Job title:
PhD Student
Department:
Political Science
Research interests:
Fellowship: Rocca Dissertation Research
Fellowship Year(s): 2018
Project/Theme Title: Obstruct or Enable: Strategic behavior of governments toward humantiarian assistance
Abstracts: Why do governments obstruct or enable the provision of humanitarian assistance by non-state actors? In recent decades, governments have expelled humanitarian organization, turned ships carrying humanitarian supplies away from port, and imposed draconian security restrictions to prevent humanitarians from providing services to needy populations. This project investigates the conditions under which governments are likely to either obstruct or enable the provision of humanitarian assistance, and the consequences of these choices for intended beneficiaries. To answers these questions, I will explore subnational variation in one country, Niger, which has confronted food crises, insurgencies, and forced displacement to gain an understanding of the relationship between governments and humanitarian actors across types of humanitarian crises. To collect data, I will interview key stakeholders, collect ethnographic observations of the implementation of humanitarian projects, and conduct focus groups with intended beneficiaries of assistance.