Kimberly Marten

Professor, Department of Political Science, Barnard College

402 Lehman Hall, Barnard College

212-854-5115

km2225@columbia.edu

http://polisci.barnard.edu/profiles/kimberly-marten

Kimberly Marten is a Professor of Political Science (and the former department chair) at Barnard College, and a Member of the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University. Marten's current research focuses on non-state militias, asking whether and how patronage-based forces can be transformed into impersonal and professional military and police organizations. Her goal is to apply historical experience to understand current cases, especially Afghanistan. Marten also has a continuing interest in the politics and security of Russia and the post-Soviet space. She serves on the Executive Committees of both the Harriman Institute at Columbia and the Program on New Approaches to Research on Security in Eurasia (PONARS-Eurasia) based at George Washington University. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Marten's fourth book, Warlords: Strong-Arm Brokers in Weak States (Cornell University Press Series on Studies in Security Affairs, May 2012), investigates sovereignty and state failure in regions of the world ranging from the Pakistani tribal areas and Iraq to post-Soviet Georgia and Russia’s Republic of Chechnya.

Marten earned an A.B. magna cum laude from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Selected Publications

“Warlordism in Comparative Perspective.” International Security (Winter 2006/2007)

Enforcing the Peace: Learning from the Imperial Past (Columbia University Press, 2004)

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Weapons, Culture, and Self-Interest: Soviet Defense Managers in the New Russia (Columbia University Press, 1997)

Engaging the Enemy: Organization Theory and Soviet Military Innovation, 1955-1991 (Princeton University Press, 1993)

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See All Publications by Kimberly Marten