How and why are JNIM gaining ground in Mali? My latest analysis for @uk.theconversation.com theconversation.com/why-an-armed...

🚨 Job Alert! We have a fascinating new project running on jihadist insurgencies in Africa, for which three research positions are open. Only five more days left to apply! Details about the three positions 👇

#OpenAccess from the latest issue of @iojournal.bsky.social - The Determinants of Insurgent Gender Governance - cup.org/4jjcejL "I demonstrate that armed groups exploit pre-existing gender grievances, using strategies like punishing domestic violence..." - @tessadevereaux.bsky.social

Dozens more pregnant and postpartum women have died in Texas hospitals since the state banned abortion, our analysis shows. As the maternal mortality rate dropped nationally, it rose in Texas by 33%.

The New York Times is the first to put out comprehensive estimates on the cost of a year without U.S.A.I.D. and they’re higher than I thought: - 1.65 million deaths from AIDS - 500,000 from lack of vaccines - 550,000 from lack of food aid - 290,000 from malaria - 310,000 from TB

How & why do insurgents challenge gender norms during conflict? Using data on 137 armed groups and two Malian case studies, my new @iojournal.bsky.social article shows how rebels reshape local power relations by regulating gender customs. Read it here: bit.ly/3DIjRRe @polviolencepapers.bsky.social

I've written my thoughts down about one of Trump's many executive orders: condemning South Africa on baseless grounds. South Africa's Expropriation Act does not constitute anything other than a regular piece of legislation. blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/...

Life-threatening infections in Texas have soared among women losing a pregnancy after the state’s abortion ban. www.propublica.org/article/texa...

Heard of the #manosphere? Dr. Mariel Barnes & @sabrinamkarim.bsky.social's new @cpsjournal.bsky.social paper urges the recognition of the revived men's movement as political, and explores when different parts of the manosphere turns violent. #GenderSky #polisky journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Masters scholarships for Palestinian students at Sussex. Please disseminate? www.sussex.ac.uk/broadcast/re...

Just in case you thought that removing DEI criteria would mean that everyone is competing equally: NIH is removing grad students from underrepresented backgrounds from the applicant pool altogether. Their applications will not be considered. Other students, not from these backgrounds, will be.

JOB ALERT: I have two vacancies for fully-funded, 4 year PhD positions in my European Research Council Project “Countering Jihadi Insurgencies in Africa”; one on Nigeria, one on Mozambique. Closing date for applications 15 March 2025, start in Sept. 2025 www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/vacancies...

In an explainer for @goodauth.bsky.social, I share some historical and contemporary context to martial law in South Korea and Yoon's botched attempt yesterday. goodauthority.org/news/martial...

jessica.substack.com/p/idaho-will... An appeals court has ruled that Idaho can enforce most of its anti-abortion travel ban, making it the first state in the nation to do so.

The call for the UCL Conflict & Change PhD Workshop is out! ECRs working on IR, conflict and contentious politics are invited to apply by 8 December. London 24-25 February, 2025. Apply here: conflictandchange.org/phdworkshop2025

ICYMI: I wrote on shifting trends in Africa’s post-coup politics @africa.theconversation.com

It is an absolute shame that Anthony Bourdain is not alive for this moment