Risa Brooks
Assistant Professor
PhD, University of California, San Diego
Professor Brooks' specializes in International Relations (Security), researching issues related to civil-military relations, military effectiveness, Middle East politics and terrorist organizations. She is the author of Shaping Strategy: the civil-military politics of strategic assessment (forthcoming, Princeton University Press), Political-military Relations and the Stability of Arab Regimes (Adelphi paper 324, Oxford University Press, 1998) and editor (with Elizabeth Stanley) of Creating Military Power: the sources of military effectiveness (Stanford University Press, 2007). She is also the author of several book chapters and articles, including those published by International Security and Security Studies. Her current research explores the determinants of terrorist groups' strategic choices. She is interested, in particular, in what shapes these organizations' reactions to the political opportunities available to them, or more broadly, the "Democracy and Terror" debate.
Brooks currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in national and international security, civil-military relations and terrorism. Her prior professional experiences including serving as a post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation; Research Associate at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, London U.K.; affiliation with Harvard University's Olin Institute for Strategic Studies; and visiting assistant professor in the department of government at Mills College, Oakland, CA.