Pierre Englebert

H. Russell Smith Professor of International Relations and Professor of Politics

Pierre.Englebert@pomona.edu

Office:

Carnegie Building

(909) 607-2496

Personal Website

With Pomona since:

1998

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Expertise

Professor Englebert has spent more than 30 years studying African politics and development, with a particular focus on Francophone West and Central Africa.

He travels to Africa two to three times a year in an effort to understand and address the challenges of postcolonial state formation and development.

His research has focused on the resilience of weak states, nationalism and separatism, development and foreign aid, fragile states, democratization and security.

Areas of Expertise

Politics
Sub-Saharan Africa
Fragile States
Nationalism
Francophone Africa
Democratic Republic of Congo
Political Economy of Development

Work

Books

With Mareike Schomerus and Lotje de Vries (eds.), Secessionism in African Politics: Aspirations Grievances Performance, Disenchantment (Palgrave McMillan, 2019)
With K. Dunn, Inside African Politics (Lynne Rienner, 2nd edition, 2019
Africa: Unity, Sovereignty and Sorrow (Lynne Rienner, 2009)
State Legitimacy and Development in Africa (Lynne Rienner, 2000)
Burkina Faso: Unsteady Statehood in West Africa (Westview; 1996)

Opinions and Report

“The DRC’s Electoral Sideshow,” Journal of Democracy, July 2019, 30(3):124-138.
“Congo’s 2018 Elections: An Analysis of Implausible Results,” African Arguments, January 10, 2019.
“Avantages et dérapages d’un découpage,” Jeune Afrique, 3011, 23-29, September 2018:31.
“A Sahelian Potemkin? The Empirical and the Fictional in Malian State Reconstruction,” with Catriona Craven-Matthews (Pomona 2016), African Security, 11(1):1-30.
“Congo Blues: Scoring Kabila’s Rule.” Atlantic Council, Issue Brief, May 2016.
“The ‘Real’ Map of Africa: Redrawing Colonial Borders,” Foreign Affairs, November 8, 2015.

Featured Work

Majors at Pomona College: International Relations

Professor Englebert explains what makes the International Relations major at Pomona special.

Education

Ph.D., University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California

M.A., Johns Hopkins University (School of Advanced International Studies)
Washington, D.C.

B.A., M.A., Free University of Brussels
Brussels, Belgium

Recent Courses Taught

Advanced Questions in African Politics
Comparative Politics of Africa
Intermediate Senior Seminar in International Relations
Political Economy of Development
Political Economy of African Development (CGU)
Senior Seminar in International Relations and Research Methods
Statistics for Politics & International Relations

Awards & Honors

Minerva grant, 2018-2021

Overseas Development Institute Grant, 2016-2018

Wig Distinguished Professor Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2016

Pomona College, Wig Distinguished Teacher Award, 2001, 2006, and 2011.

2010 Best Book Award, African Politics Conference Group (APCG), for "Africa: Unity, Sovereignty, and Sorrow"

Fulbright Scholar, Centre d'Etudes d'Afrique Noire, University of Bordeaux, France, 2010-2011

Earhart Foundation Grant, 2009

United States Institute of Peace, Research Grant, 2000-2001

Western Political Science Association, Pi Sigma Alpha Award, 1999

Smith Richardson Junior Faculty Research Grant, 2001