Over 25 doctoral candidates met at the heart of University College London (UCL) this week to present their work and meet their peers. A notable change from last year’s edition, the workshop was extended to students from across the globe and over two days. Participants from as far as the University of Pittsburgh in the US, Middle East Technical University in Turkey and ETH in Switzerland—but also the Universities of Oxford, Essex, Glasgow and LSE—presented their doctoral work and received comments from senior members of the Conflict and Change research cluster.
The workshop opened with a panel on Ethnicity, Nationalism and Conflict Identities, for which Dr Zeynep Bulutgil and Dr Manuel Vogt discussed an eclectic mix of work: the concept of state and nation in Latin America, Brexit in Northern Ireland, Hitler’s speeches in Weimar Germany and reeducation programmes during the Korean War.
It was then followed by a panel on External forces and Conflict Dynamics, where Prof Neil Mitchell and Dr Alexandra Hartman provided their thoughts on work related to the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping in Sub-Saharan Africa, external support during the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the role of rebel diplomacy in international peace conferences, focusing on the ongoing conflict in Syria.
Afternoon sessions, for which Prof Kristin Bakke, Dr Nils Metternich and Dr Rodwan Abouharb provided insightful feedback, focused on Insurgent Strategies and War Dynamics and Mobilisation, Demobilisation and Reconciliation. Papers ranged from Jihadist rule in Central Mali and the role of female rebels and wartime rape, to the effect of foreign aid on local violence in Columbia.
Workshop organiser Andreas Juon captivating the crowd with his new project titled Say my Name: The Effect of Titular vs. Non-titular Status on Communal Violence in Ethiopia.
Day two kicked off with Dr Kate Cronin-Furman and Jennifer Hodge discussing new projects on communal violence in Ethiopia, civilian targeting in Iraq, rebel governance in Sri Lanka and even a political theory project titled When is it ok to kill the rich and powerful? This panel—Non-Military Targets and Civilian Victimization—was followed by Causes and Consequences of State Repression. Dr Katernia Tertychnaya discussed work on political attitudes in Turkey, extrajudicial killings in the Philippines and state responses to terror threats in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The final panel was on Local Initiatives for Peace. Dr Inken von Borzyskowski and Sigrid Weber discussed the effect of international peace conferences on civilian killing in Syria, the centralization of authority in armed groups, repression and peace movements in conflict-affected states and how terrorist attacks mobilise civilians to protest.
The workshop concluded with a visit to the UK Houses of Parliament led by Jennifer Hodge. The workshop, building on the success of the PhD workshop in 2019, was organised by Conflict and Change members Andreas Juon, Jennifer Hodge, Kit Rickard and Sigrid Weber, all of which are PhD students at UCL’s Political Science Department. It was only possible thanks to generous funding by the Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS), the Global Governance Institute (GGI) and the School of Public Policy (SPP).
Keep an eye out for next year’s edition!