- Swenson, G. (2024). Promoting Law Beyond the State. International Studies Quarterly, 68(3). doi:10.1093/isq/sqae102.
- Schmoll, M. and Swenson, G. (2024). Avoiding the Political Resource Curse: Evidence from a Most-Likely Case. Studies in Comparative International Development, 59(1), pp. 27–55. doi:10.1007/s12116-023-09398-9.
- Sesay, M. and Swenson, G. (2023). Critical Dialogue- Contending Orders: Legal Pluralism and the Rule of Law. Perspectives on Politics, 21(3), pp. 1056–1059.
- Swenson, G. and Sesay, M. (2023). Critical Dialogue- Domination Through Law: The Internationalization of Legal Norms in Postcolonial Africa. Perspectives on Politics, 31(3), pp. 1059–1061.
- Swenson, G. (2023). Response to Mohamed Sesay’s Review of Contending Orders: Legal Pluralism and the Rule of Law. Perspectives on Politics, 21(3), pp. 1058–1059. doi:10.1017/s1537592723001792.
- Aloyo, E. and Swenson, G. (2023). Ethical exit: When should peacekeepers depart? European Journal of International Security, 8(3), pp. 299–318. doi:10.1017/eis.2022.31.
- Swenson, G. and Kniess, J. (2021). International assistance after conflict: health, transitional justice and opportunity costs. Third World Quarterly, 42(8), pp. 1696–1714. doi:10.1080/01436597.2021.1928489.
- Swenson, G. and Roll, K. (2020). Theorizing Risk and Research: Methodological Constraints and Their Consequences. PS: Political Science & Politics, 53(2), pp. 286–291. doi:10.1017/s104909651900177x.
- Roll, K. and Swenson, G. (2019). Fieldwork after conflict: contextualising the challenges of access and data quality. Disasters, 43(2), pp. 240–260. doi:10.1111/disa.12321.
- Swenson, G. (2018). Legal Pluralism in Theory and Practice. International Studies Review, 20(3), pp. 438–462. doi:10.1093/isr/vix060.
- Bartz, E., Momand, K. and Swenson, G. (2018). Correspondence: Debating the Rule of Law in Afghanistan. International Security, 43(1), pp. 181–185. doi:10.1162/isec_c_00316.
- Swenson, G. (2018). The promise and peril of paralegal aid. World Development, 106, pp. 51–63. doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.01.017.
- Swenson, G. (2017). Why U.S. Efforts to Promote the Rule of Law in Afghanistan Failed. International Security, 42(1), pp. 114–151. doi:10.1162/isec_a_00285.
- Swenson, G. and Campbell, M. (2016). Legal Pluralism and Women's Rights after Conflict: The Role of CEDAW. Columbia Human Rights Law Review, 48(1), pp. 112–146.
- Swenson, G. and Sugerman, E. (2011). Building the Rule of Law in Afghanistan: The Importance of Legal Education. Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, 3(01), pp. 130–146. doi:10.1017/s187640451110007x.
- Swenson, G. (2007). Book Review: Can Might Make Rights?: Building the Rule of Law After Military Interventions. Stanford Journal of International Law, 43, pp. 216–219.
Dr Geoffrey Swenson
Contact details
Address
Dr Geoffrey Swenson
D510
, Rhind Building [D]
City St George's, University of London
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom
Personal links
About
Overview
Geoffrey Swenson is a Reader in International Politics and the Deputy Head of Department. He is also a British Academy Mid-Career Fellow for 2023-24, a Trustee of the British International Studies Association, and an External Affiliate of the Ostrom Workshop at the University of Indiana and a former Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Geoffrey's current research focuses on issues related to post-conflict reconstruction, state-building, democracy and the rule of law, legal pluralism, international relations theory, and foreign aid. He welcomes PhD supervision on theses related to those topics.
He has held fellowships at the London School of Economics, Stanford University, Oxford University, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Eurasia Group Foundation. Previously, he was an in-country program manager for the Asia Foundation in Timor-Leste and Nepal, the founder and in-country director of Stanford Law School's Timor-Leste Legal Education Project, and a global political party development specialist with the National Democratic Institute.
Geoffrey completed a DPhil in International Relations at Oxford as a Clarendon Scholar and won the Bapsybanoo Marchioness of Winchester Prize for most outstanding thesis. He holds an MA in Comparative Ethnic Conflict from Queen's University Belfast as a Mitchell Scholar, and a JD from Stanford Law School.
Geoffrey is the author of "Contending Orders: Legal Pluralism and the Rule of Law" (Oxford University Press, 2022). His research has been published in numerous leading journals including the Columbia Human Rights Law Review, Disasters, International Security, International Studies Quarterly, International Studies Review, Studies in Comparative International Development, Third World Quarterly, and World Development.
Qualifications
- DPhil, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
- JD, Stanford Law School, United States
- MA, Queen's University Belfast, United Kingdom
- BA, Grinnell College, United States
Publications
Publications by category
Book
- Swenson, G. (2022). Contending Orders. Oxford University PressNew York. ISBN 0-19-753042-7.
Internet publications (11)
- Swenson, G. (2025). Rule of law in crisis: The need for a new approach. The Foreign Policy Centre.
- Swenson, G. (2024). Nothing ventured, nothing gained: foreign policy towards non-state justice. The Loop.
- Schmoll, M. and Swenson, G. (2023). How Timor-Leste Escaped the Political ‘Resource Curse’. The Diplomat.
- Swenson, G. (2023). Timor-Leste election offers an extraordinary lesson in how to build a stable democracy. The Conversation.
- Swenson, G. (2022). How Legal Pluralism Can Subvert or Support the Rule of Law. Jurist: Legal News and Commentary.
- Swenson, G. (2018). The Last Best Aid? Rethinking Paralegal Assistance. Political Violence @ a Glance.
- Swenson, G. (2017). Trump says ‘our troops will fight to win’ in Afghanistan. Here’s why peace and stability are so elusive. Washington Post Monkey Cage.
- Swenson, G. and Iordache, A. (2016). Rodrigo Duterte – the Philippines’s Human Rights Wild Card. Oxford Human Rights Hub.
- Swenson, G. (2016). Timor-Leste's Dangerous Political Union. The Diplomat.
- Swenson, G. (2016). Afghanistan Corruption No Gaffe. The Hague Institute for Global Justice.
- Swenson, G. and Iordache, A. (2016). Breaking Afghanistan’s Election Crisis Cycle. The Hague Institute for Global Justice.
Journal articles (16)
Report
- Swenson, G. (2016). Understanding and engaging informal justice. The Hague: Clingendael Institute.