V. Page Fortna is the Director of the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies; and the Harold Brown Professor of US Foreign and Security Policy in the Political Science Department. Her research focuses on terrorism, the durability of peace in the aftermath of both civil and interstate wars, and war termination. She is the author of two books: Does Peacekeeping Work? Shaping Belligerents Choices after Civil War(Princeton University Press, 2008) and Peace Time: Cease-Fire Agreements and the Durability of Peace(Princeton University Press, 2004).  Fortna has published articles in journals such as International Organization, World Politics, International Studies Quarterly, and International Studies Review. She is currently working on a project on terrorism in civil wars. Her research combines quantitative and qualitative methods, draws on diverse theoretical approaches, and focuses on policy-relevant questions.

Fortna received the Karl Deutsch Award from the International Studies Association in 2010. She has held fellowships at the Olin Institute at Harvard, the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Hoover Institution.

Fortna teaches courses on international politics, war termination and the durability of peace, terrorism, cooperation and security, and research methods. Her article “Do Terrorists Win? Rebels’ Use of Terrorism and Civil War Outcomes” (International Organization, Summer 2015) has been highlighted in The Atlantic; Slate; and Die Zeit. She talks about her research with Dan Riendreau of the Corus Radio Network here (aired May 28, 2015), and about her work in general on the Dean’s Table podcast here.

Fortna holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University.

 

 

Books

V. Page Fortna, Does Peacekeeping Work? Shaping Belligerents’ Choices After Civil War (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008).
V. Page Fortna, Peace Time: Cease-Fire Agreements and the Durability of Peace (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004).

Principal Articles

V. Page Fortna, Nicholas Lotito, and Michael Rubin. “Terrorism in Armed Conflict: New Data Attributing Terrorism to Rebel Organizations,” Conflict Management and Peace Science 39, no. 2 (March 2022).
V. Page Fortna, Barbara F. Walter, and Lise Morje Howard, “The Extraordinary Relationship between Peacekeeping and Peace,” The British Journal of Political Science 51, no. 4 (October 2021).
V. Page Fortna, Nicholas Lotito, and Michael Rubin, ““Don’t Bite the Hand that Feeds: Rebel Funding Sources and the Use of Terrorism,” International Studies Quarterly 62, no. 4 (December 2018).
V. Page Fortna, “Do Terrorists Win? The Use of Terrorism and Civil War Outcomes 1989-2009,” International Organization 69, no. 3 (2015).
V. Page Fortna and Reyko Huang, “Democratization after Civil War: A Brush-Clearing Exercise,” International Studies Quarterly 56, no. 4 (December 2012).
V. Page Fortna and Lise Morjé Howard, “Pitfalls and Prospects in the Peacekeeping Literature,” Annual Review of Political Science 11 (2008); Reprinted in Graham Brown and Arnim Langer, eds., Elgar Handbook of Civil War and Fragile States (Northampton: Elgar, 2012).
V. Page Fortna, “Interstate Peacekeeping: Causal Mechanisms and Empirical Effects,” World Politics 56, no. 4 (June 2004).
V. Page Fortna, “Does Peacekeeping Keep Peace? International Intervention and the Duration of Peace after Civil War,” International Studies Quarterly 48, no. 2 (June 2004); Reprinted in Rajat Ganguly, ed. Ethnic Conflict (Sage Publications, 2009).
V. Page Fortna, “A Lost Chance for Peace: The Bicesse Accords in Angola,” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs 4, no. 1 (Winter/Spring 2003).
V. Page Fortna, “Inside and Out: Peacekeeping and the Duration of Peace after Civil and Interstate Wars,” International Studies Review 5, no. 4  (December 2003); Reprinted in Suzanne Werner, David Davis, and Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, eds., Dissolving Boundaries: the Nexus between Comparative Politics and International Relations (Blackwell Publishing, 2003).
V. Page Fortna, “Scraps of Paper? Agreements and the Durability of Peace,” International Organization 57, no. 2 (Spring 2003); Condensed version reprinted in Beth Simmons and Richard Steinberg, eds., International Law and International Relations (Cambridge University Press, 2006). Full version reprinted in Beth Simmons, ed., International Law (Sage Publications, 2008).

Book Chapters

V. Page Fortna and Lisa Martin, “Peacekeepers as Signals: the Demand for International Peacekeeping in Civil Wars,” in Helen V. Milner and Andrew Moravcsik, eds., Power, Interdependence, and Nonstate Actors in World Politics: Research Frontiers (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009).
V. Page Fortna, “Peacekeeping and Democratization,” in Anna Jarstad and Tim Sisk, eds., War to Democracy: Dilemmas of Peacebuilding (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008).
V. Page Fortna, “Success and Failure in Southern Africa: Peacekeeping in Namibia and Angola,” in Donald Daniels and Bradd Hayes, eds., Beyond Traditional Peacekeeping (London: Macmillan, 1995).
V. Page Fortna, “United Nations Transition Assistance Group in Namibia,” “United Nations Angola Verification Mission I,” and “United Nations Angola Verification Mission II,” in William Durch, ed., The Evolution of UN Peacekeeping: Case Studies and Comparative Analysis (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993).

Other Articles, Testimony and Reports

V. Page Fortna, Barbara F. Waler, and Lise Morje Howard, “The Astonishing Success of Peacekeeping,” Foreign Affairs online, 29 November 2021.
V. Page Fortna, Hein Goemans, Sarah Croco, Michael Joseph, and Alex Weisiger, “The Prospects for a Negotiated Peace in Ukraine are Bleak,” The Washington Post Monkey Cage, 24 March 2020.
V. Page Fortna, Laura van Assendelft, Claudine Gay, and Kira Sanbonmatsu, “Would I Do This All Over Again? Mid-Career Voices in Political Science,” Task Force Report, APSA Presidential Task Force on Women’s Advancement in the Profession (Washington DC: American Political Science Association, 2019).
V. Page Fortna, “Why Slashing Funds for UN Peacekeeping is a Terrible Idea…Even for Those Who Want to Put America First,” Fox News Opinion, 18 August 2017.
V. Page Fortna, “Next Steps for Syria, Russia and the US,” Panel Discussion, To the Point, National Public Radio, 17 September 2013.
V. Page Fortna, “Has Violence Declined in World Politics?,” Discussion of Winning the War on War: The Decline of Armed Conflict Worldwide by Joshua S. Goldstein, Perspectives on Politics 11, no. 2 (June 2013).
V. Page Fortna, “Do Ceasefire Ever Work?” Foreign Policy online, 26 October 2012.
V. Page Fortna, “Warts and All, Peacekeeping Works,” interview with Rousbeh Legatis, IPS: Inter Press Service News Agency, 8 June 2011.
V. Page Fortna, “Conceptualizing Peace,” interview with Bruce Russett and Carolyn Stephenson, Odyssey, WBEZ Chicago Public Radio, 5 May 2003.
V. Page Fortna, “Peace Operations—Futile or Vital?,” Policy Brief,  United Nations Foundation (2004).
V. Page Fortna, Robert Jervis, and Warner Schilling, “The War on Terrorism: Two Years On,” Saltzman Institute for War and Peace Studies, Columbia University, (2003).
V. Page Fortna, Review of Peace Enforcement: The United Nations Experience in Congo, Somalia, and Bosnia, by Jane Boulden, Political Science Quarterly 117, no. 1 (Spring 2002).
 
V. Page Fortna, and Lise Morjé Howard, “Kosovo Endgame,” San Jose Mercury News, 11 April 1999.
V. Page Fortna, “How Can Permanent Cessation of Civil Wars Be Achieved? Lessons from international conflict and a look at some African cases,” Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1997).
V. Page Fortna, “Regional Organizations and Peacekeeping,” Occ. Paper 11, The Henry L. Stimson Center (1992).