Published Work

Rebel Restraint from Wartime Sexual Violence
Accepted for publication in Security Studies
with Seden Akcinaroglu
This paper examines how rebel groups’ IHL-based commitments are made credible through internal enforcement and normative restraint, demonstrating that these mechanisms reduce sexual violence in civil wars. We reconceptualize restraint as a proactive organizational strategy in CRSV rather than a reactive signal to external audiences.

COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN SOMALIA, SOUTH AFRICA AND ZIMBABWE: WHY DO LEADERS LOVE COVID-19 PRECAUTIONS?
Book Chapter with Onsel Bayrali
Emerald Publishing Limited This chapter explores how leaders in Somalia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe used COVID-19 precautions to expand power and control dissent under the guise of public health.

Papers Under Review

Collective Authority and Bargaining Credibility: Executive Councils in Rebel Organizations
Solo Paper
This paper demonstrates that rebel organizations governed by councils are significantly more likely to engage in and sustain negotiations with governments. Builds on an original cross-national dataset of rebel institutions.

Rebel Council Dataset: Mapping Leadership Institutions in Armed Groups(1973-2023
Solo Paper
Introduces an original global dataset capturing rebel groups’ internal institutions—such as councils, elections, and decision-making authority—from 1973 to 2023. The paper details coding procedures, cross-regional coverage, and key patterns linking internal structure to negotiation and transformation into political parties.

Powering Peace? Solar Energy and Non-State Conflict In Nigeria
Under Review
with Seden Akcinaroglu and M. Shi
This subnational study demonstrates that in Nigeria, solar projects, as a form of renewable energy, mitigate conflict by fostering community stability and reducing resource-based grievances.

Foreign Aid and Human Rights: The Divergent Impacts of Bilateral and Multilateral Assistance on Torture Practices
with Tyler Clarke
This paper examines how bilateral and multilateral aid differentially influence state repression. Using two-stage and marginal structural models, it shows that multilateral aid constrains human rights abuses, whereas bilateral aid—particularly from major donors— tends to exacerbate them.

Harnessing Renewable Energy for Peace: The Impact of Solar on Civil Wars in Africa
with Seden Akcinaroglu and M. Shi
This paper examines whether solar energy infrastructure reduces civil war risk in Africa. Using entropy-balanced difference-in-differences models with Conley spatial HAC standard errors, it shows that proximity to operational solar plants significantly reduces the probability of civil war, with effects attenuating with distance from the plant.

Working Papers

Diversity in Negotiations: Impact of Rebel’s Ethnic Composition on Concessions
Solo Paper
This article examines how the ethnic diversity of rebel leadership councils affects the type and scale of government concessions. Drawing on a new dataset of African rebel groups (1989–2009), the paper shows that groups with more diverse leadership structures obtain stronger political and material concessions, challenging assumptions that homogeneity yields unity and leverage.

Institutional Design in Armed Groups: The Strategic Logic of Rebel Councils
Solo Paper
This paper argues that rebels who establish councils do so as a forward-looking strategy to enhance organizational survival, cohesion, and post-war political transformation. Uses global data to test when and why councils emerge as strategic forms of delegation.

Ethnicity Status and Leader’s Post-Exit Fate
with Yusuf Evirgen and Onsel Bayrali
Examines how leaders’ ethnic majority or minority status shapes their post-exit trajectories, including exile, imprisonment, or reintegration.

Stabilizing an Unstable Federalism or Legitimizing Clan- based Politics: The Role of Federalism under Traditional Linkages in Somalia
with Onsel Bayrali
This piece analyzes how clan-based linkages interact with federal institutions to produce uneven governance and contested legitimacy in Somalia.

The Police-Military-Civilian Triad: Shaping Peace Attitudes in Conflict Zones
with Seden Akcinaroglu and Yusuf Evirgen
This paper uses a survey questionnaire in Turkey to examine how the positions of military and police actors shape civilian support for peace initiatives.