Magnus Asblad is a PhD candidate at the Department of Political Science at Gothenburg University. His research interests include the growth of state capacity, the prevalence of “weak states” (especially in non-democratic regimes), intra-elite conflict and international threats. Right now he is finalizing a paper which revisits the classic “bellicit” explanation for state-building (focusing on contemporary autocracies), and during his stay at IBEI he will work on another paper which looks at state infrastructure in border regions in the global South, utilizing GIS-data. Prior to becoming a PhD-candidate, he worked as a journalist, and he still has a strong interest in the “everyday politics” of Sweden and Europe. Magnus holds a BA in International Relations, a MA in Pol Science (both from Gothenburg), as well as a 1-year Master in Journalism from Uppsala University.