My work focuses on global security in the contemporary world. I study evolving security dynamics in the context of armed conflict, unstable regions, and the global illicit economy, transitions from war to peace, and state responses to insecurity.

I am particularly interested in the role that diverse types of violent non-state groups play in these dynamics. Among other areas, I focus on the political economy of borderlands as spaces where criminal, terrorist, and conflict dynamics converge. Methodologically, I am fascinated by the use of ethnographic methods in Political Science and International Relations, as well as multi-methods research. I have conducted extensive fieldwork in war-torn and crisis-affected regions, including in and on Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Myanmar and Kenya (on Somalia).