Janet I. Lewis

Areas of Expertise

Political violence; ethnic conflict; state formation; Africa

Current Research

Professor Lewis's research examines why and how rebel groups form, with a focus on why many groups fail in the early stages, and what ethnicity has to do with it. Her book on these issues, "How Insurgency Begins: Rebel Group Formation in Uganda and Beyond," will be published with Cambridge University Press in 2020. Her other projects seek to understand how news and beliefs travel through word-of-mouth networks in rural communities, and how states administer and monitor their peripheral regions.

Education

Ph.D., M.A. in Government, Harvard University

M.A. in International Policy Studies; B.A (with honors) in Political Science, Stanford University

CV (PDF)

Publications

“Measuring Networks in the Field.” 2019. (with Jennifer M. Larson). Political Science Research and Methods. DOI: 10.1017/psrm.2019.5

“Rumors, Kinship Networks, and Rebel Group Formation” (with Jennifer M. Larson). 2018. International Organization. 72(Fall): 871–903.

“How Does Ethnic Rebellion Start?” 2017. Comparative Political Studies. 50(10): 1420-1450.

“Ethnic Networks” (w/ Jennifer M. Larson). 2017. American Journal of Political Science. 61(2): 350–364.

“When Decentralization Leads to Recentralization: Subnational State Transformation in Uganda.” 2014. Regional & Federal Studies. 24(5): 571-588.

“Administrative Unit Proliferation” (with Guy Grossman). 2014. American Political Science Review. 108(1): 196-207.

Office Hours

Only by appointment.

Classes Taught

Political Violence (3192W)