Dr. Kathy Powers

Professional Background

Dr. Kathy Powers is associate professor of political science at the University of New Mexico. She earned her PhD in political science from the Ohio State University. While in residence at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, Dr. Powers conducted research on her project “Victim’s Justice: Holocaust Legacies of Reparations for a Transitional Justice Era.”

Dr. Powers is the author of several articles, including: “Victim’s Justice in the Aftermath of Political Violence: Why Do Countries Award Reparations?” co-authored in Foreign Policy Analysis Journal (accepted for publication); “The Demand for Reparations: Grievance, Risk, and the Pursuit of Justice in Civil War Settlement,” co-authored in Journal of Conflict Resolution (2012); and “The Economic-Institutional Construction of Regions: Conceptualisation and Operationalisation,” co-authored in Review of International Studies (2012). The National Science Foundation has funded some of her past work.

Fellowship Research

For her fellowship at the Mandel Center, Dr. Powers sought to understand the political, legal, and historical factors that influence reparations efforts globally by conducting a detailed analysis of Holocaust reparations from 1950 to 2013 using the International Tracing Service, Resistance and Reparations Collection, Case Files of the United Restitution Organization, and various personal collections such as the Erwin Marx Papers.

Dr. Kathy Powers was in residence at the Mandel Center from September 1 to November 30, 2014.