abbey steele, ph.d.

I’m an associate professor in the department of political science at the University of Amsterdam, and founder of the Amsterdam Conflict Research Network (ACoRN), a monthly seminar with colleagues from across the Netherlands and Europe. With Alessandro Nai, I am co-PI of the research priority area Conflict & Society at the UvA, and I am on the board of the Amsterdam Center for Conflict Studies, which I previously directed.  

In my research, I use mixed methods to study displacement during civil wars and responses to it by states and civilians, and how international institutions constrain non-violent, democratic order within Latin America. My first book, Democracy and Displacement in Colombia's Civil War, traces the impact of democratic reforms on the forms of violence armed actors used in the Colombian civil war, especially political cleansing.

Beginning in 2026, I will be PI of the ERC-funded project Protect & Repress: Government Responses to Internal Displacement (GRID).