Dissertation: Peacekeeping Power-Holders and Participatory Politics in Postwar Societies

Advisors: Page Fortna, Jack Snyder, Michael Doyle and Macartan Humphreys 

I am a sixth year PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University and a fellow in the IGERT-International Development and Globalization Program. I specialize in International Relations/Security and Comparative Politics. My main research interests focus on civil war termination, peacekeeping, peace-building, political participation and democratization in war-torn societies.

My dissertation project investigates the effectiveness of international actors, in particular the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping and International Non-Government Organizations (INGOs) in promoting political participation and social cohesion in the aftermath of civil war. The centerpiece of this dissertation is a combination of retrospective survey data and behavioral games I conducted in Cote d’Ivoire, Burundi and Liberia as well as a field experiment I am conducting in Cote d’Ivoire.

I am also working on a large-N data collection project that investigates the impact of the structures of the protagonists (i.e. the types of incumbents governments and rebel groups) on civil war termination broadly defined to encompass war duration, forms of war termination, duration of negotiations, and the stability or precariousness of implemented peace settlements.