Robert Muggah

Robert Muggah (born July 20, 1974) is a Canadian political scientist and urban specialist. He is the co-founder of the Igarapé Institute and The SecDev Foundation,^[1] and is currently the Research Director of Igarapé and The SecDev Group, where he is known for his work on fragile cities, arms control, and migration.

Muggah is a widely cited expert in cities, security and new technology. His work on designing platforms to map arms transfers,^[2] track homicide,^[3] predict crime,^[4] and promote accountability among police ^[5] is globally recognized. He was listed as one of the top 100 most important people in violence prevention ^[6] in 2013.

Career

Muggah was involved with the Small Arms Survey from its inception in 1999, and was a researcher and then research director from 2000 until 2011. Over the past decades he has worked with the United Nations Development Program, the United Nations Department for Peacekeeping Operations, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Latin American Development Bank, and the World Bank in more than 25 countries. He is the co-chair of the consultative committee of the Global Parliament of Mayors ^[7] and the Know Violence in Childhood Network.^[8] He was nominated by the UN Secretary General to advise a panel on Youth, Peace and Security ^[9] and is part of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime,^[10] as well as the Agenda Council for the Future of Cities and Urbanization ^[11] of the World Economic Forum.

His academic specializations include armed violence, violence prevention, public security, fragile cities and migration. He has undertaken research on small arms availability, demand, and their impacts in Latin America, Africa and Asia. His field research has focused on refugee militarization in Africa, the implications of resettling populations in South Asia, the outcomes of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs, the future of peacekeeping and stabilization missions, and the rise of cyber cartels and digital gangs.

He graduated with a BA Honors from Dalhousie University in 1997. He received an MPhil from the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex in 1999. In 2008 earned a Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of Oxford. He has taught courses at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, at the University of San Diego and the International Relations Department of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro.

Publications, interviews, and lectures

He is the author or editor of seven books. Two of these, Relocation Failures in Sri Lanka ^[12] and Refugee Militarization in Africa ^[13] are focused on migration. Two more, Stabilization Operations, Security and Development ^[14] and Security and Post-Conflict Reconstruction ^[15] are concerned with UN peace operations. The others, including the Global Burden of Armed Violence^[16] and Open Empowerment,^[17] are focused on real and virtual insecurity.

Muggah´s research is widely reported in global media outlets. His research on organized crime, arms and homicide has been featured by BBC,^[18] CBS,^[19] Globo News,^[20] Newsweek,^[21] and Wired Magazine,^[22] among others. He delivered talks on fragile cities with TED in 2015 ^[23] and at the World Economic Forum Summit in Davos in 2017.^[24] He has also spoken on new technologies and organized crime ^[25] at the Web Summit in 2014, on smart policing ^[26] with Google in 2013 and on arms trafficking^[27] in 2012.

See also

• Igarapé Institute
• SecDev Group

References