Associate Professor of Justice and Rule of Law
Acting Dean of Academic Affairs
Dr. Catherine Lena Kelly is an associate professor responsible for overseeing the Africa Center’s portfolio on justice, rule of law, and governance and integrating these considerations into academic programming, research, and outreach. Her work focuses on citizen security, party politics and democratization, the rule of law and stabilization, and transnational organized crime.
Prior to joining the Africa Center, Dr. Kelly was an advisor at the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative where her work took her to Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Republic of Congo, and Rwanda. As a postdoctoral fellow at Washington University in St. Louis, she designed and taught courses on contemporary Africa and democracy, and at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute, Dr. Kelly taught the West Africa course and co-taught the governance and religion modules in the Area Studies course. She has been awarded numerous fellowships and grants, including a Fulbright Fellowship, a Mellon/American Council of Learned Societies Public Fellowship, a West Africa Research Association grant, several Harvard University grants, and two U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship for the Wolof language and doctoral research in Senegal. Her work has been published extensively in policy and academic journals.
Dr. Kelly holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in government from Harvard University, a Graduate Certificate in international politics (Europe, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding) from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and a B.A. summa cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis.
Areas of Expertise
Rule of Law, Democratization and Governance, Stabilization of Fragile States, Preventing Violent Extremism, Program Design, Monitoring and Evaluation, West and Central Africa, Transnational Organized Crime
Article
Questions of Justice, Governance, and Rule of Law Surround the Local Elections in Senegal
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, April 15, 2022
Article
The Many Faces of Rule of Law and Security in Africa
South Central Review, Summer/Fall 2020
Book Chapter
Legal and Political Responses to Terrorism: Comparing Democracies and Hybrid Regimes
Law, Security, and the State of Perpetual Emergency, June 2020
Book Review
Distant Justice: The Impact of the International Criminal Court on African Politics
African Studies Review, March 16, 2021
Paper
Rule of Law for Conflict, Security, and Stabilization Programming: Some Key Issues for Consideration
American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, 2019
Book
Party Proliferation and Political Contestation in Africa: Senegal in Comparative Perspective
2019
Blog Post
Why Are There So Many Parties in Senegal?
Democracy in Africa, August 23, 2019
Blog Post
How Can the U.N. Can Restore Rule of Law in Central African Republic? Five Things You Need to Know
The Washington Post Monkey Cage blog, April 3, 2018
Book Chapter
“Senegal’s Leadership through Soft Power from Senghor to Sall” in African Foreign Policies in International Institutions,” Jason Warner and Timothy Shaw, eds.
2018
Article
Party Proliferation and Trajectories of Opposition in Africa
Comparative Politics, Volume 50, 2018
Blog Post
American Evaluation Association 365, March 30, 2017
Report
Justice and Security Diagnostic: Bangui, Central African Republic
Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, November 2017
Paper
Rule of Law Approaches to Countering Violent Extremism
American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, May 2017
Report
ILAC Rapport d’évaluation de l’état de droit: République centrafricaine 2017
International Legal Assistance Consortium, 2017
Article
Sufi Turuq and the Politics of Democratization in Senegal
Journal of Religious and Political Practice, Volume 2, 2016
Blog Post
Here’s What You Need to Know about Senegal’s Recent Referendum
The Washington Post Monkey Cage blog, April 3, 2016
Evaluation
American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, November 30, 2015
Article
The 2012 Legislative Elections in Senegal
Electoral Studies, Volume 32, 2013
Blog Post
Why the U.S. Military Should Care About African Opposition Parties
Africa in Transition, Council on Foreign Relations, March 27, 2013
Article
Senegal: What Will Turnover Bring?
Journal of Democracy, Volume 23, July 2012
Blog Post
Did the June 23 Movement Change Senegal?
African Futures, Social Science Research Council, July 12, 2012
Article
Cahiers du Réseau multidisciplinaire d’études stratégiques, winter 2006
Countering Transnational Organized Crime as a Peacebuilding Strategy in East Africa
Wilson Center Africa Program, June 2020
Transnational Organized Crime: Identifying Criminal Actors and Markets
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, December 2020
Citizen and Community Security
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, September 2019
Rule of Law and Conflict Trends in Africa
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, September 2019
Civil War in the Central African Republic
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, September 2018
Into Africa podcast, October 17, 2019
“Democracy and Security in Africa: Author Interview with Dr. Catherine Lena Kelly”
October 8, 2019
Voice of America (VOA) Africa, July 15, 2019