Professor Deborah Avant
Sié Chair and Director of the Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy

2201 S. Gaylord St. 
Office 162, Sié Center
University of Denver
Denver, CO 80208
303.871.2332
303.871.2456 (fax)
Deborah.avant@du.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Education

• PhD, Political Science, University of California, San Diego; International Relations and Comparative Politics
• MA, Political Science, University of California, San Diego
• BA, Political Science, University of California, San Diego

Bio

Dr. Avant’s research has focused on civil-military relations, military change, and the politics of controlling violence. She is author/editor of Who Governs the Globe?, with Martha Finnemore and Susan Sell; The Market for Force: the Consequences of Privatizing Security; and Political Institutions and Military Change: Lessons From Peripheral Wars (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994), along with many journal articles. With the help of the Sié team, she launched the Private Security Monitor, an annotated guide to regulation, analysis, and data on private military and security services throughout the world, in August 2012. Professor Avant serves on numerous governing and editorial boards and has testified before Congressional Committees and the Commission for Wartime Contracting.

Teaching and Research Areas

Civil-military relations, military change, and the politics of controlling violence.

• INTS 4622: Strategy and Governance
• INTS 4624: Private Actors in Conflict
• INTS 4702: Major Issues in International Security

Select Publications

• Who Governs the Globe? (edited with Martha Finnemore and Susan Sell). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010).
• The Market for Force: the Consequences of Privatizing Security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. (Funded by the John D and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation)
• Political Institutions and Military Change: Lessons From Peripheral Wars.  Ithacca: Cornell University Press, 1994.
• "Military Contractors and the American Way of War,” (with Renee de Nevers) Daedalus Vol. 140, No. 3 (Summer 2011).
• “Private Security and Democracy: Lessons from the US in Iraq,” (with Lee Sigelman) Security Studies Vol. 19, No. 2 (2010).
• “War, Recruitment Systems, and Democracy,” in Elizabeth Kier and Ronald Krebs, eds., In War's Wake, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010).
• “Mercenaries,” in Encyclopedia of Globalization, edited by George Ritzer (Blackwell, 2010).
• “Private Military and Security Companies,” in Encyclopedia of Global Studies, edited by Mark Juergensmeyer and Helmut K. Anheier, 2010.
• “Contracting for Services in US Military Operations,” in Derek S. Reveron and Judith Hicks Stiehm, eds., Inside Defense: Understanding the US Military in the 21st Century (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008).
• “Private Security” in Paul D. Williams, ed., Security Studies: An Introduction (New York: Routledge, 2008).
• “The real Blackwater controversy,” San Diego Union, 20 June 2008.
• “NGOs, Corporations and Security Transformation,” Human Security Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 3 March 2008.

View All Publications

Select Consultancies, Public Service, and Awards/Honors

• Testimony: “Are Private Security Contractors Performing Inherently Governmental Functions?.” Public Hearing of Commission on Wartime Contracting, Dirkson Senate Office Building, Washington, DC, 18 June, 2010.
• Testimony: “Contracting to Train Foreign Security Forces: Benefits, Risks and Implications for US Efforts in Iraq.” Hearing on contracting issues associated with the development of the Iraqi Security Forces, House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC, 25 April, 2007.
• Editorial Board, International Studies Quarterly (2009-present)
• Editorial Board, American Political Science Review (2007-present)
• Editorial Board, Security Studies (2005-present)
• Editorial Board, Contemporary Security Policy (2003-present)
• Governing Board, International Security Studies Section, International Studies Association (1998-present)
• IUS Governing Council (1999-2012)
• Steering Committee, Institute for Global Conflict and Cooperation, University of Oklahoma (2007-2010)
• Executive Board, Women in International Security (1998-2008)
• Chair, International Security Studies Section, International Studies Association (2006-2008)
• Commendation for Outstanding Graduate Teaching, University of California, Irvine, Department of Political Science, 2010

View All Service and Awards