Barnard Professor Wins Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order

Severine Autesserre, an assistant professor of political science at Barnard College in New York City, won the 2012 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. The award is one of five Grawemeyers given out annually by the University of Louisville. The award includes a $100,000 prize.

Dr. Autesserre was honored for her analysis of conflict resolution in the Congo which she related in her book, The Trouble With the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacekeeping. Her research on the ground in Africa discovered that international organizations only looked at the big picture in attempting to restore peace and ignored local issues over land ownership and resources that contributed to the violence.

Dr. Autesserre is a graduate of the Sorbonne. She holds master’s degrees from Sciences-Po in France and Columbia University. She earned a Ph.D. in political science from New York University.