Robert Blair

Arkadij Eisler Goldman Sachs Associate Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs
111 Thayer Street, Room 338
Areas of Expertise Democracy & Elections, Ethnic Conflict & Civil War, Human Rights, International Institutions, Law Enforcement & Policing, Political Economy
Areas of Interest Peacekeeping, Statebuilding, Security Sector Reform, Foreign Aid, Polarization, Misinformation, Democratic Erosion

Biography

Robert Blair is the Arkadij Eisler Goldman Sachs Associate Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs at Brown University. His research focuses on international intervention and the consolidation of state authority after civil war, with an emphasis on rule of law and security institutions. He is director of the Civil Conflict and Democratic Erosion Policy Lab at Brown and co-founder and co-director of the Democratic Erosion Consortium, a multi-country initiative that addresses the causes and consequences of democratic deconsolidation through a combination of teaching, research, and civic and policy engagement. He has conducted fieldwork on these and related topics in Colombia, Brazil, Liberia, Uganda, Côte d'Ivoire, and the US. He has also worked in various capacities for the UN Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions, the US Central Intelligence Agency’s Political Instability Task Force, USAID, Freedom House, and the Small Arms Survey. He holds a B.A. from Brown and a Ph.D in political science from Yale University. His research is published or forthcoming in Science, Nature Human Behaviour, American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, Quarterly Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, World Politics, International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, and other venues. His book, Peacekeeping, Policing, and the Rule of Law after Civil War, was published in 2020 with Cambridge University Press.

Research

Blair's research focuses on international intervention and the consolidation of state authority after civil war, with an emphasis on rule of law and security institutions. He is director of the Civil Conflict and Democratic Erosion Policy Lab at Brown and co-founder and co-director of the Democratic Erosion Consortium, a multi-country initiative that addresses the causes and consequences of democratic deconsolidation through a combination of teaching, research, and civic and policy engagement.

Publications

“Mano Dura: An Experimental Evaluation of Military Policing in Cali, Colombia” (with Lucía Mendoza and Michael Weintraub). 2026. American Journal of Political Science 70(2): 673-690

“Public Works and Intimate Partner Violence: Experimental Evidence on Women’s Economic Empowerment from Egypt and Tunisia” (with Eric Mvukiyehe). 2025. British Journal of Political Science 55: e148

“Depolarizing within the Comfort of Your Party: Experimental Evidence from Online Workshops” (with Jessica Gottlieb, Marie Schenk, and Christopher Woods). 2025. Political Communication 42(6): 925-950

“Elites, the Aid Curse, and Chinese Development Finance: A Conjoint Survey Experiment on Elites’ Development Finance Preferences in 141 Low- and Middle-Income Countries” (with Samantha Custer and Philip Roessler). 2025. American Journal of Political Science 69(4): 1519-1540

“UN Peacekeeping and Democratization in Conflict-Affected Countries” (with Jessica Di Salvatore and Hannah Smidt). 2023. American Political Science Review 117(4): 1308-1326

Teaching

POLS1440: "Security, Governance, and Development in Africa"

POLS1820X: "Democratic Erosion"

POLS1824: "Post-Conflict Politics"

POLS 2110: "Proseminar in Comparative Politics"

POLS2590: "Quantitative Research Methods II"

Recent News

Robert Blair has been named the 2025 recipient of the Theda Skocpol Emerging Scholar Award, which recognizes outstanding early-career contributions to the field of comparative politics.
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Robert Blair co-authored a new study that found “reciprocal group reflection” — an intervention inspired by marriage counseling — helped reduce affective polarization among opposing political parties.
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