Peace and Disarmament
This research cluster focuses on disarmament, nonviolence, and international peace- and state-building. Researchers in this cluster work on such themes as the role of faith in peace and disarmament, the Arab-Israeli conflict, UN peacekeeping, and post-conflict reconstruction.
- Professor Amnon Aran
- Dr Thomas Davies
- Dr Leonie Fleischmann
- Dr Kseniya Oksamytna
- Dr Andrew Payne
- Dr Sara Silvestri
- Dr Geoffrey Swenson
- Dr Margot Tudor
- Dr Anna Katila
News
War on the Ballot
Dr Andrew Payne has published a book, War on the Ballot How the Election Cycle Shapes Presidential Decision-Making in War (Columbia University Press, 2023).
War on the Ballot examines how electoral politics shaped presidential decisions on military and diplomatic strategy during the wars in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. Drawing on a wealth of declassified documents and interviews with senior officials and military officers, Andrew Payne reveals the surprisingly large role played by political considerations during conflicts.
He demonstrates how the exigencies of the electoral cycle drove leaders to miss opportunities to limit the human and financial costs of each war, gain strategic advantage, or sue for peace, sometimes making critical decisions with striking disregard for the consequences on the ground.
Payne emphasizes the importance of electoral pressures throughout the full course of a conflict, not just around the initial decision to intervene. He shows how electoral constraints operate across different phases of the political calendar, going beyond the period immediately preceding a presidential election.
Read a review of Dr Payne’s book in Foreign Policy
Blue Helmet Bureaucrats
Dr Margot Tudor has published a book, Blue Helmet Bureaucrats: United Nations Peacekeeping and the Reinvention of Colonialism, 1945-1971 (Oxford University Press, 2022).
This history of colonial legacies in UN peacekeeping operations from 1945–1971 reveals how United Nations peacekeeping staff reconfigured the functions of global governance and sites of diplomatic power in the post-war world. Despite peacekeeping operations being criticised for their colonial underpinnings, our understanding of the ways in which colonial actors and ideas influenced peacekeeping practices on the ground has been limited and imprecise. In this multi-archival history, Margot Tudor investigates the UN's formative armed missions and uncovers the officials that orchestrated a reinvention of colonial-era hierarchies for Global South populations on the front lines of post-colonial statehood.
She demonstrates how these officials exploited their field-based access to perpetuate racial prejudices, plot political interference, and foster protracted inter-communal divisions in post-colonial conflict contexts. Bringing together histories of humanitarianism, decolonisation, and the Cold War, Blue Helmet Bureaucrats sheds new light on the mechanisms through which sovereignty was negotiated and re-negotiated after 1945.
Listen to Dr Tudor discuss her book with Dr Melcher in a podcast for the New Books Network.
Congratulations to Dr Tudor on the Honourable Mention for the ISA PEACE Best Female Scholar Book Award!
Advocacy and Change in International Organizations
Dr Kseniya Oksamytna has published a book, Advocacy and Change in International Organizations: Communication, Protection, and Reconstruction in UN Peacekeeping (Oxford University Press, 2023).
The book argues that advocacy is a crucial but overlooked source of change in international organizations. Different actors can advocate for change: national diplomats, international bureaucrats, external experts, or civil society activists. They can use one of three advocacy strategies: social pressure, persuasion, and 'authority talk'. Advocacy and Change in International Organizations demonstrates how the advocacy-focused framework explains the origins of three workstreams of contemporary UN peacekeeping operations: communication, protection, and reconstruction.
The issue of strategic communications was promoted by UN officials through the strategy of persuasion. Protection of civilians emerged due to a partially successful social influence campaign by a coalition of elected Security Council members and a subsequent (and successful) persuasion efforts by Canada. Quick impact projects entered peacekeepers' practice as the result of 'authority talk' by an expert panel. The three issues illustrate the diversity of pathways to change in international organizations, representing the top-down, bottom-up, and outside-in pathways.
Contending Orders
Dr Geoffrey Swenson has published a book, Contending Orders: Legal Pluralism and the Rule of Law (Oxford University Press, 2022).
In Contending Orders, Geoffrey Swenson proposes a new way to understand how state and non-state authorities interact by exploring the full range of legally pluralist environments-combative, competitive, cooperative, and complementary.
Drawing upon insights from Afghanistan and Timor-Leste, two countries with extensive legal pluralism, he identifies and critically examines commonly used strategies in legally pluralistic environments. Swenson also illustrates how national and international actors can better engage non-state justice systems.
Further, Swenson shows how multiple justice systems can not only co-exist but work together to contribute to the development of a democratic state bound by the rule of law.
Dr Geoffrey Swenson and Dr Mohamed Sesay have published a Critical Dialogue in Perspectives on Politics reviewing each other’s recent books.
Events
Watch the recording of the webinar “Mexican and Ukrainian Perspectives on the Russian Invasion of Ukraine”.
This interdisciplinary virtual event brought together scholars of social sciences, economics, the humanities, and International Relations to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Speakers included: Dr José Joel Peña Llanes, Dr Aribel Contreras, Dr Darya Tsymbalyuk, and Dr Kseniya Oksamytna, chaired by Bruno Balvanera.