Korbel ranked 12th best place in the world to earn a master’s degree in international relations.
Korbel ranked 20th in the world for the best undergraduate degree in international studies.
Korbel ranked 12th best place in the world to earn a master’s degree in international relations.
Korbel ranked 20th in the world for the best undergraduate degree in international studies.
Professor
Sié Chéou-Kang Chair
Deborah Avant is the Sié Chéou-Kang Chair and Distinguished University Professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver. Her research has focused on civil-military relations, the roles of non-state actors in controlling violence and generating governance, and pragmatic approaches to research and ethics.
She is author/editor of Civil Action and the Dynamics of Violence in Conflicts (with Marie Berry, Erica Chenoweth, Rachel Epstein, Cullen Hendrix, Oliver Kaplan, and Timothy Sisk), The New Power Politics: Networks and Transnational Security Governance (with Oliver Westerwinter); Who Governs the Globe? (with Martha Finnemore and Susan Sell); The Market for Force: the Consequences of Privatizing Security; and Political Institutions and Military Change: Lessons From Peripheral Wars, along with articles in such journals as International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, International Studies Review, Security Studies, Perspectives on Politics, World Development, and International Affairs. She is an observer member of the International Code of Conduct Association (ICoCA) and was the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Global Security Studies as well as President of the International Studies Association (2022-23).
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Sié Center, Scrivner Institute
International Security, International Studies, Global Economic Affairs, Global Environmental Sustainability, International Development, International Human Rights, Public Policy
2024. "Between Probability and Possibility: Fostering Productive Research in a Dystopian Moment." International Studies Review Vol. 26, No. 3. September.
2024. "The Ethics of Engaged Scholarship in a Complex World." International Affairs Vol. 100, No.1: 159-180 (with Naazneen Barma, George DeMartino, and Ilene Grabel). January.
2023. "Can CSR strategy mediate conflict over extraction? Evidence from two mines in Peru." World Development Vol. 70, October.
2021. "Allergy to pragmatism's femininities?" Pragmatism in International Relations: Prospects for Substantive Theorizing, International Studies Review Vol. 23, No 4.
2020. "America's Pragmatic Role?" International Studies Review, Vol 23, No. 3:1126-1143.
2019. Civil Action and the Dynamics of Violence in Conflict. (Edited with Marie Berry, Erica Chenoweth, Rachel Epstein, Cullen Hendrix, Oliver Kaplan, and Timothy Sisk). New York: Oxford University Press.
2016. "Pragmatic Networks and Global Governance: Explaining Governance Gains in Private Military and Security Services," International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 60, No. 2: 330-342.
2016. The New Power Politics: Networks and Security Governance. (Edited with Oliver Westerwinter). New York: Oxford University Press.
2010. Who Governs the Globe? (Edited with Martha Finnemore and Susan Sell). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2010. "Private Security and Democracy: Lessons from the US in Iraq" (with Lee Sigelman) Security Studies Vol. 19, No. 2: 230-265.
2007. "NGOs, Corporations, and Security Transformation in Africa," International Relations, Vol. 21, No. 2: 143-161.
2006. "The Implications of Marketized Security for IR Theory: the Democratic Peace, Late State Building and the Nature and Frequency of Conflict," Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 4, No. 3: 507“ 528.
2005. The Market for Force: the Consequences of Privatizing Security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2004. "Conserving Nature in the State of Nature: the Politics of INGO Implementation," Review of International Studies, Vol. 30, No. 3: 361-382.
2000. "US Military Attitudes toward Post-Cold War Missions," (with James Lebovic) Armed Forces and Society Vol. 27, No. 1: 37-56.
2000. "From Mercenaries to Citizen Armies: Explaining Change in the Practice of War," International Organization Vol. 54, No. 1: 41-72.
1998. "Conflicting Indicators of Crisis' in American Civil-Military Relations," Armed Forces and Society Vol. 24, No. 4: 375-388.
1994. Political Institutions and Military Change: Lessons from Peripheral Wars. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
2024 Carnegie Corporation of New York, “Final Project Promoting Ethical Approaches to Policy Engagement”.
2022-23 President, International Studies Association
2022 Carnegie Corporation of New York, "Promoting Ethical Approaches to Policy Engagement"
2021 Distinguished University Professor, University of Denver.
2020 Carnegie Corporation of New York, "Ethical Approaches to Policy Engagement".
2020 "Navigating the Future of Governance," Knowledge Bridge Development Grant, University of Denver.
2019 Public Impact Fellow, University of Denver.
2019 International Policy Summer Institute, Bridging the Gap. Washington, DC.
2019 Carnegie Corporation of New York. "Ethical Approaches to Policy Engagement."
2016 International Studies Association Special Projects Grant for a Journal of Global Security Studies special issue on Exclusion, Inclusion, and Global Security.
2016 Rigor and Relevance Grant, Carnegie Corporation of New York. "Inclusive Approaches to Violence Reduction, Peacebuilding, and Governance,"
2016 PROF, University of Denver, grant for "The Voluntary Principles, Extractives, and Communities in Peru".
2015-2020, Editor in Chief, The Journal of Global Security Studies.
2014 Rigor and Relevance Grant, Carnegie Corporation of New York, "Non-violent strategies in violent contexts,"
2014 Social Science Foundation, University of Denver, Grant to support workshop on "The Role of Civil Society in Multi-stakeholder Initiatives" (with Tricia Olsen).
2014-2020 Scientific Advisory Board, Peace Research Institute, Frankfurt (PRIF)
2013 Honorary Degree, Doctor of Political Science, for outstanding research in the field of international security and contributions toward the establishment of national and international regulation of private military and security services in conformance with human rights, international law, and democratic accountability. The University of St. Gallen School of Management, Economics, Law, Social Sciences and International Affairs.
2011 International Studies Association, Venture Research Workshop Grant, "The New Power Politics: Networks, Governance and Global Security" with Oliver Westerwinter.
2010 Commendation for Outstanding Graduate Teaching, University of California, Irvine, Department of Political Science.
2007 International Studies Association, Venture Research Workshop Grant, "Who Governs the Globe?" with Martha Finnemore and Susan Sell.
2007 Pacific Council on International Policy, Adjunct Fellow on National Security.
2006 CIBER research award, "The Security Behavior of International Business and NGOS," with Virginia Haufler.
2006 University Facilitating Fund, George Washington University, "Private Soldiers and Democratic Processes."
2004 National Science Foundation Funded "Time Sharing Experiments in the Social Science (TESS)," Third Special Competition for an experiment: "Public Reaction to Military versus Private Security Deaths in Iraq," with Lee Sigelman.
1999 “The Market for Force,” Research and Writing Grant, Program on Global Security and Sustainability, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
1999 University Facilitating Fund Award, George Washington University
1997 Junior Scholar Incentive Award, George Washington University
1991-92 MacArthur Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Wisconsin, Madison. (declined).
1990-91 Center for International Studies, University of Southern California, Scholar in Residence.
1990-91 Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, Dissertation Fellowship. (declined)
1989-90 Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, Dissertation Fellowship.
Global Business
Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility
Foundations of Security
Global Governance
Civil-Military Relations
Ph.D., Political Science, University of California, San Diego, 1991
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