Interests

  • State capacity and state formation

  • Ethnic politics

  • Conflict studies

  • Spatial data, GIS

  • Legacies of colonialism

  • Historical political economy

I am a researcher at the International Conflict Research group at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. I completed my PhD in the same group. Furthermore, I was a visiting PhD at University College London in the Spring Term 2022.

My dissertation examines the link between nation-building and state-building in Latin America. In particular, I look at how the status assigned to ethnic groups within a country’s territory affected the development of sub-national state capacity.

My main research interests include the conflict-state development nexus, ethnic favoritism, and public goods provision. While most of my research focuses on Latin America, I have also done work on European state formation, and I am interested in more comparative work.

Education

  • Visiting PhD Student, 2022

    University College London

  • PhD in Political Science, 2019-2024

    ETH Zurich

  • MA Comparative and International Studies, 2017-2019

    ETH Zurich

  • BA Philosphy, Politics and Economics, 2014-2017

    University of Lucerne