Welcome. I am an Associate Professor at the Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland. My primary research interests include self-determination, secession, civil war, leadership in rebellion, and non-violent resistance.  I received my Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego in 2007. I have been a Fulbright Scholar and a Senior Researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo.  My book Inside the Politics of Self-determination was  published by Oxford University Press in 2014.  My work has also been published in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, International Organization, Journal of Peace Research, Journal of Conflict Research, International Studies Quarterly, International Organization, and Perspectives on Politics. ​I received the ISA's 2017 ISSS Emerging Scholar Award.

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Download my CV

Google Scholar page

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Recent news

• Need a quick primer on fractionalization and civil war? See my chapter in Oxford Research Encyclopedia. 
• Article in JCR on external support to rebels in now in print
• Recent blog on Political Violence at a Glance w/ Katherine Sawyer: The Global Spread of Self-determination
• My article on contagion of self-determination claims w/ Katherine Sawyer is online at International Organization.
• Honored to receive a UMD BSOS grant for my project on religion and contention
• Our article Strategies of Resistance: Diversification and Diffusion is online at AJPS!
• Spoke at the Middle East Institute's panel on Containing the Civil War Contagion with Ross Harrison, Ken Pollack and Marc Lynch. See the video here.
• Updated the Data Projects page for my new project on religion and nonviolence.
• Received the ISA's 2017 ISSS Emerging Scholar Award at ISA 2017.​

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Recent talks and travels

University of Chicago, PISP 2017
University of Wisconsin, Madison 2017
​DC IR Workshop, Georgetown University 2017
Middle East Institute 2017
UMD Advance Program 2017
​Memorial University of Newfoundland 2017
Bahá’í Chair for World Peace 2017
University of Texas, Austin 2017
American University 2017
​Duke University 2017

Tweets by @kgcunnin

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Current positions in the profession

• I serve as an Associate Editor at the Journal of Peace Research and am on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Global Security Studies, the American Political Science Review and the Journal of Politics.​
• I joined the APSA Committee on the Status of Women in 2016, and am the chair of the ISA Committee on the Status of Women (2017- 2018), and the Section Chair for International Conflict Processes Section of the Midwest Political Science Association for 2018. ​
• I am currently a councilor in the Conflict Processes Section of the American Political Science Association.
• I participate in the Women in Conflict Studies (WICS) network and am an alum of Journey in World Politics.

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