Ali is a PhD candidate in Development Studies at American University. He holds an MA in International Development (University of Denver) and a BA in Sociology (Jacksonville University). Ali’s academic training and professional experience span qualitative fieldwork, institutional analysis, and applied policy research—bridging on-the-ground realities with global policy debates.

Ali’s dissertation examines customary land governance and institutional reform, with a particular emphasis on youth and women’s agency in post-war Liberia. His work approaches chiefly authority as neither monolithic nor fixed; rather, it operates within a landscape where elders, lineage heads, youth associations, local authorities, commercial actors, NGOs, and informal brokers compete and co-produce governance. This hybrid order is not an exception but the rule—opening new forums and solidarities for some actors while heightening competition, uncertainty, and risk for others. I investigate how this plural system shapes—and is shaped by—young people and women as they seek access to land and resources.

Methodologically, Ali’s thesis draws on an ethnographic comparative case design in River Cess and Lofa to trace the micro-politics of legitimacy: who makes claims, who convenes a forum, whose decisions matter, and under what conditions. These situated practices speak to broader debates on restorative justice, climate and forest programming, and equitable land reform.

The Balzan Prize enables Ali to advance this research by engaging more closely with statutory institutions (court and police), customary authorities, youth, women, and informal brokers. Ali also plans to produce collaborative outputs—workshops, policy briefs, and academic publications—that foreground marginalized voices.