Gender and Political Violence

Dr. Lori Poloni-Staudinger (PhD Indiana University 2005) is an Associate Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Politics and International Affairs at Northern Arizona University.  She is also Statewide Coordinator for Arizona Deliberates, an organization focused on increasing public deliberation in Arizona, and a Kettering Foundation Fellow.  Her research focuses on social movements and political participation, political contention and extra-institutional participation, and political institutions, mainly in Western Europe.  Her recent work examines questions around women and terrorism and has been published in many journals and a book.  Dr. Poloni-Staudinger was a Distinguished Fulbright Fellow at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna, Austria in 2010 and has served as a consultant for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.  She also taught at University of the Basque Country in San Sebastian, Spain and has travelled extensively and lived in many parts of Europe and the United States. Dr. Candice D. Ortbals, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Political Science in the Social Science Division at Pepperdine University.  She researches gender and politics, focusing on social movements, state feminism, terrorism, and memory.  Her work largely examines politics in Spain. She is the author, with Lori Poloni-Staudinger, of Terrorism and Violent Conflict:  Women's Agency, Leadership and Responses (2012, Springer Press). She has also published in Politics & Gender, International Studies Quartile, and Critical Terrorism Studies.  Her email address is cortbals@pepperdine.edu.