James Barnett

Research Fellow

james_barnett

At A Glance:

James Barnett is a research fellow at 华体会.

Biography

James Barnett is a research fellow at 华体会. He specializes in African security and politics, and is co-editor of a Hudson journal, Current Trends in Islamist Ideology, with Senior Fellow Husain Haqqani.

Mr. Barnett has lived in Lagos, Nigeria, for several years and has extensive fieldwork experience, including reporting from conflict environments across Nigeria and in Somalia, South Sudan, and Ukraine. He is also a nonresident fellow with the Centre on Armed Groups in Geneva and the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in Abuja. He has worked as a consultant with international organizations such as the World Bank, Danish Institute of International Studies, and United States Institute of Peace, and he served as a long-term analyst on the 2023 International Republican Institute鈥揘ational Democratic Institute international election observation mission to Nigeria.

His writing has appeared in publications such as New Lines MagazineForeign PolicyWar on the Rocks, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, in journals such as West Point鈥檚 CTC Sentinel, and in edited volumes. He has testified before the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and been quoted widely in American and international media and appeared on television programs such as BBC News.

Mr. Barnett is a PhD (DPhil) candidate in politics at the University of Oxford. He holds an MA with distinction in war studies from King鈥檚 College London and a BA with highest honors in history and plan II from the University of Texas. He was previously a 2016鈥�17 Boren Scholar at the University of Dar Es Salaam and a 2021 Fulbright fellow at the University of Lagos.

Events
06
September 2024
Past Event
Geopolitical Implications of the Crisis between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Somalia
Featured Speakers:
Joshua Meservey
James Barnett
Mariam Wahba
Zineb Riboua
A member of the Ethiopian National Defense Force salutes during the 116th celebration of Ethiopian National Defense Force in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on October 26, 2023. (Photo by Amanuel Sileshi/AFP via Getty Images)
06
September 2024
Past Event
Geopolitical Implications of the Crisis between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Somalia

What are the origins of these conflicts? What are their geostrategic implications? And how does stability in the Horn of Africa affect American policy in the broader region? Join Hudson for an expert panel discussion on these questions.

A member of the Ethiopian National Defense Force salutes during the 116th celebration of Ethiopian National Defense Force in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on October 26, 2023. (Photo by Amanuel Sileshi/AFP via Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Joshua Meservey
James Barnett
Mariam Wahba
Zineb Riboua
20
June 2024
Past Event
Exploring Ethiopia鈥檚 Tumultuous Transformation: A Discussion with Tom Gardner
Featured Speakers:
Tom Gardner
James Barnett
Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed on his official visit to the state house in Nairobi, Kenya, on February 28, 2024. (Photo by Luis Tato/AFP via Getty Images)
20
June 2024
Past Event
Exploring Ethiopia鈥檚 Tumultuous Transformation: A Discussion with Tom Gardner

The Economist鈥檚 Africa correspondent, Tom Gardner, joins Hudson Research Fellow James Barnett to discuss Gardner鈥檚 new book, The Abiy Project: God, Power and War in the New Ethiopia, and Ethiopia鈥檚 future in the volatile and strategically vital Red Sea region.

Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed on his official visit to the state house in Nairobi, Kenya, on February 28, 2024. (Photo by Luis Tato/AFP via Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Tom Gardner
James Barnett
28
May 2024
Past Event
Facing the Future: A Discussion on Niger and West African Security Cooperation
Featured Speakers:
Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim
Malik Samuel
Aneliese Bernard
James Barnett
Moderator:
Jeremy Hunt
Nigerien soldiers stage a demonstration for the repeal of the military agreement that allows US military and civilian personnel to serve in the country on April 13, 2024. (Photo by Balima Boureima/Anadolu via Getty Images)
28
May 2024
Past Event
Facing the Future: A Discussion on Niger and West African Security Cooperation

West African security experts discuss the future of US counterterrorism operations in Niger and the Sahel region.

Nigerien soldiers stage a demonstration for the repeal of the military agreement that allows US military and civilian personnel to serve in the country on April 13, 2024. (Photo by Balima Boureima/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim
Malik Samuel
Aneliese Bernard
James Barnett
Moderator:
Jeremy Hunt
20
April 2023
Past Event
Evacuating Americans Trapped in Sudan
Featured Speakers:
James Barnett
Robert Greenway
Joshua Meservey
Sudanese army soldiers, loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan on April 16, 2023. (AFP via Getty Images)
20
April 2023
Past Event
Evacuating Americans Trapped in Sudan

Hudson Fellows James Barnett, Robert Greenway, and Joshua Meservey discuss the urgent need for a US-led effort to evacuate Americans and outline the principles and hazards that evacuation planners should keep in mind.

Sudanese army soldiers, loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan on April 16, 2023. (AFP via Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
James Barnett
Robert Greenway
Joshua Meservey
Counter terrorism and hostage rescue scenarios are performed during the Xaritoo 2023 military exercise organized by Senegal and France in Dakar, Senegal, on November 16, 2023. (Cem Ozdel/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Caption
Supporters of Niger's National Council of Safeguard of the Homeland wave the Niger national flag and flag bearing the logo of private military Company Wagner as they gather to protest ouside the Niger and French airbase to demand the departure of the French army from Niger in Niamey on September 16, 2023. (AFP via Getty Images)
james_barnett
james_barnett
Research Fellow
Commentary
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