Catherine Lena Kelly
American Council for Learned Societies, Public Fellow, American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative
I am Associate Professor of Justice and Rule of Law at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies on the National Defense University campus, where my work focuses on citizen security, rule of law, transnational organized crime, and party politics and democratization/governance. Previously, I was an Advisor in the Research, Evaluation, and Learning Division of the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative. A West and Central Africa specialist fluent in French and proficient in Wolof, I also write and consult about regional rule of law, democracy, and governance issues. I have been a Penn Kemble Democracy Forum Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy, a Mellon/American Council of Learned Societies Public Fellow, a Postdoctoral Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis, and a West Africa Research Association Postdoctoral Grantee.
I hold a Ph.D. (2014) from Harvard University in the Department of Government, where I was an interdisciplinary Graduate Student Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs as well as a Harvard Sciences-Po Exchange Fellow. Previously, as a Fulbright Scholar, I earned a post-Graduate Certificate in International Politics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (2007), with a specialization in “Europe, Conflict Resolution, and Peacebuilding.” I have a B.A. summa cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis (2006).
As a practitioner, I analyze post-conflict security and justice, citizen and community security, security governance, transnational organized crime, legal aid and paralegalism, sexual and gender-based violence prevention, countering violent extremism, and civil society capacity-building. Monitoring, evaluation, and learning is an additional specialty. This work has afforded me experience in Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and South Africa.
My academic work is on the comparative politics of Africa, especially party building, democratization, and Islam in politics, with a focus on Senegal, where I spent eighteen months conducting fieldwork for my book, Party Proliferation and Political Contestation in Africa: Senegal in Comparative Perspective (2019, Palgrave Macmillan). Fieldwork and language acquisition have deeply informed my teaching, most recently as a West Africa Course Coordinator at the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute, and previously as the leader of advanced undergraduate courses of my own design at Washington University of St. Louis and as a teaching assistant at Harvard University.
My research has been supported by two U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships, the West Africa Research Association, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, and the American Political Science Association (APSA) Africa Workshop. My work has appeared in Comparative Politics, Journal of Democracy, Journal of Religious and Political Practice, as American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative Issue Papers, and on the blogs of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Monkey Cage at The Washington Post, the Social Science Research Council, and the American Evaluation Association.
Supervisors: Steven Levitsky
Phone: http://www.catherinelenakelly.com/
Address: ACLS Public Fellowship /
American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative --- 1050 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC 20036
I hold a Ph.D. (2014) from Harvard University in the Department of Government, where I was an interdisciplinary Graduate Student Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs as well as a Harvard Sciences-Po Exchange Fellow. Previously, as a Fulbright Scholar, I earned a post-Graduate Certificate in International Politics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (2007), with a specialization in “Europe, Conflict Resolution, and Peacebuilding.” I have a B.A. summa cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis (2006).
As a practitioner, I analyze post-conflict security and justice, citizen and community security, security governance, transnational organized crime, legal aid and paralegalism, sexual and gender-based violence prevention, countering violent extremism, and civil society capacity-building. Monitoring, evaluation, and learning is an additional specialty. This work has afforded me experience in Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and South Africa.
My academic work is on the comparative politics of Africa, especially party building, democratization, and Islam in politics, with a focus on Senegal, where I spent eighteen months conducting fieldwork for my book, Party Proliferation and Political Contestation in Africa: Senegal in Comparative Perspective (2019, Palgrave Macmillan). Fieldwork and language acquisition have deeply informed my teaching, most recently as a West Africa Course Coordinator at the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute, and previously as the leader of advanced undergraduate courses of my own design at Washington University of St. Louis and as a teaching assistant at Harvard University.
My research has been supported by two U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships, the West Africa Research Association, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, and the American Political Science Association (APSA) Africa Workshop. My work has appeared in Comparative Politics, Journal of Democracy, Journal of Religious and Political Practice, as American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative Issue Papers, and on the blogs of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Monkey Cage at The Washington Post, the Social Science Research Council, and the American Evaluation Association.
Supervisors: Steven Levitsky
Phone: http://www.catherinelenakelly.com/
Address: ACLS Public Fellowship /
American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative --- 1050 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC 20036
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Papers by Catherine Lena Kelly
consideration when crafting and realizing such programming for conflict, security, and stabilization objectives. The paper also discusses three inherent tensions that implementers face in practice, as well as some tools and strategies to address them. Overall, the paper argues that:
• A citizen-centered, problem-driven, and politically smart approach to rule of law and stabilization programming is needed. Such an approach entails constructively engaging
legal pluralism when appropriate; using theories of change that reflect the challenges citizens face in meeting basic justice and security needs in environments with
overlapping or contested sovereignties; and employing context-specific knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses that central state authorities bring to bear in stablization.
• ABA ROLI adopts these approaches in its programming in different ways. In situations of protracted conflict, this may include: (a) maximizing citizen involvement in constitutional reform processes; (b) using legal and community-based clout to justify including marginalized groups’ perspectives in transitional justice; and/or (c) supporting community-based and alternative dispute resolution, particularly when citizens lack trust in the state.
In post-conflict settings or in places subject to other forms of political violence, this may include: (a) promoting long-term legal empowerment and judicial accountability; and (b) countering violent extremism through research-informed programming that respects freedoms, civil liberties, and human rights.
Rule of law implementers in violent and conflict-affected contexts face tensions in their everyday practice that complicate the use of good practices and the achievement of program goals and objectives. Some of the most notable challenges relate to: balancing short-term and long-term goals; blending political and technical approaches; engaging with various state and non-state aspects of governance and legitimacy.
There are ways to address these tensions pragmatically. Practitioners should consider: using existing, in-country professional networks to forge local partnerships; making those partnerships egalitarian and empowering local knowledge holders; engaging in interdisciplinary analytics of the context to inform programming; investing in building the capacity of local civil society on a variety of axes; building upon time-tested connections with government officials and institutions to encourage reforms likely to bolster or reinforce public trust in the state; working with civil society to help citizens access a range of justice options.
ABA ROLI has applied several of these strategies in Libya, the Balkans, and Mali, using in-house and external research tools to generate relevant analysis and recommendations.
consideration when crafting and realizing such programming for conflict, security, and stabilization objectives. The paper also discusses three inherent tensions that implementers face in practice, as well as some tools and strategies to address them. Overall, the paper argues that:
• A citizen-centered, problem-driven, and politically smart approach to rule of law and stabilization programming is needed. Such an approach entails constructively engaging
legal pluralism when appropriate; using theories of change that reflect the challenges citizens face in meeting basic justice and security needs in environments with
overlapping or contested sovereignties; and employing context-specific knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses that central state authorities bring to bear in stablization.
• ABA ROLI adopts these approaches in its programming in different ways. In situations of protracted conflict, this may include: (a) maximizing citizen involvement in constitutional reform processes; (b) using legal and community-based clout to justify including marginalized groups’ perspectives in transitional justice; and/or (c) supporting community-based and alternative dispute resolution, particularly when citizens lack trust in the state.
In post-conflict settings or in places subject to other forms of political violence, this may include: (a) promoting long-term legal empowerment and judicial accountability; and (b) countering violent extremism through research-informed programming that respects freedoms, civil liberties, and human rights.
Rule of law implementers in violent and conflict-affected contexts face tensions in their everyday practice that complicate the use of good practices and the achievement of program goals and objectives. Some of the most notable challenges relate to: balancing short-term and long-term goals; blending political and technical approaches; engaging with various state and non-state aspects of governance and legitimacy.
There are ways to address these tensions pragmatically. Practitioners should consider: using existing, in-country professional networks to forge local partnerships; making those partnerships egalitarian and empowering local knowledge holders; engaging in interdisciplinary analytics of the context to inform programming; investing in building the capacity of local civil society on a variety of axes; building upon time-tested connections with government officials and institutions to encourage reforms likely to bolster or reinforce public trust in the state; working with civil society to help citizens access a range of justice options.
ABA ROLI has applied several of these strategies in Libya, the Balkans, and Mali, using in-house and external research tools to generate relevant analysis and recommendations.
-- Praise --
“Having twice experienced a turnover in power following the defeat of incumbents in presidential elections, Senegal has been widely hailed as a model of democracy in Africa. Yet the country continues to intrigue and puzzle analysts for its unexpected political dynamics. Prime among these are the striking proliferation of parties that do not conform to expected logics of party politics, and the failure to institutionalize the party system. In the consequent debate on the nature of Senegalese democracy, Kelly offers an explanation for this phenomenon within the theoretical framework of “competitive authoritarianism.” Building on a wealth of data gathered from interviews over a year and a half of fieldwork, she offers a fine-grained and nuanced empirical examination of the logic of party creation and the dynamics of party trajectories over a quarter century of democratic experimentation. This book will be of high interest not only for those attempting to make sense of the intriguing Senegalese case, but more broadly for those interested in the surprising patterns of party politics in African democratization.” (Leonardo A. Villalón, Professor and Dean, University of Florida, USA)
“An analytical treasure trove, this book takes our understanding of Senegal’s idiosyncratic democracy to a whole new level. In it, Kelly skillfully explains the intricacies and inner workings of Senegal’s ever-evolving democratic system, sharing her expert knowledge with us, the readers. A must-read for political scientists and Africanists alike, this book shows us why Senegal stands out as an especially useful and salient case study of political party formation and proliferation.” (Matthew T. Page, Associate Fellow, Africa Programme, Chatham House, UK)
“This important book tells us why and how party proliferation occurs, as politicians create new parties, rather than remaining loyal or collaborating with existing options. Kelly makes the case that this is costly for democracy and accountability. When parties function primarily as vehicles for negotiating patronage rather than long-term electoral mobilization, there are adverse consequences for oppositional strategies, candidate selection, and elite defection. A critical book for scholarship and policy on political parties, democracy, and governance in the region.” (Rachel Beatty Riedl, Director of Program on African Studies and Associate Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University, USA)
“In this deeply researched and highly accessible book, Catherine Kelly takes up a vital question in the study of contemporary Africa – why are there so many political parties? In the course of her masterful examination of Senegal, a prominent African democracy, Kelly challenges conventional assumptions about how political parties work and what they want. By showing the patterns underlying Senegal's hundreds of parties and its long history of defections and realignments, she sheds crucial light on broader issues related to how democratic experiments unfold. This excellent study will have wide relevance for researchers, students, and policymakers working on Africa – as well as for anyone interested in understanding emerging democracies around the world.” (Alexander Thurston, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science and Comparative Religion, Miami University of Ohio, USA)