KSG fellow named Carnegie Scholar

Erin K. Jenne, a postdoc fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the World Peace Foundation (WPF) Program on Intrastate Conflict at the Kennedy School of Government, has been named among 10 other leading scholars nationwide as a member of the 2002 class of Carnegie Scholars. Selected by the Carnegie Corp. of New York, the recipients are honored for their innovative scholarship in education, international development, strengthening U.S. democracy, and international peace and security.

“We want to encourage and support original and creative scholars working on a wide array of social issues who are linked together by their individual commitments to discovering and advancing knowledge and to improving society,” said Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corp. of New York.

Jenne’s research, titled “Europe’s Long Struggle with Ethnic Conflict: From the League of Nations to the European Union,” explores how third parties intervene to protect minorities without encouraging minority rebellion or exacerbating ethnic strife. Jenne suggests that while history offers insights into this question, most of the solutions considered for today’s ethnic conflicts – ethnic partition, territorial autonomy, outside intervention, and external inducements – have already been employed in the interwar period (the period between World War I and World War II). She proposes to re-examine this history in order to learn which instruments are likely to be most effective in resolving conflicts today. The results of this study will be distilled into a book on how today’s policymakers can learn from the mistakes of the League of Nations to create a regime that promotes peace and tolerance in Europe and around the world.

Each of the 11 Carnegie Scholars will receive up to $100,000 for one to two years to help fund their research.