Florian Weigand
Florian’s work focuses on armed conflict, smuggling, and questions relating to authority and legitimacy. He is particularly interested in the role and perspectives of non-state actors and marginalised groups, including insurgents, rebels, criminal groups, victims of violent conflict and civil society activists.
He has published widely on conflict zones, borderlands and other complex environments, how they function and are governed. Florian is the author of books such as Waiting for Dignity: Legitimacy and Authority in Afghanistan (2022) and Conflict and Transnational Crime: Borders, Bullets & Business in Southeast Asia (2020). He also is the co-editor of the Routledge Handbook on Smuggling (2021).
In addition to academic roles, Florian has worked extensively in the policy sector. He served as a Political Affairs Officer for the UN in Afghanistan, worked in various roles and countries for the development agency GIZ, and has advised organisations such as UNODC, the World Bank, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Florian did his PhD at the London School of Economics. He holds an MSc in Development Management from the LSE and an MSc in Global Governance and Diplomacy from the University of Oxford.
In the news
The Centre’s Ashley Jackson, Florian Weigand and Leigh Mayhew write about what we get wrong about measuring wartime control, with Ibraheem Bahiss.
The Centre’s Ashley Jackson, Florian Weigand, and Leigh Mayhew write about the state of play with armed groups in the Sahel, with Laura Berlingozzi, Ed Stoddard and Ibraheem Bahiss
Max Gallien and Florian Weigand write about the importance of understanding smuggling in the context of food crises and hunger.
Max Gallien and Florian Weigand schreiben über die Bedeutung von Schmuggel in Konfliktkontexten (German).
Featured work
From Afghanistan and Yemen and from Mali to Somalia, checkpoints are central to dynamics of armed conflict, funding insurgents, driving violence and shaping governance by various types of armed actors, state and non-state alike. A new working paper series on roadblocks and revenues sheds lights on checkpoints in conflict contexts across the world and provides a new window into dynamics of authority and power.
This »review of reviews« looks at how and what Western governments and international organizations have tried to learn from the intervention in Afghanistan.
This paper examines climate change and armed groups, specifically the failure the address climate adaptation in areas beyond state control.
This paper argues that we should not see ‘political’ and ‘criminal’ groups as separate categories. Instead, we should envision a spectrum of motives and practices across all armed groups, regardless of how they are labelled.
This paper argues that we should not see ‘political’ and ‘criminal’ groups as separate categories. Instead, we should envision a spectrum of motives and practices across all armed groups, regardless of how they are labelled.
This joint paper with ODI explores what we know (and what we don’t) about how ordinary people engage with armed groups.
Prevailing understandings of control – which focus on territorial dividing lines and acts of violence – are incomplete. Our paper argues that armed group control should instead be broken down according to how armed groups seek to influence populations.
Based on a review of armed group taxation practices, this journal article argues that armed group motives go beyond revenue. It explores explanations related to ideology, legitimacy, institution building, control of populations, and the performance of public authority.
Surveying the existing literature, this ICTD Working Paper argues that a deeper understanding of armed group taxation, the motivations behind it, and the implications it has for an armed group’s relationship with civilian and diaspora populations, as well as the broader international community.
Seizing on widespread dissatisfaction with formal justice, Taliban courts quickly settled disputes that the state and customary institutions could not. It also enabled the Taliban to infiltrate new areas and enforce a strict set of rules on the population.
Related events
King’s College London hosted an online event to discuss the Centre’s latest research on understanding armed group control.
Download the paper here.
Hosted by LSE, this panel brings together recent and long-standing scholarship on smuggling and conflict, and looks at the future of smuggling and conflict research.
The official launch of the ‘Routledge Handbook of Smuggling’ with a discussion among the editors and several authors.