Deborah Avant

Deborah Avant

Deborah Avant is Distinguished University Professor and Sié Chéou-Kang Chair at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver. Her research has focused on the US role in the world, networks of global governance (surrounding business, security, and human rights, climate change, and internet governance/cyber security), relations between companies and communities, non-violent action and violence, civil-military relations, and the privatization of military and security services. She is author/editor of Civil Action and the Dynamics of Violence in Conflicts (with Sié Center colleagues); The New Power Politics: Networks and Transnational Security Governance (with Oliver Westerwinter); Who Governs the Globe? (with Martha Finnemore and Susan Sell), The Market for Force: the Consequences of Privatizing Security; and Political Institutions and Military Change: Lessons From Peripheral Wars. Dr. Avant is also an advisor to the Planetary Politics initiative at New America and president of the International Studies Association.

Five Lessons for responsible engagement when the world is on fire

by Deborah Avant | 6 September, 2022 | Academia, Bridging the Gap

Waves of global crises have generated challenges in nearly every corner of human life. Catastrophic climate change, an ever-morphing global pandemic, widening democratic decline, rising economic inequality, increasing violence, geopolitical rivalry, and war join deeply entrenched systemic racism and sexism to create a toxic cocktail. How can “experts” productively engage at this moment? Practitioners often seek out guidance from experts during upheavals like ours, but policy-engaged scholars face dilemmas that complicate their response. To begin, crises are often the product of complex,...

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Deborah Avant

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Five Lessons for responsible engagement when the world is on fire

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