Professor Neil Mitchell

Emeritus Professor of International Relations
Email: n.mitchell@ucl.ac.uk

Biography

I joined UCL as Professor of International Relations in September 2011, becoming Emeritus in 2020. Originally from London, I received a BA from Nottingham University and went to Indiana University in the United States for my MA and PhD. In the United States, I was Visiting Assistant Professor at Grinnell College, Iowa, Assistant Professor at Iowa State University, and Assistant, Associate and full Professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. I was Chair of the Department of Political Science at New Mexico from 1993 to 2001. I moved back to the United Kingdom in 2005 and held a Sixth Century Chair in the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Aberdeen, before returning to London in 2011.

Research

I work on human rights, conflict, issues of leadership and accountability, and the role of non-state actors. Recent projects include public attitudes to holding soldiers accountable for war crimes, the interactive relationship between states and civil society, the use of non-state armed groups or militias by governments, and the incentives and risks of delegation.

My earlier research included work on business-government relations and the implications for democracy.

Selected publications

Books

• Mitchell, N. J. (2021) Why Delegate?. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Mitchell, N. J. (2012) Democracy’s Blameless Leaders: From Dresden to Abu Ghraib, How Leaders Evade Accountability for Abuse, Atrocity and Killing. New York: New York University Press.
• Mitchell, N. J. (2004) Agents of Atrocity: Leaders, Followers, and the Violation of Human Rights in Civil War. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Mitchell, N. J. (1997) The Conspicuous Corporation: Business, Public Policy, and Representative Democracy. Michigan: University of Michigan Press.
• Mitchell, N. J. (1989) The Generous Corporation: A Political Analysis of Economic Power. New Haven. CT: Yale University Press.

Journal articles

• Dasandi, N. and Mitchell, N. J. (2023) ‘Loyalty or Accountability? Public Attitudes to Holding Soldiers Accountable for the Murder and Abuse of Civilians’, Journal of Politics.
• Carey, S., Gonzalez, B. and Mitchell, N. J. (2023) ‘Media Freedom and the Escalation of State Violence’, Political Studies, 71(2).
• Carey, S., Mitchell, N. J. and Paula, K. (2022) ‘The Life, Death and Diversity of Pro-government Militias: The Fully Revised Pro-government Militias Database Version 2.0’, Research & Politics.
• Smidt, H., Perera, D., Mitchell, N. J. and Bakke, K. (2021) ‘Silencing Their Critics: How Government Restrictions Against Civil Society Affect International “Naming and Shaming”’, British Journal of Political Science, 51(3), pp. 1270–1291.
• Bakke, K. M., Mitchell, N. J. and Smidt, H. M. (2020) ‘When States Crack Down on Human Rights Defenders’, International Studies Quarterly, 64(1), pp. 85–96.
• Carey, S. and Mitchell, N. J. (2017) ‘Progovernment Militias’, Annual Review of Political Science, 20, pp. 127–147.
• Carey, S., Mitchell, N. J. and Lowe, W. (2013) ‘States, the Security Sector, and the Monopoly of Violence’, Journal of Peace Research, 50(2), pp. 249–258. 
• Mitchell, N. J., Carey, S. and Butler, C. K.(2014) ‘The Impact of Pro-government Militias on Human Rights Violations’, International Interactions: Empirical and Theoretical Research, 40(5), pp. 812–836.
• Butler, C. K., Gluch, T. and Mitchell, N. J. (2007) ‘Security Forces and Sexual Violence: A Cross-National Analysis of a Principal-Agent Argument’, Journal of Peace Research, 44(6), pp. 669–687. 
• Mitchell, N. J., Jenkins-Smith, H., Herron, K. and Whitten, G. (2007) ‘Elite Beliefs, Epistemic Communities and the Atlantic Divide: Scientists’ Nuclear Policy Preferences in the United States and European Union’, British Journal of Political Science, 37(4), pp. 753–764.
• Beer, C. and Mitchell, N. J. (2006) ‘Comparing Nations and States: Human Rights and Democracy in India’, Comparative Political Studies, 39(8), pp. 996–1018.
• Drope, J., Hansen, W. L. and Mitchell, N. J. ‘The Logic of Private and Collective Action’, American Journal of Political Science, 49(1), 150–167.
• Hansen, W. and Mitchell, N. J. (2000) ‘Disaggregating and Explaining Corporate Political Activity: Domestic and Foreign Corporations in National Politics’, American Political Science Review, 94(4), pp. 891–903.
• Mitchell, N. J., Hansen, W. and Jepsen, E. (1997) ‘The Determinants of Domestic and Foreign Corporate Political Activity’, Journal of Politics, 59(4), pp. 1096–1113.
• McCormick, J. and Mitchell, N. J. (1997) ‘Human Rights Violations, Umbrella Concepts, and Empirical Analysis’, World Politics, 49(4), pp. 510–525.
• Mitchell, N. J. and McCormick, J. (1988) ‘Economic and Political Explanations of Human Rights Violations’, World Politics, 40(4), pp. 476–498.