Dr Catherine Lena Kelly is Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Justice and Rule of Law at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, located on the National Defense University campus. She is faculty lead for the Africa Center’s portfolios on rule of law/security sector governance, as well as countering transnational organised crime. Her work focuses on citizen security, party politics and democratisation, the rule of law, and transnational organised crime. She is also a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Prior to joining the Africa Center, Dr. Kelly was an advisor at the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, where her work took her to Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Republic of Congo, and Rwanda. She designed and taught courses on contemporary Africa and democracy as a postdoctoral fellow at Washington University in St Louis. She is the author of Party Proliferation and Political Contestation in Africa: Senegal in Comparative Perspective (2020, Palgrave Macmillan).
Dr Kelly holds a PhD and MA in government from Harvard University, a graduate certificate in international politics (Europe, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding) from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and a BA summa cum laude from Washington University in St Louis.
The views expressed are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Government or the Department of Defense.
Experience
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2022–presentAssociate Dean and Associate Professor, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University
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2020–2022Associate Professor of Justice and Rule of Law, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University
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2019–2020Assistant Professor of Justice and Rule of Law, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University
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2017–2019Research, Evaluation, and Learning Advisor, American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative
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2015–2017Program Analyst, Monitoring and Evaluation, American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative
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2014–2015Postdoctoral Fellow, Washington University in St. Louis
Education
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2014Harvard University, Ph.D.
Professional Memberships
- African Studies Association
- Council on Foreign Relations
Honours
Council on Foreign Relations Term Member
- Washington, US
- Website
- @catherinelkelly
- Article Feed
- ORCID
- Joined
