White part of NSF grant to investigate prevention of civil war

Published: September 03, 2020

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Peter White, assistant professor of political science, is a co-principal investigator on a National Science Foundation award for almost $480,000.

The project is titled "Preventing Civil War through International Action," and the focus is on collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data on dissident-government interactions, finding which escalate into civil wars and which remain peaceful.

White is working with David and Kathleen Cunningham at the University of Maryland, and they will examine what international actors can do to influence these interactions and prevent potential civil wars from becoming actual civil wars.

"This project responds to an increasing emphasis in both the U.S. and international community on conflict prevention—and a recognition that it is much better to prevent civil wars from erupting in the first place than to respond to wars that are already in progress," White said.

In addition to scholarly publications, the collaborators anticipate publicizing their findings in a range of policy-oriented outlets in order to disseminate findings to policy-makers and practitioners in the United States and globally.

The project, funded through the “Security and Preparedness” program in the Division of Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences at the National Science Foundation, will run through summer 2022.

Submitted by: Vicky Santos