research
My research agenda spans wartime violence, political order and peacebuilding. In my first book, I showed how democratic reforms led armed groups to target civilians who supported political rivals, making political cleansing a feature of the Colombian civil war. Now I study the effects of that violence through civilian resettlement, peace-building and state-building.
Book
2017. Democracy and Displacement in Colombia’s Civil War. Cornell University Press.
2020. Spanish translation: Democracia y desplazamiento en la guerra civil colombiana. Bogotá: Editorial Universidad del Rosario.
Journal Articles
2023. "Social Control in Civil Wars," with Corinna Jentzsch. Civil Wars. Special Issue, 25th Anniversary.
2023. “Introducing the Mapping Attitudes, Perceptions and Support (MAPS) dataset on the Colombian Peace Process,” with Michael Weintraub, Sebastián Pantoja-Barrios, Håvard Mokleiv Nygård, Helga Malmin Binningsbø, and Marianne Dahl. Journal of Peace Research.
2023. "Permanent membership: The prohibition of citizenship renunciation," with Imke Harbers. International Migration Review.
2020. “Subnational Variation across States: A Typology and Research Agenda,” with Imke Harbers. Introduction to special issue "The Subnational State in Latin America," Latin American Politics and Society.
2019. “Civilian Resettlement Patterns in Civil Wars.” Journal of Peace Research. Special Issue on Refugees, Forced Migration, and Conflict.
2018. “Endogenous Taxation in Ongoing Internal Conflicts: The Case of Colombia,” with Rafael Ch, Jacob N. Shapiro, and Juan F. Vargas. American Political Science Review.
2018. “Democracy and Civil War: The Case of Colombia,” with Livia I. Schubiger. Conflict Management and Peace Science.
2018. “IDP Resettlement and Collective Targeting during Civil War: Evidence from Colombia.” Journal of Peace Research.
2017. “Constraining the Samurai: Rebellion and Taxation in Early Modern Japan,” with Christopher Paik and Seiki Tanaka. International Studies Quarterly.
2017. “Subcontracting State-building.” with Jacob N. Shapiro. Small Wars and Insurgencies.
2016. “Warfare, Political Identities, and Displacement in Spain and Colombia,” with Laia Balcells. Political Geography.
2015. “True Believers, Deserters, and Traitors: Who Leaves Insurgent Groups and Why,” with Ben Oppenheim, Juan F. Vargas and Michael Weintraub. Journal of Conflict Resolution.
2011. “Electing Displacement: Political Cleansing in Apartadó, Colombia.” Journal of Conflict Resolution.
2009. “Seeking Safety: Displacement and Targeting in Civil Wars.” Journal of Peace Research. Vol 46, No. 3. 419-430.
2008. “Moving Targets: Mixing Methods to Uncover Dynamics of Displacement in Civil Wars.” Qualitative Methods. Spring. pp 23-26.
Under review & In progress
2023. "Rebel governance and political participation," with Michael Weintraub. Under review.
2023. "Transitional justice institutions and political engagement," with Michael Weintraub and Sebastián Pantoja-Barrios. Under review.
2023. "State Policies on Internal Displacement (SPID): Introducing a global dataset," with Adam Lichtenheld. Under review.
2023. "The micro-foundations of peace: Implementation and satisfaction with Colombia's peace agreement," with Sebastián Pantoja-Barrios, Silvia Otero-Bahamón, Casper Kurpan, Helga Malmin Binningsbø. Under review.
2023. "Wartime migration and trust in neighbors and the state in rural Colombia," with Alejandra Ortiz Ayala and Sebastián Pantoja-Barrios.
2023. "Government responses to internal and international displacement (GRIID)," with Adam Lichtenheld and Stephanie Schwartz.
2022. "Local state capacity: New relational indicators from Colombia's periphery," with Sebastián Pantoja-Barrios, Juan F. Vargas and Jacob N. Shapiro.
Policy Briefs
2021. Nygård, Håvard Mokleiv; Abbey Steele; Helga Malmin Binningsbø; Michael Weintraub; Christopher Fariss; Pablo Ruiz Hiebra, Luces y sombras de la implementación del Acuerdo de Paz en Colombia: Actitudes y percepciones en los territorios PDET [Lights and Shadows of the Peace Agreement Implementation in Colombia: Attitudes and Perceptions in the PDET Territories] Håvard Mokleiv Nygård; & Pablo Ruiz Hiebra, eds. PRIO-UNDP joint report.
English version & data here.
Book Chapters
2006. “Insecurity and Opportunity in Colombia: Linking Civil War and Human Trafficking,” in Karen Beeks and Delila Amir, Eds., Trafficking & the Global Sex Industry. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, Inc. pp 77-93.
Book Reviews
2020. Review of The Commander's Dilemma: Violence and Restraint in Civil Wars (Cornell), by Amelia Hoover Green. International Affairs.
2020. “Borderlands.” Review of Borderland Battles: Violence, Crime and Governance at the Edges of Colombia’s War (Oxford) by Annette Idler. Perspectives on Politics.
2019. “The Strength of the Weapons of the Weak.” Review of Resisting War: How Communities Protect Themselves (Cambridge) by Oliver Kaplan. International Studies Review.
2010. Comparative Political Studies. Review of John A. Booth and Mitchell Seligson. 2009. The Legitimacy Puzzle in Latin America: Political Support and Democracy in Eight Nations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.