About me

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I am Associate Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science at the University of Miami.

I hold a PhD in Political Science from Columbia University and an MA in Strategic Studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). In 2015-16 I was Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Princeton University’s Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance.

My research interests cover topics at the intersection between International Relations, Security Studies, and Comparative Politics: civil war dynamics (in particular infighting and cooperation among rebel groups), counterinsurgency, ethnic conflict, religion and violence, civilian victimization and terrorism, non-violent resistance, natural resources and state-minority disputes, coercion and the implications of the psychology of emotions for coercive bargaining.

My book, Conflict Among Rebels: Why Insurgent Groups Fight Each Other (Columbia University Press), explains why and under what circumstances rebel groups pitted against a common enemy (the government) fight one other (get it at a 20% discount with the promo code CUP20 at https://cup.columbia.edu/).

My academic pieces have been published in International Studies QuarterlySecurity StudiesInternational SecurityJournal of Peace Research, Journal of Conflict ResolutionMiddle East PolicyParameters, African Security Review,  and The International Spectator. I wrote opinion and policy pieces for the blogs of The National Interest, The Washington Post, and Vox.

I previously worked as research analyst at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and at the World Bank’s Development Economics Research Group in Washington, DC.

I was born and raised in Italy, where I lived until I graduated from college. In my free time I hit tennis balls.