Susan Brewer-Osorio

Susan Brewer-Osorio is an Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona with a joint appointment in the School of Global Studies and the School of Government & Public Policy. She is a political scientist whose research lies at the intersection of international relations, conflict analysis, security studies, and peacebuilding. Her work examines how international interventions and public policies shape the local dynamics of armed conflict, political violence, and post-conflict transitions, with a regional focus on Latin America. Using qualitative and mixed methods—including extensive field research, political ethnography, interviews, and comparative analysis—she studies political reintegration after armed conflict, peacebuilding, organized crime, and community responses to violence.

Her current book project develops a new framework for understanding the political reintegration of former combatants after armed conflict by examining how collective reintegration policies that support strong social cohesion shape their pathways into nonviolent political action and grassroots institution-building. She has received support for her research from the U.S. Fulbright Program, the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, the Peace Research Association Foundation (IPRAF), and the Social Science Research Council (SSRC). Her work has appeared in leading journals, including the American Political Science Review (APSR), Conflict, Security & Development, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, International Peacekeeping, and The Journal of Latin American Studies, among others. She earned her Ph.D. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia.