Aila M. Matanock is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research addresses the ways in which international actors engage in conflicted and weak states. Weak states and states suffering civil conflict present serious challenges not only for the populations living within their borders, but also for international security and peace, since they can produce transnational threats. Her work suggests that mechanisms not requiring forceful intervention may often be available to—and may sometimes be effectively employed by—international actors in these contexts. She uses case studies, survey experiments, and cross-national data in this work. She has conducted fieldwork in Colombia, Central America, the Pacific, and elsewhere. She has received funding for these projects from many sources, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Center for the Study of Terrorism and the Response to Terrorism (START), and the Center for Global Development (CGD). Her book, Electing Peace: Credibly Transitioning from Civil Conflict to Political Participation, is forthcoming at Cambridge University Press. It is based on her dissertation research at Stanford University, which won the 2013 Helen Dwight Reid award from the American Political Science Association. She has worked at the RAND Corporation before graduate school, and she has held fellowships at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation at UCSD since. She received her Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University and her A.B. magna cum laude from Harvard University.
Aila M. Matanock is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research addresses the ways in which international actors engage in conflicted and weak states. Weak states and states suffering civil conflict present serious challenges not only for the populations living within their borders, but also for international security and peace, since they can produce transnational threats. Her work suggests that mechanisms not requiring forceful intervention may often be available to—and may sometimes be effectively employed by—international actors in these contexts. She uses case studies, survey experiments, and cross-national data in this work. She…