I am a Professor of Government and Foreign Service at Georgetown University and President of the Academic Council on the UN System (ACUNS). My research and teaching interests span the fields of international relations, comparative politics, and conflict resolution. I’ve published articles about civil war termination, peacekeeping, and American foreign policy, in such journals as International Organization, International Security, International Studies Quarterly, International Peacekeeping, Foreign Affairs, Global Governance, and the Journal of Democracy.

A recent article with Alexandra Stark, entitled “How Civil Wars End” (International Security, 2018, 42:3), won the 2020 Best Article Award from the International Security Studies Section (ISSS) of the International Studies Association. My first book, UN Peacekeeping in Civil Wars (Cambridge University Press 2008) won the 2010 Book Award from the Academic Council on the UN System. My recent book, Power in Peacekeeping,  (Cambridge University Press 2019) won the 2021 ISSS Book Award from the International Studies Association. I am a member of the Effectiveness of Peace Operations Network, and recently led the evaluation of the UN Mission in the Central African Republic. (Résumé et conclusions en français)

I earned my M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and A.B. in Soviet Studies from Barnard College, Columbia University. I’ve held fellowships at Stanford (CISAC), Harvard (Belfer Center), the University of Maryland (CIDCM), and the U.S. Institute of Peace. I previously served as founding director of the Master of Arts Program in Conflict Resolution at Georgetown; Assistant Professor of Government at Wesleyan University; and Acting Director of UN Affairs for the New York City Commission for the United Nations.

I speak fluent French, formerly-fluent Russian, and a little Spanish, German, and Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian. I live near Washington, D.C. with my husband, Marc Morjé Howard. We are the joyful parents of two children, Zoe and Julien.