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Michael A. Rubin, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar Center for Peace and Security Studies (cPASS) Department of Political Science University of California, San Diego (UCSD) mrubin@ucsd.edu Google Scholar Page Research Interests: Political Violence; Civil Wars; International Security; Insurgency/COIN; Rebel Territorial Control & Governance; Civilian Agency/Collective Action during Conflict; Terrorism in Armed Conflict |
Welcome to my personal Website.
I am a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Center for Peace and Security Studies (cPASS) at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). I earned a PhD (2018) in Political Science from Columbia University, specializing in International Relations and Comparative Politics.
My research appears or is forthcoming in International Studies Quarterly and Journal of Conflict Resolution and has been funded by the National Science Foundation (Law and Social Sciences Program), The Earth Institute, the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and the Center for Israel Education.
On this website you can find more details about my research projects and download my C.V. Please feel free to contact me at mrubin@ucsd.edu with any questions or comments.
My research investigates the causes, conduct, and consequences of political conflict and violence. The research agenda explores three related research themes.
The first examines belligerent conduct and civilian agency during intrastate conflict. Under what conditions do rebel groups seize and maintain territorial control, and provide governance, during armed conflict? Under what conditions do states, and statebuilding nonstate actors, expand or consolidate authority in new territory? Under what conditions do dissident groups resort to terrorism, and what are the consequences for conflict resolution and political stability? My research complements existing work by exploring how civilians influence these conflict and statebuilding processes.
While the first theme examines within-conflict dynamics, the second engages with the international forces driving intra-state conflict and explores the role of intra-state conflict in shaping inter-state competition in the 21st Century; in which states have increasingly adopted subversive "gray zone" strategies to prosecute international disputes while minimizing the risk of escalation to full-scale war. Though less headline-grabbing than interstate war, gray zone conflicts have critical international security implications, can be just as or more violent, and are far less well understood. Under what conditions do states employ "gray zone" conflict strategies, and under what conditions do these strategies escalate to direct militarized conflict? The first stage of the project examines one particular gray zone strategy: state sponsorship of dissident groups.
The third theme investigates the role of nonstate actors in world politics. The goal is to explain nonstate actors’ behavior in international conflict and cooperation, their role in shaping international political phenomena, and to explore the limits of state-centric models of the international system. I am part of theWelfare Nonstate project, a collaborative effort to integrate insights from across as-yet isolated literatures on governance by a variety of nonstate actors: NGOs, International Institutions, Multi-national Corporations, rebel organizations, militias, and others. At CPASS, I lead the Named Entities for Social Sciences–Political Organizations project. We construct a global dataset of nonstate political organizations relevant to the robust and growing research agenda re-examining the role of nonstate actors in international politics.
My research informs policy-making designed to reduce human suffering related to political violence. In addition to explaining political violence, this research agenda contributes to understanding state-formation and its failures, the nature of extra-institutional political competition between and within states, and the strengths and limitations of state-centric models of the international system. It exposes the local politics foundations of state-making and -building and how domestic political instability influences interstate conflict and cooperation.
I am a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Center for Peace and Security Studies (cPASS) at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). I earned a PhD (2018) in Political Science from Columbia University, specializing in International Relations and Comparative Politics.
My research appears or is forthcoming in International Studies Quarterly and Journal of Conflict Resolution and has been funded by the National Science Foundation (Law and Social Sciences Program), The Earth Institute, the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and the Center for Israel Education.
On this website you can find more details about my research projects and download my C.V. Please feel free to contact me at mrubin@ucsd.edu with any questions or comments.
My research investigates the causes, conduct, and consequences of political conflict and violence. The research agenda explores three related research themes.
The first examines belligerent conduct and civilian agency during intrastate conflict. Under what conditions do rebel groups seize and maintain territorial control, and provide governance, during armed conflict? Under what conditions do states, and statebuilding nonstate actors, expand or consolidate authority in new territory? Under what conditions do dissident groups resort to terrorism, and what are the consequences for conflict resolution and political stability? My research complements existing work by exploring how civilians influence these conflict and statebuilding processes.
While the first theme examines within-conflict dynamics, the second engages with the international forces driving intra-state conflict and explores the role of intra-state conflict in shaping inter-state competition in the 21st Century; in which states have increasingly adopted subversive "gray zone" strategies to prosecute international disputes while minimizing the risk of escalation to full-scale war. Though less headline-grabbing than interstate war, gray zone conflicts have critical international security implications, can be just as or more violent, and are far less well understood. Under what conditions do states employ "gray zone" conflict strategies, and under what conditions do these strategies escalate to direct militarized conflict? The first stage of the project examines one particular gray zone strategy: state sponsorship of dissident groups.
The third theme investigates the role of nonstate actors in world politics. The goal is to explain nonstate actors’ behavior in international conflict and cooperation, their role in shaping international political phenomena, and to explore the limits of state-centric models of the international system. I am part of theWelfare Nonstate project, a collaborative effort to integrate insights from across as-yet isolated literatures on governance by a variety of nonstate actors: NGOs, International Institutions, Multi-national Corporations, rebel organizations, militias, and others. At CPASS, I lead the Named Entities for Social Sciences–Political Organizations project. We construct a global dataset of nonstate political organizations relevant to the robust and growing research agenda re-examining the role of nonstate actors in international politics.
My research informs policy-making designed to reduce human suffering related to political violence. In addition to explaining political violence, this research agenda contributes to understanding state-formation and its failures, the nature of extra-institutional political competition between and within states, and the strengths and limitations of state-centric models of the international system. It exposes the local politics foundations of state-making and -building and how domestic political instability influences interstate conflict and cooperation.
