Alex is a PhD candidate at the University of Arizona. Their research examines United Nations (UN) peacekeeping and political interventions in civil wars; as well as the myriad non-governmental and state actors working alongside the United Nations in development and peacebuilding after civil wars. They investigate the effect of these interventions on violent and non-violent state repression during and after civil conflicts. Their dissertation, with three empirical chapters, addresses the variation in UN political and peacekeeping missions, their effects on dynamics of repression, and how networks of peacebuilding, development, and humanitarian actors condition these effects.

They aim to elucidate causes and consequences of Special Political Missions (SPMs) explicitly, as the UN has transitioned away from large-scale Peacekeeping Operations (PKOs) over the past decade. Conflict-affected states are characterized by violent and non-violent repression, and PKOs are known to reduce the severity of this repression; are SPMs just as effective? Furthermore, every UN intervention is supported by a number of actors networked through mandates, projects, and informal ties – how do these networks condition the effect of peace operations on state repression? They address a gap in the literature on international interventions in conflict and state repression, as it posits conflicting theories and findings.

For the past three years, Alex was a lead research assistant on a National Science Foundation-funded project with PIs Susanna Campbell and Jessica Maves Braithwaite – Networks of Influence and Support in Peace Operations; this project captures hundreds of thousands of relationships (edges) among over 10,000 international and national organizations which engage in peace, humanitarian, and development work in 20 countries with UN peace operations. In this role, Alex has worked with a large, diverse team of over 30 undergraduate and graduate research assistants. Additionally, they have multiple papers in progress coauthored with the PIs (1, 2). The project is based in the Research on International Policy Implementation Lab (RIPIL) at American University.

Alex’s research agenda allows for multiple pathways to examine networks around specific international non-governmental organizations, investigate efficacy of international collaboration tools like those used by the United Nations, and understand dyadic state cooperation in the context of great powers politics. Furthermore, the role of international human rights organizations is largely overlooked in the peacebuilding and development environment; I hope to pursue this line of questioning further. In terms of state repression, I will continue to contribute to a burgeoning literature on non-violent repression of civil society and restrictions on non-governmental organizations by applying underutilized data on these restrictions.

Alex attended the Institute for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research (IQMR) in 2023 and participated in the Bridging the Gap New Era Workshop in 2022. Alex has presented working papers at the annual meetings of the Peace Science Society in 2022 (1), International Studies Association in 2023 (3, 4), and the Political Economy of International Organizations in 2023 (1). Alex holds two bachelor’s degrees from Florida Atlantic University and a master’s degree from the University of Arizona.

Alex uses they/them pronouns.

Download my curriculum vitae.