Thesiss

The central goal of this project is to better understand the relationship between civil war and repression at each phase of the "civil-war life-cycle," which is composed of the escalation and onset of civil war, the war itself, and the post-war period. The project then seeks to …

This dissertation project proposes a dynamic two-level model of rivalry escalation and de-escalation. I highlight both domestic and international conditions that are likely to increase the chances that a state escalates or de-escalates its relations with a rival. Specifically, t…

This dissertation addresses the question of how political contention escalates to civil war. More specifically, it examines two subsidiary questions: why do some protest waves evolve into insurgencies while others do not; and why do some insurgencies escalate into civil wars whi…