Alison Brysk (born March 8, 1960) is an American political scientist who holds the Mellichamp Chair in Global Governance, Global and International Studies, at the University of California, Santa Barbara, specializing in international Human Rights.
Brysk received a bachelor's degree in Philosophy cum laude from Pomona College, followed by a master's degree in political science and a Ph.D. in political science, both from Stanford University. Her doctoral thesis was "The political impact of Argentina's human rights movement: social movements, transition and democratization." Brysk has taught at University of New Mexico, Pomona College, Stanford University, Lund University in Sweden, and the University of California, Irvine. She currently teaches at the University of California, Santa Barbara in the Global and International Studies department, offering courses on human rights, international relations, civil society, and Latin American politics at both the graduate and undergraduate level. Additionally, Brysk has been a visiting scholar and lecturer in Argentina, Australia, Ecuador, France, Spain, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, South Africa, Hungary, and Japan. In 2011, Brysk was the Fulbright Senior Scholar at Ravenshaw University in India, and in 2007 she held the Fulbright Distinguished Visiting Chair in Global Governance at Canada's CIGI.
Brysk was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. for the 2013-2014 academic year, where she completed a project called "Women's Rights as Human Rights: Constructing Political Will." Brysk is an officer of both the American Political Science Association and the International Studies Association. She has been published in a range of academic journals, including Comparative Political Studies, Human Rights Quarterly, and Polity.
The politics of the globalization of law: getting from rights to justice New York, NY : Routledge, 2013. >
Speaking Rights to Power: Constructing Political Will. Oxford University Press, 2013.
(Editor,) The Politics of the Globalization of Law. Routledge Press, 2013.
(Co-editor with Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick, From Human Trafficking to Human Rights, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012.
Global Good Samaritans: Human rights as foreign policy, Oxford University Press, 2009. According to WorldCat, the book is held in 1076 libraries
(Co-editor, with Gershon Shafir) National Insecurity and Human Rights: Democracies Debate Counter-terrorism, University of California Press, 2007.
Human Rights and Private Wrongs, Routledge Press, 2005.
Co-editor, th Gershon Shaf) People Out of Place: Globalization and the Citizenship Gap, wiir, Routledge Press, 2004.
(editor). Globalization and Human Rights. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. According to WorldCat, the book is held in 1935 libraries
From Tribal Village to Global Village: Indian Rights and International Relations in Latin America, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2000. According to WorldCat, the book is held in 755 libraries revised Spanish edition: De la tribu a la aldea global : derechos de los pueblos indigenas, redes transnacionales y relaciones internacionales en América Latina Barcelona, Spain: Ediciones Bellaterra, 2009.
The Politics of Human Rights in Argentina, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994.
Freeman, Mark, and Alison Brysk. Down to Earth: Adobe in New Mexico. Watertown, MA: Documentary Educational Resources, 2006
Freeman, Mark, Alison Brysk, and Eli Wallach. The Yidishe Gauchos. Waltham, MA: National Center for Jewish Film, Brandeis University, 2006.
Awards and honors
Woodrow Wilson Center, Fellow, Washington, D.C. (2013-2014).
University of California Humanities Center,“Re-envisioning the Human: Human Rights and Humanitarianism,” Co-PI with Keith Watenpaugh and Gershon Shafir, Multi-campus Research Group (2012-2013, 2013-2014).
Fulbright Senior Specialist, Ravenshaw University, Orissa, India (2011).
University of California, Irvine, Distinguished Mid-Career Research Award (2007-2008).
Fulbright Foundation, Distinguished Visiting Chair in Global Governance, University of Waterloo/Center for International Governance Innovation (2007).
