Alan Kuperman
Former Fellow
Professional Affiliation
Associate Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin
Expert Bio
Alan J. Kuperman is Associate Professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches courses in global policy studies and is coordinator of the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project (www.NPPP.org). His research focuses on ethnic conflict, nuclear nonproliferation, and U.S. military intervention. Dr. Kuperman is author of The Limits of Humanitarian Intervention: Genocide in Rwanda (Brookings, 2001), editor of Plutonium for Energy? Explaining the Global Decline of MOX (NPPP, 2018), Constitutions and Conflict Management in Africa: Preventing Civil War Through Institutional Design (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014) and Nuclear Terrorism and Global Security: The Challenge of Phasing out Highly Enriched Uranium (Routledge, 2013), and co-editor of Gambling on Humanitarian Intervention: Moral Hazard, Rebellion and Civil War (Routledge, 2006). His articles have appeared in journals and newspapers including Foreign Affairs, International Security, and The New York Times, he has chapters in many edited volumes, and he frequently appears on television and radio. In 2009-2010, he was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In 2013-2014, he was a senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Prior to his academic career, Kuperman worked on policy in Washington, DC, including in Congress. He holds an A.B. in Physical Sciences from Harvard University, an M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from SAIS, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Wilson Center Project
"The Moral Hazard of Humanitarian Intervention"
Project Summary
My project is to complete a book manuscript on the "moral hazard of humanitarian intervention." This phenomenon is a perverse consequence of the emerging norm of humanitarian intervention, or "Responsibility to Protect," contrary to its intent of protecting civilians from genocide and ethnic cleansing. The root of the problem is that such genocidal violence often represents state retaliation against a sub-state group for rebellion (such as an armed secession) by some of its members. The emerging norm, by raising expectations of diplomatic and military intervention to protect these groups, unintentionally fosters rebellion by lowering its expected cost and increasing its likelihood of success. In practice, intervention does sometimes help rebels attain their political goals, but usually it is too late or inadequate to avert retaliation against civilians. Thus, the emerging norm resembles an imperfect insurance policy against genocidal violence. It creates moral hazard that encourages the excessively risky or fraudulent behavior of rebellion by members of groups that are vulnerable to genocidal retaliation, but it cannot fully protect against the backlash. The emerging norm thereby causes some genocidal violence that otherwise would not occur.
The goal of the project is to develop policy proposals to reform the Responsibility to Protect so that it can better achieve its stated goal of reducing violence against civilians. The project comprises four case studies - Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo, and Darfur - based on dozens of field interviews with the political and military leaders of the sub-state groups that engaged in armed challenges against state authority.
Major Publications
Plutonium for Energy? Explaining the Global Decline of MOX (Austin: NPPP, 2018).
Constitutions and Conflict Management in Africa: Preventing Civil War through Institutional Design (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015).
The Limits of Humanitarian Intervention: Genocide in Rwanda (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2001).
