I have historically been interested in two broad areas.  

First, I have been interested in political conflict and violence - particularly understanding what it is, how it could/should be measured and what explains its onset, degree of violence, duration and termination.  Although this concerns a wide variety of activities from different actors, I have been particularly interested in those actions involving governments and those affiliated with them (e.g., genocide/politicide, mass killing, torture, bans, curfews, beatings, arrests for political purposes and domestic spying).  I have a broad interest in the topic, which has brought me to look at all countries of the world but I have also spent a great deal of time exploring individual cases:

  • the United States - social movement and anti-movement interactions, riots/rebllions);
  • Rwanda (genocide, civil war, ethnic violence, human rights violations),
  • India (untouchability/caste discrimination),
  • Zimbabwe (non-violent direction action and state repression), and
  • Northern Ireland (insurgency and counter-insurgency, terrorism and counter-terrorism, repression)

Second, I have been interested in peace and peace making.  Most of this effort has been spent trying to understand what it is but I have also spent a little time trying to think about how it can/should be measured.

Currently, I am in something of a transition where I am finishing up some long-term projects on political conflict and violence and moving to the study of what I call "political love".   I think that after decades of systematic investigation, we now have a detailed understanding of what political conflict and violence is as well as a little understanding of what peace could be but we do not really understand what love is nor how it manifests in political ways.  This is somewhat connected to peace and peace making but it moves beyond it in important ways.  Stay tuned.

Enjoy
Christian Davenport

Professor  Research Professor  Elected Fellow Director  Co-Founder/Director  ​Co-Director ​ Co-Founder 
  • New Jack Academics with Professor Darren Davis
  • .EDU: opening minds & changing worlds with style with Professor Jillian Schwedler & Rodney Williams​

What is on this webpage?

On this site, you will find materials relevant to eleven areas: 

About Me - my vitae as well as some personal information
Written work - a listing of my books and articles (published and underway)
Archiving - different collections of information I made relevant to political conflict/violence    
Analyses - explorations into the macro (large-scale) and micro (individual/group) determinants of contentious politics
Teaching - lists of courses and materials related to my classes
Media - interviews and articles that featured my work
Scholarism - my attempts to stop/limit conflict/violence and obtain justice
Audio/Video - recordings and/or videos of presentations
Artistic Expression - my written (non-academic) stories, photography, board games and paintings
About My Students - current as well as those that have graduated  
Analog, the Anti-blog - thoughts, quotes, pictures, whatever... 

Want to just dive in?
In remembrance (always): Steven Poe, Charles Tilly, Will Moore
     - Friends, Antagonists, Inspirations, Competitors, Mentors, Questions, Answers