Dr. Alexandra Stark

Alex Stark (she/her) is an associate policy researcher at RAND. Stark's research interests include security cooperation, civil wars and irregular warfare, gender and conflict, domestic violent extremism, domestic institutions and foreign policymaking, military intervention, and Middle East security. Her research has been published in International Security and Security Studies, and her commentary has appeared in War on the Rocks, Lawfare, the Monkey Cage, and other outlets.

Prior to joining RAND, Alex was a Senior Researcher at New America, a predoctoral fellow at the Middle East Institute of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and Minerva/Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar at the United States Institute of Peace. She completed her PhD in the Government Department at Georgetown University in 2019, and holds an MSc in international relations from the London School of Economics and a BA from Wellesley College, where she was a fellow of the Madeleine K. Albright Institute for Global Affairs.

Sub-specialities: Women, peace and security; gender and conflict; gender and nuclear security; military intervention; Congress' role in foreign policy; transpartisanship; Yemen; Middle East politics