On March 29, Manuel Vogt, Lecturer in International Security at the Department of Political Science, held a talk on ‘Indigenous Mobilization and Political Inclusion in Central America’ at the University of El Salvador in San Salvador. The talk took place on the occasion of the University's inauguration of the new academic year. Manuel presented parts of his forthcoming book on ‘Mobilization and Conflict in Multiethnic States’ (Oxford University Press), focusing on the impact of ethnic mobilization in Latin America. Manuel’s work shows that in extremely unequal multiethnic societies, ethnic organizations promote the political inclusion of historically marginalised groups. Thus, rather than fomenting division and violence, as suggested in previous research, in societies with a history of ethnic discrimination, ethnic organizations contribute to between-group equality.
The Conversation: "Why changing the Good Friday Agreement because of Brexit is such a dangerous idea"
Conflict & Change members Kit Rickard and Kristin M. Bakke wrote a commentary piece for The Conversation, discussing the UK government's recent claims about wanting to "amend" the Good Friday Agreement. They argued that, "whether the Good Friday Agreement needs amending is not a question that ought to be driven by the British government’s Brexit strategy. Our research shows that this is a question that should be driven from the bottom up, by the needs and concerns of the population in Northern Ireland."
Conflict & Change at Policy & Practice: Political violence in a new global order
Members of the Conflict & Change group organised a very well attended Policy & Practice public panel on "Political Violence in a New Global Order."
The Department of Political Science's Policy & Practice Seminar Series includes presentations of scholarly research and talks by high-profile policy makers, practitioners and academics. This panel brought together C&C experts to discuss the likelihood and patterns of political violence – and how we can confront it – in a new global order.
Dr. Zeynep Bulutgil began the event by discussing the changing global order. Dr. Rod Abouharb covered trends in international and civil wars, followed by Dr. Kate Cronin-Furman on ethnic cleansing and genocide and Dr. Manuel Vogt on terrorism. Dr. Nils Metternich concluded the presentations by discussing international intervention. The event was chaired by Prof. Kristin M. Bakke and Kit Rickard, who moderated a lively audience discussion.
Presentation at the University of Birmingham
Conflict & Change member Dom Perera presented his research on states’ restrictions of civil society organizations on at the workshop on “Foreign Aid Donors and Human Rights in the Global South” at the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham.
Student panel discussion on the conflict in the Donbass region
On Thursday morning, students of UCL’s ‘Violent and Non-violent Conflict” module participated in a panel discussion on the armed conflict in Ukraine’s Donbass region. Moderated by the module tutors Nils Metternich and Manuel Vogt – both members of UCL’s Conflict & Change group –, the students discussed the current situation in the region and, in particular, different policy options to solve the conflict. The panel discussion was the result of a group case study project that took place over the course of the final three weeks of the course. In this project, students worked together in small groups to analyse a specific contemporary conflict of their choice, consider different policy options to end the conflict, and elaborate a set of concrete policy recommendations.
