Sam Ratner is a Mozambique Senior Researcher at ACLED. He has covered Mozambican security issues as a contributing editor at Zitamar News since 2017. He also writes the weekly global security newsletter Critical State for Inkstick Media and Public Radio International's The World, and is a founding editor of Fellow Travelers Blog. He earned his MPA in international security policy from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. His research interests include southeast Africa, political violence, the politics of natural resources, and insurgent governance.