Research

Research priorities: armed conflict, civil war, ethnic inequality, nationalism, state formation

Lars-Erik Cederman is a Swedish-Swiss political scientist who specializes in conflict research. The link between armed conflicts and macrohistorical processes such as state formation and nationalism is the focus of his research. He examines the effect of ethnopolitical and ethno-economic inequalities on civil wars and the question of how power-sharing and the resulting decline in inequality can reduce conflicts.

His research group focuses on the link between inequality and political violence. Cederman assumes that ethnic inequality and ethnonationalist mobilization may trigger civil wars. Over the years, his research team has collected and analyzed data on ethnic groups and their participation in conflict processes. This research resulted in the database "Ethnic Power Relations (EPR) Dataset Family".

In his ERC Advanced Grant Project, Cederman is developing a new theory of nationalist state transformation. He is testing this theory using historical maps and archival data selected through machine learning. He thus examines how states are formed, how nationalism changes external borders and internal structures, and how these processes interact with wars. The objective is to determine the impact of reform proposals, such as territorial division, on risk minimization of emerging conflicts.

Career

• since 2003 Professor of International Conflict Research, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
• 2001-2003 Frederick S. Danziger Associate Professor of Government, Harvard University, USA
• 1997-2001 Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of California at Los Angeles, USA
• 1995-1997 University Lecturer, Somerville College, Oxford University, UK
• 1994-1995 Lecturer, Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, Switzerland
• 1994 Ph.D, Political Sciences, University of Michigan, USA

Functions

• since 2019 Chair, Scientific Advisory Board, Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality: Perceptions, Participation and Policies”, University of Konstanz, Germany
• since 2018 Deputy chair, GESS Department, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
• 2012-2013 Director, Center for Comparative and International Studies
• since 2014 Global Fellow, Peace Research Institute, Oslo, Norway

Projects

• since 2018 Advanced Grant “Nationalist State Transformation and Conflict”, European Research Council (ERC)
• 2015-2018 “Causes and Consequences of Irredentism”, Swiss National Science Foundation for the Promotion of Scientific Research (SNF)
• 2015-2016 “Civilian Victimization and Conflict Escalation”, Swiss Network for International Studies
• 2014-2016 “Revisiting the Resource Curse based on Geocoded Events Data”, Swiss National Science Foundation for the Promotion of Scientific Research (SNF)
• 2013-2016 “Ethnic Power Relations and Conflict in fragile States”, Swiss National Science Foundation for the Promotion of Scientific Research (SNF)
• 2012-2016 Chair, “European Network of Conflict Research”, COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology), EU Research Framework Programme Horizon 2020
• 2012-2015 “Ethnic Inclusion and Power Sharing Institutions”, Swiss National Science Foundation for the Promotion of Scientific Research (SNF)
• 2010-2012 “Refugee Flows and Transnational Ethnic Linkages”, Swiss Network for International Studies
• 2009-2013 “Institutional Strategies for Post-Conflict Democratization”, NCCR Democracy, Swiss National Science Foundation for the Promotion of Scientific Research (SNF)
• 2007-2009 ECRP Project “Disaggregating Civil Wars”, European Science Foundation
• 2006-2009 “Democratizing Divided Societies in Bad Neighborhoods”, NCCR Democracy, National Science Foundation for the Promotion of Scientific Research (SNF)

Honours and Memberships

• since 2019 Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
• 2018 Marcel Benoist Science Prize, Switzerland
• 2015 David Singer Data Innovation Award, American Political Science Association
• since 2014 Global Fellow, Peace Research Institute Oslo, Norwegian
• 2014 NEPS Medal, Network of European Peace Scientists
• 2013 APSA Conflict Processes Best Book Award, American Political Science Association
• 2011 The Heinz Eulau Award, American Political Science Association
• 2001 The Heinz Eulau Award, American Political Science Association
• 2000-2001 Visiting Scholar, John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA
• 2000 The Furniss Award for Emergent Actors in World Politics, Mershon Center, Ohio State University, USA
• 1999-2000 Jean Monnet Fellow, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Florence, Italia
• 1995 Ann Arbor. Horace H. Rackham Distinguished Dissertation Award, The University of Michigan, USA
• 1992-1994 Fellowship in Peace and Security in a Changing World, Social Science Research Council/MacArthur Foundation
• 1991-1992 Thord-Gray Memorial Fellowship, The American-Scandinavian Foundation
• 1990-1991 Graduate Fellowship for studies at the University of Michigan, Rotary Foundation
• 1988-1989 Fellowship for studies at the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Swiss Confederation
• 1986-1987 Undergraduate fellowship for studies at University of Massachusetts, Fulbright Commission
• 1986-1987 Scholarship, Marcus Wallenberg’s Foundation for International Industrial Enterprise (again 1988-1989, 1991-1992)