Séverine Autesserre, an associate professor of political science at Barnard College in New York City, received the Best Book of the Year Award 2016 from the International Studies Association. Dr. Autesserre was honored for her book Peaceland: Conflict Resolution and the Everyday Politics of International Intervention (Cambridge University Press, 2014).
The award-winning book is based on the author’s extensive field work in the Democratic Republic of Congo and briefer comparative research in Burundi, Cyprus, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, South Sudan, and Timor-Leste. Dr. Autesserre examines why some people are better able to reach conflict resolutions than others. An earlier book was The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacebuilding (Cambridge University Press, 2010). For this research, Dr. Autesserre won the 2012 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order from the University of Louisville.
Dr. Autesserre, a graduate of the Sorbonne in Paris, joined the faculty at Barnard College in 2007 and was promoted to associate professor and granted tenure in 2015. She holds a master’s degree in international affairs and political science from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in political science from New York University.