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Alexander B. Downes, Assistant Professor

Alexander B. Downes
Contact Info:
On leave 2009 - 2010
Office Location: 
Office Phone:  (919) 660-4345
Email Address:  
Web Page:   http://www.duke.edu/~downes

Education:

PhD, University of Chicago, 2004
M.A. (Honors), University of Chicago, 1998
B.A. (Magna Cum Laude), Brown University, 1991
Specialties:

International Relations
Research Interests: Civilian victimization and civilian casualties, military effectiveness, settlements to civil wars, foreign-imposed regime change

Assistant Professor of Political Science specializing in international security. His research interests include the causes and effectiveness of civilian victimization in warfare, and the consequences of foreign-imposed regime change in international politics. His first book, Targeting Civilians in War, was published by Cornell University Press in 2008. Downes's research on civilian victimization has appeared in the journals International Security, Journal of Conflict Resolution, and Civil Wars. Previous research on the relative efficacy of partition versus negotiated settlements as solutions to ethnic wars was published in Security Studies and SAIS Review. Downes has held fellowships at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies (Harvard University), the Center for International Security and Cooperation (Stanford University), and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (Harvard Kennedy School).

Curriculum Vitae
Recent Publications   (More Publications)

  1. A.B. Downes and M.L. Lilley, Overt Peace, Covert War? Covert Intervention and the Democratic Peace, Security Studies (forthcoming) [pdf]  [abs].
  2. A.B. Downes and K.M. Cochran, Targeting Civilians to Win? Assessing the Military Effectiveness of Civilian Victimization in Interstate War, in Rethinking Violence: States and Non-State Actors in Conflict (forthcoming) [pdf] .
  3. A.B. Downes, Review of Hugo Slim, Killing Civilians: Method, Madness, and Morality in War, Journal of Strategic Studies, vol. 32 no. 6 (December, 2009) .
  4. A.B. Downes, Correspondence: Another Skirmish in the Battle over Democracies and War, International Security, vol. 34 no. 2 (Fall, 2009) .
  5. A.B. Downes, Review of Michael C. Desch, Power and Military Effectiveness: The Fallacy of Democratic Triumphalism, Political Science Quarterly, vol. 124 no. 2 (Summer, 2009), pp. 342-44 .