Barbara Elias of Bowdoin College Wins Book Award From the American Political Science Association

Barbara Elias, who was promoted on July 1 to associate professor of government and granted tenure at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, has received the American Political Science Association’s 2020 award for “Best International Security Book by a Non-tenured Faculty Member.”

Dr. Elias was honored for her latest book, Why Allies Rebel: Defiant Local Partners in Counterinsurgency Wars (Cambridge University Press, 2020), which explores the challenges powerful militaries face in working with local allies. Why Allies Rebel looks at a number of large-scale interventions by the U.S. and other major powers and analyzes the conditions under which local allies choose to comply (or not) with their larger partners. The book explores America’s involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam, as well as the Soviet Union’s role in Afghanistan and India’s intervention in Sri Lanka.

“It is an honor to contribute to my field and thrilling to have my work distinguished with this award,” said Dr. Elias. “Receiving congratulatory notes from remarkable scholars I have until now only engaged with by citing their scholarship is delightful and humbling,” she continued. “I sincerely appreciate the encouragement I received from my colleagues here at Bowdoin that helped me write this book.”

Dr. Elias is a graduate of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Pennsylvania.