Nils-Christian Bormann is a Political Scientist in the Department of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Witten/Herdecke University and he is affiliated with the Identity & Conflict Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, he has held positions at the University of Essex and University of Exeter. His research focuses on the causes of elite cooperation and violent conflict. I investigate, for example, why political elites form multi-ethnic coalitions, how economic inequality between ethnic groups develops over time, and what effects international intervention has on the stability of ethnic power sharing.
The Juba Agreement for Power Sharing in Sudan (JAPS) signed in late 2020 raised hopes of ending almost two decades of internal armed conflict in Sudan, but the military coup of October 2021 has thrown doubt on whether the peace process can succeed. This column summarises research concluding that even without the coup, the JAPS alone would have been insufficient to bring peace and democracy to the country.