Michael Allison

Education

Expertise

Mike Allison is professor and chair of the Department of Political Science, and former coordinator of the University’s Ellacuría Initiative. He grew up in Rockaway Beach, New York and attended the Jesuit-run Regis High School in New York City. He graduated with a BA (1996) in Politics and minors in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Peace and Justice Studies from Fairfield University in Connecticut. He received his Masters (2001) and Doctorate (2006) in Political Science from Florida State University in Tallahassee.

Teaching interests: He teaches courses on Central and South America, United States - Latin American Relations, Human Rights, Comparative Civil Wars, September 11th and Beyond, and required courses in American Government, International Relations, and Research Methods.

Research Interests: Dr. Allison’s teaching and research interests concern the comparative study of civil war and civil war resolution, particularly as it relates to the transition of rebel groups to political parties in Central and South America. He has also published on international trade and international conflict. His published work has appeared in Latin American Politics and Society, Studies in Comparative International Development, Conflict Management and Peace Science, The Latin Americanist and various edited volumes.

Additional information: He was a student Fulbright Scholar to El Salvador (1997) and recently returned from a Faculty Fulbright Scholarship to Guatemala (2013) where he researched the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit and its transition to political party as well as United States – Central American relations in the post-Cold War period.

He has maintained a blog on Central American politics which is now on hiatus and regularly writes opinion and analysis for a variety of online publications. He was a consultant on Freedom House’s Freedom in the World reports for Central America from 2011-2016. Along with University of Scranton students, he now works on preparing expert witness testimony for Guatemalans and Salvadorans applying for asylum in the United States.

He lives with his wife and four children in South Abington Township.