C&C member Luis Schenoni, Associate Professor of International Relations and Director of the Security Studies Programme at UCL, has been awarded the Emerging Scholar Award by the Peace Studies Section International Studies Association (ISA), recognising an already remarkable career defined by excellence in teaching, research, service to the discipline, and real-world impact.
The awarding speech at this year’s meeting highlighted how Luis' work bridges academia and policy and how, alongside this applied engagement, Schenoni has been able to produce an impressive body of scholarship only five years after his PhD, including a single-authored book with Cambridge University Press and around twenty peer-reviewed articles, including single-authored contributions appearing in top-tier political science journals such as the American Journal of Political Science.
At the center of this recognition is his widely celebrated book, Bringing War Back In: Victory, Defeat, and the State in Latin America (Cambridge University Press, 2024). In just a year since its publication, the book has already made a profound impact and become core to the study of Latin American political development in syllabi around the world. Leading scholars such as Sidney Tarrow, James Mahoney, Stathis Kalyvas, and Nobel laureate James Robinson have praised it as a model of interdisciplinary, empirically rigorous, and theoretically innovative research in the study of conflict and development.
The book’s influence is further underscored by a string of prestigious accolades including the Luciano Tomassini Award of the Latin American Studies Association, the Award for Best Book in Foreign Policy from the ISA, the Hedley Bull Prize for Best Book in International Relations from the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR), and an honorable mention for the Levine Prize from the International Political Science Association. The book was also shortlisted for the Luebbert Award from the American Political Science Association, making it a rare example of a book recognised by all most relevant professional associations in political science.
The ISA committee highlighted how, put together, these distinctions highlight not only the intellectual depth of Schenoni’s work but also its wide resonance across disciplines and scholarly communities worldwide. For Schenoni, who also won the Rising Star Award of the ECPR last year, this new recognition by the ISA signals both a milestone and a promise of continued influence in the fields of peace studies, conflict research, and political development.