His research tends to be divided between problems of democratic government and public administration, such as the regulation of political ethics and civil service reform, and problems related to the politics of environmental policy-making. In his work, he mainly uses theoretical frameworks derived from historical neoinstitutionalism and framing analysis to understand the political factors and dynamics that lead to particular policy choices. As a result, his research is essentially qualitative, using process tracing, textual analysis and elite interviewing and it often relies on case studies.