Frank combines a Political Science and Public Administration take on democracy in action, which he has studied widely in the subnational, national and cross-national realm.

He leads the research project and consortium REDRESS (Revitalized Democracy for Resilient Societies), which is focused on hybrid democratic innovations that combine practices of deliberation and voting.

Frank has published extensively in Political Science and Public Administration journals and with reputed publishers, including Vital Democracy: A Theory of Democracy in Action, Oxford University Press, 2010; The Oxford Handbook of Local and Regional Democracy, OUP, 2011, co-edited with John Loughlin and Anders Lidström.