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About James Ron

James Ron, PhD, is a social scientist and author. Over the course of a 40-year career, he has been a soldier, journalist, human rights & war crimes investigator, academic, program evaluator, and research consultant.   

 

Over the years, James developed expertise in overseeing complex international studies of armed conflict, human rights, organizational processes, international aid delivery and impact, public opinion, and social change.

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Trained as a sociologist, political scientist, journalist, and human rights investigator, James is known for his scholarly work on international aid, international security, public opinion, and human rights. Some of his best-known research examines how states, international organizations, and non-governmental groups interact in situations of armed conflict and political instability. James is also recognized for his work on international public opinion on governance, human rights, and public advocacy in high, medium, and low-income countries.

 

​​​​​​​​​This website, jamesron.net, is home to a blog focused on personal themes, including book reviews, contemporary events, and personal observations.​

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Academic Positions

James Ron holds a PhD in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley and a BA in political science from Stanford University. He taught for over two decades in research-intensive universities in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Today, James is no longer affiliated with academic institutions. 

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In the US, James held a tenure-track position in sociology and political science at the main Baltimore campus of Johns Hopkins University. Later, he was a tenured professor at the University of Minnesota in its departments of public affairs and political science, with an emphasis on international affairs and human rights.

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In Canada, James held tenured positions in sociology at McGill University, located in Montreal, and in international public service at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, a noted graduate training program housed in Ottawa’s Carleton University.

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In Mexico, James was a visiting and later associated professor of international studies at el Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) in Mexico City, a publicly funded research and teaching institute.

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James was the recipient of multiple academic awards and fellowships. At McGill University, he held a Canada Research Chair (tier 2) in Conflict and Human Rights, funded by the Canadian and Quebec governments. At the University of Minnesota, he held the Harold Stassen Chair in international affairs, endowed by private donors. He was also awarded Olin and Fulbright fellowships at different times, although he could not take advantage of those for various reasons. 

 

James held fellowships at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, and at the Watson Institute for International Affairs at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

 

To read James Ron's scholarly publications, visit his Social Research Research Network, ResearchGate, PhilPeople, Web of Science, Academia.edu, SemanticsScholar, and ORCID profiles.

 

To learn how other scholars have used and cited James Ron's research, visit his Google Scholar page. 

Research Themes

Using statistical methods, James' scholarly research explored cross-national public opinion towards international and domestic governance, human and civil rights, and support for non-profit entities. For these analyses, James designed surveys and led survey teams in Colombia, India, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, and the United States.

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In earlier co-authored research, James and his colleagues used statistical methods to study attention towards human rights issues in leading media outlets, such as The Economist and Newsweek, and by leading advocacy groups, such as Amnesty International.

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Using qualitative case studies and rare, one-on-one interviews, James studied patterns of political violence and human rights abuse in Israel/Palestine, the former Yugoslavia, Peru, the Republic of Congo, and Turkey. His landmark study of international aid agencies, The NGO Scramble, co-authored with political scientist Alexander Cooley, is a widely cited analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of international humanitarian assistance. That effort drew on interviews with aid actors and others in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the former Yugoslavia, and Kyrgyzstan.

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James Ron’s research was supported by multiple governmental and private funding agencies. In Canada, he received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the International Development Research Centre, Global Affairs Canada, the Canada Research Chairs program, the Canada Fund for Innovation, and the Quebec government. In the US, James received research grants from the Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Social Science Research Council, National Science Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and others.

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In addition to publishing two scholarly books with the University of California Press and Oxford University Press, James published articles in leading disciplinary journals. In sociology, his work has appeared in Contexts, Social Problems, and Theory and Society. In political science, James Ron's articles have been published by Comparative Politics and Political Studies Quarterly. In international relations, James’ research has appeared in the Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, International Studies Quarterly, International Organization, International Security, and the Review of International Political Economy. James's scholarly findings have also appeared in Human Rights Quarterly, Journal of Human Rights, and World Development.​

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James's earlier work on Israel anticipated some of what we see today. For relevant analysis, check out this comment on the University of California Press author blog, or this short essay, "In 2003, My Book Anticipated the Gaza Horror." 

International Consultancies

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Although James is known chiefly for his academic work, he also consulted for clients in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. He is no longer actively pursuing consulting contracts.

 

Working with an international team of evaluators, James assessed international aid to governments in Mexico and Central America for their work on forensic identification. As part of another international group of analysts, James evaluated Swiss assistance to human rights organizations in Israel and the Palestinian territories. A third recent study evaluated research on women’s employment by a Bedouin rights group in Israel.

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In earlier years, James consulted for the US-based international humanitarian agency, CARE, studying the political and human rights implications of their aid to refugees from Rwanda in Goma, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo. James also consulted for over thirty years for Human Rights Watch, assessing violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Chechnya, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Kyrgyzstan, Kosovo, Nigeria, and Turkey.

 

For the International Committee of the Red Cross, James studied civilian protection efforts in Bosnia and Croatia, analyzing the Red Cross’s collaboration and competition with other international agencies. Over the years, James has specialized in violations of the laws of war, assessing allegations made against the Israeli, Russian, Serbian, and Turkish militaries.
 

For over a decade, James volunteered as a program evaluator for Life for a Child, a medical non-profit affiliated with the International Diabetes Federation. The group provides insulin and blood testing equipment to children and youth with Type 1 diabetes in low-income countries. This work took James to hospitals and clinics in India, Mexico, Morocco, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. 

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Through these research projects, James interviewed ordinary men and women, military officers, political leaders, and social activists in the Balkans, Central Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa. James speaks several languages, but he also conducted interviews with translators worldwide. You can learn more about his consulting work on his "Author & Social Scientist" LinkedIn profile. 

Publishing in Popular Venues

James Ron published frequently for general audiences. He penned guest editorials in venues such as the Baltimore Sun, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Foreign Policy, the Globe and Mail, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Open Global Rights, the Ottawa Citizen, Toronto Star, and the Washington Post. In these articles, James typically focused on original, research-driven insights into the dynamics of international politics, foreign aid, human rights, and armed conflict.

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In 2013, James co-founded Open Global Rights, a multilingual news and human rights strategy website with support from the Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and others. This site has become widely read by scholars and practitioners in the field and is known for publishing short, well-written, and accessible articles summarizing contemporary debates in the field of human rights measurement, strategy, research, and advocacy.

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In pursuing these writing projects, James was aided by his early training with the Jerusalem bureau of the Associated Press, where he worked as a junior reporter.​

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James is now writing about growing up in Israel. 

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