20 Years of War: A Costs of War Research Series

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Since 2010, the Costs of War project at Brown University’s Watson Institute has focused on the human, financial, environmental, social and political costs and consequences of the post-9/11 wars and illustrated how the impacts of the wars will ripple into the future. Founded by Neta Crawford, Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at BU, and Catherine Lutz, Thomas J. Watson Jr. Family Professor of Anthropology and International Studies at Brown, the Costs of War project has produced dozens of papers and garnered significant attention from policymakers and major media outlets.

Beginning in Fall 2019, the two-year 20 Years of War series produced a new set of analyses to mark the 20th anniversary of the beginning of the post-9/11 wars. This effort included updating existing papers as well as producing new reports in order to provide a comprehensive overview of these wars’ many costs. Dr. Heidi Peltier joined the Pardee Center and the Department of Political Science as a research professor, and directed the 20 Years of War series at the Pardee Center, coordinating the new work in collaboration with the ongoing Costs of War project at Brown.

The 20 Years of War research series was funded by a generous grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York through the Pardee Center. BU’s College of Arts and Sciences and the Office of the Provost, along with the Watson Institute, also supported the project.