Alisa Laufer

Alisa is a first year PhD student in the Department of International Relations. Her current research explores how civilian victimisation during interstate wars shapes the targeted population's willingness to fight. Broadly, she is interested in understanding the use of coercion against civilians and the strategic consequences of wartime civilian harm, with an emphasis on quantitative methods.

She holds an MPA in International Relations from Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs, where she worked as a research assistant for the Empirical Studies of Conflict Project. She received her BA in International Affairs (magna cum laude) from George Washington University, with a concentration in security policy and a minor in Arabic studies.

Prior to beginning her doctoral studies, Laufer was a Policy Analyst at the RAND Corporation, where she conducted research on special operations, civilian harm, and Russia-Ukraine war for a variety of sponsors including the Office of the Secretary of Defense and components of US Special Operations Command. She previously supported the US Department of State's Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, where she coordinated international CBRN crisis response exercises and advised Department leadership during real-world crises. She has served as a Harold W Rosenthal Fellow at the Center for Civilians in Conflict in Geneva.

Laufer co-hosts the Irregular Warfare Podcast, a joint production of Princeton's Empirical Studies of Conflict Project and the Modern War Institute at West Point.

Research topic

Breaking or Building Resolve? Understanding the effects of civilian victimisation on will to fight in interstate conflict

Academic supervisors

Anna Getmansky

Peter Trubowitz

Expertise

Conflict; civilian victimization; irregular warfare; quantitative analysis

Research cluster affiliation

Security and Statecraft research cluster

International Institutions, Law and Ethics research cluster

Jebb, B., & Laufer, A. (2025). The Bad Neighbor Problem: Analyzing the Geographic Spread of Terrorism Across Contiguous Border States. Terrorism and Political Violence, 1–21.

Sundar, R.S., Cooper, D.H., Hornish, M., Laufer, A. (2024). Emergency Response and Crisis Communications. In: Kapur, S.P., Rajagopalan, R.P., Wueger, D. (eds) The Challenges of Nuclear Security. Initiatives in Strategic Studies: Issues and Policies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Hvizda, Mark, Bryan Frederick, Alisa Laufer, Alexandra T. Evans, Kristen Gunness, and David A. Ochmanek, Dispersed, Disguised, and Degradable: The Implications of the Fighting in Ukraine for Future U.S.-Involved Conflicts. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2025.

Laufer, Alisa, Howard J. Shatz, and Omar Danaf, Implications of Russia's War on Ukraine for the U.S. and Allied Defense Industrial Bases. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2025.