Miriam F. Elman jointed the department in 1995 and is an Associate Professor. She received her PhD degree from Columbia University in 1996. Elman is the editor of Paths to Peace: Is Democracy the Answer? (MIT Press, 1997), and the co-editor of Bridges and Boundaries: Historians, Political Scientists, and the Study of International Relations (MIT Press, 2001) and Progress in International Relations Theory: Appraising the Field (MIT Press, 2003). Her current research interests include the impact of war and foreign policy crises on democratic political development; democratization in the Middle East; and the role of religious political parties in promoting and moderating violence. She is currently co-Director of an interdisciplinary project on Democracy in the Middle East funded by ASU's Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict. Elman's research has also been supported by Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, where she was a Security Fellow from 1995-1996 and from 1998-2000. Her publications have appeared in the British Journal of Political Science, the American Political Science Review, International Security, International Studies Quarterly, Security Studies, the International History Review, and other journals. She currently serves on the Editorial Board of the journal International Security and is President-Elect of the American Political Science Association's division of Foreign Policy. Her teaching includes courses on International Relations theory, war and peace in the Middle East, terrorism, war and conflict processes, and international security.