Dr. Bell's research focuses on civil war and the politics of failing states. His dissertation explores how leaders of weak, conflict-prone regimes can best use their scarce financial resources to avoid destabilizing political violence. Work from this project is published in International Studies Quarterly. Curtis is currently using insights generated by his dissertation to explain cross-national variation in government responses to the Arab Awakening protests. Other research interests include environmental security, ethnic politics, African politics, and post-conflict development. He is working with researchers at the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) and traveled to South Africa in 2011 to pursue this research agenda.