Cleo Anne Calimbahin

Cleo Anne A. Calimbahin is a Filipino political scientist and Full Professor who served as Chair of the Department of Political Science and Development Studies at De La Salle University-Manila from 2022 to 2024. Her research focuses on election administration, corruption studies, and comparative democratization.

Education

Calimbahin earned her MSc in International Politics of Asia and Africa from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and her PhD in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a Fulbright Fellow.

Career

Academic appointments

Calimbahin serves as Full Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science and Development Studies at De La Salle University, and as Senior Research Fellow at the ANU Philippines Institute of the Australian National University.

Research and publications

Calimbahin's work has appeared in academic journals including Contemporary Southeast Asia, Asian Affairs: An American Review, and Philippine Political Science Journal. Her notable publication is the co-edited book Patronage Democracy in the Philippines: Clans, Clients and Competition in Local Elections (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2022) with Julio C. Teehankee, which won the 2024 Outstanding Book Award in Social Sciences from the National Academy of Science and Technology.

Professional affiliations

Calimbahin serves as board member and Fellow of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) and Fellow at the Asia Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation. She previously held positions as Research Associate at the RAND Corporation in Washington D.C., Visiting Scholar at Stanford University's Asia-Pacific Research Center, and Global South Scholar in Residence at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.