Steve Swerdlow

Steve Swerdlow is an Associate Professor of the Practice of Human Rights in the Department of Political and International Relations at the University of Southern California (USC). He is also affiliated with USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. As a human rights lawyer and expert on the former Soviet region, he previously served as Senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, leading work on Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and establishing the Kyrgyzstan field office. He has consulted for the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

His research focuses on human rights dynamics in post-Soviet states, particularly in Central Asia, with expertise in international religious freedom, labor rights, and governance challenges. His work integrates legal frameworks with geopolitical analysis to address systemic human rights violations in authoritarian contexts.

No specific academic awards or grants are explicitly mentioned in the provided text. His professional contributions emphasize policy advocacy and field research rather than traditional academic publishing, as no recent articles are listed here.