Publications
Publications by our public authority researchers
CPAID researchers produce peer-reviewed journal papers, monographs, edited collections and blog posts to disseminate their findings on public authority to the widest possible audience.
CPAID monographs and edited collections
Spiritual Contestations – The Violence of Peace in South Sudan
Dr Naomi Pendle
A fresh perspective on conflict and peace-making that highlights the cosmologies and invisible entities that state, society and religious authorities draw on to claim or reclaim legitimacy and control.
Contesting Moralities: Roma Identities, State and Kinship (2023)
Dr Iliana Sarafian
Roma identities have often been presented in literature as collectively constructed and in opposition to those who are not Roma. Contesting Moralities challenges these preconceptions about Roma identification by disentangling the binaries between Roma and non-Roma, state and non-state, public and private.
State Politics and Public Policy in Eastern Africa - A Comparative Perspective (2023)
Dr Gedion Onyango (eds)
The book advocates for a regionally-focused comparative approach across Africa, arguing that it provides a greater level of analysis than a complete continental study. Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, it covers numerous topics relating to politics, public policy, state and nation-building in Africa.
Routledge Handbook of Public Policy in Africa (2021)
Dr Gedion Onyango (eds)
'This is an extremely ambitious book dealing with the making and implementation of public policy in Africa over a long time in diverse countries, both in terms of historical heritage and contemporary political regimes.'
– P. Anyang' Nyong'o, Professor of Political Science, and The Governor, County Government of Kisumu, Kenya
Poverty and Development in the 21st Century (2021)
Professor Tim Allen & Professor Alan Thomas (eds)
'Essential reading for students of international development, policy-makers, and anyone thinking about the human condition in our interdependent, globalised world.'
– Kevin Watkins, Chief Executive, Save the Children UK
Arbitrary States: Social Control and Modern Authoritarianism in Museveni's Uganda (2021)
Dr Rebecca Tapscott
‘This masterpiece is a must read for scholars of contemporary African politics.’
Aili Mari Tripp, Wangari Maathai Professor of Political Science and Gender and Women's Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison
The "Third" United Nations: How a Knowledge Ecology Helps the UN Think (2021)
Tatiana Caryannis & Thomas G. Weiss
‘Unromantic and sometimes mischievous … an excellent handbook for researchers wondering how to get the UN to listen to their big ideas.’
Richard Gowan, UN Director, International Crisis Group, World Politics Review
After Rape: Violence, Justice, and Social Harmony in Uganda (2019)
Dr Holly Porter
‘Porter combines incredible empirical depth with provocative insights on sex, violence, and justice that extend far beyond the Ugandan case to inform some of today's most pressing debates in politics, law, gender studies, and anthropology.'
Phil Clark, Professor of International Politics, University of London
Lawino's People: The Acholi of Uganda (2019)
Professor Tim Allen (ed.)
‘Lawino’s People could not have come at a better time when the Acholi people, recovering from the 20-year insurgency with its epicentre in Acoliland, are looking back in time to discover their precolonial and colonial cultural history.’
- Charles Okumu, Associate Professor, Gulu University
The New pan-Africanism: Globalism and the Nation state in Africa (2019)
Michael Amoah
‘The book sets a scene for an important discussion on a much-needed alteration of political infrastructure of the African continent.’
– Thembisa Fakude, Al Jazeera Center for Studies
Humanitarianism: A Dictionary of Concepts (2019)
Tim Allen, Anna Macdonald & Henry Radice (eds)
‘Humanitarian agencies have been subject to intense critical attention for over two decades now. With this volume’s vast expertise, comprehensive scope, and compelling presentation, perhaps this time they will listen!’
– Adam Branch, Director of the Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge
2025
- Akello, G; Allen, T; Parker, M et al (2025) Did COVID-19 vaccine enforcement work? Evidence from northwestern and northern Uganda. Social Science and Medicine.
- Special section on 'Humanitarian Protection and the Safety of Strangers' edited by by Naomi Pendle and Tom Kirk. Global Policy. 2025.
- Sarafian, I., Robinson, A., and Caban, A. (2025) The Borders of Solidarity: War and Displacement of Ukrainian Roma Women Refugees in Poland. LSE
2024
- Sarafian, I., Robinson, A., and Tarchini, A. (2024). Invisible lives: newly arrived Roma communities in a post-COVID-19 UK. LSE Prints.
- Wuerth, M; Storer, E; Simpson, N; Sarafian, I; Duale, S. (2024) Securitized trust: on the multiple guises of the UK policy agenda during the Covid-19 pandemic. Critical Policy Studies.
- Atingo, J., Allen, T., and Macdonald, A. (2024). Witnessing Ongwen: A Betrayal of Expectations?. Journal of International Criminal Justice.
- Onyango, G. (2024). Do politicians deliberately sabotage ICT adoption in African elections?. The Guardian.
- Onyango, G. (2024). Social Processes of Public Sector Collaborations in Kenya: Unpacking Challenges of Realising Joint Actions in Public Administration. Journal of the Knowledge Economy.
- Ondiek, J. O., & Onyango, G. (2024). Chapter 10: Technological policy tools and implementation of social protection policies in Africa: emerging inequalities in social safety net programmes for older persons in Kenya. Chapter in: Research Handbook on Inequalities in Later Life (ed. Catherine Early and Philip Taylor). Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Ngutuku, E., & Okwany, A. (2024). Beyond Colonial Politics of Identity: Being and Becoming Female Youth in Colonial Kenya. Genealogy.
- Laing, T., & Weschler, S. (2024). Rural Radicalism and the Tactic of Third-Party Leverage: How Acholi Peasants Drew a UN Agency into their Struggle against Land-Grabbing by the Ugandan State. African Studies Review.
- Tapscott, R., & Unwin, E. (2024). The Origins and Legacies of Unpredictability in Rebel-Incumbent Rule. Civil Wars.
- Sarafian, I. (2024). Gendered Reproductions of Epistemic Violence and Embodied Silence. Chapter in: Gender and Violence in Romani and Traveller Lives: Methods, Ethics and Dilemmas. Routledge.
- Gay Blasco, P., Sarafian, I., & Roman, R. (2024). Gender and Violence in Romani and Traveller Lives: Methods, Ethics and Dilemmas. Routledge.
- Onyango, G. (2024). Hotbed of corruption: Kenya's elite have captured the state - unrest is inevitable. The Conversation.
- Ed, Tom Kirk and Rose Pinnington. Special Issue - Development Practice, Power and Public Authority (2024). Global Policy.
- Kirk, T., Pendle, N. and Vasilyeva, A., (2024). Humanitarian protection activities and the safety of strangers in the DRC, Syria and South Sudan. Global Policy.
- Kirk, T., Pendle, N. and Diing Akoi, A. (2024) Community self-protection, public authority and the safety of strangers in Bor and Ler, South Sudan. Global Policy
- Joshi, A et al (2024) Local governance networks as public authority: Insights from Mozambique, Myanmar and Pakistan. Global Policy
- Ngutuku, E. (2024). Re-imagining and Repositioning the Lived Experience of Children seen as Outsiders in Kenya. Childhood.
- Hopwood, J., et al. (2024). Collaborative Autoethnography and Reclaiming an African Episteme: Investigating "Customary" Ownership of Natural Resources. African Studies Review.
- Laing, N., Mylan, S., and Parker, M. (2024). Does epidemiological evidence support the success story of Uganda's response to COVID-19. Journal of Biosocial Science.
- Onyango, G. (2024). DHR-PA - Democracy and human rights in public administration in Africa. Politics & Policy.
- Onyango, G. (2024). How Managers Respond to Fraud, Waste and Mismanagement: Ethics Management Survey in Uganda and Kenya. Public Integrity.
- Sarafian, I. (2024). Roma Ethnographies of Grief in the COVID-19 Pandemic. Ethnographic Methods in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Research - Lessons from a time of crisis.
- Macdonald, A. (2024). Uganda’s battle for the youth vote – how Museveni keeps Bobi Wine’s reach in check. The Conversation.
- Akampurira, E. and Marijnen, E. (2024). The politics of mourning in conservation conflicts: The (un)grievability of life and less-than-human geographies. Science Direct.
- Vlassenroot, K. and Muzalia Kihangu, G (2024). Perspectives on North-South collaborative conflict research. A conversation between two research partners. Rewriting Peace and Conflict.
2023
- Onyango, G et al. (2023) Roundtable: How do we connect public administration and human rights?Perspectives on Public Management and Governance.
- Onyango, G. and Otieno Ondiek, J. (2023). Digitalising anolgue policy targets! 'Digital capabilities' of older persons and policy digitalisation of social safty net programs in a developing country context. Journal of Technology in Human Services.
- Onyango, G. (2023) How mafia-like bureaucratic cartels or thieves in suits run corruption inside the bureaucracy, or how government officials swindle citizens in Kenya!. Devient Behavior.
- Onyango, G. (2023) The post-COVID-19 economic recovery, government performance and lived poverty conditions in Kenya. Public Organization Review.
- Storer,E. Schmidt-Sane, M. Ripoll, S. and Hrynick, T. (2023) Exploring medical mistrust: from clinic to community.Journal of the British Academy.
- Macdonald, A. Owor, A, and Tapscott, R. (2023) Explaining youth political mobilization and its absence: the case of Bobi Wine and Uganda’s 2021 election. Eastern African Studies
- Ferguson, W. (2023). Power and Public Authority. Global Policy.
- te Lintelo, D. J. H. and Tiptrot, T. (2023). Localising aid: Urban displacement, contested public authority and legitimacy in Jordan and Lebanon.Global Policy.
- Pinnington, R. (2023). To go with or against the grain? Politics and practice in the Budget Stengthening Initiative, Uganda.Global Policy.
- Allen, T., and Parker, M. (2023). In the line of duty: Militarising African epidemics. Global Policy.
- Kirk, T. (2023). Intermediaries, isomorphic activism and programming for social accountability in Pakistan. Global Policy.
- Macdonald, A., Owor, A., and Tapscott, R. (2023). Explaining youth political mobilization and its absence: the case of Bobi Wine and Uganda’s 2021 election. Journal of Eastern African Studies.
- Dieterle, C. (2023). Variations of customary tenure, chiefly power, and global norms for responsible land investments in Sierra Leone. African Affairs.
- Kirk, T., Green, D., Stys, P., Mosquera, T. (2023). Adaptive programming and going with the grain: IMAGINE's new water governance model in Goma, DRC.Development Policy Review.
- Janguan, T., Kirk, T. (2023) Hiding in plain sight: IDP's protection strategies after closing Juba's protection of civilian sites. Global Policy.
- Ngutuku, E., Emeke, O., Sibert, A. (2023). Information Communications Technology in Higher Education in Africa: Challenges from the COVID-19 Pandemic. United Nations policy briefing report.
- Storer, E., Torre, C. (2023) ‘All in good faith?’ An ethno-historical analysis of local faith actors’ involvement in the delivery of mental health interventions in northern Uganda.Transcultural Psychiatry.
- Storer, E., Torre, C. (2023). ‘Vaccine populism’ and migrant assistance: On the contingency of mutual aid in Italy's Alpine region.Global Policy.
- Tapscott, R. (2023). Vigilantes and the State: Understanding Violence through a Security Assemblages Approach. Perspectives on Politics.
- Vlavonou, G. (2023). Negotiating Positionality as a Student and Researcher in Africa: Understanding How Seniority and Race Mediate Elite Interviews in African Social. International Studies Review.
2022
- Ngutuku , E (2022). Education as Future Breakfast: Children's Aspirations within the Context of Poverty in Siaya Kenya. Ethnography and Education.
- Abonga, F., Brown, C. (2022). Restoration and Renewal Through Sport: Gendered Experiences of Resilience for War-Affected Youth in Northern Uganda.Civil Wars.
- Di Matteo, F. (2022). Imagining the Kenyan Commons: The Stakes of State Control Over Land in the Formulation of the Community Land Act (2011-2016). The Journal of Development Studies.
- Elder, C. (2022). Logistics Contracts and the Political Economy of State Failure: Evidence from Somalia. African Affairs.
- Hopwood, J., O'Byrne, R. (2022). Conceptual Resilience in the Language and Lives of Resilient People: Cases from Northern Uganda. Civil Wars.
- Hopwood, J. (2022). An inherited animus to communal land: The mechanisms of coloniality in land reform agendas in Acholiland, Northern Uganda. Critical African Studies.
- Macdonald, A., CooperKnock, S., Hopwood, J. (2022). "Maybe we should take the legal ways": Citizen engagement with lower state courts in post-war northern Uganda. Law and Society Review.
- Marijnen, E. (2022). Eco-war tourism: Affective geographies, colonial durabilities and the militarization of conservation. Security Dialogue.
- O'Byrne, R. (2022). Resistant Resilience: Agency and Resilience Among Refugees Resisting Humanitarian Corruption in Uganda. Civil Wars.
- Onyango, G. (2022). The art of bribery! Analysis of police corruption at traffic checkpoints and roadblocks in Kenya.International Review of Sociology.
- Onyango, G., Ondiek, JO. (2022). Open innovation during the COVID-19 pandemic policy responses in South Africa and Kenya. Politics & Policy.
- Onyango, G. (2022). Bureaucratic Corruption and Maladministration in Kenya: A Bureaucratic Analysis. International Journal of African Renaissance Studies - Multi-, Inter- and Transdisciplinarity.
- Parker, M., Baluku, M., Ozunga, BE., Okello, B., Kermundu, P., Akello, G., MacGregor, H., Leach, M., Allen, T. (2022). Epidemics and the Military: Responding to COVID-19 in Uganda. Social Science and Medicine.
- Richards, Paul. (2022). The moral economy of isolates: Escape agriculture and warzone public authority. Journal of Peasant Studies.
- Sarafian, I. (2022). Key Considerations: Tackling Structural Discrimination and COVID-19 Vaccine Barriers for Roma Communities in Italy. Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform.
- Sarafian, I. (2022). Ethnic minorities, social media, and attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination. The Lancet.
- Storer, E., Sarafian, I., Torre, C., Vallerani, S., Franchi, E. (2022). COVID-19 vaccination campaigns and the production of mistrust among Roma and migrant populations in Italy.BMJ Global Health.
2021
- Allen, T., Atingo, J. & Parker, M. (2021). Rejection and Resilience: Returning from the Lord’s Resistance Army in Northern Uganda. Civil Wars.
- Blackmore, K., Okwenje, B. (2021). Repairing Representational Wounds: Artistic and Curatorial Approaches to Transition After War. Critical Arts.
- Blackmore, K. (2021). Humanitarian Remains: Erasure and the Everyday of Camp Life in Northern Uganda. Journal of Refugee Studies.
- Caryannis, T. & Pangburn, A. (2021). Home Is Where the Heart Is: Identity, Return and the Toleka Bicycle Taxi Union in Congo’s Equateur. Journal of Refugee Studies.
- Dieterle, C. (2021). Global Governance Meets Local Land Tenure: International Codes of Conduct for Responsible Land Investments in Uganda. Journal of Development Studies.
- Kirk, T., Green, D., Allen, T., Carayannis, T., Bazonzi, J., Ndala, J., Stys, P., Muzuri, P., Nyenyezi, A., Vlassenroot, K., Nyuon, A., Macdonald, A., Owor, A., Storer, L., Okello, J., Hopwood, J., Porter, H., Oryem, R., Parker, M., Akello, G. (2021). Crisis responses, opportunity, and public authority during Covid19's first wave in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan.Disasters.
- Lombard, L. (2021). Distributive Justice at War: Displacement and Its Afterlives in the Central African Republic. Journal of Refugee Studies.
- Macdonald, A. & Porter, H. (2021). The Politics of Return: Understanding Trajectories of Displacement and the Complex Dynamics of ‘Return’ in Central and East Africa. Journal of Refugee Studies.
- O'Bryne, R. & Ogeno, C. (2021). Pragmatic Mobilities and Uncertain Lives: Agency and the Everyday Mobility of South Sudanese Refugees in Uganda. Journal of Refugee Studies.
- Parker, M., Fergus, C., Brown, C., Atim, D., Ocitti, J., Atingo, J., Allen, T. (2021). Legacies of humanitarian neglect: long term experiences of children who returned from the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda. Conflict and Health.
- Pendle, N. & Akoi, A.D. (2021). ‘I Kept My Gun’: Displacement’s Impact on Reshaping Social Distinction During Return. Journal of Refugee Studies.
- Richards, P. (2021). Public authority and its demons: the Sherbro leopard murders in Sierra Leone. Africa.
- Stys, P., Muhindoa, S., N’simirea, S., Tchumisia, I., Muzuria, P., Balume, B. & Koskinen, J. (2021). Trust, quality, and the network collection experience: A tale of two studies on the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Social Networks, 68.
2020
- Allen, T., Jackline, A., Atim, D., Ocitti, J., Brown, C., Torre, C., Fergus, C. & Parker, M. (2020). What Happened to Children Who Returned from the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda? Journal of Refugee Studies, 33:4.
- Trapido, J. & Mbu-Mputu, N. (2020). Les Combattants—Ideologies of Exile, Return and Nationalism in the DRC. Journal of Refugee Studies, 33:4.
- Kerali, R. & Macdonald, A. (2020). Being Normal: Stigmatization of Lord’s Resistance Army Returnees as ‘Moral Experience’ in Post-war Northern Uganda. Journal of Refugee Studies, 33:4.
- Porter, H. (2020). Moving Toward ‘Home’: Love and Relationships through War and Displacement. Journal of Refugee Studies, 33:4.
- Vlassenroot, K., Mudinga, E. & Musamba, J. (2020). Navigating Social Spaces: Armed Mobilization and Circular Return in Eastern DR Congo. Journal of Refugee Studies, 33:4.
- Pendle, N. (2020). Politics, prophets and armed mobilizations: competition and continuity over registers of authority in South Sudan’s conflicts. Journal of Eastern African Studies, (14:1) 43-62.
- Brett, E.A. (2020). The development and challenges of aid relationships: where is international aid heading?
CPAID, Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa. - Waal, A., Nouwen, S. (2020). Indeterminacy and self-determination in the Horn of Africa. JISC
- Bencherif, A., Vlavonou, G. (2020). Reflexive tension: an auto-ethnographic journey through the discipline of International Relations in Western academic training. African Identities
- Elder, C. (2020). Tenderpreneurs and the politics of (sub)contracting in Somalia: rethinking the 'political marketplace', violent conflict and impossible debt. African Affairs
- Elder, C. (2020). Technocratic assistance programmes, diaspora return to politics and the remaking of the state and ‘public authority’ in Somalia's federal system. Public Administration and Development
- Elder, C., et al. (2020). The business of state fragility: rethinking co-dependence, public authority, and power in the Somali federal state. GOVSEA (Governing Economic Hubs and Flows in Somalia's East Africa)
- O'Byrne R., (2020). Pragmatic Mobilities and Uncertain Lives: Agency and the Everyday Mobility of South Sudanese Refugees in Uganda. Journal of Refugee Studies
- Richards, P. Public authority and its demons: the Sherbro Leopard murders in Sierra Leone.
- Bencherif, A., Vlavonou, G. (2020). Reflexive tension: an auto-ethnographic journey through the discipline of International Relations in Western academic training. African Identities
- Stys, P., et al. Social network data collection in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: A tale of two studies. Social Networks Journal
- Carayannis, T., Weiss, T.G., The "Third" UN: Imagining Post-COVID-19 Multilateralism. Global Policy
- Carayannis, T. (2017). Webs of War in the Congo: The Politics of Hybrid Wars, Conflict Networks, and Multilateral Responses 1996-2003.The Graduate Center
- Allen, T., Atingo, J., Atim, D., Ocitti, J., Brown, C., Torre, C., Fergus, C., Parker, M. (2020) What Happened to Children Who Returned from the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda?Journal of Refugee Studies
- Cooper-Knock, SJ., Macdonald, A. (2020). A Summons to the Magistrates’ Courts in South Africa and Uganda. African Affairs
- Tapscott, R. (2020). Militarized masculinity and the paradox of restraint: mechanisms of social control under modern authoritarianism. International Affairs
- Marijnen, E., Vries, L., Duffy, R. (2020). Conservation in violent environments: Introduction to a special issue on the political ecology of conservation amidst violent conflict in Political Geography. Science Direct
2019
- Allen, T. (2019) Condoning Unspeakable Things. Against Humanity: Lessons from the Lord’s Resistance Army. Current Anthropology.
- Honwana, A. (2019) Youth Struggles: From the Arab Spring to Black Lives Matter & Beyond.African Studies Review
- Marijnen, E., Verweijen, J., et al., (2019). Why we must question the militarisation of conservation. Biological Conservation, (232), 66-73.
- Stys, P., Verwijen, J., Mazuri, P., Muhindo, S., Vogel, C., Koskinen & J. (2019). Brokering between (not so) overt and (not so) covert networks in conflict zones. Global Crime.
- Marijnen, E. & Schouten, P. (2019). Electrifying the green peace? Electrification, conservation and conflict in Eastern Congo. Conflict, Security & Development. (19:1) 15-34.
- Mylan, S., Torre, C., Parker, M. & Allen, T. (2019). Mental health in conflict settings. The Lancet. (394:10216) 2237.
- Pangburn, A. (2019). Assessing the Effectiveness of the United Nations Mission in the DRC Effectiveness of Peace Operations Network
- Carayannis, T., Weiss, H. (2019). Congo Kicks the Can Down the Road. Foreign Affairs
- Porter, H. (2019). Love and the Pursuit of Home After War. Anthropology News
- Lipton, J. (2019). Taking life off hold: Pregnancy and family formation during the ebola crisis in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Pregnant in the time of Ebola: women and their children 2013-2015. Springer Nature
- Vlavonou, G., (2019). The APSA and (Complex) International Security Regime Theory: A Critique. African Security
2018
- Brett, E.A. (2018). Public Authority and Political Markets in Conflicted States Social Conflict, Institutional Hybridity and Developmental Transitions. CPAID, Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa.
- Hopwood, J., Porter, H., Saum, N. (2018). Resilient patriarchy: public authority and women's (in)security in Karamoja, Uganda. Disasters.
- Marijnen, E., Verweijen, J. (2018). Pluralising Political Forests: Unpacking 'the State' by Tracing Virunga's Charcoal Chain. Antipode. December.
- Beresford, A., Berry, M., & Mann, L. (2018). Liberation movements and stalled democratic transitions: reproducing power in Rwanda and South Africa through productive liminality. Democratization, 1-20.
- Kapidžić, D. (2018).Public authority beyond hybrid governance: creating throughput legitimacy in Northern Uganda.Peacebuilding, 6(2), 127-143.(Full manuscript)
- Marijnen, E. (2018). Public Authority and Conservation in Areas of Armed Conflict: Virunga National Park as a ‘State within a State’ in Eastern Congo. Development and Change, 49(3): 790-814.
- Pendle, N. (2018). ‘The dead are just to drink from’: recycling ideas of revenge among the western Dinka, South Sudan. Africa, 88(1) 99-121
- Carayannis, T. (2018). Why comrades go to war: liberation politics and the outbreak of Africa's deadliest conflict.International Affairs
- O'Byrne R., Ogeno, C. (2018). The Illegal Economy of Refugee Registration: Insights into the Ugandan Refugee Scandal Rights in Exile: The International Refugee. Rights Initiative's Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter
2017
- Porter, H. Victor, L. (2017). Dirty things: spiritual pollution and life after the Lord’s Resistance Army. Journal of Eastern African Studies
- Carayannis, T. (2017). Lessons from African Union–United Nations cooperation in peace operations in the Central African Republic. African Security Review
- Carayannis, T., Weiss, H. (2017). Windows of opportunity for UN reform: historical insights for the next Secretary-General. International Affairs
CPAID publishes the 'Public Authority' series on the Africa at LSE blog. Please follow the link to see the full list.
Additional collaborative blogs and media series:
- Macdonald, A. (2024). Uganda’s battle for the youth vote – how Museveni keeps Bobi Wine’s reach in check. The Conversation.
- Bukavu series - CPAID has supported the ‘Bukavu series’ of blogs by Congolese researchers.
- Idjwi series- CPAID, with the Open University, supported the Idjwi Island (DRC) Writing Workshop in 2019.