Robert Blair
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"