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Judith Kelley, Dean and ITT/Terry Sanford Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Bass Fellow  

Office Location: 124A Sanford Bldg, Box 90245, Durham, NC 27708
Office Phone: (919) 613-7309
Duke Box: 90245
Email Address: judith.kelley@duke.edu
Web Page: https://sanford.duke.edu/file/4331/
Web Page: https://sites.duke.edu/kelley/

Areas of Expertise

  • International
    • Democracy
    • Globalization
    • Human Rights
    • International and Comparative Law
    • United Nations and International Institutions

Education:
Ph.D.,  Harvard University, 2001
M.P.P.,  Harvard University, 1997
B.A., Stanford University, 1995

Research Categories: International Relations, Democracy and Human Rights, International Organizations, international delegation, Election monitoring, Human Trafficking

Current projects: Human trafficking, Election monitoring, United States treaty ratification, Human Rights grassroots efficacy

Research Description: Kelley's work focuses on how states, international organizations and NGOs can promote domestic political reforms in problem states, and how international norms, laws and other governance tools influence state behavior. Substantively, her work addresses human rights and democracy, international election observation, and human trafficking. Past work has focused on the International Criminal Court, the European Union and other international organizations. Details on her election monitoring project are on the web at Project on International Election Monitoring. Her newest work focuses on the global fight against human trafficking. She is leading a major research project to study the effectiveness of the diplomacy of the United States on human trafficking. She is the PI on two grants from the Smith Richardson Foundation and the National Science Foundation for this project. Her work has been published by Princeton University Press, and in journals such as the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, and the Journal of Common Market Studies. Her most recent book, Monitoring Democracy: When International Election Observation Works and Why It Often Fails (Princeton 2012) was "One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2013" and also received the Chadwick F. Alger Prize, which is awarded by the International Studies Association to recognize the "best book published in the previous calendar year on the subject of international organization and multilateralism."

Typical Courses Taught:

Office Hours:
Friday 1:30-3 pm or by appointment

Representative Publications   (More Publications)

  1. Judith Kelley and Jon Pevehouse. "An Opportunity Cost Theory of Treaty Ratification." International Studies Quarterly (forthcoming).  [abs]
  2. J. Kelley. "The Potential for Organizational Membership Rules to Enhance Regional Cooperation?." Integrating Regions: Asia in Comparative Perspective. Ed. Miles Kahler and Andrew MacIntyre Stanford University Press, 2013: 78-103.
  3. Kelley, JG. "International influences on elections in new multiparty states." Annual Review of Political Science 15.1 (June, 2012): 203-220. [doi]  [abs]
  4. Kelley, J. "Do international election monitors increase or decrease opposition boycotts?." Comparative Political Studies 44.11 (November, 2011): 1527-1556. [0010414011399885.abstract], [doi]  [abs]
  5. with Susan Hyde,. "The Limits of Election Monitoring: What Independent Observation Can (and Can’t) Do." Foreign Affairs (June, 2011). [the-limits-of-election-monitoring]
  6. Kelley, J. "Election observers and their biases." Journal of Democracy 21.3 (2010): 158-172. [repository], [doi]  [abs]
  7. Kelley, J. "D-Minus elections: The politics and norms of international election observation." International Organization 63.4 (Fall, 2009): 765-787. [doi]  [abs]
  8. Kelley, J. "The more the merrier? the effects of having multiple international election monitoring organizations." Perspectives on Politics 7.1 (March, 2009): 59-64. [displayAbstract], [doi]  [abs]
  9. Bradley, C; Kelley, J. "The Concept of International Delegation." Law & Contemporary Problems 71.1 (Winter, 2008): 1-36.  [abs]
  10. Kelley, JG. "Assessing the Complex Evolution of Norms: The Rise of International Election Monitoring." International Organization 62.2 (Spring, 2008): 221-255. [displayAbstract], [doi]  [abs]
  11. Kelley, J. "Who keeps international commitments and why? The international criminal court and bilateral nonsurrender agreements." American Political Science Review 101.3 (August, 2007): 573-589. [displayIssue], [doi]  [abs]
  12. J. Kelley. "Data on International Election Monitoring: Three Global Datasets on Election Quality, Election Events and International Election Observation.." [Computer file]. ICPSR31461-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor] (December 1, 2011). doi:10.3886/ICPSR31461.v1  [abs]
  13. Kelley, J. "New Wine in Old Wineskins: Policy Learning and Adaption in The new European Neighborhood Policy." Journal of Common Market Studies 44.1 (2006): 29-55. [online], [doi]  [abs]
  14. Kelley, J. "Strategic non-cooperation as soft balancing: Why Iraq was not just about Iraq." International Politics 42.2 (June, 2005): 153-173. [repository], [doi]  [abs]
  15. J. Kelley. Ethnic Politics in Europe: The Power of Norms and Incentives. 2004. Princeton University Press, 2006 Paperback version. [online]  [abs]
  16. Kelley, J. "International actors on the domestic scene: Membership conditionally and socialization by international institutions." International Organization 58.3 (Summer, 2004): 425-457. (Reprinted in Martin, Lisa, Editor. Global Governance, Ashgate 2008) [Gateway.cgi], [doi]  [abs]
  17. Kelley, J. "Does domestic politics limit the influence of external actors on ethnic politics?." Human Rights Review 4.3 (2003): 34-54. (April-June 2003) [available here], [doi]  [abs]

Curriculum Vitae

Highlight:

Judith Kelley became the Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy in July 2018. Prior to serving as dean she was the Senior Associate Dean since January 2014. 

In 2012, Kelley was inducted into the Bass Society of Fellows at Duke, which recognizes faculty for excellence in both teaching and scholarship. Kelley has also been awarded the Susan E. Tifft Undergraduate Teaching and Mentoring Award, and she was the 2016 inaugural recipient of the Brownell-Whetten Award for Diversity and Inclusion. The Smith Richardson Foundation has supported her as a Policy and Strategy Fellow. In 2009-2010 she was a visiting fellow at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. She also was elected Chair of the Editorial Board of International Organization. She serves on several boards, including the Hunt Institute, and the Government Accountability Office Board of Academic Advisors. 

Kelley, an expert on international relations, researches how international actors can promote democratic and human rights reforms. Kelley is also a senior fellow with the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University.

Kelley's work focuses on how states, international organizations, and NGOs can promote domestic political reforms in problem states, and how international norms, laws and other governance tools influence state behavior. Substantively, her work addresses human rights and democracy, international election observation, and human trafficking. Past work has focused on the International Criminal Court, the European Union, and other international organizations. 

Her book, Monitoring Democracy: When International Election Observation Works and Why It Often Fails (Princeton 2012) was "One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2013" and also received the Chadwick F. Alger Prize, which is awarded by the International Studies Association to recognize the "best book published in the previous calendar year on the subject of international organization and multilateralism." Details on her election monitoring project are on the web at Project on International Election Monitoring.

Kelley's more recent work focuses on the global fight against human trafficking. Her recent book, Scorecard Diplomacy: Grading States to Influence their Reputation and Behavior (Cambridge University Press, 2017), assesses the US policy on trafficking around the world. More about the book can be found at www.scorecarddiplomacy.org.

Relatedly, the book is also an examination of the rising phenomenon of global ratings and rankings, a topic on which Kelley has worked extensively, editing another book, The Power of Global Performance Indicators from Cambridge University Press. This body of work also covers an assessment of the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Indicators, as well as a survey of the global emergence of indicator systems.

Kelley's work has been published by Princeton University Press, Cambridge University Press, and in journals such as American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, and the Journal of Common Market Studies. Her work has been discussed by media outlets such as the Economist, the BBC, the Washington Post, and US News and World Report.

Kelley is a native of Copenhagen, Denmark where she grew up. 

Bio/Profile
Judith Kelley is the Kevin D. Gorter Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Political Science. She also directs the undergraduate honors program at the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy. In 2009-2010 she was a visiting fellow at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. Her publications reflect her research interests in the role of international actors in promoting political and human rights reforms. In 2012 she was inducted into the Bass Society of Fellows at Duke, which recognizes faculty for excellence in both teaching and scholarship. She also is the Chair of the Editorial Board of the journal International Organization

Current Ph.D. Students   (Former Students)

  • Andrew Heiss  
  • Sinziana Dorobantu-Popa  
  • Daniel Kselman  
  • Chris Whytock  

Judith Kelley