Cyanne E. Loyle
- Professor of Political Science and International Affairs.
- Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park, Government and Politics (2011)
- M.A., University of Maryland, College Park, Government and Politics (2008)
- M.A. Stockton University, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (2004)
- B.A., Smith College, Government with 5-College Certificate in International Relations (2002)
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Cyanne E. Loyle is the Board of Visitors Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the Pennsylvania State University and a Research Professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo. Her research is motivated by a desire to better understand and contribute to the prevention of violent conflict. To advance this end, Dr. Loyle studies the use and misuse of judicial institutions by governments and armed non-state actors to hold human rights violators to account, punish political enemies, and consolidate power. She has examined these issues in diverse contexts such the conflicts in Mozambique, Nepal, Northern Ireland, Turkey, Rwanda, and Uganda. Her book, Escaping Justice: Impunity of State Crimes in the Age of Accountability (Cambridge University Press 2025), tackles questions about how powerful nations violate human rights yet often escape punishment for those crimes. Dr. Loyle holds a M.A. in Holocaust and Genocide Studies from Stockton University and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Maryland.
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“Some Left to Tell the Tale: Finding perpetrators and understanding violence in Rwanda” with Christian Davenport. Journal of Peace Research. Forthcoming
“#rebel: Rebel communication strategies in the age of social media” with Samuel Bestvater, Conflict Management and Peace Science. 2019.
“Justice during armed conflict: A new dataset on government and rebel strategies” with Helga Malmin Binningsbø. Journal of Conflict Resolution. 26(2) 2018.
“Transitional Justice and Political Order in Rwanda.”Ethnic and Racial Studies. 41(4) 2018.
“Post-Conflict Justice and Conflict Recurrence: Addressing Motivations for Sustainable Peace” with Benjamin Appel. International Studies Quarterly.61(3)September 2017.
“Research under fire: Conflict Studies and Researcher trauma” with Alicia Simoni.PS: Political Science and Politics50(1) January 2017.
“Overcoming Research Obstacles in Hybrid Regimes: Lessons from Rwanda” Social Science Quarterly97(4) December 2016.
“Transitional InJustice: Subverting Justice in Transition and Post-Conflict Societies” with Christian Davenport. Journal of Human Rights15(1)2016.
"The Northern Ireland Research Initiative: Data on the Troubles from 1968-1998” with Christopher Sullivan and Christian Davenport. Conflict Management and Peace Science31(1) February 2014.
"Armed Conflict and Post-Conflict Justice, 1946-2006: A Dataset” with Helga Malmin Binningsbø, Jon Elster and Scott Gates. Journal of Peace Research49(5) September 2012.
“The Economic Benefits of Justice: Post-Conflict Justice and Foreign Direct Investment” with Benjamin Appel.Journal of Peace Research49(5) September 2012.
“The Coercive Weight of the Past: Temporal Dependence in the Conflict-Repression Nexus” with Christopher Sullivan and Christian Davenport. International Interactions38(4)August2012.
“The States Must be Crazy: Dissent and the Puzzle of Repressive Persistence” with Christian Davenport. International Journal of Conflict and Violence6(1) May 2012.
“Why Men Participate: A Review of Perpetrator Research on the Rwandan Genocide” Journal of African Conflicts and Peace Studies1(2) September 2009.
“A Calamity in the Neighborhood: Women’s Participation in the Rwanda Genocide” with Reva Adler and J. Globerman.Genocide Studies and Prevention2(3) Winter 2008.
“Transforming Men Into Killers: Attitudes leading to hands-on violence during the 1994 Rwandan genocide” with Reva Adler, J. Globerman and E. Larson.Global Public Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice3(3) 2008.
Book Chapters and Encyclopedia Articles
“Fieldwork in ‘Restrictive’ Environments: Contrasting Methodologies” with Alyson Smith and Haley Swedlund. Sage Research Methods Cases(January, 2019). DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781...
“Rwanda’s Gacaca Courts: Instrument of Reconciliation? An Ongoing Controversy.” In Genocide: A Critical Bibliographic Review. Volume 11: Controversies in the Field of Genocide Studies. (Routledge, 2017)
“Understanding Government Behavior During Armed Conflict.” Encyclopedia Article. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. August 2017.
“Transitional Justice During Armed Conflict.” Encyclopedia Article. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics.March 2017.
“Transitional Justice and Injustice: The Uses and Misuses of the Liberal Peace” with Christian Davenport. In George Andreopoulos andZehra Arat ed. The Uses and Misuses of Human Rights: A Critical Approach (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014)
“Determinants of Transitional Justice” in Lavinia Stan and Nadya Nedelsky ed. Cambridge Encyclopedia of Transitional Justice(Cambridge University Press, 2013).
“Restorative vs. Retributive Justice” in Lavinia Stan and Nadya Nedelsky ed. Cambridge Encyclopedia of Transitional Justice(Cambridge University Press, 2013).
“Data Limitations as Impediment to Genocide Intervention” with Christian Davenport. In Sam Totten ed. Impediments to the Prevention and Intervention of Genocide(Transaction Press, 2012).
Contact Information
206 Pond Lab
814-863-1040
cloyle@psu.edu