Other News

The Six Day War at 50 and the Balfour Declaration at 100

An interdicsiplinary conference organised by early career scholars in Law, Sociology and PAIS assessing past legacies, present accountability and future visions.

2017 marks the 50-year anniversary of the Six-day war which ushered in the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza (the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 had already claimed 80% of historic Palestine), as well as the centenary of the Balfour Declaration in which the UK declared its support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” laying the foundations for the present political geography in the region and enduring conflict.

This one-day conference will assess the research gaps on the Israel-Palestine conflict at this time in history, explore the future of the West Bank caught between a military occupation and a ‘civilised’ annexation (supported by the new US administration), and identify interdisciplinary synergies to fill those gaps. The conference aims to revisit key themes of the Israeli-Palestinian context in light of various disciplines, uncovering overlooked issues that remain under-explored and under-theorised.

Please register for this free confence on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/palestine-today-the-six-day-war-at-50-and-balfour-at-100-tickets-33811580347

The European Union is experiencing considerable turbulence, both in the domestic politics of its member states and in its international environment. A key characteristic of this turbulence are the close linkages between what is seen as ‘domestic’, ‘European’ and ‘international’, with many tensions and disputes rooted in at least two of these domains. This round table event is designed to explore these linkages and their political consequences with a focus on one area of concern: borders and their maintenance or modification. The event takes place on Thursday 18th May, at 6pm, in OC0.04, The Oculus.

Despite ideas of a ‘borderless world’ that have gained currency as part of globalization, there is no doubt that borders retain substantial symbolic and practical importance, and that if anything this has increased in recent years. The tension between borders as barriers and as crossing-places can be seen in a range of European and international processes:

• Peace-building and conflict transformation
• Integration and disintegration
• Migration and its management
• Movement of goods and capital

In this round table, we focus especially on issues relating to peace-building and conflict transformation, and migration and its management. Speakers will present a range of views focusing on the politics of North/South relations in Ireland, of Scotland’s place within the United Kingdom, of Cyprus and of migration into the EU and its member states, with the aim of uncovering the conceptual and political dimensions of border management in a turbulent EU.

Dr George Christou, PAIS
Dr Dallal Stevens, Warwick Law School
Francie Molloy, MP (Mid-Ulster, Sinn Fein)
Don Flynn, Founder and Former Director of Migrants' Rights Network
Chair: Professor Michael Smith, PAIS

Register for the free event here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/europe-in-question-round-table-crossing-borders-in-a-turbulent-european-union-tickets-33208758290

PAIS GEM Fellow has published the most recent peacekeeping profile of Italy in Providing for Peacekeeping. Providing for Peacekeeping is an independent research project of the International Peace Institute, the Elliott School at George Washington University, and the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect at the University of Queensland.

Italy’s profile is available here: http://www.providingforpeacekeeping.org/2017/04/13/peacekeeping-contributor-profile-italy-2-2017/

'The Epistemology of Counterterrorism' Event - 12th May - Scarman House

Colleagues and PhD students are welcome to attend this free event on the epistemologies and suspect assumptions which underwrite the War on Terror, run by Prof Quassim Cassam (Philosophy) and Dr Charlotte Heath-Kelly (PAIS). The event is funded by Professor Cassam's AHRC leadership award on intellectual vices.

The program can be found here: https://epistemologyofcounterterrorism.wordpress.com/about/ 

Places are free, but limited. Please register your interest by emailing Professor Cassam: q.cassam@warwick.ac.uk

Speakers include Professor Ruth Blakeley, Professor Richard Jackson, Dr Andrew Neal, Dr Lee Jarvis, and many more!

The Warwick speakers include Prof Jon Coaffee (PAIS), Prof Andrew Williams (Law), Prof Quassim Cassam (Philosophy) & Dr Charlotte Heath-Kelly (PAIS).

March sees publication of the fifth revised and updated edition of the popular Oxford University Press textbook Politics in the Developing World. The textbook is edited by Professor Peter Burnell, Lise Rakner and Vicky Randall, together with publication of Peter’s chapter ‘From supporting democracy to supporting autocracy’ in the fourth revised and updated edition of Daniele Caramani’s highly successful Oxford University Press book Comparative Politics (at chapter 25, pages 437-52).

Peter’s new research paper in the CSGR Working Paper series, International Party Assistance by ‘Bad Guys’ has also been published.

The Working Paper develops an agenda for researching international support for political parties and politicians in other countries by so called leading autocracies, and for comparing the findings with the political party support that is provided within the context of international democracy promotion. Although framed largely within the context of autocracy support to countries that are not consolidated liberal democracies, the Paper has relevance to the currently much publicised issue of Russian interest in political parties in some European countries and the United States too.

The paper can be read here: www.warwick.ac.uk/csgr/papers/283-17.pdf