I am a Professor of Political Science at Columbia University (as of January 1, 2024). Prior to joining Columbia, I was a Professor in the School of Foreign Service and the Director of the Mortara Center for International Studies, as well as a core faculty member in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University.
My research and teaching interests focus on the domestic politics of international relations and US foreign policy, especially the role of leaders, the presidency, and the politics of using force. My first book, Leaders at War: How Presidents Shape Military Interventions, was published by Cornell University Press in 2011, and received the 2012 Jervis-Schroeder Best Book Award from APSA’s International History and Politics section.
My second book, The Insiders’ Game: How Elites Make War and Peace, is available for preorder at Princeton University Press (Princeton Studies in International History and Politics). The book argues that elite politics are central to understanding when and how democracies fight wars.
I am an editor and contributor to the Good Authority blog, and a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
My research also examines other aspects of the politics of foreign policy and international conflict, including how leaders interact with advisers, the politics of leaks, how women’s suffrage shapes the democratic peace, the domestic politics of nuclear choices, and the role of high-level diplomacy in US foreign policy. My work has been published in the Annual Review of Political Science, International Organization, International Security, World Politics, International Studies Quarterly, Security Studies, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, the American Journal of Political Science, International Studies Review, and Foreign Affairs.
Updated January 2024
Elizabeth N. Saunders 