Adam Branch

Adam Branch joined the SDSU political science department in 2008.  He earned a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University in 2007 and an A.B. in social studies from Harvard University in 1998.  His work examines the politics of humanitarian intervention into internal armed conflict, with a regional focus on Africa, specifically Uganda.  Adam’s objective has been to explain why and how democratic political processes among war-affected civilians should be put at the center of the humanitarian enterprise, and to clarify the negative consequences of ignoring or suppressing such processes.  Much of his recent work has focused on the politics and repercussions of the International Criminal Court’s intervention into Uganda’s civil war.

Adam’s work has led him to spend almost two years in northern Uganda since 2001, where he has conducted independent research and also worked closely with Human Rights Focus, a local human rights organization based in Gulu.  He has published a number of articles on the Ugandan conflict and foreign intervention, including in Ethics and International Affairs, the Journal of Modern African Studies, the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, and Constellations.  Citations and links can be found on his webpage.  He is currently at work on a book provisionally titled Beyond Humanity: Promoting Peace, Justice, and Survival in Contemporary Africa.

Adam grew up in San Diego, and is very glad to have finally returned to the desert mirage he calls home.  In the future, he plans to begin working on the same issues he works on in East Africa—large-scale population displacement, mass internment, refugee crisis, militarization and paramilitarization, the “War on Terror,” human rights abuses, and humanitarian aid—here in Southern California.