Chenoweth received her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Dayton, followed by an Master of Arts and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Colorado. She previously taught at Wesleyan University until 2012 and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard University and the University of Maryland. Chenoweth joined the University of Denver faculty in 2012.
Chenoweth is also the Director of the university"s Program on Terrorism and Insurgency Research and a researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). Within the international relations community, she is known for her work on civil resistance movements and political violence. Chenoweth received her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Dayton, followed by an Master of Arts Bibliography Rethinking Violence: States and Non-State Actors in Conflict (2010) Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (2011).
Together with Maria J. Stephan of the United States. Department of State, Chenoweth co-wrote the book, Why Civil Resistance Works, which develops the theory of civil resistance and its success rate for political change compared to violent resistance. In 2012, the book won the American Political Science Association"s Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award for "the best book published in the United States. during the previous calendar year on government, politics, or international affairs" Chenoweth, along with Stephan, also won the 2013 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Ideas for Improving the World Order. Past winners of this award include Mikhail Gorbachev and Robert Keohane. In December 2013, Foreign Policy named Chenoweth one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers of the year "for proving Gandhi right," noting her work on providing evidence for the efficacy of nonviolent political movements. In 2013, Erica also won the Karl Deutsch Award (International Relations) for being "judged to have made the most significant contribution to the study of International Relations and Peace Research by the means of publication." Chenoweth was also awarded the International Studies Association award for "Best Group Blog of the Year". lieutenant was awarded the blog "Violence a Glance", which she founded with Barbara F. Walter.
