Political Science professor and African Studies affiliate Scott Straus has won the 2018 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order for his book Making and Unmaking Nations: War, Leadership, and Genocide in Modern Africa.
The University of Louisville presents the $100,000 award annually for outstanding works in ideas improving world order, psychology, education, music composition and, in conjunction with Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, religion. The Ideas Improving World Order award is a major honor in the field of political science, with roughly 50 nominations sent from around the world each year, says award director Charles Ziegler.
In Making and Unmaking Nations, Straus — who specializes in the study of genocide, political violence, human rights and African politics — explains how ideas and political messages can become tipping points for genocide. His research examines patterns and circumstances that have resulted in genocide and contrasts those with similar situations where genocide seemed likely to happen but did not.
View the African Presidential Speeches Database Straus created for Making and Unmaking Nations »