Laura Seay

Title

Assistant Professor of Government

Department

Government

Institution

Colby College

laura.seay@colby.edu

Education

PhD in Government, University of Texas at Austin (2009)
MA in African Studies, Yale University (2002)
BA in International Studies, Baylor University (2000)

Research Interests

Democratic Republic of Congo African Political Economy Global Development

View all research interests

Biography

I am an assistant professor of Government at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. My research is centered around the study of community responses to conflict and U.S. foreign policy in Africa’s Great Lakes region. I am currently finishing a book, Substituting for the State, about the role non-state actors play in governing the eastern DRC in response to the Congolese state’s weakness in North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri. I am also engaged in a new project on the effects of U.S. legislation designed to mitigate conflict in central Africa and in 2014, I am leading an impact evaluation of a large community-based reconstruction (CBD) governance intervention in four Congolese provinces. My research and teaching interests include qualitative and mixed methods, African politics and development, and post-conflict state reconstruction. I have also worked with the World Bank in Nigeria on efforts to improve the national primary health care system through evaluating the implementation of a results-based finance system, with particular attention to reducing instances of maternal, infant, and child mortality by removing demand-side barriers to system access. At Colby, I teach African politics, conflict, and research methods. I blog about African politics, development, and security at Texas in Africa and am a contributor to the Duck of Minerva, the Christian Science Monitor’s Africa Monitor blog, and The Atlantic.com. I am happy to connect with others who research or are interested in learning more about the Congo or state fragility. I also occasionally serve as an expert witness in asylum cases involving applicants from the eastern DRC.

Homepages

Contact Information

207-859-5312

Research

Not mentioned yet.

Cloud List

Democratic Republic of Congo African Political Economy Global Development Central Africa Fragile States Health Care Conflict Minerals Unintended Consequences Western Advocacy Civilian Livelihoods Modern African Studies American Political Science Association African Security Review Local Peace Building International Community Public Goods Provision Civil Society Organizations African Great Lakes State Authority State Reconstruction Old Ideas New Africa Measurement Problems Accord Issue Conflict Authority Building Peace Non State Actors Strategic Lessons Congo Elections Community Responses Conflict Research State Fragility Non State Governance Risky Game Service Delivery Capacity Conflict Zone Informal Economy Resource Exploitation

List of Publications (56)

In 2013

and Reality. African Studies Review (forthcoming April 2013)
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Post-war Kivus.'' Special Issue on the Democratic Republic of Congo. Review of African Political Economy (March 2013).
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"Effective Responses: Protestants, Catholics, and the Provision of Health Care in the Post-war Kivus." Special Issue on the Democratic Republic of Congo. Review of African Political Economy (March 2013).
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In 2012

Unintended Consequences of Western Advocacy. Center for Global Development Working Paper 284 (2012).
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Post-war Kivus.'' American Political Science Association (Paper accepted, conference canceled due to hurricane, 2012)
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in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.'' African Studies Association (2012)
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Resource Exploitation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.''' St. Antony's International Review 8:1 (2012), 167-173.
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What's Wrong with Dodd-Frank 1502? Conflict Minerals, Civilian Livelihoods, and the Unintended Consequences of Western Advocacy. Center for Global Development Working Paper 284 (2012)
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In 2011

Eastern Congo'' in Stefaan Maryise, Filip Reyntjens, and Stef Vandeginste, eds., L'Afrique des Grands Lacs: Annuaire 2010-11 (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2011).
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The Guardian Global Development blog (2011 - present)
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D.R. Congo.'' Emory University African Studies Program conference on Citizenship and the Postcolony (2011)
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Post-war Kivus.'' Florida International University Congo Conference (2011)
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"After Peace: Education, Non-State Actors, and the Erosion of State Authority in the Eastern Congo" in Stefaan Maryise, Filip Reyntjens, and Stef Vandeginste, eds., L'Afrique des Grands Lacs: Annuaire 2010-11 (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2011).
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"Whither Civil Society? Local Peace Building and the International Community." African Security Review (July 2011). Symposium on Severine Autesserre's The Trouble with the Congo.
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In 2010

of Congo'' in Toyin Falola and Raphael C. Njoku, eds., War and Peace in Africa: History, Nationalism, and the State (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2010).
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Christian Science Monitor Africa Monitor blog (2010 - present)
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Great Lakes - the Role of the Minerals Sector.'' Commissioned by the Accord Cross-Border Project. Accord Issue 22, Paix Sans Frontieres: Building Peace Across Borders (2010). HYPERLINK "http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/cross-border-project/african-great-lakes.php" http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/cross-border-project/african-great-lakes.php
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"Post-Conflict Authority and State Reconstruction in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo" in Toyin Falola and Raphael C. Njoku, eds., War and Peace in Africa: History, Nationalism, and the State (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2010).
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Nicholas Garrett and Laura Seay, "Trade, Development, and Peacebuilding in the African Great Lakes - the Role of the Minerals Sector." Commissioned by the Accord Cross-Border Project. Accord Issue 22, Paix Sans Frontieres: Building Peace Across Borders (2010).
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Unspecified

``The DRC Votes: What's Next?'' Al Jazeera English.
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``Substituting for the State: Civil Society Organizations & Public Goods in the Eastern
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Non-State Governance in the Eastern D.R. Congo
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``Understanding Somali Piracy.'' Review essay. Journal of Modern African Studies
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``Saving Congo? Conflict Minerals and Advocate-driven U.S. Policy in the DR Congo.''
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``Substituting for the State: Civil Society Organizations and Public Goods in the Eastern
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``Rwanda at 50: Overcoming Tragedy, but Playing a Risky Game.'' Al Jazeera English.
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``How Not to Write About Africa.'' Foreign Policy.
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``The Epistemology of Conflict Research in Africa.''
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``Do We Have the Congo Rape Crisis All Wrong?'' The Atlantic.com
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``Learning from the Outlier: the Reassertion of State Authority in Ituri, DR Congo.''
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``A Vaccination Triumph in Congo Offers Strategic Lessons.'' The InterDependent.
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``Effective Responses: Protestants, Catholics, and the Provision of Health Care in the
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What's Wrong with Dodd-Frank 1502? Conflict Minerals, Civilian Livelihoods, and the
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Nicholas Garrett and Laura Seay, ``Trade, Development, and Peacebuilding in the African
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``Post-Conflict Authority and State Reconstruction in the Eastern Democratic Republic
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``Old Ideas for the New Africa.'' Guernica.
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with Fredline M'Cormack and Aaron Hale.
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Symposium on Severine Autesserre's The Trouble with the Congo.African
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``In Congo Elections, More than Just Democracy at Stake.'' The Atlantic.com
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``Measurement and Evaluation in a Conflict Zone: Examining Service Delivery Capacity
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``The Colonial Sympathies of Newt Gingrich.'' The Atlantic.com.
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``A View from Goma.'' Warscapes. HYPERLINK "http://www.warscapes.com/opinion/view-goma" http://www.warscapes.com/opinion/view-goma
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``Who Tried to Kill Congo's President?'' The Atlantic.com.
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``Decentralization and State Reconstruction in Sierra Leone and the D.R. Congo''
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Substituting for the State: An Anatomy of Community Responses to State Fragility &
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``Defining Success: Measurement Problems in the Study of Public Goods.''
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``Conflict Minerals in Congo: Oversimplification and its consequences'' in Alex De Waal,
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``Defining Success: Measurement Problems in the Study of Public Goods Provision.''
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``Peace is Political: Conflict Minerals, Development, and the Unintended Consequences
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``After Peace: Education, Non-State Actors, and the Erosion of State Authority in the
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``What is `Illicit'? A Response to Carol Jean Gallo, `The Informal Economy and
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ed., Reclaiming Activism (London: Zed, forthcoming).
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``Whither Civil Society? Local Peace Building and the International Community.''
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Review of Koen Vlassenroot and Tim Allen, eds., The Lord's Resistance Army: Myth
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``Mali is Not a Stan.'' Foreign Policy.
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of Western Advocacy Narratives in the D.R. Congo''
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