Colin Kahl is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Minnesota, where teaches courses in international relations, international security, American foreign policy, civil and ethnic conflict, and terrorism. In the summer of 2007, he will join the faculty in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University.

From January 2005-August 2006, Kahl was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow conducting research on Law of War issues at the U.S. Department of Defense. As part of this project, he conducted research in Baghdad in July 2006.

He has published articles on Iraq in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy and International Security (forthcoming). His previous research analyzed the causes and consequences of violent civil and ethnic conflict in developing countries. His book on the subject, States, Scarcity, and Civil Strife in the Developing World,  was published by Princeton University Press in March 2006.