Fotini Christia

Fotini Christia

Professor of Political Science

Director, MIT Sociotechnical Systems Research Center (SSRC)

CV

Civil wars; political violence; identity politics; post-conflict reconstruction; field experiments; big data; Middle East.

Biography

Fotini Christia is a Professor of Political Science and Director of the MIT Sociotechnical Systems Research Center (SSRC). She received her PhD in Public Policy from Harvard University in 2008 and has been awarded an inaugural Andrew Carnegie fellowship and a Harvard Academy fellowship among others. Her research interests deal with issues of conflict and cooperation in the Muslim world, and she has worked out of Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iraq, Yemen and the Palestinian Territories. Her book, Alliance Formation in Civil Wars, published by Cambridge University Press in 2012, was awarded the Luebbert Award for Best Book in Comparative Politics, the Lepgold Prize for Best Book in International Relations and the Distinguished Book Award of the Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Migration Section of the International Studies Association. Her research has also appeared in Science, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Development Economics, American Political Science Review, and Journal of Comparative Politics, among other journals. Fotini Christia has written opinion pieces for Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. She graduated magna cum laude with a joint BA in Economics-Operations Research and a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University in 2001.

Research

Fotini has done extensive experimental, survey, and ethnographic fieldwork on ethnicity, conflict, and development in divided societies in the Muslim world. She has completed impact evaluations of an experimental design on the largest community driven development program in Afghanistan and on school integration in Bosnia-Herzegovina. She has done survey and experimental research on religion and sectarianism in Iraq and is working with Cellphone Data Records from Yemen and Turkey, exploring drone strikes in the former and Syrian refugee integration in the latter. Fotini is the author of Alliance Formation in Civil War, published by Cambridge University Press in 2012, which received the Luebbert Award for Best Book in Comparative Politics, the Lepgold Prize for Best Book in International Relations and the Distinguished Book Award of the Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Migration Section of the International Studies Association. She was also an inaugural Andrew Carnegie Fellow and a Harvard Academy Fellow. Her articles have been published in Science, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Development Economics, American Political Science Review, Annual Review of Political Science and Journal of Comparative Politics, among other journals. For her research, Fotini has received support from a MURI grant, as well as from the International Growth Center, the Russell Sage Foundation, USAID, CIDA, the UN, and the World Bank among others.

Recent Publications

“State Capacity Redux: Integrating Classical and Experimental Contributions to an Enduring Debate,” Annual Review of Political Science (ARPS), Vol.21, 2018 (with Elissa Berwick).

“Direct Democracy and Resource Allocation: Experimental Evidence from Afghanistan,” Journal of Development Economics (JDE), 124, 199-213 (with Andrew Beath and Ruben Enikolopov)

“Electoral Rules and Political Selection: Theory and Evidence from a Field Experiment in Afghanistan,” The Review of Economic Studies (ReStud), 83 (3), 932-968. (With Andrew Beath, Georgy Egorov and Ruben Enikolopov)

“Empowering Women through Development Aid: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Afghanistan,” American Political Science Review. 107 (3): 540-557. (With Andrew Beath and Ruben Enikolopov)

"Alliance Formation in Civil Wars," Cambridge University Press, 2012.

“Context Modularity of Human Altruism,” Science. 334 (6061): 1392-1394. (With Marc Alexander)

Teaching

17.586 Comparative Politics and International Relations of the Middle East
17.504 Ethnic Politics I
17.582 Civil War
17.583 Conflict through the Graphic Novel
17.586 Warlords, Terrorists and Militias
17.869 Scope and Methods
17. 956 Insurgency







 

News

3 questions with Fotini Christia, the new Chair of the Social & Engineering Systems PhD program

October 23, 2020 IDSS

Fotini Christia is a professor of political science and faculty member of the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society. Her research interests deal with the political economy of conflict and development in the Muslim world and she has done extensive experimental, survey, and big data research on Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iraq, and Yemen. In addition to chairing the Social & Engineering Systems PhD program, she directs the Sociotechnical Systems Research Center (SSRC) within IDSS.

The Geography of Gulenism in Turkey

March 18, 2019 Tugba Bozcaga, Fotini Christia Foreign Policy

As trials against the Gulen movement wrap up, a look at how deep its influence really was.

Fotini Christia and Ali Jadbabaie on researching the dynamics of sociopolitcal change

October 14, 2016 Leda Zimmerman School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

Borders between disciplines at MIT have proven increasingly permeable in recent years. Now, with the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS), researchers in the social sciences have a powerful platform for collaborating with peers in engineering and the natural sciences. Fotini Christia, associate professor of political science, and the grant’s principal investigator Ali Jadbabaie, recently named JR East Professor of Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, associate director of IDSS, and director of the Sociotechnical Systems Research Center (SSRC), discuss one such shared collaboration.

Biography

Fotini Christia is a Professor of Political Science and Director of the MIT Sociotechnical Systems Research Center (SSRC). She received her PhD in Public Policy from Harvard University in 2008 and has been awarded an inaugural Andrew Carnegie fellowship and a Harvard Academy fellowship among others. Her research interests deal with issues of conflict and cooperation in the Muslim world, and she has worked out of Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iraq, Yemen and the Palestinian Territories. Her book, Alliance Formation in Civil Wars, published by Cambridge University Press in 2012, was awarded the Luebbert Award for Best Book in Comparative Politics, the Lepgold Prize for Best Book in International Relations and the Distinguished Book Award of the Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Migration Section of the International Studies Association. Her research has also appeared in Science, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Development Economics, American Political Science Review, and Journal of Comparative Politics, among other journals. Fotini Christia has written opinion pieces for Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. She graduated magna cum laude with a joint BA in Economics-Operations Research and a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University in 2001.

Research

Fotini has done extensive experimental, survey, and ethnographic fieldwork on ethnicity, conflict, and development in divided societies in the Muslim world. She has completed impact evaluations of an experimental design on the largest community driven development program in Afghanistan and on school integration in Bosnia-Herzegovina. She has done survey and experimental research on religion and sectarianism in Iraq and is working with Cellphone Data Records from Yemen and Turkey, exploring drone strikes in the former and Syrian refugee integration in the latter. Fotini is the author of Alliance Formation in Civil War, published by Cambridge University Press in 2012, which received the Luebbert Award for Best Book in Comparative Politics, the Lepgold Prize for Best Book in International Relations and the Distinguished Book Award of the Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Migration Section of the International Studies Association. She was also an inaugural Andrew Carnegie Fellow and a Harvard Academy Fellow. Her articles have been published in Science, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Development Economics, American Political Science Review, Annual Review of Political Science and Journal of Comparative Politics, among other journals. For her research, Fotini has received support from a MURI grant, as well as from the International Growth Center, the Russell Sage Foundation, USAID, CIDA, the UN, and the World Bank among others.

Recent Publications

“State Capacity Redux: Integrating Classical and Experimental Contributions to an Enduring Debate,” Annual Review of Political Science (ARPS), Vol.21, 2018 (with Elissa Berwick).

“Direct Democracy and Resource Allocation: Experimental Evidence from Afghanistan,” Journal of Development Economics (JDE), 124, 199-213 (with Andrew Beath and Ruben Enikolopov)

“Electoral Rules and Political Selection: Theory and Evidence from a Field Experiment in Afghanistan,” The Review of Economic Studies (ReStud), 83 (3), 932-968. (With Andrew Beath, Georgy Egorov and Ruben Enikolopov)

“Empowering Women through Development Aid: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Afghanistan,” American Political Science Review. 107 (3): 540-557. (With Andrew Beath and Ruben Enikolopov)

"Alliance Formation in Civil Wars," Cambridge University Press, 2012.

“Context Modularity of Human Altruism,” Science. 334 (6061): 1392-1394. (With Marc Alexander)

Teaching

17.586 Comparative Politics and International Relations of the Middle East
17.504 Ethnic Politics I
17.582 Civil War
17.583 Conflict through the Graphic Novel
17.586 Warlords, Terrorists and Militias
17.869 Scope and Methods
17. 956 Insurgency







 

News

3 questions with Fotini Christia, the new Chair of the Social & Engineering Systems PhD program

October 23, 2020 IDSS

Fotini Christia is a professor of political science and faculty member of the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society. Her research interests deal with the political economy of conflict and development in the Muslim world and she has done extensive experimental, survey, and big data research on Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iraq, and Yemen. In addition to chairing the Social & Engineering Systems PhD program, she directs the Sociotechnical Systems Research Center (SSRC) within IDSS.

The Geography of Gulenism in Turkey

March 18, 2019 Tugba Bozcaga, Fotini Christia Foreign Policy

As trials against the Gulen movement wrap up, a look at how deep its influence really was.

Fotini Christia and Ali Jadbabaie on researching the dynamics of sociopolitcal change

October 14, 2016 Leda Zimmerman School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

Borders between disciplines at MIT have proven increasingly permeable in recent years. Now, with the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS), researchers in the social sciences have a powerful platform for collaborating with peers in engineering and the natural sciences. Fotini Christia, associate professor of political science, and the grant’s principal investigator Ali Jadbabaie, recently named JR East Professor of Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, associate director of IDSS, and director of the Sociotechnical Systems Research Center (SSRC), discuss one such shared collaboration.