Martha Crenshaw FBA (born September 2, 1945) is a political scientist who is prominent for her research on terrorism. She is professor of political science at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

since 2007, as well as senior fellow at the

Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies Stanford University has many centers and institutes dedicated to the study of various specific topics. These centers and institutes may be within a department, within a school but across departments, an independent laboratory, institute or center ...

(FSI) and Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). Martha Crenshaw was one of the pioneers in terrorism studies along with Paul Wilkinson, Ariel Merari,

Bruce Hoffman Bruce R. Hoffman (born 1954) is an American political analyst. He specializes in the study of terrorism, counter-terrorism, insurgency, and counter-insurgency. Hoffman serves as the Shelby Cullom and Kathryn W. Davis Senior Fellow for Counterterr ...

and Alex Schmid. She has a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

from

Newcomb College H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College was the coordinate women's college of Tulane University, located in New Orleans, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It was founded by Josephine Louise Newcomb in 1886 in memory of her daughter. Newcomb was the ...

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

in 1967. She obtained a Ph.D from the Department of Government at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

in 1973. From 1977 to 78 she earned National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for Independent Study and was fellow at Fellow, Richardson Institute for Conflict and Peace Research. Martha's post doctoral fellowship at the

Russell Sage Foundation The Russell Sage Foundation is an American non-profit organisation established by Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage, Margaret Olivia Sage in 1907 for “the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States.” It was named after her re ...

(1987 - 1988) and she also earned the

Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation was established by Harry Guggenheim to support research on violence, aggression, and dominance. The foundation writes: "He was convinced that solid, thoughtful, scholarly and scientific research, experimentati ...

Research Grant (1987–88) and

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

Project Grant (1987–89). From 1987 she was the Institute for East-West Security Studies Scholar for a year and earned Outstanding Alumna Award from

in 1989 and Pew Faculty Fellowship (1992–93). Martha was the Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor of Global Issues and Democratic Thought and professor of government at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

in Middletown, where she taught from 1987 to 2007. She served on the Executive Board of Women in International Security and is a former President and Councilor of the

International Society of Political Psychology The International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP) is an interdisciplinary not-for-profit organization, representing all fields of enquiry involved with the exploration of relationships between both psychological and political processes and ...

(ISPP). She coordinated the working group on political explanations of

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

for the 2005 Club de Madrid International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security. In 2005-2006 she was a Guggenheim Fellow. Since 2005 she has been a lead investigator with the

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) is an emeritus Homeland Security Centers of Excellence at the University of Maryland, College Park that researches terrorism in the United States and around the ...

known as

START Start can refer to multiple topics: * Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports * Track and field#Starts use in race, Starts use in sport race * S ...

at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

, funded by the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...

. In 2009 she was awarded a grant from the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

, Department of Defense Minerva Initiative for a project on "mapping terrorist organizations." She serves on the editorial boards of the journals International Security, Political Psychology, Security Studies, Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict, and

Terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

and Political Violence. She is currently a member of the Committee on Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Global Nuclear Detection Architecture of the National Academies of Science. She was elected as a Corresponding Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

in 2015.

Selected publications

* Dealing with Terrorism - USIP Press (Forthcoming) * Will Threats Deter Nuclear Terrorism? - Stanford Security Studies (September 19, 2012) * Reaction Time (Commentary) Foreign Policy (November 12, 2012) * Explaining Terrorism: Causes, Processes and Consequences, Routledge, (October 8, 2010) * Trajectories of Terrorism: Attack Patterns of Foreign Groups That Have Targeted The United States, 1970-2004 (Journal Article co authored with Gary LaFree, Sue-Ming Yang) Criminology & Public Policy, Vol. 8, (August 2009) * The Consequences of Counterterrorism, Russel Sage Foundation (February 2010) * Encyclopedia of World Terrorism 3 vols. (edited With John Pimlott) Sharpe (1997) * Terrorism in Africa. Maxwell Macmillan International (1994) * Terrorism in Context. Pennsylvania State University Press (1995) * Terrorism, Legitimacy, and Power: The Consequences of Political Violence. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press (1983) * Revolutionary Terrorism: The FLN in Algeria, 1954-1962. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press (1978)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crenshaw, Martha Living people Scholars of terrorism 1945 births Corresponding fellows of the British Academy Women political scientists International relations scholars