Alec Worsnop
Department of Political Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
aworsnop@mit.edu • (781) 801-5634
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Political Science
Exam Fields: Comparative Politics, International Relations (High Pass, 2012)
Dissertation: “Organization and Community: Determinants of Insurgent Military Effectiveness”
Committee: Roger Petersen (chair), Barry Posen, Fotini Christia, Lily Tsai
Colby College, Waterville, Maine
B.A., Government, Summa Cum Laude (May 2003)
esis: “It’s Not All About July: Understanding Hezbollah’s Quest for Deterrence”
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Teaching Assistant, “Scope and Methods,” with Professor
Fall 2013/2014
Fotini Christia, MIT
Lead an undergraduate section assisting students in analyzing and developing social
science research designs and projects.
Research Assistant, Professor Fotini
Summer 2011/Spring 2013
Christia, MIT
Provided research assistance evaluating development programs in Yemen and Afghanistan and craing survey instruments for use in Yemen. Provided assistance in refining
the qualitative chapters of Alliance Formation in Civil Wars.
Research Assistant, Professor Lily Tsai, MIT
Fall 2012
Provided quantitative analysis and qualitative input to a project investigating Chinese
village-level perceptions of governmental responsiveness in reaction to township fiscal,
electoral, and institutional reforms.
Research Assistant, Professor Roger
Summer 2011/2012, Spring 2014
Petersen, MIT
Provided research assistance covering counterinsurgency and violent sub-state conflict
in Iraq. Assembled a report on the use of social network analysis in counterinsurgency
including case studies of its use in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Manager, Afghanistan and Pakistan Business Development,
2007-2010
Chemonics International, Washington, D.C.
Traveled to Afghanistan to assist in research, logistical preparation, and strategic decisions for implementation of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) programs. Assignments included writing the Chemonics technical proposals for
the USAID Afghanistan Municipal Development Program and the USAID Office of
Transition Initiatives program in FATA and NWFP in Pakistan.
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“Not All Intrastate Violence is Civil War: Varieties of Violence and the Perils of Model
Dependence in Civil War Research” (co-authored with Noel Anderson). Currently under review at a peer-reviewed journal.
“Who Can Keep the Peace?: Insurgent Organizational Control of Collective Violence”
Currently under review at a peer-reviewed journal.
“e Worst Case Scenario?: Assessing the Impact of a Complete ISAF Military Withdrawal from Afghanistan.” Working paper.
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“A Closer Look at ISIS in Iraq,” with Evan Perkoski (University of Pennsylvania), guest
post at Political Violence @ a Glance, 16 June 2014.
“Insurgent Organizational Structure and the Control of Collective Violence,” Précis,
Fall 2013.
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“Military Effectiveness During the First Indochina War”
– 56th International Studies Association Annual
Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana
February 2015
“Organization and Community: e Determinants of Insurgent Military Effectiveness”
– American Political Science Association Annual
August 2014
Conference, Washington, D.C.
“It’s Not Just Community: e Determinants of Insurgent Military Effectiveness”
– 55th International Studies Association Annual
March 2014
Convention, Toronto, Canada
“Not All Fragmentation is Equal: Insurgent Organizational Structure and Control of
Collective Violence”
– Tobin Project National Security Graduate
November 2013
Student Forum, Cambridge, Massachusetts
– American Political Science Association Annual
August 2013
Conference, Chicago, Illinois
– 54th International Studies Association Annual
April 2013
Convention, San Francisco, California
– Olympia Summer Seminar on the
July 2012
Transformation of Conflict, Olympia, Greece
– Strategic Use of Force Working Group, Massachusetts
November 2011
Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
“Not All Intrastate Violence is Civil War: Varieties of Violence and the Perils of Model
Dependence in Civil War Research” (co-authored with Noel Anderson)
– 55th International Studies Association
March 2014
Annual Convention, Toronto, Canada
– Harvard-Yale-MIT Conference on Political Violence
April 2013
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
– Harvard Political Violence Working Group
March 2013
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
– Strategic Use of Force Working Group, Massachusetts
November 2012
Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
“Network Analysis in Counterinsurgency”
– PRIO/MIT Conference on Counterinsurgency and
Counterterrorism, Cambridge, Massachusetts
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2015-2016
2015-2016
2014
2014
2014
2013
2013
2010-2015
2007
2007
2007
November 2011
George Washington University Institute for Security and Conflict Studies
Predoctoral Research Fellow
Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Dissertation Fellowship
Levitan Award for Excellence in Teaching
MIT Center for International Studies Research Grant
Smith Richardson Foundation World Politics and Statecra Fellowship
Tobin Project National Security Fellowship
MIT Center for International Studies Research Grant
MIT Graduate Fellowship
Pi Sigma Alpha inductee
Distinction in Government (Colby College)
Albert A. Mavrinac Prize in Government
2006
2006
Laurie Peterson Memorial Award in Government
Charles A. Dana Scholar
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Co-Coordinator, MIT-Harvard-Yale Political Violence Conference, April 2015
Coordinator, MIT Political Science Graduate Work in Progress Group, 2012-2013
Member, American Political Science Association, 2010-present
Member, International Studies Association, 2011-present
Affiliate, MIT Security Studies Program, 2010-present
Affiliate, MIT Center for International Studies, 2010-present
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Proficient French and Elementary Vietnamese. Proficient in R, LaTeX and STATA.