Jessica R. Piombo, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of National Security Affairs
Naval Postgraduate School
Monterey, CA
Analysis of complex policy issues and theoretical frameworks, institutional leadership, management of small staffs, mentoring, teaching in small and large groups, discussion facilitation, public speaking, research and writing of technical and analytical products, editing, working both to deadlines and on self-paced projects. Successful record of grant writing and procurement. Experience supervising the work of others, managing financial budgets, and overseeing program design, development and execution. Extensive Africa expertise.
Jessica R. Piombo, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of National Security Affairs
Naval Postgraduate School
Monterey, CA
Analysis of complex policy issues and theoretical frameworks, institutional leadership, management of small staffs, mentoring, teaching in small and large groups, discussion facilitation, public speaking, research and writing of technical and analytical products, editing, working both to deadlines and on self-paced projects. Successful record of grant writing and procurement. Experience supervising the work of others, managing financial budgets, and overseeing program design, development and execution. Extensive Africa expertise.
Skills and Experience
Education
B.A. Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA (Political Science and Psychology; magna cum laude), 1995.
Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (Political Science, concentrations in comparative politics, African politics, and political economy), 2003.
Present Position
July 2010 – present
Associate Professor (with tenure), Department of National Security Affairs, School of International Graduate Studies, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA
March 2017 – present
Associate Faculty, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS)
Visting Lecturer in the Graduate School of International Policy and Management, Master’s program in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies. Yearly course on terrorism and counter-terrorism in Africa.
Executive Administrative Positions
November 2017 - November 2019
Vice Chair, African Politics Conference Group, an organized section of the American Political Science Association
December 2017 - November 2018
Faculty Chair Elect, Naval Postgraduate School
December 2018 - November 2019
Faculty Chair, Naval Postgraduate School
Elected leadership position representing the faculty of the university in high level administrative and management bodies. Advocated for faculty at all levels and represented faculty to the University President and Provost. Worked on improving university business processes: budgeting and financial management, contracting, and human resources. Led monthly Faculty Senate and bi-annual General Faculty meetings; managed faculty business committees. Capstone achievements: spearheaded successful initiative to extend the tenure review period for new parents, revised faculty self-governance documents. Three-year commitment: one year each as Chair Elect, Chair, Chair Emerita.
December 2019 - November 2020
Faculty Chair Emerita, Naval Postgraduate School
Past Academic Positions, Teaching
January 2003 – June 2010
Assistant Professor, Department of National Security Affairs, School of International Graduate Studies, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA
Past Academic Positions, Administrative
December 2016 - December 2017
Member, Faculty Council Executive Board, Naval Postgraduate School
February 2008 – September 2011
Director of Planning and Content, Regional Security Education Program (RSEP), Naval Postgraduate School (NPS)
Academic director of a mobile executive education program, in charge of the educational content of the lectures delivered in the RSEP program and for organizing the teams that deliver regional briefs to deploying Carrier Strike Groups and Expeditionary Strike Groups (USN and USMC). The program is run through the Department of National Security Affairs of the Naval Postgraduate School.
January 2006 – September 2007
Regional Coordinator for Sub-Saharan Africa, Department of National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School.
Faculty advisor for students in the Sub-Saharan Africa curriculum.
July 2004 – July 2006
Academic Associate for Regional Security Studies, Department of National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School
Curricular advisor for the regional studies programs in the Department of National Security Affairs of the Naval Postgraduate School. This position combines curriculum management and academic advising. In charge of the regional studies programs in the NSA department at NPS. Duties include monitoring the various programs of study, reviewing and revising the programs of study for seven regional curricula, and liaising with program sponsors (Army FAO, Marine FAO, etc). Also primary academic advisor for students in all regional curricula (between 190 – 250 students), monitoring completion of academic requirements, approving thesis proposals, and other academic matters.
Scholarship
Research in Progress
When we ground the analysis of the dynamics of interventions in fragile states in basic concepts and theories of African politics, how does this shift our understanding of process? What seeming puzzles, inconsistencies, and unexpected dynamics become more understandable – perhaps things that could have been anticipated? This research links fundamental political concepts such as neopatrimonialism, instrumentalization, extraversion, state historicity, and hybrid governance, to crucial policy issues of relevance to the DoD, such as intervention design, local capacity building and overall complex peace-keeping operations that involve a significant degree of state reform and reconstruction (security sector reform, public sector reform, democratization, etc.). Interventions are conceived technocratically, but they are fundamentally political undertakings. By “bringing the politics back in,” we believe that our research can make new strides in our understanding of how African governments respond to and interact with external interventions, particularly those in conflict affected and fragile states, delivering insights that can be applied to the design and implementation of future interventions.
Scholars and practitioners alike have largely concluded that international efforts to build sustainable peace in post-conflict state must include a focus on building state capacity. It is not necessarily the case, however, that the twin goals of peace- and state-building are mutually reinforcing. This project seeks to improve both the theory and practice of how peace is achieved in post-conflict countries by disentangling the related goals of peace- and state-building. It does so by focusing on the ability of three post-conflict states to provide public services and resolve societal grievances at the local level. It also seeks to understand how externally led peace-building interventions compare with more autonomous and domestically motivated peace processes in achieving sustainable peace and improvements in state capacity. To these ends, we have designed and are implementing a study that varies the “degree of aidedness” of peace- and statebuilding initiatives, selecting country cases that enable both a cross-national comparison (Cambodia and Laos) and an intertemporal comparison (Uganda in two distinct time periods). We focus on outcomes at the subnational and sectoral levels, where the tangible results of peace- and state-building can be best observed.
One of the fundamental challenges facing peace negotiators is the issue of whether peace talks should address the root causes of a conflict or to simply attempt to facilitate a ceasefire and allow domestic parties to manage their fundamental differences after the fighting ends. Often this dynamic is viewed in either-or terms, though many experienced negotiators would argue that both need to be considered simultaneously. A comparison of negotiations to end conflicts in South Africa and Burundi suggests that the identity of the negotiators is a key variable in explaining several critical aspects of peace negotiations, particularly the types of issues that are brought into the talks and how well the process withstands pressures to derail once difficult issues are opened. This project investigates these issues through a comparative case study of peace processes in South Africa and Burundi, focusing on the nature of the parties negotiating the peace agreements, the process of negotiations with particular emphasis on the types of issues raised during the talks, and how derailments were addressed when peace negotiations threatened to or did break down.
Peer-Reviewed Books
The US Military in Africa: Enhancing Security and Development? Edited by Jessica Piombo. Boulder, CO; First Forum Press, a division of Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2015.
Institutions, Ethnicity and Political Mobilization in South Africa. New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
Interim Governments: Institutional Bridges to Peace and Democracy? (edited with Karen Guttieri). Washington, DC: USIP Press, December 2007. (Peer reviewed)
Electoral Politics in South Africa: Assessing the First Democratic Decade (edited with Lia Nijzink). New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. (Peer reviewed)
Re-published in South Africa by the Human Sciences Research Council in 2006:
http://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/product.php?productid=2160.
Articles and Book Chapters
“The Impact of Aid Dynamics on State Effectiveness and Legitimacy.” May 2020. Studies in Comparative International Development (with Naazneen Barma and Naomi Levy).
“Disentangling Aid Dynamics in Statebuilding and Peacebuilding: A Causal Framework,” International Peacekeeping, 24, no 2 (2017): 187-211. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13533312.2016.1252677 (with Naazneen Barma and Naomi Levy).
“Has South Africa Lost its Way? The ANC’s Unfulfilled Promise.” Foreign Affairs online, May 12, 2016 (with Cherrel Africa). https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/south-africa/2016-05-12/has-south-africa-lost-its-way
“Evolving Civilian and Military Missions,” in The US Military in Africa: Enhancing Security and Development? edited by Jessica Piombo. Boulder, CO: First Forum Press (a division of Lynne Rienner Publishers), 2015.
“Civil-Military Relations in the Horn of Africa,” in Understanding Complex Military Operations: A Case Study Approach, ed. Karen Guttieri, Volker Franke and Melanne A. Civic. New Jersey: Routledge, 2014.
“Resources and Conflict in Africa,” in The Handbook of African Security, ed. James J. Hentz. New Jersey: Routledge, 2013.
“Perspective: US Africa Policy: Rhetoric Versus Reality.” Current History. May 2012.
“Civil-Military Relations in an Emerging Democracy: South Africa,” in The Handbook of Civil-Military Relations, ed. Thomas Bruneau and Florina Christiana Matei. New Jersey: Routledge Press, 2012.
“Oil Rents and Politics in Africa,” in The Handbook of Oil Politics, ed Robert Looney. New Jersey: Routledge Press, 2012.
"Peacemaking in Burundi: Conflict Resolution versus Conflict Management Strategies," African Security 3, no. 4 (2010): 239-272.
“Political Institutions, Social Demographics and the Decline of Ethnic Mobilization in South Africa, 1994 – 1999, Party Politics 11, no. 4 (July 2005): 447-470.
- Research, analysis, writing and teaching about politics, security, governance and foreign policy in Africa and the USA
- Obtaining and administering externally sponsored research, grants, and educational projects
- Executive education and tailored short courses
- Executing research projects and managing research budgets
- Supervising staff
- Conducting field research in challenging environments
- Managing large and small educational and outreach programs
- Public speaking and delivering presentations to diverse audiences
- Managing relationships with sponsors
- Post-Conflict stabilization and reconstruction (post- and pre-conflict, civil and military involvement)
- African Security Issues (drivers of conflict, conflict management, the African Union and its peace operations, and the United States Africa Command)
- Democratization and political transitions, transitional governance
- Constitutional and electoral system design, focusing on managing ethnic divisions
- South Africa and Southern African politics
Education
B.A. Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA (Political Science and Psychology; magna cum laude), 1995.
Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (Political Science, concentrations in comparative politics, African politics, and political economy), 2003.
Present Position
July 2010 – present
Associate Professor (with tenure), Department of National Security Affairs, School of International Graduate Studies, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA
March 2017 – present
Associate Faculty, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS)
Visting Lecturer in the Graduate School of International Policy and Management, Master’s program in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies. Yearly course on terrorism and counter-terrorism in Africa.
Executive Administrative Positions
November 2017 - November 2019
Vice Chair, African Politics Conference Group, an organized section of the American Political Science Association
December 2017 - November 2018
Faculty Chair Elect, Naval Postgraduate School
December 2018 - November 2019
Faculty Chair, Naval Postgraduate School
Elected leadership position representing the faculty of the university in high level administrative and management bodies. Advocated for faculty at all levels and represented faculty to the University President and Provost. Worked on improving university business processes: budgeting and financial management, contracting, and human resources. Led monthly Faculty Senate and bi-annual General Faculty meetings; managed faculty business committees. Capstone achievements: spearheaded successful initiative to extend the tenure review period for new parents, revised faculty self-governance documents. Three-year commitment: one year each as Chair Elect, Chair, Chair Emerita.
December 2019 - November 2020
Faculty Chair Emerita, Naval Postgraduate School
Past Academic Positions, Teaching
January 2003 – June 2010
Assistant Professor, Department of National Security Affairs, School of International Graduate Studies, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA
Past Academic Positions, Administrative
December 2016 - December 2017
Member, Faculty Council Executive Board, Naval Postgraduate School
February 2008 – September 2011
Director of Planning and Content, Regional Security Education Program (RSEP), Naval Postgraduate School (NPS)
Academic director of a mobile executive education program, in charge of the educational content of the lectures delivered in the RSEP program and for organizing the teams that deliver regional briefs to deploying Carrier Strike Groups and Expeditionary Strike Groups (USN and USMC). The program is run through the Department of National Security Affairs of the Naval Postgraduate School.
January 2006 – September 2007
Regional Coordinator for Sub-Saharan Africa, Department of National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School.
Faculty advisor for students in the Sub-Saharan Africa curriculum.
July 2004 – July 2006
Academic Associate for Regional Security Studies, Department of National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School
Curricular advisor for the regional studies programs in the Department of National Security Affairs of the Naval Postgraduate School. This position combines curriculum management and academic advising. In charge of the regional studies programs in the NSA department at NPS. Duties include monitoring the various programs of study, reviewing and revising the programs of study for seven regional curricula, and liaising with program sponsors (Army FAO, Marine FAO, etc). Also primary academic advisor for students in all regional curricula (between 190 – 250 students), monitoring completion of academic requirements, approving thesis proposals, and other academic matters.
Scholarship
Research in Progress
- All Intervention is Local: Understanding Government Responses to International Intervention
Multi-year research project (2017-2021; no cost extension through fiscal year 2023) funded by the Minerva Initiative of OSD-Policy. Co-PI Pierre Englebert (Pomona College).
When we ground the analysis of the dynamics of interventions in fragile states in basic concepts and theories of African politics, how does this shift our understanding of process? What seeming puzzles, inconsistencies, and unexpected dynamics become more understandable – perhaps things that could have been anticipated? This research links fundamental political concepts such as neopatrimonialism, instrumentalization, extraversion, state historicity, and hybrid governance, to crucial policy issues of relevance to the DoD, such as intervention design, local capacity building and overall complex peace-keeping operations that involve a significant degree of state reform and reconstruction (security sector reform, public sector reform, democratization, etc.). Interventions are conceived technocratically, but they are fundamentally political undertakings. By “bringing the politics back in,” we believe that our research can make new strides in our understanding of how African governments respond to and interact with external interventions, particularly those in conflict affected and fragile states, delivering insights that can be applied to the design and implementation of future interventions.
- Peacebuilding Through Service Delivery
Multi-year research project funded by the Minerva Initiative of OSD. Co-PIs Naazneen Barma (NPS) and Naomi Levy (Santa Clara University). Multiple research products.
Scholars and practitioners alike have largely concluded that international efforts to build sustainable peace in post-conflict state must include a focus on building state capacity. It is not necessarily the case, however, that the twin goals of peace- and state-building are mutually reinforcing. This project seeks to improve both the theory and practice of how peace is achieved in post-conflict countries by disentangling the related goals of peace- and state-building. It does so by focusing on the ability of three post-conflict states to provide public services and resolve societal grievances at the local level. It also seeks to understand how externally led peace-building interventions compare with more autonomous and domestically motivated peace processes in achieving sustainable peace and improvements in state capacity. To these ends, we have designed and are implementing a study that varies the “degree of aidedness” of peace- and statebuilding initiatives, selecting country cases that enable both a cross-national comparison (Cambodia and Laos) and an intertemporal comparison (Uganda in two distinct time periods). We focus on outcomes at the subnational and sectoral levels, where the tangible results of peace- and state-building can be best observed.
- Negotiating Peace from the Inside and Out: Internally versus Externally Facilitated Peace Processes.
Ongoing research project.
One of the fundamental challenges facing peace negotiators is the issue of whether peace talks should address the root causes of a conflict or to simply attempt to facilitate a ceasefire and allow domestic parties to manage their fundamental differences after the fighting ends. Often this dynamic is viewed in either-or terms, though many experienced negotiators would argue that both need to be considered simultaneously. A comparison of negotiations to end conflicts in South Africa and Burundi suggests that the identity of the negotiators is a key variable in explaining several critical aspects of peace negotiations, particularly the types of issues that are brought into the talks and how well the process withstands pressures to derail once difficult issues are opened. This project investigates these issues through a comparative case study of peace processes in South Africa and Burundi, focusing on the nature of the parties negotiating the peace agreements, the process of negotiations with particular emphasis on the types of issues raised during the talks, and how derailments were addressed when peace negotiations threatened to or did break down.
Peer-Reviewed Books
The US Military in Africa: Enhancing Security and Development? Edited by Jessica Piombo. Boulder, CO; First Forum Press, a division of Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2015.
Institutions, Ethnicity and Political Mobilization in South Africa. New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
Interim Governments: Institutional Bridges to Peace and Democracy? (edited with Karen Guttieri). Washington, DC: USIP Press, December 2007. (Peer reviewed)
Electoral Politics in South Africa: Assessing the First Democratic Decade (edited with Lia Nijzink). New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. (Peer reviewed)
Re-published in South Africa by the Human Sciences Research Council in 2006:
http://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/product.php?productid=2160.
Articles and Book Chapters
“The Impact of Aid Dynamics on State Effectiveness and Legitimacy.” May 2020. Studies in Comparative International Development (with Naazneen Barma and Naomi Levy).
“Disentangling Aid Dynamics in Statebuilding and Peacebuilding: A Causal Framework,” International Peacekeeping, 24, no 2 (2017): 187-211. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13533312.2016.1252677 (with Naazneen Barma and Naomi Levy).
“Has South Africa Lost its Way? The ANC’s Unfulfilled Promise.” Foreign Affairs online, May 12, 2016 (with Cherrel Africa). https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/south-africa/2016-05-12/has-south-africa-lost-its-way
“Evolving Civilian and Military Missions,” in The US Military in Africa: Enhancing Security and Development? edited by Jessica Piombo. Boulder, CO: First Forum Press (a division of Lynne Rienner Publishers), 2015.
“Civil-Military Relations in the Horn of Africa,” in Understanding Complex Military Operations: A Case Study Approach, ed. Karen Guttieri, Volker Franke and Melanne A. Civic. New Jersey: Routledge, 2014.
“Resources and Conflict in Africa,” in The Handbook of African Security, ed. James J. Hentz. New Jersey: Routledge, 2013.
“Perspective: US Africa Policy: Rhetoric Versus Reality.” Current History. May 2012.
“Civil-Military Relations in an Emerging Democracy: South Africa,” in The Handbook of Civil-Military Relations, ed. Thomas Bruneau and Florina Christiana Matei. New Jersey: Routledge Press, 2012.
“Oil Rents and Politics in Africa,” in The Handbook of Oil Politics, ed Robert Looney. New Jersey: Routledge Press, 2012.
"Peacemaking in Burundi: Conflict Resolution versus Conflict Management Strategies," African Security 3, no. 4 (2010): 239-272.
“Political Institutions, Social Demographics and the Decline of Ethnic Mobilization in South Africa, 1994 – 1999, Party Politics 11, no. 4 (July 2005): 447-470.