Sally Sharif, PhD
Welcome! I am a Lecturer in Political Science at the University of British Columbia and an incoming Assistant Professor of comparative politics at the College of the Holy Cross.
Previously, I was a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Notre Dame and the Simons Foundation Canada Postdoctoral Fellow at Simon Fraser University. I have a PhD in political science from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (2021).
My work lies at the intersection of comparative politics, international relations, and political methodology. I examine how governments, international organizations, and third‑party states respond to political violence, whether through repression, cooption, containment, or various conflict resolution strategies. These strategies have long-term effects on post-conflict states, which I explore using multi-method research designs. I lived most of my life under an authoritarian regime and, in my recent work, have explained the complex ways through which repression incites or subdues political violence. ​​
In my published work, I have explained civil war onset and duration, post-conflict consolidation of state power, and the impact of international involvement on civil war recurrence. My work has appeared in Conflict Management and Peace Science; International Peacekeeping; Political Violence and Terrorism; and Territory, Politics, Governance, among others. My policy analysis has been published by The Conversation, The Washington Post, the Peace Accords Matrix Policy Brief Series, and Political Violence at a Glance. See my Google Scholar page here.
I speak seven languages and have done field research in Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Outside academia, I am a triathlete and am deeply concerned by environmental degradation, which is apparent first and foremost in our mountains and lakes.