Dr Alex Braithwaite

Senior Lecturer in International Relations

Introduction

Dr Alex Braithwaite is Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Director of the MSc Security Studies. He joined the Department of Political Science in September 2007. Prior to joining UCL he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the Colorado State University (2006-07). He completed his doctorate in political science at the Pennsylvania State University (2002-06). He lectures on the International Peace and Security, Foreign Policy Analysis, and Terrorism courses in the School of Public Policy.

Research Interests

Dr. Braithwaite's research investigates the causes and geography of various forms of political violence, with a focus in examining where terrorist attacks and international conflicts are located. He has also worked on domestic political theories of terrorism, geographic explanations for conflict diffusion and joining behaviors, and the strategic interaction of insurgent and counter-insurgent forces.

Publications

2012

• "Space-Time Modeling of Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in Iraq" (with Shane Johnson). Journal of Quantitative Criminology. Forthcoming.

2011

• "Unpacking Escalation" (with Douglas Lemke). Conflict Management and Peace Science 28(2): 111-123.

2010

• "Ballots, Bargains, and Bombs: Terrorist Targeting of Spoiler Opportunities" (with Dennis Foster and David Sobek). International Interactions 36(3): 294-305.
• Conflict Hot Spots: Emergence, Causes, and Consequences. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Press.
• "Resisting Infection: How State Capacity Conditions Conflict Contagion." Journal of Peace Research 47(3): 311-319.
• "Unspoken Reciprocity: The Effect of Major Shifts in Israeli Policy on International Terrorism" (with David Sobek) in R. Reuveny & W. Thompson (eds.), Coping with Contemporary Terrorism: Origins, Escalation, Counter Strategies and Responses. Buffalo, NY.: SUNY Press.
• "MIDLOC: Introducing the Militarized Interstate Dispute (MID) Location Dataset." Journal of Peace Research 47(1):91-98.

2009

• "Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Insurgency in Iraq." (with Shane Johnson.) in J. Freilich & G. Newman (eds.), ‘Countering Terrorism through SCP.’ Crime Prevention Studies 25:9-32.

2007

• "Transnational Terrorism Hot Spots: Identification and Impact Evaluation." (With Quan Li.) Conflict Management and Peace Science 24(4):281-296.

2006

• "The Geographic Spread of International Conflicts." Journal of Peace Research 43(5):507-522.

2005

• "Location, Location, Location...Identifying Conflict Hot Spots." International Interactions 31(4):251-272.
• "Victim of Success: American Dominance and International Terrorism." (With David Sobek.) Conflict Management and Peace Science 22(2):135-148.
• "A Guide to Australia's Armed Forces and Security Policy" in K. DeRouen & U. Heo (eds.), Defense and Security: A Guide to the National Armed Forces and Security Policies of the World. Santa Barbara, CA.: ABC-CLIO.

Working Papers

• "Tyranny of the Majority: Electoral Systems and Terrorism in Democracies." (With Dennis Foster & David Sobek.)
• "Regional Democracy and Peaceful Borders." (With Douglas Gibler.)
• "On Intervening in Proximate Conflicts." (With Kyle Joyce.)

Supervision

I am currently primary supervisor or co-supervisor to Melanie Garson-Sweidan, Katherine Reyes, David Wearing, Niheer Dasandi, Tim Nissen, Janina Beiser, and Lucy Burton.

I am interested in reviewing PhD proposals from students interested in addressing matters of the causes of political violence (terrorism, insurgency, civil war, international conflict); on the role of space, territory, and terrain in conflict processes; and on the use of social science methods (primarily statistical modelling and GIS) in the study of political violence.