JR Peace Scholar Dissertation Program

Current Peace Scholars

Peace Scholar dissertation fellowships are awarded annually to outstanding doctoral students enrolled in recognized programs in U.S. universities. The fellowships support one year of dissertation research and writing on topics addressing the sources, nature, prevention, and management of international conflict. For further information please consult the Peace Scholar Overview page.

The 2007-2008 Peace Scholar Dissertation Fellowship is from September 1, 2007-August 31, 2008 unless otherwise indicated.

Fodei Joseph Batty
Department of Political Science, Western Michigan University

What Role for Ethnicity? Political Mobilization in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone and Liberia

Through a comparative study of Sierra Leone and Liberia, Fodei Batty's dissertation seeks to identify the conditions for successful post-conflict democratization and, in particular, the conditions under which candidates and political parties emerge with wide cross-ethnic appeal in multiethnic societies. The so-called "peace vote" phenomenon transcends normal electoral loyalty along ethnic, linguistic or regional lines and is considered an indicator of success in both peacebuilding and democratization efforts. While Liberia's elections in 2005 diffused votes among several candidates, Sierra Leone's elections in 2002 identified a consensus candidate. Batty's research has two focal points: 1) the ways political elites recruit party membership in the post-conflict environment and 2) how electorates respond to parties' and candidates' messages in addition to other cues and ultimately decide which to support. Working with reputable NGOs in both countries, he has conducted national surveys in both Sierra Leone and Liberia on voter preferences related to the respective elections. He has also conducted interviews with urban and rural elites throughout all districts and counties. In addition to English, Batty is fluent in several local languages. Under the fellowship, he will complete his fieldwork in Sierra Leone and Liberia and write his dissertation.

Anika Binnendijk
The Fletcher School, Tufts University

Holding Fire: Security Force Allegiance During Nonviolent Uprisings

December 2007 - November 2008

Anika Binnendijk analyzes how the strategies employed by nonviolent activists have influenced decision-making within state security forces during moments of political crisis. To date, there has not been a systematic analysis of how the implementation of particular tactics influences the efficacy of regime repression. Her work draws on structured interviews, media reports, and memoirs to examine the varied responses within the police, military, and intelligence institutions, as well as the dynamics among the three. Based in New York City, the fellowship will support research trips to Serbia and Ukraine—the principal cases in her analysis—as well as Georgia and Kyrgyzstan.

Ryan Burgess
International Educational Development, Teachers College, Columbia University

A Psychosocial Analysis of Formal and Nonformal Education Approaches for Displaced, Violence-Affected Children in Colombia

Ryan Burgess's work analyzes how formal and nonformal education in Colombia address the psychosocial factors that influence children's decisions, particularly to join or not join armed groups. This issue is especially salient given the high numbers of displaced youth in Colombia (50% of the over 3 million IDPs), the impact of the Colombian conflict on youth, and the high numbers of youth involved in Colombia's armed groups (estimated at 11,000-14,000). Fluent in Spanish, Burgess observed a core group of 12 displaced children—half from a formal education program and half from a nonformal education program—in a marginalized, illegal zone near the nation's capital, where numerous factors place children at risk of becoming victims as well as perpetrators of violence. Burgess also interviewed parents, teachers, community leaders, former child soldiers and government and NGO representatives. The fellowship supports his data analysis and writing while in Washington, D.C.

Martha Clark
Department of Government, Cornell University

In the Company of Soldiers: Private Security Companies' Impact on Military Effectiveness

Martha K. Clark's research addresses the changing nature of international conflict and analyzes the impact of the increasing use of private security contractors (PSCs) on the military effectiveness of democratic states. She hypothesizes that private security companies cause a net decrease in military effectiveness. This challenges commonly held notions—for instance, among proponents of democratic advantage theory—that democracies are more likely to win the wars into which they enter, as well as the related idea that democracies should enter into wars in order to promote peace in the long run. Ms. Clark tests a series of hypotheses by drawing on primary and secondary sources related to cases in which the democratic state's military is directly involved in a conflict alongside PSCs (Iraq, Afghanistan); cases in which PSCs are involved in a conflict instead of the professional military (Croatia, Colombia, Papua New Guinea), and historical cases in which a democratic state's military is directly involved in a conflict alongside a privatized military force (France and the French Legion, British Army and Hessian troops in the American Revolution). The fellowship supports her data analysis and writing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with periodic research trips to interview officials in Washington, D.C.

Mark Geraghty
Department of Anthropology, The University of Chicago

An Ethnographic Investigation of Genocide Ideology in Rwanda

October 2007 – August 2008

Mark Geraghty's dissertation analyzes the Rwandan state's recent efforts against genocide ideology, or the development and persistence of ideas of ethnic hatred diagnosed as the root cause of the 1994 genocide. The project addresses prospects of renewed violence in the wake of one of the deadliest episodes of genocide of the twentieth century. He conducts an ethnographic investigation into the success of this campaign, across various sections of the Rwandan population. The results of this research will inform the scientific understanding of ethnic and political violence, and the impact of laws, policies and programs aimed at their prevention. The fellowship supports his fieldwork for one year in Rwanda to gather data based on observed practices, semi-structured interviews, and review of official archives and local media. Geraghty is proficient in French and Kinyarwanda.

Erin Kimball
Department of Political Science, Northwestern University

Strategic Causes of Collective Action: Regional Peacekeeping in Africa

Erin Kimball's research explores the shifting role and rationale for African countries' growing participation in regional peacekeeping. She hypothesizes that regional cooperation among highly dependent, weak states is driven by the need to prove their legitimacy to international actors. She presents a series of hypotheses that she will test using mixed methods, including statistical methods and fuzzy set analysis, and in-depth case studies of the Nigerian and Rwandan roles in the African mission in Sudan. If African countries are engaging in peacekeeping in order to gain international support and legitimacy, she posits, Western support of this increased humanitarian role in regional peacekeeping may inadvertently impact domestic civil-military relations, bolster policies of domestic authoritarianism, and exacerbate instability. The fellowship will support her fieldwork in Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Rwanda.

Ned Lazarus
School of International Service, American University

Evaluating the North American Generation of Israeli-Palestinian Encounters

October 2007 – August 2008

Ned Lazarus's dissertation is a comprehensive, long-term empirical evaluation of the claims that exposing Israeli and Palestinian youth to dialogue groups in North America increases their likelihood of becoming agents of reconciliation in the Middle East. Drawing on his extensive experience as program director and Middle East regional coordinator for the Seeds of Peace Center for Coexistence in Jerusalem (1996-2004), his study is based on records of over 800 participants in the Seeds of Peace program (1993-2002), as well as similar peacebuilding programs for youth. Lazarus will assemble information about the subsequent experiences of these individuals in order to assess whether and how participation in these programs contributed to their development as adult peacemakers. Fluent in Hebrew and colloquial Arabic, the fellowship supports his writing in Washington, D.C., and periodic site visits to coexistence programs in the U.S. and Middle East.

Shivaji Mukherjee
Department of Political Science, Yale University

Low Intensity Long Duration Conflicts: The Maoist Insurgency in India

The central question of Shivaji Mukherjee's dissertation research is why some civil wars last so much longer than others and why these wars also tend to be low intensity. While some recent literature points to difficulties for rebels in committing to peace agreements, or conceptualizes rebels as lobbyists for their ethnic constituencies, Mukherjee theorizes that colonial and post-colonial state-building processes cause the state to intentionally neglect the provision of public goods in certain areas, thus producing enclaves of state failure surrounded by areas where the state is strong in terms of penetration and extraction. Rebels then systematically enter these enclaves and provide public goods to win support from disadvantaged populations, tribals and lower caste communities. As long as rebels do not cross a certain threshold of violence, the state does not use its full counterinsurgency capacity. The dissertation will develop insights from ethnographic research of the Maoist revolutionary insurgency in India (1967-71 and 1980-present), as well as construct a dataset on Maoist violence and activities in India. The fellowship will allow Mukherjee to conduct fieldwork in certain states in India with Maoist conflict like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. Mukherjee is fluent in Hindi and Bengali.

Stacie Pettyjohn
Department of Politics, University of Virginia

Talking with Terrorists: American Policy Toward the ANC, PLO, Sinn Fein, and Hamas

Stacie Pettyjohn's research focuses on U.S. policy toward nationalist terrorist organizations. She examines the circumstances under which the U.S. decides to engage a nationalist terrorist organization, and whether a policy of engagement helps to convince such a group to disarm and join a political system, or encourages further violence. Her dissertation is a comparative longitudinal study of U.S. policy toward the ANC, PLO, Sinn Fein, and Hamas. Her inquiry focuses on terrorist organizations that 1) pursue nationalist goals, 2) target states allied or aligned with the U.S., and 3) possess a political as well as a military wing. Drawing from U.S. government documents, relevant memoirs, interviews, and secondary sources, her project makes a contribution to the international relations literature, by determining when nationalist terrorist organizations will forgo violence and what role the U.S. can play in facilitating that transition. The fellowship supports writing in Washington, D.C.

Amber Ussery
Department of Political Science, University of Arizona

Possibilities and Pitfalls: Examining the Emergence of Transitional Justice in Post-Conflict Societies

Amber Ussery's dissertation identifies and explains factors that give rise to transitional justice mechanisms in postconflict situations, including truth commissions, domestic trials, mixed courts, and international tribunals. Why do some countries adopt them and others not? Her methodology consists of a quantitative analysis of the factors associated with whether transitional justice mechanisms emerge in 70 cases of civil wars since 1970; comparative analysis of the outcomes associated with these mechanisms; and an evaluation of the role of gender bias in a focused comparison of case studies (Guatemala, Peru, East Timor, and Sierra Leone). Ussery is fluent in Spanish. The fellowship supports her data analysis and writing in Tucson, Arizona.