Michael Gilligan

Professor of Politics and Director of Undergraduate Studies

Education

B.A. 1987, Wisconsin; M.A. 1989, Princeton; Ph.D. 1993, Harvard.

Areas of Research/Interest

International intervention in civil conflict, formal models of international cooperation

About me

My research explores the effects of various types of international interventions (peacekeeping, post-conflict reconstruction aid and ex-combatant reintegration programs) on the societies in which those interventions are undertaken. I continue to have an ongoing research interest in using formal models to understand international cooperation. My teaching at the undergraduate level mainly consists of advising honors theses in the senior research seminar of the International Relations Honors major. At the MA level I teach a course on formal models of international cooperation and sometimes a course on civil wars and international interventions. At the PhD level I usually teach one half of the department's year long international relations core course, the half that focuses on political economy and international cooperation topics.

Select Publications

  1. Self-help groups, savings and social capital: Evidence from a field experiment in Cambodia. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Volume 180, December 2020, Pages 174-200.
  2. The Promise and Peril of Peacekeeping Economies.  International Studies Quarterly, Volume 63, Issue 2, June 2019, Pages 364–379,
  3. Peacekeeping, Compliance with International Norms, and Transactional Sex in Monrovia, Liberia.  Bernd Beber, Michael J. Gilligan, Jenny Guardado and Sabrina Kari.  International Organization, Vol. 71, No. 1 (Winter 2017), pp. 1-30 (30 pages).

External Affiliations

American Political Science Association, International Studies Association, Midwest Political Science Association, Phi Beta Kappa.