Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili is a professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public and International Affairs, where she also serves as the founding director of the Center for Governance and Markets. She received her Ph.D. and MA in political science and an additional MA in agricultural and applied economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She also holds a B.S.F.S. in international politics from Georgetown University.

Murtazashvili was awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar fellowship for her project, Formal Rules, Informal Networks: The Abraham Accords and Regional Alliances in Global Perspective. Her research examines how legal and institutional frameworks shape emerging regional alliances in the Middle East, with a particular focus on the Abraham Accords. The project draws on comparative research from regions including Central Eurasia and Eastern Europe to investigate the influence of formal institutions and informal networks on diplomatic cooperation, regional stability, and prospects for peace.

Her recent publications include:

• Aligica, Paul Dragos, and Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, eds. Governing Differences: Social Diversity, Polycentric Political Economy and Modus Vivendi. New Thinking in Political Economy Series. Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2025.
• Murtazashvili, Ilia, and Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili. 2024. “Informal Institutions in Comparative Politics.” Comparative Politics. https://doi.org/10.5129/001041524X17055864659872.
• Brik, Tymofii, Tymofiy Mylovanov, Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, and Ilia Murtazashvili. 2024. “Special Issue on the Political Economy of the War in Ukraine.” Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice.