Overview
I’m interested in trying to find ways to address corruption in contexts of systemic corruption in order to foster more accountable governance and sustainable peace. My research is interdisciplinary, drawing on anti-corruption, peacebuilding, democratic governance, and climate change research, and seeks to be action-oriented. This is informed by my background as a practitioner working on peacebuilding programs in Nigeria and carries through my more recent research exploring how to create the social and political foundations necessary for accountable governance efforts and anti-corruption reforms to succeed. My research is motivated not just by a desire to find answers, but also by a desire to translate them into action.
This page highlights some of the practitioner notes, policy briefs, research reports, and blogs I have done in my work with the Corruption, Justice and Legitimacy Program at Besa Global, World Peace Foundation, and MyIT Consult Limited along with my own independent research on these issues.
These reports utilize a range of qualitative and quantitative resarch methods, often employ a political economy lens, and aim to provide insights for practitioners and policymakers. My research has been published by the Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform (PeaceRep), the United States Institute for Peace (USIP), Environment & Security (academic journal) as well as directly by Besa Global and the World Peace Foundation with support from the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), Harvard Program on Negotiation, and Leir Institute for Human Security.
Transforming Systemic Corruption: Peacebuilding, Elections, and the Struggle for Accountable Governance in Nigeria
My PhD dissertation was about peacebuilding as a means to strengthen accountable governance in contexts of systemic corruption and violent conflict, and how electoral competition could undermine that effort. Based on ethnographic research in Nigeria, it argues that conflict transformation trainings and dialogues can build the social and political foundations necessary for efforts to promote accountable governance, but that they also have their limits. Elections in Nigeria, rather than acting as an accountability mechanism strengthening these elements, actually undermined them, and instead, reinforced the accountability of officeholders to power brokers. The dissertation interrogates each of these dynamics as well as the intersections between them to contribute to new ways of thinking about how to build accountable governance amidst systemic corruption and violent conflict using peacebuilding approaches. Practitioner summary forthcoming.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Miller, Jared. 2024. “The Price of Politics: What the 2020 Oil Shocks in Nigeria Teach us about Transactional Political Systems,” Environment and Security. 2, no. 3: 321-54. https://doi.org/10.1177/27538796241272371.
Al Kli, Shahla, Jared Miller, and Alex de Waal. 2024. “The coming twilight of a petro-state? Traumatic decarbonization as a driver of political transformation in Iraq,” Environment and Security, 2, no. 3: 455-473. https://doi.org/10.1177/27538796241237859.
Gopalakrishnan, Tarun and Jared Miller. 2024. “New Climate Dis-economies: The Political Economy of Energy Transition in Fragile Fossil Fuel Producers,” Environment and Security. 2, no. 3: 348-374. https://doi.org/10.1177/27538796241272361.
Research Papers
Miller, Jared. 2024. Understanding Systemic Corruption: The Political Role of Corruption in Weakly Institutionalized Political Systems. PeaceRep: The Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform, University of Edinburgh and World Peace Foundation. https://peacerep.org/publication/understanding-systemic-corruption/.
Miller, Jared. Ballots and Bills: Electoral Competition in Political Marketplaces. Research Report. PeaceRep: Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform, University of Edinburgh and World Peace Foundation. https://peacerep.org/publication/ballots-and-bills-electoral-competition-in-political-marketplaces/.
Miller, Jared. 2024. Governing for Whom? The Intersection of Identity, Violence, and Political Competition in Political Marketplaces. PeaceRep: The Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform, University of Edinburgh and World Peace Foundation at Tufts University. https://peacerep.org/publication/governing-for-whom/.
Miller, Jared. 2023. Civil Servants, Social Norms, and Corruption: What do we know? What do we do? Calgary: Besa Global. https://www.corruptionjusticeandlegitimacy.org/items/civil-servants%2C-social-norms%2C-and-corruption%3A-what-do-we-know%3F-what-do-we-do%3F.
Al-Kli, Shahla and Jared Miller. 2023. Decarbonization and Political Transformation in Iraq: Impact on Politics, Society, and Regional Relations, Medford, MA: World Peace Foundation. [Funded by the U.S. Institute for Peace],https://sites.tufts.edu/reinventingpeace/2023/05/03/decarbonization-and-political-transformation-in-iraq-the-impact-on-politics-society-and-regional-relations/.
Miller, Jared. 2023. The Politics of an Oil Crash: How the 2020 Oil Shocks affected Political Settlements in Nigeria and Implications for Future Shocks, Medford, MA: World Peace Foundation. [Funded by the U.S. Institute for Peace],https://sites.tufts.edu/wpf/files/2023/03/Politics-of-an-Oil-Crash-J-Miller-FINAL.pdf.
Gopalakrishnan, Tarun and Jared Miller.2023. Energy Transition in Fragile States: A Critical Primer. Medford, MA: World Peace Foundation. [Funded by the U.S. Institute for Peace], https://sites.tufts.edu/reinventingpeace/files/2023/02/EnergyTransition_Paper-FINAL-20230214.pdf.
Miller, Jared. 2022. The Boko Haram Insurgency & the Politics of a Crisis Economy: A Political Marketplace Analysis of the Humanitarian Crisis in North East Nigeria, Medford, MA: Conflict Research Programme, London School of Economics and the World Peace Foundation. [Funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office], https://sites.tufts.edu/reinventingpeace/2023/02/01/the-politics-and-profit-of-a-crisis-a-political-marketplace-analysis-of-the-humanitarian-crisis-in-northeast-nigeria/.
Majid Nisar, Aditya Sarkar, Claire Elder, Khalif Abdirahmna, Sarah Detzner, Jared Miller, and Alex de Waal. 2021. Somalia’s Politics: The Usual Business? A Synthesis Paper of the Conflict Research Programme. London: Conflict Research Programme, London School of Economics, [Funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office] http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/110878/1/Somalia_synthesis_v3.pdf.
Policy Briefs and Practitioner Reports
Miller, Jared. 2024. Identity, Violence, and Politics: Understanding Violence in Political Marketplaces. PeaceRep: The Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform, University of Edinburgh and World Peace Foundation at Tufts University. https://peacerep.org/publication/identity-violence-and-politics-understanding-violence-in-political-marketplaces/.
Sarkar, Aditya, Benjamin Spatz, Alex de Waal, Jared Miller and Tarun Gopalakrishnan. 2024. Traumatic Decarbonization in Fragile States. Peaceworks No. 196. Washington D.C.: US Institute of Peace. https://www.usip.org/publications/2024/05/traumatic-decarbonization-fragile-states.
Miller, Jared, Cheyanne Scharbatke-Church, and Diana Chigas. 2024. The Role of Social Norms in Bureaucratic Corruption: A Research-to-Practice Report. The Corruption, Justice and Legitimacy Program at Besa Global. https://www.corruptionjusticeandlegitimacy.org/items/the-role-of-social-norms-in-bureaucratic-corruption%3A-a-research-to-practice-report.
Yusuf, Mubarak and Jared Miller. 2023. The Effectiveness of Local Faith Actors in Peacebuilding, Development, and Humanitarian Response: Research Findings, MyIT Limited and the International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development. Study commissioned by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development. https://www.partner-religion-development.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Study_Nigeria_Effectiveness-of-Local-Faith-Actors.pdf.
Blogs and Op-Eds
Miller, Jared. 2025. “Dealmaking Politics: When Corruption is About More than Getting Rich.” World Peace Foundation. (April 18). https://worldpeacefoundation.org/blog/corruption-and-dealmaking-politics/.
Miller, Jared and Tarun Gopalakrishnan. 2025. “How Energy Transitions Challenge the Political Economy of Fragile Fossil Fuel-Producing Countries.” SUS-POL Blog, Unviersity of Sussex (April 7). https://www.sussex.ac.uk/research/projects/sus-pol/news-blog/news?id=67803.
Miller, Jared. 2024. “What the Nigerian Elections Teach Us about Political Competition in Transactional Political Systems.” The Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform and Reinventing Peace Blog at the World Peace Foundation (June 26). https://peacerep.org/publication/ballots-and-bills-electoral-competition-in-political-marketplaces/.
Miller, Jared. 2024. “Untangling the Politics of Violence, Identity, and Peace in Nigeria.” PeaceRep: The Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform and Reinventing Peace Blog at the World Peace Foundation (June 13). https://worldpeacefoundation.org/blog/untangling-the-politics-of-violence-identity-and-peace-in-nigeria/; https://peacerep.org/2024/06/20/untangling-the-politics-of-violence-identity-and-peace-in-nigeria/.
Miller, Jared. 2024. “The Political Role of Corruption: How Money Makes the Political World Go Round.” PeaceRep: The Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform and Reinventing Peace Blog at World Peace Foundation (April 5). https://peacerep.org/2024/04/05/the-political-role-of-corruption-how-money-makes-the-political-world-go-round/.
Miller, Jared. 2024. “Addressing Endemic Corruption: There’s Reason to Hope.” Corruption in Fragile States Blog, The Corruption, Justice and Legitimacy Program at Besa Global. https://www.corruptionjusticeandlegitimacy.org/post/addressing-endemic-corruption-there-s-reason-to-hope.
Miller, Jared. 2023. “Nigeria Decides 2023: A Backgrounder to the Elections,” World Peace Foundation, (February 23): https://sites.tufts.edu/reinventingpeace/2023/02/23/nigeria-decides-2023-a-backgrounder-to-the-elections/#_msoanchor_1.
Miller, Jared. 2023. “Decarbonization and Conflict Resolution: New Patterns of Peacemaking in Political Marketplace Systems and Implications for the Clean Energy Transition,” PeaceRep: Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform, University of Edinburgh and World Peace Foundation (February 17): https://peacerep.org/2023/02/24/decarbonization-and-conflict-resolution-blog/; https://sites.tufts.edu/reinventingpeace/2023/02/17/decarbonization-and-conflict-resolution-new-patterns-of-peacemaking-in-political-marketplace-systems-and-its-implications-for-the-clean-energy-transition/.
Miller, Jared. 2022. “Addressing Bureaucratic Corruption: Advice from and for Practitioners,” Corruption in Fragile States Blog, The Corruption, Justice and Legitimacy Program, (July 2): https://www.corruptionjusticeandlegitimacy.org/post/addressing-bureaucratic-corruption-advice-from-and-for-practitioners.
Miller, Jared. 2022. “Civil Servants, Social Norms, and Corruption: What do we know and what do we do?” Corruption in Fragile States Blog, The Corruption, Justice and Legitimacy Program, (April 15): https://www.corruptionjusticeandlegitimacy.org/post/civil-servants-social-norms-and-corruption-what-do-we-know-and-what-do-we-do.
Miller, Jared. 2021. “The Humanitarian Crisis in North-East Nigeria: A Time to Act,” Opinio Juris, (May 21): http://opiniojuris.org/2021/05/21/pandemic-of-hunger-symposium-the-humanitarian-crisis-in-north-east-nigeria-a-time-to-act/.
Miller, Jared. 2020. “The Cost of Democracy: How Dark Money is Funding Democratic Backsliding,” Corruption in Fragile States Blog, The Corruption, Justice, and Legitimacy Program at Tufts University (November 9): https://www.corruptionjusticeandlegitimacy.org/post/the-cost-of-democracy-how-dark-money-is-funding-democratic-backsliding (Over 3,400 views).
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Jared Miller, PhD 