Erica Chenoweth
Associate, International Security Program
Contact:
Email: erica_chenoweth@ksg.harvard.edu
Website: https://wesfiles.wesleyan.edu/home/echenoweth/web/home.htm
Experience
Erica Chenoweth is an associate and a former research fellow of the International Security Program at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and a doctoral candidate in political science at the University of Colorado. She successfully defended her dissertation, entitled Democratic Pieces: The Inadvertent Effects of Democracy on Terrorist Group Proliferation, on December 15, 2006. Chenoweth received her M.A. in political science from the University of Colorado and a B.A. (summa cum laude) in political science and German from the University of Dayton.
Chenoweth is currently working on several projects related to her dissertation, including her forthcoming book tentatively entitled Democracy, Competition, and Terrorism. In addition to her work on terrorism in democracies, Chenoweth has researched international norms and security, the local politics of homeland security, strategic nonviolent action, weak and failed states, and the relationship between corruption and terrorism. She has presented her research throughout the United States and recently delivered a lecture in Tirana, Albania, at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on religious coexistence in the Balkans. Chenoweth is currently co-principal investigator (with Maria Stephan) for an ongoing project at the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict in Washington, D.C. She has received research support from Harvard University, the Jebsen Center for Counter Terrorism Studies at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, the University of Colorado, and the American Association of University Women.
Chenoweth’s articles and book reviews have appeared in multiple venues such as the Review of Policy Research, Terror and Conflict Monitor, International Criminal Justice Review, and e-Extreme. She has also contributed chapters to several volumes edited by James Forest (United States Military Academy) for the Praeger Security International book series, including The Making of a Terrorist: Recruitment, Training, and Root Causes (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2005), Homeland Security: Protecting America’s Targets (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2006), and Countering Terrorism in the 21st Century (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, forthcoming).
AP Photo
Summer 2008
"Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict"
Journal Article, International Security, issue 1, volume 33
By Maria Stephan, Former Research Fellow, Intrastate Conflict Program/International Security Program, 2003-2005 and Erica Chenoweth, Associate, International Security Program
The historical record indicates that nonviolent campaigns have been more successful than armed campaigns in achieving ultimate goals in political struggles, even when used against similar opponents and in the face of repression. Nonviolent campaigns are more likely to win legitimacy, attract widespread domestic and international support, neutralize the opponent's security forces, and compel loyalty shifts among erstwhile opponent supporters than are armed campaigns, which enjoin the active support of a relatively small number of people, offer the opponent a justification for violent counterattacks, and are less likely to prompt loyalty shifts and defections. An original, aggregate data set of all known major nonviolent and violent resistance campaigns from 1900 to 2006 is used to test these claims. These dynamics are further explored in case studies of resistance campaigns in Southeast Asia that have featured periods of both violent and nonviolent resistance.
AP Photo
March 3, 2008
Homeland Security: How to Improve Interoperability for State and Local Responders
Policy Memo
By Erica Chenoweth, Associate, International Security Program and Susan Clarke
One of the most important lessons of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks is that, in order to respond successfully, local agencies must be able to exchange information in real time. In the past seven years, the federal government has given millions of dollars to state and local governments with the goal of improving interoperability programs. However, state and local politics often get in the way of effective use of the money. Our research provides insight and recommendations into how state and local governments can improve the effectiveness of these programs.
December 2007
"On Classifying Terrorism: A Potential Contribution of Cluster Analysis for Academics and Policymakers"
Journal Article, Defense and Security Analysis, issue 4, volume 23
By Erica Chenoweth, Associate, International Security Program and Elizabeth Lowham
The authors argue that classifying terrorist groups based on their motivations (i.e. Islamic, nationalist-separatist, left-wing, etc) causes analysts to ignore important similarities between such groups. This article suggests using cluster analysis to classify terrorist groups based on their motives and their tactics. Using the U.S. State Department's list of Significant Terrorist Incidents through 2003, the authors demonstrate that trends in terrorist attacks among groups with seemingly disparate motives and locations provide insights into dynamic nature of terrorism over the past several decades. Specifically, certain terrorist incidents in places as diverse as Lebanon, Georgia, and Colombia have more in common than is typically suspected, suggesting that such groups monitor and learn from one another's activities.
November 2006
"The Inadvertent Effects of Democracy on Terrorist Group Emergence"
Discussion Paper
By Erica Chenoweth, Associate, International Security Program
Why are terrorist groups prevalent in democracies?
2006
"Vulnerabilities and Resilience in America's Financial Services"
Book Chapter
By Erica Chenoweth, Associate, International Security Program
"The financial services sector has been amazingly resilient after the devastation of large-scale terrorist attacks."
