Dr. Julie Mazzei

Julie Mazzei is an internationally recognized scholar whose research centers on irregular political violence, with a particular emphasis on paramilitary organizations and the institutional forces that enable their emergence. She examines how groups such as paramilitaries and “death squads” organize, procure resources, and employ violence for political ends, often drawing on state or institutional support. Her research spans Latin America, the Middle East, and South Asia, exploring the dynamics of political violence, state complicity, and the impact of conflict on vulnerable populations. Mazzei has investigated the rise of violent organizations in Iraq, including the structural and policy factors that facilitated their ascendence and the targeted assassination of professors, scientists, and scholars. In South Asia, her work addresses the interplay between domestic political movements, insurgency, and state violence, particularly in the context of democratization and human rights.

Dr. Mazzei collaborated with Todd Nelson to introduce the “illiberal security complex” concept, examining the network of states involved in disappearance, detention, and torture during the U.S. extraordinary rendition program under George W. Bush. She has published analyses on the rise and evolution of paramilitary groups in Chiapas, Mexico, focusing on how neoliberal economic dynamics intersect with nonstate political violence, as well as on the targeted assassination of Iraqi intelligentsia by death squads. Her additional publications include articles on the post-conflict ramifications of paramilitary violence and reconciliation processes in El Salvador (Human Rights Quarterly, 2011), and on the development agenda and its impact on rights in Cuba, with a particular focus on “tourist apartheid” (Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 2012).

Dr. Mazzei is the Director of the School of Peace and Conflict Studies at Kent State University and a professor of international studies. She teaches courses on globalization, human security, human rights, and political violence.