Dr Rebecca Tapscott
- Senior Lecturer in International Relations (Political & International Studies)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0936-5191Biography
Rebecca Tapscott is a political scientist whose work studies how authoritarian power is produced and contested. Her main research interests include how the state produces and projects political power; the relationship between gender, citizenship, and state authority; and how these processes can be studied ethically—as well as the politics of how these determinations is made. Her work has focused largely on Uganda, with a broader interest how these processes unfold in the so-called “global South”. Rebecca is the author of "Arbitrary States: Social control and modern authoritarianism in Museveni's Uganda" (Oxford University Press, 2021).
Before joining Glasgow in 2024, Rebecca held a post-doc and then an Ambizione Research Fellowship at the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy (2017-2023), and then a Lecturer at York from 2023-24. Rebecca has also held Visiting Fellowships at the London School of Economics, Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa and at the University of Edinburgh’s Politics and International Relations Department. She holds a PhD from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. She is a recipient of the Fletcher School’s Alfred Rubin Prize in International Law (2011) and the International Studies Association’s Carl Beck award for innovative research on emergent international concerns (2017).
Rebecca is a member of the UK Young Academy (2024-2029). She is also the Reviews Editor at Civil Wars, an Associate Editor at Research Ethics, and a Board Member of the International Studies Review.
Rebecca is interested in supervising PhD studies working on authoritarianism, political violence, gender, and research ethics, especially from a critical perspective.
Research interests
- Authoritarianism
- Political violence
- Policing and vigilantism
- Gender, especially masculinities
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Research ethics and its regulation
Research groups
Publications
2026
Goldring, Edward and Tapscott, Rebecca 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0936-5191
(2026)
Succession in Uganda: what do Ugandans think of Muhoozi Kainerugaba?
African Affairs,
(doi: 10.1093/afraf/adag014)
(Early Online Publication)
2025
Tapscott, Rebecca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0936-5191 and Moxon, Sophie
(2025)
Vulnerability in procedural ethics: a study of 44 national research ethics guidelines.
Qualitative Research,
(doi: 10.1177/14687941251377266)
(Early Online Publication)
Moulton, Jeremy and Tapscott, Rebecca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0936-5191
(2025)
Ethical considerations for SoTL research in political science education.
PS: Political Science and Politics,
(doi: 10.1017/S1049096525101285)
(Early Online Publication)
Dionigi, Filippo, Howlett, Marnie, Tapscott, Rebecca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0936-5191, Otrishchenko, Natalia, Akello, Grace, Mukherjee, Mousumi and Shesterinina, Anastasia
(2025)
Forum: Rethinking ethics review for international relations research.
International Studies Perspectives,
(doi: 10.1093/isp/ekaf004)
(Early Online Publication)
Tapscott, Rebecca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0936-5191
(2025)
“Beneficence” and its discontents: a call to revisit the role of the IRB in social and political science research.
Global Perspectives, 6(1),
133863.
(doi: 10.1525/gp.2025.133863)
2024
Tapscott, Rebecca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0936-5191
(2024)
What is Institutional Ethics Review, and Why is it (Still) so Unsatisfactory for the Social Sciences?
Other.
University of Glasgow.
(Unpublished)
2021
Tapscott, Rebecca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0936-5191
(2021)
Arbitrary States: Social Control and Modern Authoritarianism in Museveni's Uganda.
Oxford University Press.
ISBN 9780198856474
(doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198856474.001.0001)
Articles
Goldring, Edward and Tapscott, Rebecca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0936-5191
(2026)
Succession in Uganda: what do Ugandans think of Muhoozi Kainerugaba?
African Affairs,
(doi: 10.1093/afraf/adag014)
(Early Online Publication)
Tapscott, Rebecca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0936-5191 and Moxon, Sophie
(2025)
Vulnerability in procedural ethics: a study of 44 national research ethics guidelines.
Qualitative Research,
(doi: 10.1177/14687941251377266)
(Early Online Publication)
Moulton, Jeremy and Tapscott, Rebecca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0936-5191
(2025)
Ethical considerations for SoTL research in political science education.
PS: Political Science and Politics,
(doi: 10.1017/S1049096525101285)
(Early Online Publication)
Dionigi, Filippo, Howlett, Marnie, Tapscott, Rebecca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0936-5191, Otrishchenko, Natalia, Akello, Grace, Mukherjee, Mousumi and Shesterinina, Anastasia
(2025)
Forum: Rethinking ethics review for international relations research.
International Studies Perspectives,
(doi: 10.1093/isp/ekaf004)
(Early Online Publication)
Tapscott, Rebecca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0936-5191
(2025)
“Beneficence” and its discontents: a call to revisit the role of the IRB in social and political science research.
Global Perspectives, 6(1),
133863.
(doi: 10.1525/gp.2025.133863)
Books
Tapscott, Rebecca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0936-5191
(2021)
Arbitrary States: Social Control and Modern Authoritarianism in Museveni's Uganda.
Oxford University Press.
ISBN 9780198856474
(doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198856474.001.0001)
Research Reports or Papers
Tapscott, Rebecca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0936-5191
(2024)
What is Institutional Ethics Review, and Why is it (Still) so Unsatisfactory for the Social Sciences?
Other.
University of Glasgow.
(Unpublished)
