Welcome to my website!
I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Government at Cornell University and a 2020-2021 Minerva Research Initiative Peace and Security Scholar Fellow at the United States Institute for Peace. My research broadly falls into the fields of peacebuilding, peacekeeping, and state-building. More specifically, I study the short- and long-term impacts that United Nations and regional missions have on societies undergoing post-conflict and post-communist transitions. I am furthermore interested in understanding the determinants of social and political trust in these contexts and the ways in which compounded legacies of repression and violence affect citizens' relationship with their government. I have conducted fieldwork in Kosovo, Liberia, and Lithuania.
In my dissertation project, I examine the causes and effects of the variation in the peacebuilding activities in which international peacekeeping missions engage. The United Nations and established peacekeeping research assert that the effectiveness of peacekeeping missions in promoting peace relies on their ability to enforce peace agreements in their entirety. However, missions only engage in a minority of the peacebuilding activities outlined in the peace agreements they are mandated to enforce. When and where do these discrepancies arise, what are their causes, and what are their effects on peace outcomes?
To answer these questions, I build and test a novel two-part theory about the role of international missions in post-conflict countries. The first part draws attention to the increasingly programmatic nature of contemporary peacekeeping missions and argues for a new analytical framework for understanding the effectiveness of international missions. The second part draws direct links between peacekeeping missions and citizens' trust in public institutions by examining the effects of the increasingly deep and long-term embedding of missions in post-conflict societies.
My dissertation research necessarily takes on a mixed-methods approach. I test my arguments by combining longitudinal analyses of original cross-national data with qualitative archival research, long-form interviews of elites and members of the public, and two original surveys in Kosovo.
My research and training have been graciously supported by American Councils, the American Institute for Southeast European Studies, the Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, the Purdue Peace Project, the United States Department of State, and the United States Institute of Peace.
I grew up in Crosby, Minnesota, a former mining community in the north of the state with a deep national history and strong international ties. I enjoy skiing, swimming, weight training, and baking in my free time, and I am endlessly in search of the best potato-based recipe.
Twitter: @crmailhot
Photo: Graffiti in Pristina, Kosovo ( July 2019). Translation: "I vote || You vote || He/She votes || We vote || You vote || THEY PROFIT”
I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Government at Cornell University and a 2020-2021 Minerva Research Initiative Peace and Security Scholar Fellow at the United States Institute for Peace. My research broadly falls into the fields of peacebuilding, peacekeeping, and state-building. More specifically, I study the short- and long-term impacts that United Nations and regional missions have on societies undergoing post-conflict and post-communist transitions. I am furthermore interested in understanding the determinants of social and political trust in these contexts and the ways in which compounded legacies of repression and violence affect citizens' relationship with their government. I have conducted fieldwork in Kosovo, Liberia, and Lithuania.
In my dissertation project, I examine the causes and effects of the variation in the peacebuilding activities in which international peacekeeping missions engage. The United Nations and established peacekeeping research assert that the effectiveness of peacekeeping missions in promoting peace relies on their ability to enforce peace agreements in their entirety. However, missions only engage in a minority of the peacebuilding activities outlined in the peace agreements they are mandated to enforce. When and where do these discrepancies arise, what are their causes, and what are their effects on peace outcomes?
To answer these questions, I build and test a novel two-part theory about the role of international missions in post-conflict countries. The first part draws attention to the increasingly programmatic nature of contemporary peacekeeping missions and argues for a new analytical framework for understanding the effectiveness of international missions. The second part draws direct links between peacekeeping missions and citizens' trust in public institutions by examining the effects of the increasingly deep and long-term embedding of missions in post-conflict societies.
My dissertation research necessarily takes on a mixed-methods approach. I test my arguments by combining longitudinal analyses of original cross-national data with qualitative archival research, long-form interviews of elites and members of the public, and two original surveys in Kosovo.
My research and training have been graciously supported by American Councils, the American Institute for Southeast European Studies, the Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, the Purdue Peace Project, the United States Department of State, and the United States Institute of Peace.
I grew up in Crosby, Minnesota, a former mining community in the north of the state with a deep national history and strong international ties. I enjoy skiing, swimming, weight training, and baking in my free time, and I am endlessly in search of the best potato-based recipe.
Twitter: @crmailhot
Photo: Graffiti in Pristina, Kosovo ( July 2019). Translation: "I vote || You vote || He/She votes || We vote || You vote || THEY PROFIT”
