I am researching regime transitions and sub-state conflict in the post-colonial world as part of my DPhil at DPIR, my principal geographic focus being Africa. My project interrogates the conditions under which democratisation may cause or exacerbate conflict through a set of in-depth case studies of Nigeria’s contemporary, overlapping insurgencies. My research utilises qualitative methods and builds on several years of prior fieldwork in Nigeria as a Fulbright researcher at the University of Lagos, a fellow with the Centre for Democracy and Development, and an independent consultant. I have also served as an international election observer and conducted fieldwork and/or long-form reporting on conflict in Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Ukraine.
I hold an MA with distinction in War Studies from King’s College London (2022) and a BA with highest honours in History and Plan II from the University of Texas (2017). I have previously received Fulbright and Boren grants for my research and studies.
Research Interests
Insurgents, warlords, and organised crime in comparative perspective
Conflict in Africa since the Cold War
Political economy of military rule and modes of regime transition
The politics of land use and natural resource management
Nigerian political and military history
Publications
Barnett, J. and Rufa'i, M. (2023). 'A “Sahelian” or a “Littoral” Crisis? Examining the Widening of Nigeria’s Boko Haram Conflict', Current Trends in Islamist Ideology, 32, pp. 5–46.
Barnett, J. (2023). 'When the Garrison State Deploys: Reassessing Nigeria’s ECOMOG Interventions, 1990-1999', African & Diaspora Discourse, 4, pp. 79–123.
Barnett, J., Rufa'i, M. and Abdulaziz, A. (2022). 'Northwestern Nigeria: A Jihadization of Banditry, or a Banditization of Jihad?', CTC Sentinel, 15(1), pp. 46–67.