​Leonardo R. Arriola is a political scientist who studies the challenges associated with democratic representation and governance in multiethnic societies. His research examines inter-ethnic political cooperation, party competition under identity polarization, and political violence in divided societies. His research has been published or is forthcoming in outlets such as the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, and Journal of Politics along with books published by Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press. Examples of publications can be found at his Google Scholar profile. Arriola's research has been funded by grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation, Research Council of Norway, Carnegie Corporation of New York, U.S. Department of Defense, Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP).

Arriola is currently Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley, he also serves as Senior Associate Dean of Social Sciences and Director of the Center of African Studies. He is Co-Editor of Africa Spectrum, an interdisciplinary journal published by the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), and Associated Senior Researcher at the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) in Norway.