I am a doctoral candidate in Politics at Somerville College studying conflict and political transitions in post-colonial Africa. My project examines the political roots of insecurity in Nigeria since the country’s return to civilian rule in 1999. This research draws on fieldwork conducted across each of Nigeria’s six sub-national regions, with a focus on four distinct yet interrelated conflicts: rural banditry, the jihadist Boko Haram insurgency, the Niger Delta “petro-insurgency,” and Biafran separatism.
I have lived and worked in Nigeria for several years in different capacities, beginning as a Fulbright researcher at the University of Lagos. I have worked as a consultant with organisations such as the World Bank and United States Institute of Peace; led research projects funded by donors such as the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO); and served as an international election observer. Outside of Nigeria, I have conducted fieldwork and long-form journalism in conflict zones in Somalia, South Sudan, and Ukraine. I am also a non-resident fellow at the Centre on Armed Groups in Geneva, the Hudson Institute in Washington D.C., and the Centre for Democracy and Development in Abuja.
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 previously lived and studied languages in Guatemala, Jordan, and Tanzania, in the latter as a Boren Scholar at the University of Dar es Salaam.
Research Interests
- Insurgents, warlords, and organised crime in comparative perspective
- Military rule and democratisation in the post-colonial world
- Conflict in Africa since the Cold War
- Nigerian history and politics
Publications
Barnett, J. and Rufa’i, M. (2025, forthcoming). ‘From Borno to Benin: Understanding the Geographic Diffusion of the Boko Haram Insurgency, 2020-23’ in Michael Nwankpa (Ed.), Rethinking Boko Haram: The Evolution of a Jihadist Group since 2015.
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.