Barbara Elias

Barbara Elias is the Sarah & James Bowdoin Associate Professor of Government and Legal Studies at Bowdoin College. Specializing in international relations, insurgency warfare, U.S. foreign policy, and political Islam, her research focuses on counterinsurgency, proxy wars, and alliance politics. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA and BA from Brown University.

Her role includes serving on the editorial board of the Irregular Warfare Initiative, a collaboration between West Point and Princeton University. Notable works include *Why Allies Rebel: Defiant Local Partners in Counterinsurgency Wars* (Cambridge University Press, 2020), which won the ISSS Best Book Prize (2022) and APSA’s International Security Award (2021). She was named a 2025-26 Andrew Carnegie Fellow for her scholarship on national security and irregular warfare.

Research interests span structural flaws in U.S. counterinsurgency doctrine, the Taliban-Al-Qaeda alliance, and strategic challenges in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam. Teaching focuses on international security, U.S. foreign policy, and Islam’s political dimensions.

Awards include the Carnegie Fellowship, ISSS/ISA Best Book Prize, and APSA’s International Security Award. Her work bridges academia and policy, addressing enduring global security challenges.