Associate Professor
As Associate Professor at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Dr. Nate Allen oversees academic programming on cyber issues and peace operations. Dr. Allen’s expertise includes cyber issues, emerging technology, civil-military relations, and regional security partnerships across Africa.
Previously, Dr. Allen was a policy advisor at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) Task Force on Extremism in Fragile States. He has also worked at the U.S. State Department, House of Representatives, and as a research analyst at NORC at the University of Chicago. Dr. Allen’s work has appeared in a wide range of leading policy and peer-reviewed publications, including Armed Forces and Society, The Washington Quarterly, Democratization, Orbis, War on the Rocks, The Washington Post, and Foreign Affairs. He has received fellowships from American University, the Robertson Family Foundation, and USIP, where he was a 2016-2017 Peace Scholar. He currently serves as a Research Fellow at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University and is a Council on Foreign Relations Term Member.
Dr. Allen holds a Ph.D. in international relations and African studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, an M.A. from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, and a B.A. from Swarthmore College.
Areas of Expertise
Cybersecurity, Regional Security, Civil Military Relations
Spotlight
Demystifying External Actor Influence in Africa’s Technology Sector
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, November 13, 2024
Spotlight
African Union and United Nations Partnership Key to the Future of Peace Operations in Africa
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, April 30, 2024
Article
New Technology, Old Strategy: Cyberspace and the International Politics of African Agency
Journal of Strategic Studies, April 1, 2024
Article
Journal of Cyber Policy, January 22, 2024
Spotlight
African-Led Peace Operations: A Crucial Tool for Peace and Security
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, August 9, 2023
Research Brief
Turning off Autopilot: Addressing the Proliferation of Unmanned Systems in Africa’s Conflict Zones
Security Institute for Governance and Leadership in Africa, July 2023
Article
Why US Tech Giants Need Africa
Project Syndicate, May 24, 2023
Spotlight
Learning from Ghana’s Multistakeholder Approach to Cyber Security
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, January 3, 2023
Research Report
The Downsides of Digital Revolution: Confronting Africa’s Evolving Cyber Threats
Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, December 2, 2022
Spotlight
African Lessons in Cyber Strategy
Leçons d’Afrique en matière de cyber-stratégieMarch 8, 2022
Article
Unpacking “Stacking”: Researching Political Identity and Regime Security in Armed Forces
Armed Forces and Society, February 8, 2022
Blogpost
“Artificial Intelligence Creeps onto the African Battlefield”
Brookings Techstream Blog, February 2, 2022
Spotlight
Deluge of Digital Repression Threatens African Security
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, January 4, 2022
Blogpost
“How digital espionage tools exacerbate authoritarianism across Africa”
Brookings Techstream Blog, November 19, 2021
Blogpost
“How African Countries Should Address State-Sponsored Cyber Threats”
Brookings Techstream Blog, July 15, 2021
Article
Civil Military Relations and Sudan’s Treacherous Path to Democracy
Texas National Security Review Policy Roundtable, May 5, 2021
Article
The Promises and Perils of Africa’s Digital Revolution
Brookings Institution, March 11, 2021
Spotlight
Africa’s Evolving Cyber Threats
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, January 19, 2021
Commentary
How Boko Haram Has Regained the Initiative and What Nigeria Should Do to Stop It
War on the Rocks, December 24, 2019
Article
Interrogating Ethnic Stacking: The Uses and Abuses of Security Force Ethnicity in Sudan
Civil Wars, November 27, 2019
Commentary
The Washington Post Monkey Cage Blog, September 16, 2019
Commentary
Can Sudan’s Military Be Convinced to Support Democracy?
War on the Rocks, June 25, 2019
Essay
How States Foster Violent Extremism and What to Do about It
Lawfare, June 16, 2019
Commentary
Why Security Sector Governance Matters in Fragile States
United States Institute of Peace, June 11, 2019
Op-Ed
Beyond By, With and Through: Reforming America’s Security Partnerships
The Hill, March 29, 2019
Article
Democratization, 2019
Contributor
Preventing Extremism in Fragile States: A New Approach
September 2018
Contributor
Beyond the Homeland: Protecting American from Extremism in Fragile States
September 2018
Op-Ed
Trump’s Africa Policy Takes Form with Focus on Security (and China)
The Hill, March 19, 2018
Article
Orbis, 2018
Article
Unusual Lessons from an Unusual War: Boko Haram and Modern Insurgency
The Washington Quarterly, 2018
Article
Process Peace: A New Evaluation Framework for International Diplomacy
International Negotiation, 2017
Article
U.S. Military Assistance to Africa Is Growing. But Is It Succeeding?
World Politics Review, September 23, 2016
Commentary
Charting Boko Haram’s Rapid Decline
War on the Rocks, September 22, 2016
Article
No Time for a Peacekeeper Exit in Liberia
The Global Observatory, May 24, 2016
Article
Western Partners Can’t Provide Military Assistance to Fight Boko Haram, but Here’s What They Can Do
African Arguments, September 25, 2015
Article
Down, Not Out: How to Fight Back against Boko Haram’s Newest Strategy
Foreign Affairs, June 18, 2015
Blog
The Islamic State, Boko Haram, and the Evolution of International Jihad
The Washington Post Monkey Cage blog, March 27, 2015
Report
Bridging Divides: Track II Diplomacy in the Middle East
Princeton Policy Research Workshop, 2014
Article
Journal of Public and International Affairs, 2013
Cyber Threats: What Security Sector Leaders Must Know
Cybermenaces: Ce que les dirigeants du secteur de la sécurité doivent en savoir
Ameaças Cibernéticas: O que os Líderes na Setor de Segurança Devem SaberAfrica Center for Strategic Studies, June 2023
Report Launch
The Downsides of Digital Revolution: Confronting Africa’s Evolving Cyber Threats
Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, December 2022
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, June 2022
Africa’s Cyber Threat Landscape
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, August 2021
Panel Discussion
Cyber Policy and Geopolitics in Africa
Cyber in Africa, December 2020
National-Local Engagement in Countering Violent Extremism
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, November 2020
With French under Fire, Mali Uses AI to Bring Local Language to Students
Washington Post, April 13, 2024
As Drones Change Warfare in Africa, Civilians Pay the Price
Bloomberg, March 29, 2024
African Union Summit and African Business Opportunities [16:50–22:00]
BBC World Business Report, February 16, 2024
A Tragedy in Nigeria Shows the Risks of Cheap Drone Warfare
Coda, January 4, 2024
A Newly Formed Alliance between Coup-hit Countries in Africa’s Sahel is Seen as Tool for Legitimacy
AP, November 24, 2023
‘A Goldmine at Our Fingertips’: The Promise and Perils of AI in Africa
The Guardian, October 30, 2023
Niger’s Junta Seeks to Strengthen its Grip on Power and Prepare for Possible Regional Intervention
AP, August 28, 2023
The African Union Suspends Niger until “the Effective Restoration of Constitutional Order”
AP, August 22, 2023
Tensions Rise as West African Nations Prepare to Send Troops to Restore Democracy in Niger
AP, August 11, 2023
Hacker Group Targets Nigerian Companies over ECOWAS Threat of Military Action against Niger
TechCabal, August 3, 2023
Kenya Cyber-Attack: Why is eCitizen Down?
BBC, July 2023
Inkstick, May 4, 2023
Africa Defense Forum, November 2022
Africa Faces High-Tech Enemies
Africa Defense Forum, November 2022
African Mobile Phones Face Unique Cybersecurity Risks
Inkstick Media, October 25th, 2022
Organized crime and cyber crime
The Dark Global Matters, April 2022
Kenya to host Google’s first product development site in Africa
BBC Newsday, April 2022
Island Nation Tackles Cyber Security
Africa Defense Forum, April 2021
Protests in South Africa, Cyber Security and Sovereignty, and A Fight Over Jerusalem
Leaders of Africa, July 2021
Pandemic Effects and Peace Operations
International Affairs Forum, July 2020