In this map, I visualized battle events (source: ACLED), locations of artisanal mines (source: IPIS), major road networks (source: OpenStreetMap), and major towns involved in local gold trading (identified from the UN Group of Experts' reports). The data is divided into periods before and after 2016, when Uganda "formalized" its gold export by opening its first gold refinery.

Key observations include increased battle events after 2016, a high concentration of battles around major road networks (and borders), and fewer battles within natural parks (potentially/ partially due to reporting limitations.)

In this map, I combined the Geo-PKO dataset (Cil et al., 2020) and the UCDP georeferenced event dataset (source: UCDP). Unlike ACLED, UCDP conflict data captures events that are typically more severe.

One observation is that UN peacekeeping forces do not engage in every conflict; some countries experience conflict without peacekeeping missions, highlighting the influence of political decisions at the UN headquarters and the necessity of host-state consent. There is also notable subnational heterogeneity, such as deployments concentrated in Eastern DRC.

One of my research agendas is to explore how foreign interventions interact with local political economies (often characterized by non-state forms of governance) in conflict zones and what this means for their effectiveness.