Curtis Bell, Ph.D.
Director Maritime Security and Governance Staff Course
Biography
Curtis Bell is the endowed Captain Jerome E. Levy Chair of Economic Geography and National Security. He is also the Director of the Maritime Security and Governance Staff Course, which strengthens global partnerships through international officer education. His expertise on transnational organized crime at sea, multilateral cooperation mechanisms, and maritime strategic competition is informed by scholarly research and professional work on five continents. His work has been featured in prominent media outlets, prestigious academic journals, and a United Nations Security Council Resolution on counter-piracy cooperation. He earned his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Colorado.
Contact Information
Areas of Expertise
- Africa
- Civil War
- Foreign Policy
- International Relations
- Irregular Warfare
- Maritime Strategy
- Piracy
- Security Cooperation
- Terrorism
- Women, Peace, and Security
Professional Highlights
Captain Jerome E. Levy Chair of Economic Geography and National Security
Professor of Maritime Security and Governance
Director, Maritime Security and Governance Staff Course
Associate Professor of Maritime Security and Governance
Creator and Director, Stable Seas
Associate Director of Research, One Earth Future
Research Associate, One Earth Future
Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Tennessee
Ph.D. in Political Science, University of Colorado at Boulder
Education
Ph.D., University of Colorado at Boulder, Political Science
M.A., University of Colorado at Boulder, Political Science
B.A. (with honors), Willamette University, Politics
Research Contributions and Publications
“Early Warning and Predictive Analytic Systems in Conflict Contexts: Insights from the Field”
Civil Wars, 2023
Authored with Timothy Lynam, Mollie Zapata, Harvard Hegre, and Clayton Besaw
“Potential for Perceived Failure of Stratospheric Aerosol Injection Deployment”
Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences, 119(40), 2022
Authored with Patrick W. Keys, Elizabeth A. Barnes, James W. Hurrell, and Noah S. Diffenbaugh
“Oil Discovery, Oil Production, and Coups d’Etat”
International Interactions, 48(3): 374-396, 2022
Authored with Hans-Inge Lango and Scott Wolford
“Oil Discoveries, Civil War, and Preventive State Repression”
Journal of Peace Research, Forthcoming
Authored with Peter Carey (University of California, Merced), Emily Ritter (Vanderbilt University), and Scott Wolford (University of Texas).
“ViEWS 2020: Revising and Evaluating the ViEWS Political Violence Early Warning System”
Journal of Peace Research, Forthcoming
Contributor
Stable Seas: The Caribbean
Stable Seas, One Earth Future, Forthcoming
Authored with Ian Ralby (I.R. Consilium) and Laura Burroughs and Lydelle Joubert (both of Stable Seas).
Pirates of the Gulf of Guinea: A Cost Analysis for Coastal States
Stables Seas, 2021
Lead Author. Authored with Jay Benson, Jon Huggins, Lydelle Joubert, Ifesinachi Okafor-Yarwood, and Tarila Marclint Ebiede.
Violence at Sea: How Terrorists, Insurgents, and Other Extremists Exploit the Maritime Domain
Stable Seas, One Earth Future, 2020
Authored with Christopher Faulkner (University of Central Florida) and Meghan Curran, Tyler Lycan, Michael Van Ginkel, and Jay Benson (all of Stable Seas).
Stable Seas: The Gulf of Guinea
Stable Seas, One Earth Future, 2020
Managed the Project, Authored by Team of Direct Reports.
Stable Seas: The Bay of Bengal
Stable Seas, One Earth Future, 2020
Managed the Project, Authored by Team of Direct Reports.
Stable Seas Maritime Security Index
Stable Seas, One Earth Future, 2018-2020
Lead Author and Project Creator. Codebook Authored with Sarah Glaser.
Soft Targets and Black Markets: Terrorist Activities in the Maritime Domain
Stable Seas, One Earth Future, 2019
Managed the Project, Authored by Meghan Curran (Direct Report).
Stable Seas: Sulu and Celebes Seas
Stable Seas, One Earth Future, 2019
Authored with Alexandra Amling, Asyura Salleh, Jay Benson, and Sean Duncan (all of Stable Seas).
“The Rise Predicts the Fall: How the Method of Leader Entry Predicts the Method of Leader Removal in Dictatorships”
International Studies Quarterly, 2018
Authored with Jun Koga Sudduth (University of Strathclyde).
“Minority Languages in Dictatorships: A New Measure of Group Recognition”
Political Science Research and Methods, 2018
Authored with Amy Liu (University of Texas) and Jennifer Gandhi (Emory University).
“Conditional Relationships Between Drought and Civil Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa”
Foreign Policy Analysis, 2018
Authored with Patrick W. Keys (Colorado State University).
“Can the Red Queen Help? A New Approach to Explaining the Formation of Interest Groups in the USA”
Interest Groups & Advocacy, 2018
Authored with Anthony J. Nownes (University of Tennessee).
“Coup d’Etat and Democracy”
Comparative Political Studies, 2016
Author
“The Causes and Outcomes of Coups During Civil Wars”
Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2015
Authored with Jun Koga Sudduth (University of Strathclyde).
“Oil Discoveries, Shifting Power, and Civil Conflict”
International Studies Quarterly, 2015
Authored with Scott Wolford (University of Texas).
“Buying Support and Buying Time: The Effect of Regime Consolidation on Public Goods Provision”
International Studies Quarterly, 2011
Author
External Memberships and Associations
Security Institute for Security and Governance in Africa (SIGLA), Stellenbosch University
Research Fellow
2019-Present
Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime
Expert & Network Member
2018-Present
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