January 30, 2012

Political science expert discusses negotiation settlements as a conflict resolution tool

‘Post-conflict elections are criticized as being useless at best and dangerous at worst’

BY KELLY KLINE

START Fellow Aila Matanock will discuss one of her most recent works, “Bullets for Ballots: Examining the Effect of Electoral Participation on Conflict Recurrence” at 11:15 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 9 in Symons Hall Room 3121 on the University of Maryland campus.

Matanock, a political science researcher and Ph.D. candidate, investigates conflict in international relations and comparative politics. In her talk, Matanock will discuss why post-conflict elections in which both sides of formerly fighting parties can act as a commitment device, ultimately making peace between the two more durable due to increased confidence that the terms of settlement will be respected. With support from the commitment theory, she argues why negotiated settlements with provisions for electoral participation correlate with a significant increase in the duration of peace between the parties.

Matanock is a pre-doctoral fellow at both the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), where she is in residence, and the Miller Center of Public Affairs. She received an undergraduate degree magna cum laude in social studies from Harvard University, while working with the Belfer Center's Managing the Atom Project and with the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Most of her time is spent studying terrorism and civil war to understand the strategies that militant groups, governments and international actors use to fight and end these areas of conflict to build a lasting peace.

For more information or questions regarding this event, contact infostart@start.umd.edu.

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