I joined the SDSU political science department in 2008, after earning a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University in 2007 and an A.B. in social studies from Harvard University in 1998.  My work has examined the politics of humanitarian intervention—broadly conceived to include relief aid, peacebuilding, international law enforcement, and military intervention—into internal armed conflict, with a regional focus on Africa, specifically Uganda.  Recently, I have been focusing on
the International Criminal Court and the so-called Responsibility to Protect.

I am also interested in the repercussions of the U.S. "War on Terror" in East Africa and the consequent militarization and securitization of the African state.  I hope to use these lessons from Africa to better understand similar issues and processes here at home in and around San Diego, in particular mass internment, militarization, and paramilitarization along the Mexico-US border.

In addition to my academic work, I have worked with grassroots human rights organizations in Uganda and Mexico, most recently and extensively with Human Rights Focus, based in Gulu, northern Uganda.  Right now I am working on a book based upon my dissertation and subsequent work, provisionally titled
The Consequences of Human Rights: Political Violence and Western Intervention in Africa.