Assistant Professor for Security Studies
Dr. Nathaniel Allen is an Assistant Professor for Security Studies, responsible for overseeing the Africa Center’s academic programming on cybersecurity and peace support operations and integrating these considerations into the Center’s research and outreach. His work focuses on civil-military relations, regional security partnerships, counterinsurgency efforts, and nonconventional warfare.
Prior to the joining the Africa Center, Dr. Allen was a policy advisor at the U.S. Institute of Peace Task Force on Extremism in Fragile States. He has also worked at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, for the Foreign Affairs and the Armed Services Committees of the U.S. House of Representatives, and with NORC at the University of Chicago’s International Projects Department. Dr. Allen’s research has been published in leading policy journals and newspapers. He has received fellowships from American University, the Robertson Family Foundation, and the U.S. Institute of Peace, where he was a 2016-2017 Williams Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar.
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. in development studies from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, and a B.A. in political science from Swarthmore College.
Areas of Expertise
Cybersecurity, Regional Security, Civil Military Relations
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