Professor Laia Balcells is a Professor of Government at Georgetown University. Her research focuses on comparative politics and international relations, with a particular emphasis on political violence and civil conflict. She is the author of Rivalry and Revenge: The Politics of Violence during Civil War (Cambridge University Press, 2017) and has published extensively in leading journals, including the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, PNAS, and the Journal of Politics. Professor Balcells has received several prestigious awards, including the ISA’s ISS Emerging Scholar Award, and her work has been supported by the World Bank, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the Folke Bernadotte Academy, and the UK Economic Social and Research Council (ESRC).