ayoub, Phillip M. and Kristina Stoeckl. (2024) 'The Global Resistance to LGBTIQ Rights', Journal of Democracy, 35(1): pp. 59-73.

2022

Ayoub, P. M. (2022) ‘Not That Niche: Making Room for the Study of LGBTIQ People in Political Science’, European Journal of Politics and Gender, 5(2), pp. 154–172.
Ahrens, P., Ayoub, P. M. and Lang, S. (2022) ‘Leading from Behind? Gender Equality in Germany During the Merkel Era’, German Politics, 31(1), (pp. 1–19).
Page, D., Ayoub, P. M., Arranz, C., Montes, M. and Paulin, T. (2022) ‘Reassessing the Relationship between Homophobia and Political Participation’, European Journal of Political Research, 61(4), pp. 1165–1178.
Ayoub, P. M. (2022) ‘Reverse Research Design: Research Design in the Undergraduate Classroom’, Political Science and Politics, 55(2), pp. 424–428.

2021

Ayoub, P. M. and Kollman, K. (2021) ‘(Same)-Sex in the City: Urbanisation and LGBTI Rights Expansion’, European Journal of Political Research, 60(3), pp. 603–624.
Ahrens, P., Ayoub, P. M. and Lang, S. (2021) ‘Leading from Behind? Gender Equality in Germany During the Merkel Era’, German Politics, 31(1), pp. 1–19.
Ayoub, P. M., Page, D. and Whitt, S. A. M. (2021) ‘Pride amid Prejudice: The Influence of LGBT+ Rights Activism in a Socially Conservative Society’, American Political Science Review, 115(2), pp. 467–485.

2020

Ayoub, P. M. and Chetaille, A. (2020) ‘Movement/Countermovement Interaction and Instrumental Framing in a Multi-Level World: Rooting Polish Lesbian and Gay Activism’, Social Movement Studies, 19(1), pp. 21–37.
Ayoub, P. M. and Page, D. (2020) ‘When Do Opponents of Gay Rights Mobilize? Explaining Political Participation in Times of Backlash against Liberalism’, Political Research Quarterly, 73(3), pp. 696–713.

2019

Ayoub, P. M. (2019) ‘Intersectional and Transnational Coalitions during Times of Crisis: The European LGBTI Movement’, Social Politics, 26(1), pp. 1–29.
Ayoub, P. M. (2019) ‘Logics of Gender Justice and Their Meaning for the Study of Sexuality and Gender Identity: A Dialogue’, Social Politics, 26(4), pp. 519–526.
Ayoub, P. M. and Bauman, L. (2019) ‘Migration and Queer Mobilisations: How Migration Facilitates Cross-Border LGBTQ Activism’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 45(15), pp. 2758–2778.

2018

Kaufman-Osborn, T., Josephson, J., Cravens, R. G., Ayoub, P. M., Adam, B. D., McBride, K. and Thomas, Q. J. (2018) ‘Staying Tuned: LGBTQIA Politics in the Trump Era’, Politics & Gender, 14(4).

2017

Ayoub, P. M. and Garretson, J. (2017) ‘Getting the Message Out: Media Context and Global Changes in Attitudes Toward Homosexuality’, Comparative Political Studies, 50(8), pp. 1055–1085.

2016

Ayoub, P. M. and Paternotte, D. (2016) ‘The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) and the Expansion of LGBT Activism in a Unified Europe’, Critique Internationale, 70(1), pp. 55–70.

2015

Ayoub, P. M. (2015) ‘Contested Norms in New-Adopter States: International Determinants of LGBT Rights Legislation’, European Journal of International Relations, 21(2), pp. 293–322.

Teaching

I teach courses related to international relations, comparative politics, social movements, sexuality and politics, and European politics. In 2017, Drexel University awarded me the Fellowships Faculty Mentor Award (Pennoni Honors College) for my work with students.