Brett Ashley Leeds

Brett Ashley Leeds is an American political scientist. She is a professor of political science at Rice University, where she has also been the chair of the department. She studies how domestic politics affect international conflict and cooperation, as well as international institutions. She specializes in how alliances between countries function, and how they help countries prevent wars. She then attended graduate school at Emory University, earning a PhD in 1998.

In 1997, Leeds became a professor of political science at Florida State University, remaining there until 2001 when she moved to the faculty at Rice University. Her work has focused on both the design and the effects of military alliances: she studies how governments structure security commitments, what determines whether or not leaders subsequently abide by those commitments, and how that affects military conflicts.

In 2015, Leeds was elected President of the International Studies Association for the 2017–2018 term. The following academic year she was elected President of the Peace Science Society.

In 2019, Leeds was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Conflict Processes Section of the American Political Science Association. Leeds also won the 2019 Herman Brown Distinguished Scholar Award from Texas Christian University, which recognizes a political scientist for outstanding scholarship and contributions to the discipline. Previously, Leeds was the recipient of the 2008 Karl Deutsch Award from the International Studies Association, which recognizes "significant contribution to the study of International Relations and Peace Research". Vox, and Foreign Affairs.

Selected works "Domestic political institutions, credible commitments, and international cooperation", American Journal of Political Science (1999) "Alliance treaty obligations and provisions, 1815-1944", International Interactions, with Jeffrey Ritter, Sara Mitchell, and Andrew Long (2002) "Alliance reliability in times of war: Explaining state decisions to violate treaties", International Organization (2003)

Selected awards Lifetime Achievement Award, American Political Science Association Conflict Processes Section (2019) Herman Brown Distinguished Scholar Award, Texas Christian University (2019) Karl Deutsch Award, International Studies Association (2008)