Colin Henry, PhD
I'm a political scientist working on problems at the intersection of political violence and digital communication technologies. I use computational methods, network analysis, and digital ethnography to answer questions about political extremism, social media platforms, community structure, and our relationship to technology. Download my CV (PDF) here.
Current status: I'm a post-doctoral research fellow at George Washington University. I completed my PhD at Vanderbilt University in September 2023.
Dissertation project: Three papers exploring the structural sources of political extremism in online communities. I argue that community competition, shaped by the architecture of platform governance, drives community radicalization. I use computational and digital ethnographic methods (and two novel datasets) to support my argument.
Read my job market paper on community competition and political extremism here (PDF).
Read more about my dissertation here.

Peer reviewed publications

Digital Footprints and Data-Security Risks for Political Scientists

PS: Political Science & Politics, Volume 55, Issue 4, October 2022, pp. 804 - 808

with Dr. Cassy Dorff and Dr. Anita Gohdes

Does Violence Against Journalists Deter Detailed Reporting? Evidence From Mexico

Journal of Conflict Resolution, September 2022

with Dr. Cassy Dorff and Dr. Sandra Ley

Working papers

Foreign Fighters and Wartime Sexual Violence (under review)
Community Sorting Across Social Media Platforms (working paper)
Community Competition and Political Extremism (working paper)
Community Detection on Multimodal Platforms: #DiedSuddenly on TikTok (in progress)
with Dr. Melissa Baker and Dr. Peter Carey

Public writing

"How violence against journalists affects the news"

Political Violence at a Glance, December 2022

with Dr. Cassy Dorff and Dr. Sandra Ley

Other Projects & Service

Affiliations

Professional links:

I'm also extremely online: