Mark R. Thompson

Mark R. Thompson (born June 8, 1960) is an academic whose comparative politics research focuses on Southeast Asia, with particular interest in the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. He is currently studying autocratization and opposition to it, presidentialism, and dynastic leadership. He is chair professor of politics in the Department of Public and International Affairs at the City University of Hong Kong, where he is also director of the Southeast Asia Research Centre (SEARC).

He was president of the Hong Kong Political Science Association from 2018 to 2020 and of the Asian Political and International Studies Association from 2013 to 2014. He was a research fellow at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) at Kyoto University in the winter of 2024, as well as Lee Kong Chian Distinguished Fellow for Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore in 2008 and Stanford University in 2009. The co-editor of the Routledge/City University of Hong Kong Southeast Asia Series, he has received several major external grants worth over one million USD. As the author and editor of 11 books and over 200 articles and book chapters, his research has been featured in the popular media (e.g. Time Magazine, The Washington Post, CNBC, and Wired Magazine). He lends his expertise to government, public foundations, and non-government organizations in the areas of East Asian (Northeast and Southeast Asia) politics and development and has been a regular commentator on leading academic blogs as well as in the local and international press. Provided by Wikipedia