Prof Anastasia Shesterinina

📢 NEW article in the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law "The Beyond Compliance Approach: Centering Harm + Need Towards Full(er) Protection in Armed Conflict". The article builds the conceptual scaffolding of the Beyond Compliance Consortium's research programme.

👉Read here: bit.ly/BCC-Article

The role of ideology in Hezbollah’s social institutions - Civil War Paths Sadeen Haddad is a research associate with the Civil War Paths project, working on micro-mobilisation and intra-group dynamics in Lebanon. Photo Credit: ZOHRA BENSEMRA/ REUTERS

Out on the @civilwarpaths.bsky.social blog now, our own Sadeen Haddad shares her research on Lebanon and the use of social institutions by armed groups to platform ideology and shape public framings of threat, read it here 👇
www.civilwarpaths.org/the-role-of-...

Does Ideology Matter to Make Peace? Lessons from Colombia and Beyond - Civil War Paths Dr Geraldine Butos is a post-doctoral researcher examining ideology and patterns of violence in rebel groups in Latin America with a focus on Colombia. Photo Credits: Deúniti, Creative Collective

Out now on the @civilwarpaths.bsky.social blog, @geraldinebustos.bsky.social shares her research from Colombia and beyond to show how armed group ideology shapes both war and peace. 👇

www.civilwarpaths.org/does-ideolog...

Why Militias Stay: The Security Dilemma Behind Iraq’s Persistent Armed Actors - Civil War Paths Hogr Tarkhani is an assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Rogers State University and a 2025-26 Civil War Paths Fellow at the Center for the Comparative Study of Civi...

In our first blog of the new year, Hogr Tarkhani shares his research in Iraq to discuss why militias stay. Read it here 👇

www.civilwarpaths.org/why-militias...

Such a pleasure co-authoring this report with @ezequielheffes.bsky.social, Anki Sjöberg & Konstantina Karagkouni!

In it we discuss what factors affect #compliance & #restraint by #NSAGs, who influences these outcomes & how they unfold adopting a multi-factor, multi-actor & norm-specific approach 👇🏼

Armed Group Constellations in Multiparty Civil Wars: How Syrian Rebels Toppled Assad - Civil War Paths Dr. Regine Schwab is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt and Goethe University Frankfurt, working on contemporary civil wars, militant Islamist groups, wartime institut...

This week on the @civilwarpaths.bsky.social blog @reginesonja.bsky.social shares insights from her forthcoming book on armed group constellations in multiparty civil wars - and how these shaped conflict dynamics in Syria in 2024 👇
www.civilwarpaths.org/armed-group-...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

New publication alert; this one with two former PhD students in our program at Georgetown: Simón Ballesteros and Daniel Solomon.

"Formal Institutions After Conflict: Rebel Ideology and Post-War Constitutional Design." journals.sagepub.com/eprint/AB6CD...

2025-2026 Civil War Paths Seminar Series - Civil War Paths

See the full programme 👇/2

www.civilwarpaths.org/event/civil-...

We're very excited to launch our upcoming Civil War Paths seminar series! Our 2025-2026 series explores issues at the forefront of the study of civil war and its aftermath, featuring contributions from @hedstrom.bsky.social and @enzonussio.bsky.social . /1

My copy of The Routledge Handbook of Field Research arrived!

Thanks @hamstertowers.bsky.social & Naomi Holmes for putting together such a great volume.

My chapter tackles head-on the unexpected in fieldwork on armed conflict w/implications for doctoral training:
www.routledge.com/The-Routledg...

"Repurposing rebellion: building rebel successor parties on the heels of war?" by Sherry Zaks is available online now in EJIR.

Read it here: t1p.de/7jlrx

The Political Legacies of Wartime Resistance: How Local Communities in Italy Keep Anti-fascist Sentiments Alive - Simone Cremaschi, Juan Masullo, 2024 Can past wartime experiences affect political behavior beyond those who lived through them? We argue that local experiences of armed resistance leave political ...

Thanks for sharing! Our article is now available open access at @cpsjournal.bsky.social 👉 journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Full paper now available here! doi.org/10.1086/729947

🪖 Traditional theories argue that rebels need full territorial control to govern. We challenge that view, and argue that low state responsiveness toward rebel-aligned populations creates openings for insurgent institutions, even in state-dominated zones.

Excited to share a new open-access article with @benckrick.bsky.social @jonpetkun.bsky.social in @iojournal.bsky.social, "Civilian Harm & Military Legitimacy" www.cambridge.org/core/journal.... This project started in 2018 Mosul, Iraq’s 2nd largest city, in the aftermath of a 9-month battle … 1/7

I am looking for a researcher (pre-doc) in my DFG-funded project "Violence Against Political Actors at the Grassroots Level" 👇

Special thanks to Víctor Barrera at CINEP / Programa por la Paz and Corporación Territorio, Paz y Seguridad (CorpoTEPAS) for supporting this research from the outset /end
#UKRIFLF
@uoypolitics.bsky.social

Disaggregating rebellion: Mid-level commanders in hierarchical non-state armed organizations - Civil War Paths A processual approach is needed to capture the dynamism of mid-level commander experiences and, thereby, their heterogeneity

And a short summary can be found here /5
www.civilwarpaths.org/publication/...

The author accepted (open access) version of the article is available here /4
eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/22...

The second demonstrates my use of life history interviews in this project, which will be of particular interest to doctoral and postdoctoral researchers employing this method /3
journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10...

I'd like to highlight two appendices supporting this research. The first covers procedural transparency and reflexive openness, focusing on the process of research /2
journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10...

Disaggregating rebellion: Mid-level commanders in hierarchical non-state armed organizations - Anastasia Shesterinina, 2025 Existing research demonstrates the central role of mid-level commanders as either spoilers or leaders of peace but treats this group as unitary, defined by its ...

Long in the making, this article on mid-level commanders in hierarchical non-state organizations concludes over 5 years of work with former mid-level commanders (mandos medios) of the FARC-EP in Colombia /1
journals.sagepub.com/eprint/S7DHC...

Navigating Field Research in Armed Conflict Settings - Civil War Paths Researchers may face unique challenges in field research in settings where armed conflict has taken place and/or is ongoing.

A summary of this chapter is now available here 👇🏼
www.civilwarpaths.org/publication/...

Navigating Field Research in Armed Conflict Settings | 38 | The Routle This chapter considers unique challenges of field research in settings where armed conflict has taken place and/or is ongoing. It opens with a vignette from a

It's publication day!

"Why did I get into that car?" is a question that has haunted me for years & that I'm grateful to late Lee Ann Fujii for encouraging me to address. I start the chapter w/ this q to explore the limits of trust & researcher safety in fieldwork on armed conflict 👇🏼
bit.ly/4kW1hob

Uncertainty in Global Politics This book engages in a constructive, practical debate on the nature and effects of uncertainty in global politics. International contributors explore the processes associated with different forms of u...

Uncertainty in Global Politics is now out in paperback!

Co-edited with the wonderful @miriammatej.bsky.social‬, with chapters on uncertainty in diverse contexts of armed conflict, social movement mobilization, global environmental politics & international law
www.routledge.com/Uncertainty-...

We’re accepting submissions for Fall 2025 until August 14.

If you’re on the market, it’s a great chance to practice your job talk with an audience!

We also welcome paper presentations.

Apply here: iu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

For a short summary of the piece, see 👇🏼
www.civilwarpaths.org/publication/...

Thanks to the @civilwarpaths.bsky.social research team for your contributions & @filippodionigi.bsky.social @rtapscott.bsky.social @marniehowlett.bsky.social for bringing this Forum together!
#UKRIFLF
@uoypolitics.bsky.social

Back from mat leave to see some long-awaited publications coming out! In this Forum, I discuss the practices of flexibility in research design, ongoing reflexivity & project updating before, during & after fieldwork based on the experience of the large, team-based @civilwarpaths.bsky.social project

CALL FOR PAPERS OPEN!

Apply to the Latin American Peace Science Society (LAPSS) 2026 Conference!

www.eafit.edu.co/lapss

Details below 🧵