I’m an Assistant Professor (with tenure) of International Relations at the Institute of Political Science at Leiden University. My research focuses on civilian collective action during civil war and conflict transformation and escalation. I’m also broadly interested in social movements, political violence, peacekeeping, African politics, and fieldwork methods and ethics. I’ve conducted extensive fieldwork in southern Africa, including Mozambique, Zambia, and Malawi.
My book Violent Resistance: Militia Formation and Civil War in Mozambique, published with Cambridge University Press, came out in January 2022. It has been reviewed in the Journal of Southern African Studies, the Revue d’Histoire Contemporaine de l’Afrique, Perspectives on Politics, and International Affairs, and was shortlisted for the Conflict Research Society Book of the Year Prize 2023.
My work has also appeared in the Journal of Conflict Resolution, Political Geography, Perspectives on Politics, Civil Wars, Africa, ForeignAffairs.com, African Conflict and Peacebuilding Review, and several edited volumes.
I received my PhD from Yale University, and prior to that studied at Free University Berlin and Sciences Po Paris. I’m an associate editor of the International Studies Review, and you can follow me on Mastodon (@coboje@h-net.social).