David Brenner

David works on conflict and insecurity. His research explores:

a) the sociology of war and violence, with a particular interest in rebel movements and the socio-political orders they produce.

b) ethnic conflict, nationalism, and postcolonial state-formation in the restive borderworlds of Asia, especially in and around Myanmar / Burma.

c) the production of knowledge and ignorance in Conflict and Security Studies, and how it relates to questions of time, space and power.

David's work has been published in journals such as International Affairs, International Studies Quarterly, International Political Sociology, Journal of Global Security Studies, Contemporary Politics, and the European Journal of International Relations. His book 'Rebel Politics: A Political Sociology of Armed Struggle in Myanmar’s Borderlands' was published in 2019 with Cornell University Press.

David is affiliated with the London School of Economics as an associate fellow at LSE IDEAS and with the University of Turin as a research fellow at the Torino World Affairs Institute. Before joining Sussex in 2020, David lectured at Goldsmiths, University of London, and at the University of Surrey. He also taught courses at the Yangon School of Political Science, the Kachinland School of Arts and Sciences, the London School of Economics, the University of Turin, and the United Nations System Staff College.

Beyond academia, David advises policymakers, conducts trainings for practitioners, and provides regular media commentaries.