- Associate Professor
- Sam Reed Distinguished Professor
- Graduate Studies Director
Biography
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Jacob S. Lewis is an Associate Professor in the School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs at Washington State University. His research centers on African politics and focuses on issues of corruption, conflict, and political psychology. He also studies issues of antisemitism in a comparative perspective, focusing on mechanisms of blame and the role of conspiracy theories and populism. His work has been published in the Journal of Peace Research, Political Behavior, Political Psychology, Political Geography, Social Movement Studies, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, and more. His work has been supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, U.S. Agency for International Development, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Department of Defense’s Minerva Initiative.
Professor Lewis current oversees two large post-conflict peacebuilding projects in Zimbabwe and Ghana and maintains an active connection with the world of public policy and international development. He is also the PI on a five-year project across West and Southern Africa examining societal cohesion, misinformation, and conflict. One of his core goals is to help prepare undergraduate and graduate students for meaningful and fulfilling careers in applied politics and policy, and he integrates this into his teaching and broader pedagogy. Before beginning his life as an academic, he managed democratization and post-conflict stabilization programs across Africa as well as in Afghanistan.
Dr. Lewis is not currently accepting or overseeing additional graduate students.
Education
- Ph.D., Government and Politics, University of Maryland, College Park
- MA, Strategic Public Policy and International Affairs American University of Paris
- BA, Psychology and English, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Research Interest
Africa, conflict, psychology
Recent publications
- Violent Riots and South African Satisfaction with Democracy, Political Behavior 2024.
- Repression, backlash, and the duration of protests in Africa, Journal of Peace Research 2023.
- What determines the duration of protest events in Africa? Government and Opposition 2025.
- Proximate exposure to conflict and the spatiotemporal correlates of social trust in Africa. Political Psychology 2023.
- From rallies to riots: why some protests become violent, Journal of Conflict Resolution 2021.