Other News

Congratulations to Constance Bobotsi, a final year undergraduate student at PAIS! Constance was competitively selected to take part in a field trip to Latvia and Estonia (10-17 February, 2019) as part of the “Between the EU and Russia” (BEAR) Network, of which PAIS is a member. Along with 7 other BEAR Network laureates from around the world and a group of University of Glasgow students, she spent a week in the Baltics researching identity and memory. In particular, the trip focused on the history of occupation by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and how memory shapes discourses and interactions today between ethnic Latvians and Estonians, on the one hand, and Russian-speaking minorities, on the other.

The trip started in Riga, where discussions took place with the Director of the Latvian Museum of Occupation and the Editor in Chief of the National Encyclopaedia. Then the group travelled to Narva, an industrial Estonian city right on the border to Russia, where ethnic Estonians are only a minority. There, students met Kristina Kallas, Head of University of Tartu Narva College and leader of the newly-founded Estonia 200 party, as well as staff from the educational Integration Foundation. The final stop was the Estonian capital, Tallinn, where students visited the Estonian Museum of Occupation and saw monuments that sparked controversy in Estonian society a few years back.

Constance Bobotsi writes: “This trip was a unique opportunity to experience social research first-hand and to understand the challenges scholars face when researching concepts like identity. At the same time, it equipped me with new understandings of research methodologies and shortcomings and inspired me to investigate new approaches for my dissertation, which focuses on post-national identity in the era of globalisation. I would like to thank the BEAR Network and PAIS for allowing me to have this experience as an undergraduate student, and encourage everyone in PAIS to make the most of such special opportunities!”

Published this month, The Oxford Handbook of Global Policy and Transnational Administration, co-edited by Diane Stone and Kim Moloney with OUP: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-global-policy-and-transnational-administration-9780198758648?cc=au&lang=en&

Diane Stone has also published an article on International Crisis Group: Stone, D. (2019). Transnational policy entrepreneurs and the cultivation of influence: individuals, organizations and their networks. Globalizations, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2019.1567976

In a journal article for Democratization, PAIS PhD researcher Ragnar Weilandt explores the current state of Tunisian civil society and its role in the country’s transition to democracy.

Tom Long published an article in The Conversation, entitled "Venezuela: how Latin American tolerance of illiberalism let a nation slide into crisis". The article has been republished in The New Statesman and in Portuguese in the Gazeta do Povo (Brazil), and in French on The Conversation. The piece draws on his research article in the November issue of International Affairs to put the rising tide of illiberalism in Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America in an international and historical context. In that article, he explores the "consequences of partial inclusion or marginalization from" liberal international order. The article is available for free until 17 February.

Tom has also been quoted recently in Bloomberg News, CNBC News, El Universal (Mexico), and Vice News regarding the situation in Venezuela, and has appeared on Al Jazeera, Sky News, and France 24 TV.

The National Student Survey (NSS) is now open at the link below. In partnership with our students, we have built the PAIS department together. Thank you! We’d love your feedback on the three or four years you have spent with us, in PAIS.

TAKE THE SURVEY – DIRECT LINK TO COMPLETE THE NSS

Why else complete the survey?

• Treat Yourself – by receiving £5 Eating at Warwick credit, as a thank you
• Help a Charity – for each PAIS response, we will donate £5 to the Warwick Cancer Research Centre, our finalists chosen charity.
• Shape the Future of PAIS – your feedback will help shape the future of the PAIS department

It will take just 5 minutes to complete. Your feedback matters and makes a huge difference to PAIS as shown on our You Said We Did page.

Last year PAIS achieved 95 per cent for overall satisfaction - No 1 in the Russell Group.

Please remember the £5 credit only applies to those who complete online so please complete early to ensure you do not lose out.

Simply send your confirmation email – after completing the survey - to NSS-Promotion@warwick.ac.uk to receive your £5.