Education

PhD, Stanford University
BA, University of California, San Diego

Profile

Dr. Oliver Kaplan joined the faculty of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver as a Lecturer in Human Rights in 2012. Kaplan will be teaching courses on Human Rights and Foreign Policy, Peacebuilding in Civil Wars, and Civilian Protection in the 2012-2013 academic year. He was previously a postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University in the Woodrow Wilson School working with the Empirical Studies of Conflict project (and was a Postdoctoral Researcher at Stanford University from 2010-2011). His main research interests include the study of alternative conflict resolution and counterinsurgency strategies. His book project, “Civilian Autonomy in Civil War,” examines how civilian communities organize to protect themselves from wartime violence and received the Diskin Dissertation award honorable mention from the Latin American Studies Association. He identifies strategies civilians may use to influence armed groups and illustrates when these strategies are effective and when they may fail. To test his arguments, Kaplan conducted statistical analyses and fieldwork-based case studies of communities in Colombia that highlight the protective effects of village councils. He is currently working on additional projects on the link between land and conflict and post-conflict state consolidation processes. His research has been funded by the Smith Richardson Foundation and other grants and has been published in The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Foreign Policy, and National Interest.

Research & Expertise

Civil war, human rights, counterinsurgency, foreign development assistance, drug-trafficking issues, civilian protection, social movements, Latin America, Colombia

Courses

INTS 4875: Human Rights and Foreign Policy (Fall 2012)
INTS 4595: Civil Wars and International Responses Part II: Post-War Peacebuilding (Winter 2013)
INTS: Civilian Protection in Armed Conflicts (Spring 2013)