Virginia Page Fortna

Department of Political Science

Research Interest

International Relations

 

Page Fortna (Ph.D.Harvard, 1998) is Chair of the Political Science Department. Her research focuses on terrorism, the durability of peace in the aftermath of both civil and interstate wars, and war termination. She is the author of two books: Does Peacekeeping Work? Shaping Belligerents Choices after Civil War (Princeton University Press, 2008) and Peace Time: Cease-Fire Agreements and the Durability of Peace (Princeton University Press, 2004). She has published articles in journals such as World Politics, International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, and International Studies Review. She is currently working on a project on terrorism in civil wars. Her research combines quantitative and qualitative methods, draws on diverse theoretical approaches, and focuses on policy-relevant questions.

Fortna is a member of the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University. She received the Karl Deutsch Award from the International Studies Association in 2010. She has held fellowships at the Olin Institute at Harvard, the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Hoover Institution. She received her BA from Wesleyan University.

Professor Fortna teaches courses on international politics, war termination and the durability of peace, terrorism, cooperation and security, and research methods.

Professor Fortna's article "Do Terrorists Win? Rebels' Use of Terrorism and Civil War Outcomes" (International Organization, Summer 2015) has recently been highlighted in The Atlantic; Slate; and Die Zeit. She talks about her research with Dan Riendreau of the Corus Radio Network here (aired May 28, 2015).

She lives in New York (and in Portland, Oregon during summers and leaves) with her husband, Pete Beeman; her daughters, Rosie and Linden; and their dog, Tosca.

Website

http://www.columbia.edu/~vpf4/