Carly Wayne's (PhD, U-M Political Science, 2019) dissertation, Risk or Retribution: The Micro-foundations of State Responses to Terror has been selected as the winner of the 2020 Walter Isard Award for Best Dissertation in Peace Science by the Peace Science Society (International).

“In Risk or Retribution: The Micro-foundations of State Responses to Terror, Wayne examines the emotional mechanisms motivating the public's response to terrorism. To analyze the dynamics between civilians, militants, and political leaders, she tests her novel arguments utilizing a combination of experimental, qualitative, formal, and statistical methods. Wayne’s dissertation was first rate in every aspect; it was well executed, with insightful theoretical arguments and appropriate and diverse methods to get at emotions, especially anger and fear. She produces several linked insights that are important to scholarship and policymakers, and uses a multitude of compelling evidence, many of which lies in original data.”

Carly Wayne is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis. Her research and teaching lie at the intersection of international relations, conflict, and behavioral approaches to politics. She specializes in the psychological causes and consequences of political violence for the mass public, elite decision-making in conflict contexts, and strategic adaptation in modern warfare.