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Dr. Boaz Atzili Director, SIS Doctoral Studies Program

Boaz Atzili

Associate Professor School of International Service

Additional Positions at AU

  • Faculty, Jewish Studies Program
  • Faculty, Center for Israel Studies
  • Affiliated faculty, Arab Studies
Dr. Boaz Atzili is the Director of the SIS Doctoral Program. He is a political scientist who researches and teaches international politics. His interest is in international security with an emphasis on the politics of borders and territoriality, deterrence of non-state actors and their host states, and the international aspects of state weakness. His regional focus is in the Middle East, but his research extends to Africa, Europe, and Latin America as well. Atzili teaches courses include "International Relation Theory," "Schools of Thought in International Relations," "Security and Insecurity in a Global World," "Dynamics of International (in)Security," "Weak States and War," and "Arab-Israeli relations." Atzili's publications include Good Fences Bad Neighbors: Border Fixity and International Conflict (University of Chicago Press, 2012), and articles in International Security, Security Studies, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, and International Studies Review.

Degrees

PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; BA, International Relations, Hebrew University in Jerusalem

Languages Spoken
English, Hebrew

Download CV (PDF)

Office
SIS-School of Intl Service
SIS - 325
Contact Info
(202) 885-1648

Send email to Boaz Atzili

For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Research Interests

International security with an emphasis on territorial conflicts, the politics of borders, military doctrine, and the international aspects of state weakness and state failure. The Middle East, South and East Asia, and, in particular, Lebanon and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Selected Publications

  • Good Fences, Bad Neighbors: Border Fixity and International Conflict  (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, January 2012).
  • “Triadic Deterrence: Coercing Strength, Beaten by Weakness,” Security Studies, forthcoming (co-authored with Wendy Pearlman).
  • “State Weakness and Vacuum of Power' in Lebanon,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 33, No. 8 (August 2010): 757-782.
  • "When Good Fences Make Bad Neighbors: Fixed Borders, State Weakness, and International Conflict," International Security, Winter 2006-2007.
  • "The Virtues and Vices of Fixed Territorial Ownership," SAIS Review of International Affairs, Summer/Fall 2007.
  • "Border Fixity and the Transformation of International Relations," Harvard International Review," [On-Line Publication, September 2008].
  • "Peace Process." in William A. Darity (ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd Edition (Macmillan Reference USA, 2007).

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

  • Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
  • Kenneth N. Waltz Prize, Best International Security Dissertation, 2006, "Border Fixity: When Good Fences Make Bad Neighbors."

Professional Presentations

  • "A Lasting Failure: Fixed Borders and State Weakness in Lebanon," Presented at the annual convention of the International Studies Association, San Francisco, California, March 2008.
  • "Weak State and Transnational Insurgency: The PLO and Hezbollah in Lebanon." Presented at the annual convention of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, August-September 2007.
  • "Border Fixity: When Good Fences Make Good Neighbors, and When They Make Bad Ones." Presented at the annual convention of the International Studies Association, San Diego, California, March 2006.
  • "Border Fixity: When Good Fences Make Good Neighbors, and When They Make Bad Ones." Presented at the "New Faces in International Security" conference at the Triangle Institute for Security Studies (TISS), Duke University, North Carolina, September 2005.
  • "Complex Spiral of Escalation: the Case of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict." Presented at the annual convention of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, September 2004.
  • "Good Fences can Make Bad Neighbors: State Weakness, Border Fixity and the War in Congo." Presented at the annual convention of the International Studies Association, Montreal, Canada, March 2004.