Anticipating Flashpoints with Russia: Patterns and Drivers
The authors combined quantitative and qualitative modes of analysis to better understand and anticipate flashpoints with Russia.
Molly Dunigan
Director, Strategy, Doctrine, and Resources Program, RAND Arroyo Center; Senior Political Scientist
Expertise
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Molly Dunigan is director of the Strategy, Doctrine, and Resources Program within the RAND Arroyo Center, a senior political scientist at RAND, and a senior lecturer in Carnegie Mellon University's Institute for Strategy and Technology. Her research interests focus on military privatization, outsourcing, operational contract support, strategic competition, civil–military relations, civilian deployment, counterinsurgency, and maritime security.
She is the recipient of numerous awards, including a U.S. Institute of Peace Jennings Randolph Peace Fellowship, a U.S. State Department Foreign Language Areas Studies Fellowship, and an International Studies Association Catalytic Research Grant. Prominent among Dunigan's published work are Victory for Hire: Private Security Companies' Impact on Military Effectiveness (Stanford University Press, 2011), The Markets for Force: Privatization of Security Across World Regions (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), and a number of RAND reports on various personnel and strategy-related issues.
An internationally recognized expert on private security contracting, Dunigan's work on this topic has been cited in USA Today, Time Magazine, Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, and National Public Radio. Dunigan's publications have been favorably reviewed in Military Review, The Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, The Journal of Military History, Survival, Parameters, and The Boston Globe, and her op-eds have appeared in The National Interest, USA Today, The Hill, U.S. News & World Report, and The Christian Science Monitor.
Dunigan received her Ph.D. in government from Cornell University.
Education
Ph.D. in political science, Cornell University; M.A. in international relations, Cornell University; B.A. in political science, Vassar College
Concurrent Non-RAND Positions
Senior Lecturer, Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology, Carnegie Mellon University
Selected Work
- Dunigan, Molly, Anthony Atler, Will to Fight of Private Military Actors: Applying Cognitive Maneuver to Russian Private Forces, RAND Corporation (RR-A355-1), 2023
- Dunigan, Molly, Michelle Grisé, Kimberly Jackson, John J. Drennan, Sandra Kay Evans, Ashley L. Rhoades, Eric Robinson, Meagan L. Smith, and Jonathan Welch, Gaining the Edge: Identifying and Leveraging Frameworks for Enabling Army Contributions to Competition, RAND Corporation (RR-A1235-1), 2023
- Molly Dunigan, Ryan Andrew Brown, Samantha Cherney, Maria DeYoreo, Katherine C. Hastings, Jennifer Lamping Lewis, Christina Panis, Leslie Adrienne Payne, Michael Schwille, Lauren Skrabala, Army Expeditionary Civilian Demand: Forecasting Future Requirements for Civilian Deployments, RAND (RR-2854), 2019
- Molly Dunigan, Michael Schwille, Samantha Cherney, Katherine Hastings, Brian Nichiporuk, Peter Schirmer, Human Capital Needs for the Department of Defense Operational Contract Support Planning and Integration Workforce, RAND (RR-1847), 2017
- Molly Dunigan, Susan Everingham, Todd Nichols, Michael Schwille, Susanne Sondergaard, Expeditionary Civilians: Creating a Viable Practice of Department of Defense Civilian Deployment, RAND Corporation (RR-975), 2016
- Molly Dunigan, The Markets for Force: Privatization of Security Across World Regions, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015
- Molly Dunigan, Carrie Farmer, Rachel Burns, Alison Hawks, Claude Messan Setodji, Out of the Shadows: The Health and Well Being of Private Contractors Working in Conflict Environments, RAND Corporation (RR-420), 2013
- Molly Dunigan, Victory For Hire: Private Security Companies' Impact on Military Effectiveness, Stanford University Press, 2011
