The Professor Who Changed How We Think About Security: Professor Deborah Avant Honored as a Distinguished Scholar

The Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs is proud to announce that Professor Deborah Avant has been recognized with the Distinguished Scholar Award by the International Studies Association’s International Security Studies Section (ISSS) and Interdisciplinary Studies Section (IDSS). This prestigious honor, awarded by an interdisciplinary community of scholars dedicated to addressing pressing global issues, recognizes her outstanding research, leadership, and influence in the field of international security.

A Trailblazing Scholar with Real-World Impact

Professor Avant is the Sié Chéou-Kang Chair and Distinguished University Professor at Korbel, where she is widely known for her expertise in global governance, security studies, and civil–military relations. As the award demonstrates, Professor Avant has built a truly exceptional career as a scholar, educator, and leader whose work has shaped how scholars and policymakers alike think about security and governance.

In the 2000s, Professor Avant broke new ground by studying private military and security companies and the prominent role they played in the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Her 2005 book The Market for Force: The Consequences of Privatizing Security earned widespread acclaim for exposing how outsourcing military power transforms conflict and global politics. Her analysis highlighted regulatory gaps and democratic risks.

In 2007, Avant testified before the U.S. Congress on the extensive role of private contractors to train Iraqi Security Forces, solidifying her reputation as a scholar whose research transcends the academy to shape strategic and impactful change. As the role of private military and security actors grew in scope and scale, her research and advocacy evolved in tandem, with Avant advancing pragmatic approaches to governance and accountability. For this pioneering work, she was later awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of St. Gallen.

"Through her distinguished career, the hallmark of Deborah's scholarship has been a remarkably broad-ranging intellect and an unusual comfort with complexity. Those attributes have made her work a model of engaged scholarship that seeks not only to understand an issue but also to inform those who would address it."
Frederick “Fritz” Mayer, Dean and Professor, Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs

Leadership at Korbel: Building Bridges Between Research and Practice

In 2011, Professor Avant became the Sié Chéou-Kang Chair and inaugural faculty director of the Korbel School’s Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy (Sié Center). Under her leadership, the Center grew rapidly, welcoming new faculty, launching multiple initiatives, and becoming a model for engaged scholarship on security, peace, and governance. She built multidisciplinary programs and partnerships that brought together faculty and students on policy-relevant research projects.

Among other accomplishments, she and a team of faculty at the Sié Center secured a $1,000,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York in 2014 to research the peacebuilding role of nonviolent, non-state actors. This project became a centerpiece of the Sié Center’s research and scholarship.

Under Avant’s leadership, the Sié Center also became the first home of the Journal of Global Security Studies (JoGSS), a new journal launched by Avant under the auspices of the International Studies Association. As the founding Editor-in-Chief from 2016–2020, Avant shaped the journal around her vision of security as an interdisciplinary field, challenging scholars to examine security in broader global and societal contexts.

In 2016, she also published an edited volume The New Power Politics (with Oliver Westerwinter) which explored transnational security networks and illustrated how governance depends on actors like NGOs, businesses, and activists, as well as states. This was followed up by Civil Action and the Dynamics of Violence (edited with Marie Berry, Erica Chenoweth, Rachel Epstein, Cullen Hendrix, Oliver Kaplan, and Timothy Sisk), which showcases research stemming from the Carnegie Corporation-supported grant and examines how citizen-led non-violent efforts in conflict zones resist, reshape, and rebuild social order amid war.

A Leader in the Scholarly Community

Professor Avant has also held numerous leadership roles in the scholarly community. She served as ISA President from 2022–2023, guiding the profession during a time of renewed global challenges. In 2021, the University of Denver named her a Distinguished University Professor. Her service also includes editorial and advisory board roles. Outside the academy, she regularly advises governments, NGOs, and international organizations on security and governance. Through teaching and mentorship, Professor Avant has influenced a generation of students at Korbel and beyond.

“Dr. Avant was a fantastic professional role model, mentor, and scholar. She possesses a virtually unlimited capacity for scholarly and intellectual work, has built and leveraged a diverse network of professional colleagues to the advantage and edification of those around her, and can make the most unexpected connections between intellectual threads.”
Sarah Bakhtiari, PhD, (Colonel, retired), Korbel Class of 2016

What This Award Means and Why It Matters

The Distinguished Scholar Award from the ISSS and IDSS is more than an award. It signals recognition by the global community of scholars and practitioners that Avant’s work has moved the needle not just within international security studies but across disciplines and into real-world policy. For Korbel, it reinforces our position as a school where cutting-edge research, high-impact teaching, and global engagement come together.

“Deborah Avant is renowned for her path-breaking work in global governance, security studies, and civil-military relations. A hallmark of her scholarship, and central to its significance, is her interdisciplinary perspective, intertwined with her commitment to grappling empirically and conceptually with political phenomena that matter. In her many disciplinary roles — like serving as the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Global Security Studies — she has expanded the avenues for a broader conception of “security” within our discipline, encouraging cross-disciplinary approaches and bringing underrepresented voices into the scholarly conversation.”
Naazneen Barma, Professor and Director of the Scrivner Institute of Public Policy at the Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs

The impact of Professor Avant’s work can be felt in classrooms, policy forums, and in the careers of the students she mentors. Korbel will continue building on that legacy: connecting students to global security practitioners, supporting interdisciplinary research, and convening dialogue on the great issues of our time. Her influence will guide the next generation of scholars, diplomats, and public leaders.