RESEARCH
Photos were taken during dissertation field work.
Meeting the Prime Minister of Timor-Leste,
Xanana Gusmao.
Crossing from south to north in Cyprus.
I research the impact of post-conflict votes on peace. My work is broadly comparative, at the intersection of international relations, comparative politics and peace & conflict studies. In my research on the use of referendums in peace processes, I look at settling civil wars and the power and peril of voting on peace.
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My book project is on peacemaking referendums. Contemporary war is most often ended not through victory but rather through negotiation. Peace agreements, however, frequently fail to make peace, particularly in intra-state wars rooted in basic sovereignty contentions. Peacemaking referendums are a mechanism that can move difficult peace negotiations forward and improve conditions for the implementation of peace agreements. These votes can create a foundation on which to build peace. However, peacemaking referendums may be violent and can de-rail peace or freeze a conflict.
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Since World War II, peacemakers have mandated and held a growing number of referendums in efforts to forge, legitimate, and enact peace agreements. My book presents a framework for analyzing how these referendums benefit peacemaking and the risks they present to peacebuilding. Referendums are used to 1) initiate peacemaking, 2) ratify a peace agreement, 3) conclude the implementation of a peace deal, or 4) to stand-in for a negotiated settlement when peace talks are not possible or productive.
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Researching this project, I conducted elite interviews with peace negotiators, electoral administrators and civil society stakeholders. I travelled to Colombia, Cyprus, East Timor, Indonesia, and South Sudan in addition to work in Washington DC and New York. The book revises and extends my dissertation work.
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Juba's empty streets on the second anniversary of South Sudan's independence.