Dr. Scott Straus

Biography

Scott Straus is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, where he focuses on political violence, genocide, human rights, and post-conflict politics, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa. He earned his Ph.D. from Berkeley in 2004. Straus is the author and editor of nine books, including 'Making and Unmaking Nations: War, Leadership, and Genocide in Modern Africa' (Cornell University Press, 2015), which won the Grawemeyer Award for Improving World Order and the Lepgold Prize from Georgetown University. His work 'Order of Genocide: Race, Power, and War' (Cornell University Press, 2006) received an Honorable Mention for the Melville Herskovits Prize from the African Studies Association. He has also co-authored 'Introduction to International Studies: Global Forces, Interactions, and Tensions' (Sage, 2022) and published articles in prominent journals such as American Journal of Political Science and Foreign Affairs. In addition to his research, he serves as a co-editor for the Paris-based journal 'Violence: An International Journal' and has received numerous fellowships from institutions such as the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation and the National Science Foundation. He was appointed by President Obama to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council and continues to serve on its Committee on Conscience. Before his academic career, he was a freelance journalist based in Nairobi, where he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Research Interests

Experience