Christopher Blair

Chris Blair is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania, and a graduate affiliate of the Penn Identity & Conflict Lab. His work spans international relations and comparative politics, with a substantive focus on the political economy of conflict and migration. The main questions motivating his research are: (1) how counterinsurgency policies impact rebel and civilian behavior; and (2) how prospective hosts respond to forcibly displaced people. In a related, secondary agenda, he also investigates the impact of public opinion on foreign policy. He uses an array of quantitative and qualitative tools, including design-based causal inference, original and archival data collection, and interviews. Geographically, he concentrates on the Global South, namely the Middle East and Africa. His research is published or forthcoming in the American Political Science Review, International Organization, and the Journal of Politics.