🚨 Join us for the next edition Summer School for Women* in Political Methodology in Mannheim 🚨
7 days of hands-on advanced methods + networking for PhDs, postdocs & early-career researchers.
Free of charge (limited travel support).
Deadline 1 March 2026: summerschoolwpm.org
#methodsky #polisky
Interestingly, we find no evidence that natural resources or proximity to Western countries increases the likelihood of an HMI.
Once a threshold of intervention need is reached, additional violence has no meaningful effect on whether an HMI occurs. By contrast, interveners remain highly sensitive to how difficult the conflict environment is.
Together with my colleague Thorsten Gromes, I examine this puzzle. We show that interveners balance the need for an HMI, measured by conflict-related violence, against the anticipated chances of an HMI’s success.
The absence of such missions in some conflicts marked by shocking atrocities has raised doubts about whether their humanitarian purpose is sincere or whether HMIs merely serve as a pretext for pursuing international influence and gaining access to a country’s resources.
The occurrence of so-called humanitarian military interventions (HMIs) has long been the subject of both scholarly and political debate.
Why do international organizations or (coalitions of) states intervene in some conflicts to stop violence, yet “ignore” atrocities in others?
doi.org/10.1080/1353...
we have 5 positions open at @goetheuni.bsky.social in Frankfurt
- a 4,5 year postdoc in my @erc.europa.eu project on the educational cleavage
- 2 postdoc & 2 PhD positions, 4 years, in a research group on Reconfiguration & Internalization of Social Structure
www.uni-frankfurt.de/48794784/FB0...
Policy takeaway: one-size-fits-all aid strategies don’t work. Aid needs to be context-sensitive, especially in fragile settings.
Why? The effects depend on how aid interacts with local political & social dynamics. Similar patterns seen in Afghanistan.
🧩 Key findings:
– Health & social protection aid decreases violence
– Infrastructure have no clear effect on violence
– Education & economic projects may even have adverse effects.
The study analyzes 100+ districts using spatially and sectorally disaggregated data. Methods include coarsened exact matching combined with panel regression & diff-in-diff on buffer zones.
Can development aid stabilize post-conflict societies?
My article, just out in World Development, explores this question using subnational data from DRC, Uganda & Burundi.
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doi.org/10.1016/j.wo...
Is your work related to humanitarian military interventions or peace enforcement? Consider presenting your work in our workshop (15-16 September 2025) in Frankfurt. We have funding to cover travel and accommodation.
www.prif.org/en/about-us/...
