Sabrina Karim

Overview

Sabrina Karim is the Hardis Assistant Professor in the department of Government. Her research focuses on conflict and peace processes, particularly state building in the aftermath of civil war.  Specifically, she studies international involvement in security assistance to post-conflict states, gender reforms in peacekeeping and domestic security sectors, and the relationship between gender and violence. She is currently working on a book manuscript on the domestic and international politics of policing, police violence and police reform. 

She directs the Gender and Security Sector Lab, which hosts five graduate fellows and fifteen undergraduate research assistants who are engaged in original research related to women, gender, peacekeeping, policing, and the military.

She is the co-author of Equal Opportunity Peacekeeping: Women, Peace, and Security in Post-Conflict Countries (Oxford University Press, 2017).  The book was the winner of the Conflict Research Studies Best Book Prize for 2017 and the American Political Science Association Conflict Processes Best Book Award for 2018. She is also co-author of the book “From Gender Equality to the Status of Women: Concepts and Measurement in Conflict and Peace Studies.” Her work has appeared in the American Political Science Review, International Organization, the British Journal of Political Science, The Journal of Peace Research, International Interactions, World Development, and Conflict Management and Peace Science, among others.

More broadly, her research has been supported by the Geneva Centre for Security Governance (DCAF), the National Science Foundation, the Folke Bernadotte Academy, the International Growth Centre, and the British Research Council. 

Born and raised in Colorado, Sabrina received her PhD from Emory University in 2016.  Prior to her doctorate degree, she received a Fulbright Fellowship and received her master’s degree as a Clarendon Scholar from Oxford University. She has an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Research Focus

• Civil Conflict 
• Peacekeeping
• State/Peace Building 
• Gender 
• Security Sector Reform 

In the news

• Student Spotlight: Angie Torres-Beltran
• Assistant professor wins NSF early-career award
• New lab studies role of gender in security forces
• Police ‘unprepared’ and possibly ‘complicit’ in Capitol breach
• Lund Critical Debate to examine global policing, social justice
• Ban on Nigeria rogue police unit may not end abuses
• Policing, incarceration examined in racism webinar debut
• 30 Arts & Sciences faculty honored with endowed professorships
• A&S launches ‘Racism in America’ webinar series Sept. 16
• ‘Already Authoritarian?’ webinar focuses on violence, policing and democracy
• Twenty-two Receive Awards Recognizing Inclusive Excellence
• Militarized, 'ready for battle' police make dialogue with protesters difficult
• Center for Social Sciences names 2020-21 faculty fellows
• Face-to-face contact with police builds trust in fledgling states
• Sabrina Karim receives grant to study women’s participation in peacekeeping
• A&S student presents research at Emerging Scholars conference
• Government professor wins Best Book Award
• For more cohesive police forces in war-torn countries, adding women may help
• Professor speaks on ‘Equal Opportunity Peacekeeping’
• Government professor comments on new Liberian president
• I visited the Rohingya refugee camps and here is what Bangladesh is doing right
• ISS grants jump-start new social science research
• Einaudi Center announces grant recipients