Leslie Vinjamuri

Last October, the personal and academic life of Leslie Vinjamuri, who is receiving her doctorate in political science, were dramatically intertwined.

Vinjamuri's dissertation analyzed the international politics surrounding war crimes tribunals, including that of the former Yugoslavia. October 5, 2000, marked a turning point in the Balkans as crowds stormed the Parliament building in Belgrade. The takeover effectively ended the 13-year reign of Slobodan Milosevic, who is accused of slaughtering ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. The following day, Vinjamuri gave birth to twins, Henry and Alex.

"The news of Milosevic's downfallæthe pictures of the protesters storming Parliament and the rallies in Belgradeægave me perspective on the world my sons were entering," said Vinjamuri. "That moment you deliver your first childæor in my case, childrenæis already indescribably monumental. I imagined myself explaining to Henry and Alex one day that while their birthday was the key event for me, there had been a big and bloody war in the Balkansæand on the eve of their birth, one of the bad guysæperhaps the worst, had taken a fall."

In her dissertation, she concluded that world leaders often paid lip service to the establishment of war crimes tribunals by setting up weak bodies.

"It's no longer considered appropriate to fight the establishment of war crimes tribunals, so such institutions are set up in ways that are designed to fail. This undermines their ability to deter war criminals," said Vinjamuri, whose research also analyzed the Nuremberg and Rwanda war crimes tribunals. "These actions are taken when leaders feel significant pressure to appease advocates of war crime trials, but fear that prosecutions threaten peace negotiations or the implementation of peace settlements and thereby undermine stability."

Vinjamuri, who also holds a master's degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, said that the gravity of her dissertation topic and its relevance to current events helped motivate her to finish her degree.

"If I had a topic that only had significance to a select group within the academy, it may have been more difficult to finish," she said. "But because it had real-world significance, it was easier to finish. I think that's what happens when you have kids: If you don't think what you're doing is meaningful, it's hard to justify going to work every day because raising kids is so important."

Vinjamuri has accepted an assistant professor position at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service.