photo: person walks across footbridge; research happening in the field; photo by Associate Professor Mona Atia

Research

Elliott School Research

Through award-winning research, the Elliott School of International Affairs strives to create knowledge, share wisdom, and inspire action. Together, our centers, institutes, and research initiatives and cross-disciplinary faculty combine in-depth analysis with practical applications to better address the future's most pressing global challenges.

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Faculty Research Support

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Research Spotlights

US Nuclear Waste Management: The Elliott School's Institute for International Science & Technology Policy Co-Authors Three-Year Study

Reset of America’s Nuclear Waste Management-Strategy and Policy

The Elliott School's Institute for International Science & Technology Policy (IISTP) and Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) have spent more than three years seeking a better way forward for US nuclear waste policy. As part of the Reset initiative, IISTP and CISAC examined the US nuclear waste management program and sought to identify key problems and potential solutions. The recently published report, "Reset of America’s Nuclear Waste Management: Strategy and Policy," is the culmination of this investigation. The study summarizes the main issues raised over the course of five meetings of world-class steering committee experts and offers “center of gravity” ideas for forging new nuclear waste management strategy and policy. Among other proposals, it includes recommendations on:

a new national radioactive waste management organization with a new funding strategy;
integration of the back-end of the US nuclear fuel cycle;
public engagement and consent-based siting; and
regulations, risk, and safety for the geologic disposal of radioactive waste.

For more, please read the full report.

Security in Africa: New Publications from Associate Professor Paul Williams

Elliott School Associate Professor of International Affairs Paul Williams continues his impressive record of publication, authoring two new analyses on security in Africa. Following the August 2018 publication of his monograph, Fighting for Peace in Somalia: A History and Analysis of the African Union Mission (AMISOM), 2007-2017, Williams again turned his attention to Somalia, serving as lead author of the December 2018 EPON Report: "Assessing the Effectiveness of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM)." The report targets two critical questions: to what extent has AMISOM succeeded in its strategic objectives and to what degree has the mission influenced broader Somali political and security dynamics. Meanwhile, with co-author Nina Wilén, Williams trained his expertise on Central Africa for the Journal of Modern African Studies article: "The African Union and coercive diplomacy: the case of Burundi." This article outlines the African Union's (AU) 2015 threat to use military force against the government of Burundi's wishes and goes inside the AU's conflict management toolkit by examining the effectiveness and credibility of AU coercive diplomacy.

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Elliott School Book Launch Series

A packed house greeted Elliott School Professor of Practice Robert G. Sutter when he commemorated his latest book, Foreign Relations of the PRC, with an event entitled: Xi Jinping's Foreign Policy Vision—Powerful Image versus Restricted Reality.

An impressive audience braved the rain to uncover the evolution of US science policy research when author and Elliott School Research Professor Al Teich introduced his latest monograph: In Search of Evidence-Based Science Policy.

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Award-Winning Faculty Publications

Elliott School Associate Professor Attiya Ahmad Wins Prestigious Book Award

In recognition of her 2017 book, Everyday Conversions: Islam, Domestic Work, and South Asian Migrant Women in Kuwait, the Middle East Studies Association awarded Elliott School Associate Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs Attiya Ahmad the 2018 Fatima Mernissi Book Award. Named for scholar and public intellectual Fatima Mernissi, this annual award honors outstanding scholarship in studies of gender, sexuality, and women's lived experience. The award committee expressed pride in giving this honor to a book that is, "lovingly researched, quiet in its aim, and yet stunning in its delineation of the lives of the women studied." For more on this stunning book, please see the official award announcement.